Dear Peach Room parents, it was a pleasure having parent - teacher conference with you!

     Gross motor activities

     Our friends love to explore the playground and outdoors on their own. They're so independent! But Morahs are always next to them, keeping an eye on them and making sure we're all safe. Our friends enjoy playing in the sandbox and feeling the rough texture of the sand, climbing on the climbing structure, riding bikes, sliding on the slide, and balancing on the beam. All these activities are great at developing our gross motor skills. These skills help our friends to run, catch a ball, climb etc. We are loving our outdoor play! 

Fine motor activities

     Inside our classroom we are working on our fine motor skills. Morahs put out soft rugs with manipulatives on them so our friends could visit a station of their choice to strengthen their fine motor skills. Hailey and Madison explored boxes fastened with all sorts of locks. They used their fine motor skills to open and close each box. Inside the box were a bunch of little toy pieces which our friends took out and put back inside. This took a lot of patience! 

     Angie used her hand eye coordination to put different sized penny's on a peg. Ella mixed colors in the peg holder. Yehonathan also used his fine motor skills to place corks inside and out of a pool noodle! All of the objects and activites are great for our friends.

     Dear parents and friends, thank you for another great week. Have a wonderful winter break! Shabbat Shalom - Morah Ora and Morah Goldie 

Dear parents, this week in the peach room we chose to explore the cold season - winter!! 

     At the beginning of the week we had ice in the sensory table. Our friends enjoyed scooping the ice into the buckets and listening out for the sounds it made. Angie said “It’s cold, my hands are cold” and some of our friends started repeating “It’s cold!” After some time of exploring the tools, we added salt to the ice. Each of our friends took turns adding salt. We discovered that the salt stuck to the ice! The salt also made the ice crack but it didn’t fall apart. 

     We made snow! 
     Another activity we did to explore the cold was making snow!  We made it by using baking soda and hair conditioner. We molded snowballs and crushed the snow between our fingers. We also pretended that we were playing in snow (pillow stuffings.) Our friends threw the snow in the air and watched it fall. Yehonathan and Ella had so much fun rolling around in the snow! Then we added some foam to the snow stuffing, and our friends liked the noise of crushing the little foam pieces under their feet.

     Morah Ora brought some scarves and mittens to our play area. Morah Ora said “It’s freezing in the Peach Room, let’s put on some scarves and gloves!” Our friends took turns to get their scarf and their mittens from the bucket. They even matched the mittens together! What a fun week of winter exploration!

     Can you make a snowflake?
     We used q-tips to create our own snowflake shapes. Madison was focusing while she was using the q-tip, she didn’t even get her hands dirty in paint! Ella, Hailey, and Yehonathan chose to use their hands to create hand print snowflakes.

     We would like to thank Hailey’s mom for giving the Peach Room a wonderful Hanukkah present!

     Dear parents, we can’t wait to see you at parent - teacher conference on Wednesday! 

     Good Shabbos! - Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

Dear Peach Room parents!
This has been a week full of music and celebration in our room. Our friends are singing and dancing to "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel" and "Oh Chanukah". We are marking each day of the festival of lights by having a different friend pretend to be the shamash candle and "light" our tape menorah by adding a piece of colored tape. We also finished our special Chanukah project and sent it home- so hopefully you all received the handmade menorahs your children created in class.

Our explorations continued this week with olives and olive oil. Our friends have been smashing olives to make oil as well as tasting them. Some our friends likes olives, some do not . A project that captured all of the children's attention and interest was creating olive oil lava lamps. They loved pouring water, oil and liquid water color into their bottles and watching what happens. They were enjoying it so much that we decided to have them add beads and pom poms to their lamps and then they explored how they looked on our light table when they were turned over, shaken and left alone for the oil to separate fully and rest at the top.

Our big project this week as we finished learning and celebrating about Chanukah, was making latkes. Our friends washed and peeled potatoes in our sensory table. They took turns helping to grate the potatoes and add the other ingredients. They also took turns mixing and scooping them onto a baking sheet. They were amazing little cooks, we were so impressed! Then we all enjoyed tasting our hard work.

Happy Chanukah and Shabbat Shalom
From Peach room Morahs.

Dear Parents

This week we began to introduce Chanukah through storybooks. The words and concepts we are working on with the children are Chanukah, Menorah and Dreidel. Angie and Madison said, "Menorah" and Yehonathan  said, "Chanukah" very clearly. We are noticing many exciting language developments in all of the children.

Morah Ora created a Menorah on our floor using tape. Our friends will be using this "walk the line" - a fun gross motor activity targeting body awareness, motor planning, balance, coordination and listening skills. We will also use our tape Menorah to mark each day of Chanukah by adding tape candles and flames.

We also explored candle wax through fine motor play with candles and our menorah. We used real candles and they have been practicing placing all eight candles in the menorah as well as the shamash candle. We counted the candles and sorted them by color and broken vs. non-broken. We saved all of our broken candles from this work and our friends created a group collage on canvas using candles and bits of wax and wick.

Another fun art and sensorial experience this week was a group art project using their feet and paint. There was a lot of laughter and excitement and careful dancing because it was so slippery! We have moved our latke cooking into our kitchen area and added a dreidel chair that spins for fun gross motor play. Ella, Yehonathan and Angie couldn't get enough of spinning like dreidels- they loved it! Madison was observing them thoughtfully and decided she wanted to give it a try. It was good experience in turn taking. Our friends love swinging and spinning and it is important to their vestibular development for their sense of balance. And it really is just fun!

We are excited to see everyone at Dreidels for Dads next  Friday morning from 9-10am. Happy Chanukah!

Shabbot shalom

Morah Ora and Morah Goldie.

Thanksgiving is coming!

Dear parents, with fall in the air and Thanksgiving around the corner, this week we use our senses to discover and investigate a pumpkin. Our friends took turns touching the outside of the pumpkin, they noticed that the texture was mostly soft with a few bumpy rough patches around the pumpkin. Then we felt the inside. The texture was completely different!

Spice Exploration
This was a class favorite! We used our sense of smell, sight, and touch to explore and create a scent collage with spices. Our friends had a chance to smell each of the spices. They then decided which ones they wanted to use to create their own scent collage.

Yehonathan preferred the cinnamon, Ella really like the cumin, Angie liked both the color and the scent of the paprika.They experimented using paint and stamp brushes to spread the glue before sprinkling the spice of their choice. We talked about how we use spices when we cook our favorite food at home.

Thanksgiving
Our friends have been practicing using kindness with our friends and Morahs. We talked about the mitzvos that our friends did at home and practiced using mitzvah hands, mitzvah feet, and our mitzvah mouth at school.

Dear parents, we hope to see you at the Thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday at 11:30!

Shabbat Shalom - Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

Dear parents, 

This week our friends did different activities with transportation. Every morning of this week our friends matched the transportation puzzles, specifically Yehonathan enjoyed these puzzles a lot!

Then our friends took their cars to the car wash in our sensory table where there was soapy water and sponges.  Angie and Madison were scrubbing their cars to make sure they were super clean. When our friends were done cleaning their cars they took pretend people for a ride around the classroom.

Another great activity our friends did was painting with cars. They stretched, walked, crossed the middle line, and drove their cars right through the paint during this gross motor activity. We also made our own traffic lights and Morah explained to our friends the safe way to cross the streets.

We would like to thank our kindergarten friends and their Morah for making such a delicious soup to wish us a happy Rosh-Chodesh.

Shabbat shalom! -Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

Dear parents, 

This week in the peach room our friends had so many fun activities with animals. We had farm animals in the sensory table with sand and different size scoopers to find and name them all.

The next day we washed and scrubbed animals with sponges and toothbrushes which our friends enjoyed! With the beautiful weather outside Morah likes to set some activities outside for our other classroom friends to join in and play together with us.

We brought wild animals with white paint and black paper, each friend picked an animal they liked and dipped it in the white paint and then stamped it on the black paper to see the different foot shapes each animal has. We spoke about how animals and people have different shaped feet, some are longer than others, some are wider than others.

This week we learned about Parshas Noah. Morah Ora made a make-shift ark out of a big cardboard box with cut out windows. We took turns peaking through the windows and said hello to our friends and Morah’s. Then Morah added a bridge to our ark. Our friends took turns going inside the ark and balancing their bodies on the bridge. These activities help our friends build some motor skills!

On Friday our friends went outside to play with the animals in the petting zoo! We were so excited to be able to pet our beautiful animals and hear all the different types of sounds they make, and feel how different each animal feels.

The peach room would like to thank Yehonathan for donating the new animals and magnatiles for our friends to play with! Thank you so much!!

Good Shabbos!
Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

Dear parents,
 
This week in the peach room we continued learning and exploring the days of creation. On day five Hashem created sea creatures and birds.

This week we had play-dough birds, butterflies and feathers on the table. Our friends used their imagination to explore different ways of playing with the tools. In the sensory bin we had fish with fishing nets, our friends pretended we were fishing.

On the sixth day Hashem created animals and people. Our friends played with farm and zoo animals as we made the sounds they make, moooo! Rawr! Hashem created such an amazing world! Blue skies, the sun and the moon, millions of twinkling stars, flowers and trees, oceans, sea animals, and of course people.

People can do so many amazing things! We can think, we can build, we can drive cars and fly airplanes. How could it be that people can do all these things? Because Hashem gives us so much strength to do so!

On the seventh day Hashem decided that Shabbat is going to be a day of rest. When Shabbat came everything stopped, and this completes the seven days of creation. With Shabbat the world was now complete.

Every Friday in CJP we get in the Shabbat spirit and we bake challah and sing Shabbat songs. We make special brochos and we have a Shabbat party!  We will continue learning about Shabbat in depth in January, culminating with our Family Shabbat Dinner. Next week we are going to learn about the Parsha of Noah and the animals.

Shabbat shalom! - Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

Dear parents,

Everyday our mornings begin with activities to help our friends practice their fine motor skills as well as hand coordination.

Madison, Ella, and Hailey like to practice their skills in the sensory boxes. They like to open and close them as well as drop the different materials inside. Angie likes to play with puzzles and is ready to use her skills to play with more complex puzzles. Yehonathan likes to count all the materials on the table, which he’s really good at!

In the peach room this week we are continuing to learn about the days of Hashem’s creation. On the third day Hashem created land, trees, and flowers. On Monday we had green play- dough and sticks on the table, all of our friends made pretty green trees!

On Tuesday we made a beautiful art project and we colored with green paint and sand. On Wednesday we made a nature collage on sticky contact paper with flowers, leaves, and sand. Morah is going to hang this beautiful work in the classroom! On Thursday our friends made sensory jars with the moon, sun, and stars.We practiced pouring water from a pitcher to a jar without spilling on the tray!

This week in the sensory bin we had different kinds of animals with sand and grass. We learned that Hashem created animals to live on the land.

Next week we will continue learning about the last few days of creation. 

Thank you!
Shabbat shalom - Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

Hello! We would like to welcome Yehonathan, a new boy that joined our classroom. We are so happy to have him join the CJP family!

     This week we began learning about Parsha Bereshis. We learned that Bereshis is the first word in the Torah and that in this Parsha Hashem created the beautiful world we live in. We made many projects to demonstrate what was created on each day of the week. 

     On day one Hashem created day and night. Our friends used white and black paint to make day and night. In the sensory bin we had black and white beans, as well as little suns, moons, and stars. Our friends enjoyed scooping beans with scoopers and speaking about how we sleep at night time and say Layla Tov to all our friends and family. When it’s light outside we see the sun and we say boker tov. We go to school and play!

     On the second day of creation Hashem created the sea and the sky. The sensory table was filled with blue water, soap (to make some waves), and gel. Our friends had so much fun using their hands to feel the little gel balls in the water. To explore the clouds in the sky morah prepared a fun activity for our friends. She put mirrors on the table with shaving cream and pretty blue stones. Our friends used their hands to create different types of clouds. 

     We also used blue paint and rolling paint brushes to create the sea with waves, and for the sky and clouds we used cotton balls and white paint. We repeated after Morah’s words and said “The sky is white and the sea is blue.” Next week we will continue learning and exploring the days of Hashem’s creation.

Shabbat shalom! - Morah Ora, Morah Goldie :)

Dear Parents,
Welcome back after the high holidays, we are happy to see each other and be back on our regular routine! 

Routines and Schedule
Our friends are growing up and developing new skills every day.  When we start to sing the clean up song our friends right away know to put the toys back where they belong.  Then we start to sign the choo choo train song and everyone know that they need to get their green circles and put them on the floor, sit down on them, and wait for Morah to start davening with them.  Our friends know that before we eat a snack or lunch we need to wash hands with soap.  When it's time to go outside our friends run to the door and knock on the door to make sure everyone in the hallway knows we are coming outside.  When they see their cots ready for them, they know it is time to nap and they get ready to rest.  Creating a predictable routine is so important for children and helps them know what to expect in their environment.  Feel free to look at our visual pictorial schedule that is hanging up outside of our classroom. 

We are very excited to welcome a  new friend to our class next week, Yehonathan!  Morah Goldie will also be joining the peach room as our second Morah.  We can't wait!

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Ora

Greetings peach room parents!

This week in our classroom we continued to explore and learn about Rosh Hashana.  In our dramatic play area we had a fish tank with mr fishy on the table and we practiced doing Tashlich!  DUring Tashlich ,we throw away any of the not so nice things we may have done to the fish and say sorry for any bad things we may have done.   Another fun activity our friends did was matching apples cards by colors and we learned the color red, green, and yellow in English and Hebrew.

Art project:Our friends painted with acrylic paint their own honey jars to bring them home to use for Rosh Hashana.

Sensory exploration:
This week in sensory table we had apples, oats, and scoopers.  Our friends use scoopers to scoop the oats and hide apples with the oats .Then we counted how many apples are in the sensory table and we also counted apples in English and Hebrew.

The sensory table allows our friends to enrich their vocabulary. By adding new materials and allowing them to explore and discover, we learn new words.

We ended our amazing week with sing along with Rabbi Tzvi, shabbos party and glazed honey challah which our friends glazed their challah by themselves with honey .

Thank you everyone for an awesome week.

Shabbat shalom and Shana Tovah .
Morah Ora.

Greeting peach room parents!

Rosh Hashana is almost here...

This week we began Rosh Hashana exploration through the discovery Rosh hashana table.
Our friends took turns looking through the magnifying glass to build their own experience with the material we had on the discovery table.  Our friends blew the shofar and they were so curious about the different sounds each of them could make. We had green and red apples to taste, and we tasted to see which one is sweet and which was sour and then we dipped them in the honey to have sweet new year.

Art Project
Our friends created a beautiful decorations for the class room to bring in Rosha Hashana spirit.  We used paint stamps and stickers.  Our friends had the opportunity to pick the color they like. Angie picked brown, Ella picked yellow, Hailey picked red, and Madison picked purple.  We also made Shana Tova cards for our loving grandparents.  We had so much fun using our apple stamps that we made from real apples .

Sensory table

In our sensory table this week we enjoyed washing apples and practicing the bracha ha-etz before we eat them.  

The Rosh Hashana songs we've been singing this week are:

To the tune of 'The Wheels on the Bus':

"The Shofar in the Shul goes toot-toot-toot
toot-toot-toot toot-toot-toot
The Shofar in the Shul goes toot-toot-toot
on Rosh Hashana morning."

To the tune of 'Oh my Darling Clementine'

Dip the apples in the honey 

Make a bracha loud and clear
L’ashana tova umeasuka 

have a happy sweet NEW YEAR !

Looking forward to next week as we explore more about Rosh Hashana by baking Honey Challah and making our own Honey Jar!

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Ora

This week in the Peach Room we learned all about ourselves.  Each friend had the opportunity to look in to the mirror and look at themselves.  We talked about what color everyone's eyes are and we pointed to our nose, ears, and mouth.  We counted our fingers and toes.  We used paint stamps to stamp our hands and feet on the paper to see the size of our friends hand and feed.

Art Project
Each child created a hand shaped ring holder.  First our friends made a hand print on the clay.  Next, Morah Ora cut out the handprint that they made.  We let it dry and the next day our friends picked different colors to paint them with!

Peach Room Family Tree
 We painted a canvas with coffee filters to create a texture that looks like tree bark for our tree trunk. Our friends used their fingerprints to create leaves for our Peach Room tree.

Sensory Exploration
Our sensory bin was filled with different materials made of different textures and we enjoyed using our hands and fingers to see how each one feels.

Please look at the Facebook Group to see pictures of all of these activities!

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Ora

This first week of school has been a great opportunity for all the teachers and students to start building a foundation of trust to have a successful school year. Exploring new environments and establishing new routines can be scary and take some getting used to. Entering this new journey with love and patience for all is key to success. 

Our friends where so excited to explore all of the centers in the classroom: the sensory bin, kitchen, library, slide and much more. 
Learning where all of the materials go and where each center is and making sure everyone feels loved and safe are our main goals for the next couple of weeks. 
Our friends were also introduced to our classroom pets, Mr fishy-fish and lemon-bird.  Our friends get so excited when they hear the lemon-bird chirp and they repeat after him:) 

From this week, the awesome Rabbi Tzvi has been coming into everybody's classrooms and blowing the shofar so that we can participate in the Mitzvah of hearing the shofar each morning in the month of Elul. We all love to hear the sounds that come from the Shofar. 

Thank you for trusting us to guide your little ones. 
Shabbat Shalom! 
Morah Ora. 

Please see the private CJP Family Facebook Group for more pictures of our week!

Water water everywhere!

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

This week was filled with a ton of sensory exploration! We were able to enjoy some early morning water table play on the patio just outside our room. This play was a little quieter and offered some peaceful green time where our friends were able to go between our indoor and outdoor environment at their own choosing. Gavin liked watering the plants and bushes. Madison poured water from one container to another and loved going from indoors to outdoors all on her own. Shyli explored the most with using water and a paintbrush on the rocks, sidewalk and door. In our larger outdoor environment our friends continued enjoying the sprinkler. Some of our older friends from the purple room noticed the water runoff down the hill and engineered a path for the water to flow down to our sand pit. This quickly became a mud pit and was by far the most rich sensory experience that all of our friends got to enjoy. Rivkale, Gavin and Shyli were fully engaged and ready to splash, wade and wallow. Maddie observed this play and by Tuesday she was sticking her feet in. This is one of the things I love most about our school- this was child lead and such rich play/work for every age! Thank you for providing the swimsuits and towels and patience with muddy stuff coming home! Your children had a blast and experiences that they wouldn’t be getting in many other places. 

We have been observing our butterflies as they grew from caterpillars to chrysalis to butterflies and the sole survivor is ready to take flight. Our friends have diligently gathered food and helped us care for our butterfly. We have been reading and talking about metamorphosis with them as well. 

Morah Sydney was with us for a portion of the week as Morah Ora and Leah were home not feeling well. Refuah Shleima Leah and Ella! We hope you’ll be back with us next week!

As we wrap up our school year, next week will be a short but busy week as we practice for graduation performances, complete our projects and release our butterflies! On Monday school will be closed in observance of Shavuos. Thursday morning you are invited to attend our graduation celebration and our school year will come to a close with 12:30 dismissal. 

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

In Appreciation...of SLEEP!

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

You have shown us your appreciation all week by completely spoiling us with beautiful blooms, delicious snacks of all sorts and extra special supplies for our classroom! Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts! Honestly, what means the most to us is your kind words of appreciation that show us that you understand that what we do every day matters. Please know that we appreciate you too! We appreciate that you trust us to spend such a large part of the day with your precious children. We appreciate that you are balancing demanding work, family and social obligations with the daunting task of raising little humans who still need so much of your time and attention before they come to school each morning and when they leave our classroom every afternoon. And when those little humans aren't sleeping at night, that means that you are losing much needed sleep as well! So, I've dedicated this newsletter to sleep issues. Quick Disclaimer: I am not a sleep expert, but I have a child who had many sleep issues that we've resolved over time through much research and a lot of trial and error. Feel free to try any of the suggestions that you feel might work for you and your family, that being said, every child and family is different. And if your child is a stellar sleeper with no issues, Mazal tov! Please feel free to offer your advice and experience to your fellow Peach Room parents!

Sleep problems in the first few years of life are pretty common. In the period between 18-24 months many children develop night terrors or nightmares and sleep regressions. Some experts think this could be related directly to the fact that toddler's burgeoning independence is in direct conflict with their renewed separation anxiety. This is also a time when your child's body and brain are going through an astounding growth spurt. Sleep can be affected by many other variables: teething, what they're eating and drinking (and how much), their activity level (too much or too little), their temperament, any changes in environment or routine, illness, etc.

Let's start with how much sleep your child should be getting. Children 12 months to 3 years need 12-14 hours of sleep total within any given 24 hour period. Ideally, this would include 1 nap that is 1.5 to 2.5 hours in length and night time sleep of about 11 hours. So, then how do we make sure they get this sleep?! Routine, routine, routine. Establish a routine that you can consistently follow and stick to it.

What does your child's bedtime routine look like? Is it rushed and frantic or haphazard depending on whatever plans or activities you had that night? Some kids have a temperament that allows for flexibility and they can fall asleep anywhere. But if they're suddenly experiencing sleep troubles, it may be time to rethink that routine. Does their bedtime fall within the same 30 minute range each night? It sounds counter-intuitive, but the earlier I put my son to sleep, the longer and sounder he tended to sleep as a toddler and preschooler. Suggested ideal bedtime for children 1-3 years is between 6:30-7:15 pm.    Does their routine include a nightly bath? Our peaches are active and into everything at school both indoors and outdoors. A warm bath is a great way to end each day. If they're really wound up or having a tough time with sleep, you could try adding 1/2 c. Epsom salt and a few drops of food grade soothing lavender oil to their bathwater. The magnesium from the Epsom salts can be absorbed right through the skin and has a calming effect on the nervous system. Follow bath time with a rubdown of their favorite lotion. Who wouldn't want that? Reading a favorite storybook and/or singing a lullaby each night in their bed with them can become a family ritual that brings them comfort before they fall asleep. You might try keeping the house cooler at night or turning on a fan so they can still snuggle under a special blanket or maybe with a lovey or stuffed animal. You could use an old phone or a sound machine to play nature sounds, music or white noise quietly throughout the night in your child's room to help mask sounds that could startle them awake.

Unfortunately, sleep regressions happen regardless of how wonderful or consistent your bedtime routine may be. The good thing is, they're only temporary! Most regressions typically last 3-4 weeks and tend to flair up at 18 months and again around 2 years. These are the weeks you will feel desperate and do almost anything to get your child to back to sleep. You're only human, try to stick to the routine and if you can't, then try not to make any habits developed out of desperation into permanent sleep solutions. This is where consistency comes in to play. Yes, you want to be sensitive to all they are going through, but if you can keep their routine consistent, they will get through the regression MUCH more quickly and smoothly and you will get back to sleep yourself!

The first thought during a regression is to make sure they are getting enough to eat during the day as they could be waking up hungry. Try offering 3 meals and 3 snacks every day. Don't worry, I'm not suggesting you suddenly offer your toddler a midnight snack- lol. Research shows that to get good sleep you should try to eat before 6 pm or at least 2-4 hours before your intended bedtime. The quality of their food is just as important since we know they are at peak cognitive and physical growth periods. Lots of fruits and veggies, plenty of lean, whole proteins, complex carbs, milk and water. Try to avoid too many processed foods with additives/preservatives, artificial colors and flavors and sugar. Their little bodies have a harder time digesting these things and they can have also aggravate sleep issues. If you suspect food sensitivities, talk to your pediatrician and see about having some testing done. If they often seem to be congested or are snoring during sleep, it could be the result of food allergies and can disrupt sleep by causing sleep apnea (yes- kids can have it too).

A second thought during a regression is that they could be cutting teeth. Those pesky incisors and two year molars are not fun! Time to revisit your go-to teething strategies. Maybe it's an amber teething necklace, clove oil or another homeopathic treatment or good old orajel and ibuprofen.

At two years, your toddler may decide to try skipping naps altogether or suddenly decide they need to have you in the room to fall asleep when they've previously been independent. The temptation is to drop the nap. DON'T STOP OFFERING THE NAP! This is typically just a phase that may last as long as 2-3 weeks. The key again is to be consistent! It's the rare case that a 2 year old is really done with needing their nap. Most children need to nap consistently until 3-4 years of age.

A few of you have asked how we get children to nap at school. Our routine is pretty simple. We eat lunch between 12-12:20 everyday. We turn the lights low and put on calming music during lunch to help signify the transition to the next part of our day. Some of our peaches are ready to nap before they eat very much (for those who do this a lot, we offer a heavier morning snack with some of their lunch foods). Some friends pep back up after eating and take a bit more soothing to calm them down enough to sleep. We make the room dark and cool. We position their cots in the same places every day. We play music and we rub/pat backs and tummies and hair, we cover them up and tell them, "Laila tov."  We sit with them until they are asleep. They are usually tired from a busy morning of play and work and an hour of time spent outside in the fresh air. Most are asleep by 12:30-12:45ish. But once in awhile they skip a nap or fight sleep harder after a particularly exciting morning.

I hope that you find any of this information helpful- even just one tidbit! You know your children best, so do what feels right for them and for you!  Happy napping!

Wishing you a restful and joyous Shabbat and a very Happy Mother's Day!
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Reminders:
Monday May 21st- no school in observance of Shavuos!
Thursday May 24th- Last Day of School! Graduation Ceremony (1/2 day)

Welcome Ella and Madison!

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

We officially welcomed Madison and Ella to our class on Tuesday! They will be with us every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Madison had an incredible first week. Refuah Shleimah Ella, we hope you feel better so you can join us again next week. We are so happy to have both girls joining us! Also, we were glad to have Rivkale back with us for the end of the week and feeling much better. Thank you all for bearing with us through the unexpected closure on Tuesday. Our friends were probably very tired when you came to pick them up since it would normally have been their nap time. Thanks again for your patience and understanding.

As we welcomed new friends, I observed tremendous kindness and helpfulness from our older peaches. I watched as they expressed concern when new friends were upset or weren't familiar with where things were kept in our room. Leah was quick to offer them a water or milk bottle, Shyli and Gavin gave pats on the back or head, Rivkale gave hugs and Ronan showed them where we keep lunch boxes. I was humbled by the heart they showed for their new friends.

Conversely, I observed our older peaches looking for some reassurance and extra attention, which is to be expected with any change or transition. I noticed some friends were quicker to express frustration or impatience. Frustration and impatience are perfectly healthy emotions that we all experience, even as adults. This made me think about how we can best support an older toddler who is becoming easily frustrated on a regular basis? Do we swoop in and rescue them? Do we jump into action to appease their demands? Can we stand to see some tears of frustration even through a transition we anticipated or a reasonable request? Or do we give them a moment?  Do we wait and watch before automatically intervening?  Do we teach them to breathe through that swell of big emotion? What is our goal for their particular stage of development?

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development identify the stage from birth to 18 months as Trust vs. Mistrust. So for our younger friends, it would be 100% appropriate and necessary to respond swiftly to any physical and emotional needs. But around 18 months to 3 years, Erikson identifies this stage of development as Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. This shift can often be difficult for caregivers and parents. In my own experience as a parent, I had difficulty recognizing when my own son was capable as a toddler. He was a high need and intense infant which meant my focus was on meeting his needs to establish trust and security.  But by continuing to do things for him that he was capable of doing for himself, because it was faster or because I couldn't tolerate his extreme frustration with simple tasks, I was unintentionally robbing him of valuable problem solving experiences and contributing to some learned helplessness. What he taught me was that building frustration tolerance is a vital skill that can and should be learned by every child. I'm happy to report he caught up in this regard, that's one of the many wonderful things about the resiliency of children. But it took a concerted effort on our part to encourage and assure him and to build his confidence so that he could find joy in learning new things and mastering new skills. In our classroom an example of how we might try to foster this skill would look something like this: Child is sitting down with their shoes and starts to cry or yell out in frustration. Morah might say, "It looks like you're really frustrated right now, if you need some help with your shoes, you can say, "Help!" or  "Help please, Morah." Help is given when it is requested. Learning to ask for help is the first step. How many adults struggle with asking for help? I know I do sometimes. Once they have mastered asking for help, the next step is giving them help through verbal cues and minimal physical assistance through each step (scaffolding or building each step in that skill). Think of yourself as a coach. Walk them through the skill step by step, model it, then ask them to try it themselves. Reassure them that they can do it. Offer narration and praise for every bit of progress made. Then exclaim, "Look, you did it!" and watch their face light up. Part of the beauty of Reggio is that it honors how capable children really are. We want to raise problem solvers, so we need to give them as many opportunities as possible to face problems by offering our support and encouragement rather than doing it for them so that they realize they're capable too!

In the classroom this week we continued exploring the big idea of Spring: flowers and bugs, as we celebrated Lag BaOmer Thursday. Morah Ora brought us a surprise on Tuesday...a new bird for our classroom. "Guy", as we have named him, is a finch and our friends have loved watching him as he has been very active. Wednesday we read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and played a game reenacting the story as we practiced our fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills. We observed live caterpillars that will be with us throughout their metamorphosis from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. They've already fattened up quite a bit throughout this week! Another fun fine motor/hand-eye coordination activity that captured our friends attention this week was threading silk flowers through colanders. Then we painted using sunflowers and stamping them onto paper. Some of our friends enjoyed the sensation of the paint on their hands and we extended this provocation into some finger painting. Other friends did not care for the sticky feeling the paint left on their hands and were ready to wash up after they stamped their paint with the flowers.

We are incredibly grateful for our outdoor environment as we had some seriously gorgeous spring weather to enjoy all week! The cooler temperatures did put a damper on our plans for water play this week- it was a bit too cool in the mornings, but we aren't complaining! Next week the forecast looks to be more typical for May in Arizona and we should be back on schedule for some water fun, so please bring your children in their water clothes and sunscreen! On the days we do water play, we will send suits/clothes home to be laundered and worn again the next day.

Thank you for sharing your children with us each week! We so appreciate the trust you place in us!

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Animal Encounters

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

What an exciting week it has been! This week provided many rich opportunities for our friends to experience and interact with a variety of animals. A big, huge "Thank you!" to Morah D in the Purple Room for going above and beyond to bring these animals into our classrooms to share!

Monday our friends met Brownie, Morah D's dog and Trevor, Morah Felicia's guinea pig. They loved petting the soft fur of these mammals and even getting puppy kisses and sniffs. We talked about what these animals eat and compared whether they were loud or quiet. Tuesday we observed fish in a large new aquarium. Our friends helped feed them and watched them swim around. We read, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" with our friends from the purple room. Wednesday we had a visit from some ducklings and baby chicks. We got to listen to the sweet little chirps and quacks they made. Each friend had to opportunity to hold a duckling in their hand as well as act as a perch for a chick. Our friends were so brave and especially delighted in interacting with the ducklings. Thursday was reptile exploration. Morah Ora brought in two very mellow tortoises who enjoyed a snack from the CJP vegetable garden. Morah D brought in two feisty little green lizards, who hilariously, would play dead every few minutes by turning on their backs and lying completely still with their mouths open. This was entertaining to our friends and got many giggles. Finally, we ended our week with some creepy crawly creatures. Two fat green hook worms, two hissing cockroaches, an earthworm and some crickets. Our friends were fascinated with these creatures. We've noticed most of our friends expressing an interest and enthusiasm for insects and bugs in both our indoor and outdoor environments so we are going to let them lead us on a more extensive exploration of insects and bugs in the coming weeks! Shyli is an expert bug spotter and will always exclaim, "It's a bug!" to let us all know!

We are continuing to enjoy water play outdoors with the warmer temperatures in full force this week! For next week, please bring your child to school already dressed in their water play clothes with sunscreen applied. Please also bring a hand towel or a child sized terry cloth robe/swim cover up. We will not be doing water play on Fridays.

Next week we are excited to be welcoming Madison and Ella to our Peach Room class! They are coming to us from the Yellow Room. Morah Anna will also being joining us to help ease their transition.

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Wish List:
Plastic Spoons
Clorox Wipes
Gallon Drinking Water
Thank you Felicia and Ruben for the drinking water this week! Our friends appreciated it as they are all drinking more with the warmer weather!

Good Bye Guy!

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

This week we learned all about dental health! The magic number was two. Our friends learned that they can take care of their teeth by brushing them with toothpaste twice a day- once in the morning and once at night for two minutes. That the dentist is a doctor that helps to keep their mouth and teeth healthy and they should visit the dentist twice a year for a cleaning and a check up.

Some of the fun projects we did this week were brushing laminated paper "teeth" to clean off the dry erase marks or "sugar bugs" using real toothpaste and toothbrushes. Our peaches loved the dental set with clay and play dough! Then they brushed their own teeth with brand new tooth brushes and took turns using a mirror. We counted our teeth in the mirror too. As we worked we talked about brushing on the top and bottom, in their cheeks, and all the way in the back and even their tongue. And finally, they enjoyed painting with toothbrushes. This was a quick exploration of important self care (although they probably all still require your help or supervision to brush teeth)!  We sang songs and read books all about brushing teeth and going to the dentist.

Today we wished our friend, Guy, farewell. He and his family are moving back to Israel. We made a cake together this morning and our Shabbos Sing a long and party were in his honor. We will miss our good friend but we wish him well in all of his new adventures!

Next week we will be learning all about animals as pets. We will be joining the other classrooms to experience a real live pet each day! Please bring a picture of your child's favorite pet, it could be a relatives pet if you do not have your own or even a stuffed animal! We will be sharing them as a group.

Don't forget, the Book Fair begins Monday with Breakfast and a Book from 8-9 am if you want to bring your child. Wednesday from 4:30-5:30 there will be Popcorn and PJ's for Story time as well. 

Thank you for another wonderful week of learning and fun! Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Wish List:
Plastic Spoons
Drinking Water

Welcome Back!

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

Welcome back, we hope you enjoyed some time off with your families! Our peaches were so happy to be back together and we started off our week with lots of very sweet hugs hello!

After being away for just over a week, our friends eased back into their school routine smoothly. We kept our focus on interactions and gentle reminders to help support them through this. Although we did not work on any big projects, there were many opportunities for exploration and experimentation through both fine and gross motor provocations.

 Our friends explored a gross motor provocation with bubble wrap using their hands, feet, shopping carts and rolling pins. They walked, ran, jumped, squatted and sat on the bubble wrap. The shopping carts were most effective at giving that satisfying snap, crackle and pop they loved so much!

Fine motor explorations continued with loose parts play. It is fascinating to see what pieces capture their attention and how they find new ways to create with different combinations of objects. They also worked with clay this week. Exploring the cool temperature and smooth yet sticky texture, we used pipe cleaners, sticks and animals as our friends manipulated this unique material. Clay is also a great material for really building that hand dexterity too because it is much stiffer than play dough.

Water play dominated our week's sensory explorations both inside our classroom and, with the warmer temperatures, we were able to start offering water play in our outdoor environment again! Thank you for providing swim clothes/shoes for your child to participate! We will send them home with their nap bags at the end of each week if you want to leave them at school. As the temperatures become consistently warmer,please bring your child already dressed in water clothes with sunscreen applied, as we will be adjusting our schedule to go outside earlier in the morning.

You are all invited to our CJP's Open House and Petting Zoo this Sunday 4/15/2018 from 3-5 pm in our outdoor environment. Please spread the word and feel free to invite friends with preschool age children who might be looking for a Preschool for Fall. There will be a ton of fun outdoor activities including art, live animals, a small taste test of our garden vegetables and lots more! Hope to see you there!

Thank you for sharing your little ones with us everyday!
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Wish List:
Plastic disposable spoons
Gallons of drinking water
A very special thank you to Adina and Michael for always donating items!

Upcoming Events:
Sunday April 15- CJP Open House 3-5 pm
Monday April 23- Book Fair Breakfast (bring your child for books and breakfast) 8-9am
Wednesday April 25-Book Fair Popcorn and PJ's from 4:30-5:30pm

Pesach Preparations

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

As we continued preparation for Pesach, there was much to explore and investigate this week. Our focus was on the Seder meal and the meaning of each element included in this special meal. Morah Ora created individual Seder plates for each child to match like a puzzle.

Our friends also made grape juice using mallets and smashed the grapes as we talked about how we drink four cups of juice/wine with the Seder. The mallets were loud when they accidentally struck the table rather than the grapes. Some friends liked this sensation and continued doing it purposely, while others covered their ears and preferred using their fingers to pinch. Then they literally got to enjoy the fruits of their labor and drank the grape juice!

Our friends also explored the taste of the bitter maror as well as celery dipped in salt water and Morah Ora explained that this was meant to remind us of the tears and hardships experienced by the Jewish people while in Egypt and as they made their way across the desert. Their reactions were so funny: some friends made funny faces as they bit into the maror while others really liked the taste of salt. Celery was a bit more familiar to most of our friends and some enjoyed the taste.

We continued to taste test Matzah this week as well. By the end of the week, when we hid the Afikoman, and they took turns finding it, they were all exclaiming, “Matzah!”

Next week our class will be joining the rest of the preschool for a Seder. Valley Metro Transportation will be coming to give us a tour of a bus and we will tie in a brief exploration of transportation with Pesach for the shortened week. There will be no school on Thursday or Friday or the following week as we are on break for Pesach.

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey


Wish List Items:

Plastic disposable spoons
Gallons of drinking water to refill water cups

Pesach

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

We continued our exploration of Pesach with another action packed week. Our friends are creating their own pillows for Pesach. They started this project by painting the fabric this week using brushes and then painting their hands to make prints and finally just painting with their hands as they explored the tools, texture and colors. Next week they will finish by stuffing their pillows. Another highlight this week was making homemade matzah. Each friend poured water onto their tray of flour, mixing it together to create dough. Some friends enjoyed the sticky texture while mixing the ingredients with their hands. Other friends did not so they opted to use a fork or spoon. Once their dough was ready, they rolled it into a ball and patted it. Then they took turns using our rolling pin to get it nice and thin. Morahs helped them move their matzah dough to our baking paddles and they each got a turn to put it into our matzah "oven". We counted to five in English and then in Hebrew and the matzah was magically baked for them to taste! Most friends seemed to enjoy their matzah though they did ask for water. We had an impromptu snack in our dramatic play kitchen complete with kiddush cups. One friend did not care for his matzah at all, saying, "Yucky!" and trying to scrape it off his tongue. He went to get a drink of water to wash it down. It's always interesting to see their reactions to trying things. All of our friends enjoyed the process and worked hard on this project.

Friends are continuing to explore the concept of constructing pyramids in two areas of our room: our sensory table with wet sand and trays/containers for brick making and also our block area with duplos and cardboard builders. They loved building duplo pyramids and then knocking them down over and over!

We are noticing more and more how the friendships have developed within our class. It is truly incredible to watch as they greet one another and us each morning, especially after an absence. They notice and ask about friends who are not at school. They help each other with simple tasks. They love to dance and play together. They are quite simply amazing little people!

Wishing you a joyful Shabbat!

Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Wish List:
Plastic spoons

Introducing Pesach (Passover):

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

This week we began exploring the holiday, Pesach or Passover. We worked on cleaning our room and talked about the importance of cleaning away all of the Chametz or bread and breadcrumbs and other foods with yeast in preparation for Pesach. Our friends swept floors and scrubbed tables and washed trays.

In the sensory table this week we mixed sand and water and added ice cube trays to make bricks to build pyramids. We talked about how Pharaoh promised the Jews presents if they came to Egypt to help him build the pyramids. But he was mean and didn’t keep his promise. So they worked so hard and were not treated well. Hashem punished Pharoah and the people of Egypt by sending plagues- frogs, bugs, sicknesses and the brave Moshe stood up to Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go!” The Jewish people were finally able to leave Egypt! While they traveled through the desert they did not have time to use yeast and wait for their bread to rise and so Matzah was created from flour and water and it baked on their backs as they were traveling out of Egypt.

In dramatic or pretend play we opened a Matzah bakery and all of our friends have been enjoying taking turns making matzah in our special matzah oven.  Our friends have enjoyed listening to music and reading books about the story of Pesach this week as well.

We are continuing to work on social skills such as asking for a turn or a toy before grabbing it. Using statements like “Turn please?” Or “My work/turn” if someone is attempting to grab something they have. We are encouraging the children to use words to express if they don’t like something that a friend is doing to them “Stop” and/or “I don’t like that.” We starting to work a little bit on personal space as well, “Move please.” or “Space.” It is typical behavior at age 1 and 2 for our friends to get frustrated trying to negotiate these things without the necessary verbal skills. This can sometimes be overwhelming for them. We will often see hitting, grabbing and sometimes biting at this stage in their development. Morahs are there to help give them alternatives to these unwanted behaviors.

As always, thank you for sharing your children with us and for all of the support at home. We hope you have a restful and wonderful weekend!

Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

The Power of "No"

Greetings Peach Room Parents,

Happy Purim! Spirit Week was a huge success- our friends were adorable in their pj's, with their crazy hair and in their costumes! Thank you for helping them participate. This morning we celebrated Purim CJP style with a performance from Lovely Buttons the clown, a masquerade parade, lots of outdoor time with a bouncy house and face/hand painting. We sent home all of the Purim projects our friends worked hard on creating- masks, graggers, crowns etc.

In other classroom news this week, we are noticing an exciting social/emotional development in several of our friends. Maybe you have noticed it too...they are starting to use the word "No". Why do I use the word exciting to describe this development when it's often viewed as the onset of the terrible two's? Well, I find it exciting because it's normal and expected in typically developing children and it is an important developmental milestone. It signifies their development of sense of self, separate from the important adults in their lives and also a burgeoning development of independence and autonomy. Of course we want our children to be respectful, but does that mean they should always be compliant? When I child says "No" what they are really telling us is,"please give me more choices, I'm ready". The ability to make choices is an important executive function we want to help them grow and develop. It also shows they trust the adults in their lives enough to test this out. Sometimes this resistance can be a sign they want your attention and a better sense of connection. So how do we best navigate this?

Connect with them. Slow down for even just 10-15 minutes a day and meet them in their world, at their pace doing something they enjoy. Let them lead the interaction and give them your full and undivided attention. Then, when that "No." inevitably comes, you can take a deep breath and be thankful they trust you because you've built that connection strong.

 We can also help support them by avoiding yes or no questions and giving them lots of choices throughout the day at school and at home. At this age and stage, giving two acceptable options is developmentally appropriate and shouldn't overwhelm our friends. Let them choose between two outfits, two breakfast options, two lunch options...whenever you can, let them choose. If mornings are hectic, let them choose the night before. By taking that extra time to allow them to choose insignificant things now, you are giving them much needed practice for the more important decisions they must make as they grow older.

For tasks you know they do not like try to give a small choice about when it gets done to avoid the dreaded power struggle. For example, "Friends, do you want to clean up for snack now or in 5 minutes?" They may still complain or start to refuse and you can remind them, "Oh you chose 4 minutes and it's been 5 minutes so now it's time to clean up." Or set a timer and take yourself out of the equation, "The timer says it's time to clean up!"

 There will be times where there really is no choice and we need to set firm limits for safety or sanity's sake. Say for instance a child is throwing food, "The food stays on the table or in your mouth. If you throw food, you are showing us you are all done." The natural consequence follows that their food goes away if they choose to throw it again and we might say something like, "All done. We can try again the next time we eat."

For a playful approach, you can also try making "No" into a game. When one of our friends was saying "No" about everything, I started asking them really crazy questions like, "Do you want bugs/worms/rocks for snack?" to which they squealed and exclaimed, "No!" This gave them a chance to tell me no repeatedly and in a clearly teasing way much to their delight. Then I threw in questions like, "Do you want cookies for snack?" just to see if they would catch themselves automatically saying "No!" This friend caught it and then laughed and yelled, "Cookies!"

"No" is a very powerful word and so is the way in which we respond to it. Thanks for reading and for being such kind and supportive parents.

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Parts and Purim

Greetings Peach Room Parents!

Our friends were all so happy to see each other after the long weekend apart. We also welcomed a new friend to our class this week. Welcome Lincoln, we are so happy to have you join us! We are continuing our exploration of Purim this week. Our friends are now much more familiar with the story and Guy even said, "Haman, Booo!" when we were reading one of our stories this week.

In art we have been continuing work and adding the finishing touches on our class contribution to the Purim Art Auction. We have created a large tile trivet and a set of four unique tile coasters. Our friends did all of the coloring using sharpies on tiles and today they added the alcohol solution using eye droppers for some excellent fine motor practice. The result is a tie-dyed effect. This project turned out gorgeous! Please consider bidding on our project or one of the many other beautiful works from CJP classrooms to support Chabad of the East Valley. Our friends also created Purim crowns this week using stickers and crayons, so we will be ready for next week's celebrations!

In our sensory table this week we have been washing dishes. This is a favorite activity and when we added it to the small sink in dramatic play, there was not enough space for all of our friends who wanted to participate. So we moved it to the sensory table in response to their enthusiasm.

Our friends have been showing us just how creative and industrious they can be this week with some loose parts play in our construction area. Loose parts are reusable, often re-purposed materials that can be taken apart and put back together in many ways without any specific set of instructions. Loose parts offer limitless possibilities for experimentation, exploration, construction and play. These passive objects invite children to actively imagine what to do with them if given the time and opportunity to explore. In our room this week's parts included pine cones of varying sizes and types, pool noodles sliced in half, sticks, cans, bottles and small blocks. Loose parts play is open ended and child led with constant supervision as we will often include metal and glass items as well as objects of all sizes. We encourage you to take a peek in your junk drawers and recycling bins to see what collection of "treasures"you can discover for your child to explore at home. Start small with maybe 3-5 objects. As long as you are available to supervise and explore with your child, there is really not much that's off limits. We set the limit of "Not for your mouth." to avoid choking hazards. Take pictures or record their work and see what beautiful stuff can be created from your junk!

Next week is Purim Spirit Week:
Monday- Pajama Day
Tuesday- Backwards Day
Wednesday- Crazy Hair Day
Thursday- Mismatched Day
Friday- Grand Costume Masquerade (please send your child to school in their costume with a change of clothes for later) there will be a clown performing, a bouncy house and some treats to share.

Wishing you a restful Shabbos,
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Introducing Purim

Greetings Peach Room Parents,

What a wonderful and wet week we had! In addition to playing in the rain and really breaking in that new mud kitchen in our outdoor classroom, we began our exploration of Purim this week. We began by introducing the main characters of the Megillah: King Achashverosh, Queen Vashti, Haman, Queen Esther and Mordechai through finger puppets, dancing and storybooks. "Purim Masquerade" by Samara Q. Klein was a class favorite. They each got to take a turn "reading" it to us by trying on the different pages which are masks.

In dramatic play, Morah Ora created a castle and we have added more dress up clothes. They have all had great fun playing dress up and looking at themselves in the mirror inside our castle.

Our friends explored rice, lentils and beans in our sensory table this week. Using funnels and bottles, they each created a gragger or noisemaker. They added some liquid water colors to the rice and some play gems. We practices shaking our graggers to make noise whenever they hear the name Hamman.

During davening, we give tzedakah, but this week we talked about how this is one of the four mitzvos of Purim. We touched on the other three mitzvos: hearing the Megillah, sending food gifts to friends and hosting a festive meal. We will continue to explore more about Purim in the next couple of weeks.

Our friends also began work on a group art project for the Purim Art Auction. I will leave it a surprise, but I can tell you that it was exciting to see how our friends pen/pencil grasps have progressed. A big "Thank You!" to those families who have so generously donated the outdoor or water play items for our Peach Room Purim auction basket. There is still time to donate your $5-10 item if you have not already brought something to contribute. Our art project as well as this basket will be up for auction at our Purim India Celebration on Saturday March 11th. Tickets to this event are still available. We hope to see you there!

Enjoy the long weekend with your families!

Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Wishlist items:
Plastic Spoons
Clorox Wipes
small dixie cups or bowls
Gallons of water to refill children's water bottles

"There's Only One You"

Greetings Peach Room Parents,

This week we did a brief exploration of rocks incorporating the storybook, "There's Only One You" by Linda Kranz. The book is about parents sharing their wisdom with a child on how to make the world a better place. The rock fish characters in this gorgeously illustrated book share words to comfort and guide their fish as he swims through life. We read this book several times.

Our friends worked on collecting rocks from our outdoor environment to bring into our indoor classroom. They compared sizes and shapes and textures and colors of the rocks. Leah and Shyli even compared how the rocks tasted. They worked on painting the rocks over several days and then we took their creations back outside to add to the CJP rock garden alongside the other classroom's painted rocks. We now have a colorful and collaborative sea of rock fish. Each rock exemplifying each child's own unique contribution.

Other exciting news in our outdoor environment, the new sand play area and mud kitchen are now open! Our peach room friends have particularly enjoyed going out a bit early to have some time with these new features before their older friends join them. They love it!

Have a restful Shabbos,
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Making Connections & Celebrating Our Roots

Greetings Peach Room Parents,

This week we completed our Peach Room Family Tree and it's now on display next to our documentation board in the hallway. Our friends also created a beautiful collage using clear contact paper, flowers and leaves. You can see it displayed in our window where it makes a lovely sun catcher. As we were doing this work, friends were able to explore the many colors, textures and scents from the flowers and their leaves and stems. We talked about the different parts of the flowers- stem, leaves and petals. They experimented with pulling the materials up and re-sticking them in a different position. A few friends really liked the way the sticky paper felt on their hands. Also in our hallway by the bench outside our room you may notice their paintings. These were created by using a flower as a stamp or paintbrush. Again we explored the scent and texture of the flowers using paint as a medium. Some friends focused on using one color at a time, others liked to see what happened when they mixed the colors together. We noticed they were switching colors and flower paintbrushes mostly independently, needing few verbal cues from us. This was a proud moment to see their cooperation. Gavin was asking for the color paint he wanted correctly by name. Shyli, Guy and Ronan pointed to colors. Leah new most colors or would offer her flower paintbrush in trade for the one she wanted. 
 
Some of our friends are experiencing a real bloom in their language development, proudly picking up and naming familiar items in our room or pointing and naming the color of something they see. We are even noticing some 2-3 word sentences. This is so exciting to hear! We are encouraging this growth by repeating back to them, "Yes, you're holding a yellow banana."  and then asking a question like, "Do you like to eat banana's?" In play, work and provocations we try to ask more open ended questions where we don't already have an answer in mind or there isn't a "correct" answer we expect from them. In supporting language development, it's more about extending the conversation at their level. You probably already do this with your children at home without even really thinking about it. Try making a game out of it. See how many question and answer exchanges you can get them to do before they lose interest. You will not only be encouraging them to flex their expanding vocabularies, you are teaching them the art of reciprocal speech or conversation.

Thank you to those of you who were able to join us for the Grandparents Day Celebration! It was so special for our friends to feel that family connection here at school. We truly are so blessed to have such a warm community at CJP!

Wishing you all a restful Shabbos,
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Tu B'Shvat

Greetings Peach Room Parents,

We began exploring Tu B'Shvat, or the New Year for Trees, this week. Friends have been working on an ongoing group project. They are creating their own Peach Room Family Tree. Everyday we add some more to our tree as we talk about the different parts of the tree- roots, trunk & bark, branches, and leaves. They explored different textures and mediums in this collage work. Our friends began by painting our cardboard tree all together. Then they added some bark that we found on our playground. They glued tissue paper and sticks to create real branches with leaves. Look for more details to be added next week and we will display their finished artwork near our documentation board in the hallway.

In our sensory table this week we have soil with seeds and beans. We introduced the idea of planting a seed or a bean that will grow into something bigger. Each friend planted a seed in a clear glass jar. They have been watering them and checking the progress of their plants. As we do this we talk about all of the things that plants and trees need to grow healthy- soil, sunlight to make their own food and water. Hopefully they will be able to see some roots next week. Their plant will be a gift for their grandparent or special person at our Grandparents Day Celebration next Wednesday morning. Our friends actually expanded this work by adding some animals to the soil and it evolved into some fantastic imaginary play.

Our outdoor classroom has provided so many opportunities for exploration and discovery. With the addition of the tree trunk stumps, not only are our peaches enjoying some challenging gross motor play- climbing, stepping, balancing, etc. They are learning to take risks. Risk taking is an integral part of a child's work that sometimes comes with a few scrapes and bruises. It has been interesting to watch their individual approaches. Shyli and Leah have no fear, they both just goes for it! Guy and Gavin took a slightly more cautious approach, experimenting first with climbing from stump to stump on hands and knees before deciding to try standing upright. Ronan climbed up and stood, then immediately reached for a Morah's hand to before attempting to step to another stump. Caleb climbed right up when he saw the older children playing, but decided he wanted more space than they were giving him. He went back and attempted this again on a day when we came out earlier than the other classes so that he could go at his own pace. Angie has observed play on the stumps but not yet attempted it. This is a very valid form of play in itself. We can learn much by observing others. It will be interesting to see how they each progress in their play!

On Wednesdays, our peaches will be participating in the Parsha of the week with Morah Kayla and Morah Gitty in our outdoor classroom. This week's Parsha was the story of Moshe splitting/parting the Sea. Our Purple and Peach room friends worked together to construct a bridge using the large building blocks over the pool. Friends pumped and transported water to fill the pool which was to be the sea. Morah Ora added blue paint and sea creatures and fish. Then all of our friends gathered around to hear the Parsha from Morah Kayla. Each friend took a turn crossing the sea over and over.

Another fun outdoor activity this week was digging for worms. Morah Ora filled the pool with sand and water and then added cooked linguine "worms". Our friends got to practice using their fine motor skills with tweezers to pick the worms up and put them in buckets. Everyone enjoyed pretending the wiggly, sqiggly pasta were actually worms! We talked about how worms can help plants grow because when they create their underground tunnels it allows a little bit of air to reach the roots of the plants.

That is all for this week! If  you haven't already interviewed grandparents in person/via email or Skype and submitted their responses to Masha, please do so by Monday so that she can have things prepared for our Grandparents Day Celebration. That will be held from 9:30-10:30 am Wed. 1/31. We look forward to seeing you and or their grandparents or special people there!

Thank you,
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Shabbat Shalom!

Greetings Peach Room Parents,

Our friends have been busy making final preparations for our annual CJP Family Shabbos Dinner, that will be tonight at 5:15. They worked so hard on completing their Shabbos Box projects which will be on display tonight and ready to be sent home with them on Monday. As Morahs, we provided the provocations and materials for each of these projects, but they are truly the product of your child's creativity, preferences and work. Each one turned out so uniquely and beautifully, we are proud of their hard work and hope you will be too!

Our two big projects this week were creating challah covers and Kiddush cups. The challah covers were a multiple day project as we explored and experimented with different techniques for tie-dying the fabric. We started out trying eye droppers which is great fine motor practice, but proved a little tricky for most of our friends. They began to dip their fabric squares into the different colored dyes. This was effective, but didn't quite create the desired effect of multiple colors. So we found some small squeeze bottles for them use. This worked beautifully to allow them to experiment with colors  as well as providing a fine motor activity to help strengthen those little hands!

Our friends worked on creating their Kiddush cups using a lot of glitter and modge podge. This was very sticky work so thank you for your patience if your child brought some sparkles home with them on their clothes or in their hair. Friends could choose between blue glitter or purple. Some used a brush to spread it onto the stem while others decided to tip them upside down and watch gravity take its course as the glitter combination dripped.

This morning our friends will be making cupcakes as our contribution to the Shabbos Dinner. Cooking in the classroom provides so many opportunities for turn taking, measuring, stirring...it is the ultimate science experiment. They enjoy group cooking/baking experiences. We hope those of you who are coming tonight enjoy the finished product!

In addition to all of the wonderful work they are doing inside, our outdoor classroom has expanded. Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who came out to help with those efforts during the Family Yard Day! Friends enjoyed helping to plant our new garden this week. The water pump was repaired so water and mud play was available once again. So many choices! If you haven't already, please send in some extra play shoes and clothes you don't mind getting muddy and we are happy to change them for outdoor classroom.

Due to family obligations Morah Ora will not be able to attend this evening's dinner. Morah Lindsey has a prior obligation at her son's school. We are sorry to miss this special dinner, but hope to attend next time! A big " Toda!" or Thank you for your fulfilling all of our wishlist items! It is very much appreciated!

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Upcoming CJP Events:
Family Shabbos Dinner Friday January 19, 2018
Grandparents Day Celebration Wednesday January 31, 2018

Introducing Shabbat

This week in the Peach Room our friends began to explore concepts related to Shabbat. Morah Ora explained that after Hashem worked so hard to create our beautiful world he needed to rest on the seventh day. Shabbat is an important time to rest, pray and spend time with our families and loved ones at the end of each week. We don't go to school or work. We might bathe and brush our hair and wear our nice dress clothes. A big feast is prepared. We light the candles and say a blessing called Kiddush over the grape juice and Challah bread. As a class we also read several storybooks including, '1,2,3 Shabbat", "Shalom Shabbat- A Book for Havdalah" and "My First Shabbat Board Book".

We started our week by painting our Shabbos Boxes. As our friends were working we noticed their preferences in tools and colors. Guy preferred green to all other colors and covered his entire box with paint. Gavin liked orange at first, but then enjoyed mixing all of the colors and using his hands rather than the paint brushes or rollers. Shyli also enjoyed experimenting with the texture of the paints on her skin and how the colors changed when mixed. Caleb chose his favorite color, blue, and used the sponge applicator once he determined the paint brushes weren't as efficient at covering his box. Angie chose orange and definitely preferred using a brush as she didn't like the feeling of paint on her hands. Leah mixed all of her colors and loved using a combination of brushes, rollers, sponges and her hands to apply the paint. Ronan wanted to paint the inside and outside of his box with a brush and he chose mostly green paint as well. This was a fun and messy project they all enjoyed!

This week we worked on using their pincer grasp. Pincer grasp is an important fine motor skill used for day to day things like gripping a pencil or using silverware. We started out by using hand over hand to help them place the cranberries or raisins on the "challah" loaves using fingers, then worked up to using plastic tweezers. By the end of the week it was exciting to see most of them had mastered some level of this skill. We extended this provocation by helping them count the raisins both in English and Hebrew. Then they were rewarded by eating them- yum!

Today we worked with friends to create their candle holders for their Shabbos boxes. In the sensory table they scooped colored sand in to small glass jars. Again, they selected the colors, order and how much sand they wanted to use as they layered it into their jars. We asked them to tell us which colors they wanted and which they were using as we worked. Then they helped squeeze glue onto the top and stick the foil funnel into the sand and glue, completing their candle holders! While this project was related to Shabbos, our big idea, we also worked on hand-eye coordination and learning colors. They turned out beautifully and we can't wait to send them home once their Shabbos Boxes are complete!

With so many friends not feeling well this week, Morahs have been working to disinfect our classroom and toys. We want to wish Refuah Shlaima to all our friends who are still home sick, we miss you and hope to see you back next week!

Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Upcoming Events:
Family Yard Day Sunday 1/14 starting at 12:30pm
Shabbos Dinner Friday 1/19 starting at 5:15 pm
Grandparents Day Wednesday 1/31 starting at 9:30am

Wish List Items:
Gallons of drinking water to refill children's water cups
Clorox wipes
Plastic spoons and forks

Raising Readers and Sensory Adventures

Our Peaches were happy to be reunited after a week away over the break and they were happy to help a new friend learn our schedule and routine as we welcomed Gavin to our class. It was such a smooth transition and they all did so amazingly well!
   
We have been working on concepts of letters and numerals. We practice counting our fingers in English and in Hebrew as well as using puzzles and counting pegs. You may have noticed that the first Hebrew letters of each of their names have been added to the backs of their chairs as well as to the backs of their laminated mitzvah notes. Children begin to recognize symbols and attach meaning to those symbols at an early age. Some of our friends can already recognize the first letters of their names and we are working on this with the rest of the class. We reference the printed alphabet in English and Hebrew as we sing the songs daily during davening. They are all naturally very curious about print and enjoy being read to and pointing out letters or pictures of things they recognize. Several of our friends will "read" familiar books to us. You can encourage their joy and curiosity at home by reading to them or letting them "read" to you. It sounds simple and perhaps obvious, but children really do become readers in the laps of their parents! Start with short books that have bright and interesting pictures and see what adventures you can experience together! If you have a favorite book at home you enjoy reading together, feel free bring it in to share and a Morah will read it to the group.
       
Other aspects of our classroom the children particularly enjoyed this week were the sensory table. They washed and dried the baby dolls and they rescued sea creatures with their fishing nets. Many of them also loved taking a dip in the ball pit or spinning in the blue chair. We strive to provide a sensory rich environment and we do need a few minutes each morning to prepare the room before your children arrive. We kindly request that you please arrive no earlier than 9:00 am. We do offer before care as early as 7:30 am. If this is something you are interested in, please ask Masha for more details. Thanks so much for your understanding! And thank you for all you do at home with your children and for your support of their work here at school. We appreciate you and it is a joy teaching them!
                 
Morah Ora and Morah Lindsey

Upcoming CJP Events:
Family Yard Day January 14th
Shabbos Dinner January 19th
Grandparents Day January 31st

Wish List:
Jugs/Gallons of Water to refill the children's water bottles
Paper bowls for lunch warm ups
Clorox Wipes
Plastic Grocery Bags for Dirty Diapers