Winter and Arctic Animals

Dear Families,

This week we continued exploring concepts of winter.

Learning Through Books

We read more books about winter and snowflakes. Our favorite book was Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone. Not only did the morahs read this book to our friends,  we heard the audio version as well. Our friends were so focused and quite while listening the story.

         

Early Literacy Activity

Our friends were greeted with a set table of gloves and mittens alongside blue and white paints.They eagerly tried on the gloves working hard to fit their tiny fingers into them.

Then, they slowly dipped their gloves in the paint and stamped it on the paper. The slow stamping turned into fast moving hands on the paper as they mixed the colors and felt the cold paint seep through the glove creating a wonderful sensory exploration.

Arctic Animals Exploration

In the sensory bin this week we had arctic animals with snow, which we made from baking soda mixed with hair conditioner and ice. It was freezing cold!

 

We spoke about animals that live in the cold weather.

These animals stay warm because they have fur, and as humans we need hats, scarves and mittens to be warm when we go outside.

 

When we came back to school the next day, we opened our sensory table and we realized that our ice and snow had melted down. "Ohhhh noooo," we said. We took out a bin and started to rescue the animals from the water. Our friends had so much fun playing with the animals and rescuing them. 

Shabbat Shalom 

Morah Ora & Morah Rivky

 

We wish you a restful winter break, and we will see you soon! 

 

      

Winter is Fun!

Dear Families,

This week we explored winter in our classroom.

 It was so cold that it was snowing!

Our friends had their hats, scarves, and mittens on.

We practiced how to put our mittens on and off and match them by colors.

It’s Snowing!

Our friends played and touched different textures of snow (pretend snow).

Around the classroom we had snow made from pillow stuffing. Our friends  had fun running around the classroom and throwing snow up and watching it fall to the floor.

When we were done playing we took shovels and shoveled all the pretend snow into the bins.

In the sensory table we had crushed ice as a snow.

Our friends put their gloves on and were ready to build a snow man.

Some friends tasted the ice and said, "It's ice cream!"

The vocabulary words we used this week were:

Fluffy, cold, snow, and winter.

Art Exploration: Can You Make a Snowflake?

We used q-tips to create our own snowflake shapes. Liran, Leeann and Alma were focusing while they were using the q-tips. They didn’t even get their hands messy with paint! Aria, Asher, Audrey and Leif chose to use their hands to create hand print snowflakes.

Next week we will explore more about winter and have more frosty fun! 

Shabbat Shalom 

Morah Ora & Morah Rivky

Chanukah Exploration

Dear Parents

This week we explored Chanukah through storybooks. The words and concepts we are working on with our friends are Chanukah, Menorah and Dreidel. Leeann and Liran said, "Menorah" and Asher said, "Chanukah" very clearly. We are noticing many exciting language developments in all of the children.

We  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.

Our explorations continued with olives and olive oil. Our friends have been smashing olives to make oil as well as tasting them. Some of our friends likes olives, some do not, and some even said "More please!"

Happy Chanukah & Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Ora & Morah Rivky

Kindness & Thanksgiving

Dear Families,

Kindness

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

Discovery Table

Our friends continued investigating pumpkins. They really enjoyed scooping out pumpkin seeds using spoons. It was very interesting for morahs to observe our friends and see how long they can concentrate on this activity. Our friends explored their work for a good 30 minutes! When we were done scooping pumpkins seeds, each friend put them on a plate, and we counted how many each had.

Liran had 30 seeds

Asher had 35 seeds

Leif had 30 seeds

Audrey had 25 seeds

Aria had 10 seeds

Alma had 10 seeds

Leeann had 33 seeds

Spice Exploration

This was a class favorite! We used our senses 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 by drizzling glue on hard paper and pouring spices over the glue.

We hope to see you at the Thanksgiving Picnic Brunch next Wednesday at 9:00am! 

Next week will be short, but busy. We will be working on our heirloom project to be sent home at the thanksgiving brunch.

 

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Ora & Morah Rivky

Fall and Thanksgiving

Dear Families.

With fall in the air and Thanksgiving around the corner, this week we used our senses to discover and investigate a pumpkin. Our friends took turns touching the outside of the pumpkin. They noticed the texture was mostly soft with a few bumpy rough patches around the pumpkin. Then we cut the pumpkin open and felt the inside. The texture was completely different. 

 

Fine Motor and Math Table Top Activity

We had play dough and cranberries on the table. Our friends used their grasping motor skills by picking cranberries with their fingers and sticking them inside the play dough. Then we all had a turn counting how many cranberries we stuck in. We counted in English and Hebrew and our friends repeated after Morah.

Science Exploration

Our sensory table was filled with sand mixed with spices this week. Cinnamon, Paprika, and Oregano aromas were present as the friends used measuring spoons and cups to pour sand mixed with spices from spoon to cup. We saw that the Paprika and Cinnamon spices left a residue on our hands.  

Shabbat Shalom 

Morah Ora,Morah Rivky.

fine motor skills and manipulating different objects

Dear Families.

We would like to welcome Alma and her family to our Peach Room family.

This week we were working on fine motor skills and manipulating different objects. We had a few stations for each friend to visit if they chose to go there.   

 

We explored  manipulative boxes fastened with all sorts of locks. Our friends had to use their fine motor skills to open up each different box. Inside, they found a fun surprise! The boxes were filled with cylinder pieces that they could take in and out. This took a lot of patience!

Our friends worked on the puzzles in our classroom as well. There were animal puzzles, transportation puzzles and shapes puzzles for them to explore. We needed to problem solve and find the matching pieces of puzzle. There was a lot of team work going on inside the Peach Room during this task!

We returned many times to drawing with markers and paint dots this week. When we paint, scrabble, or draw we are learning:

To develop our imagination.
Fine motor skills to hold the brush or marker.
The names of colors and how to make new ones.
To identify and create different shapes.
To express our feelings and our ideas.
About symmetry and balance.

Shabbat Shalom 

Morah Ora, & Morah Rivky.

Baby Doll Circle Time Leads to Many Kinds of Exploration

Dear Families,

It was a pleasure talking to you all about your beautiful children. Thank you for signing up for conferences.

Our dramatic play with baby dolls has continued to evolve this week. Everyone has had a hand at caring for a baby (or two or three). We have been giving the babies bottles, changing their clothes, rocking them to sleep and doing more check ups!  We were able to add some life-like baby dolls to our classroom which have been very appealing to all of our friends.

From now on, we will continue doing our special circle time with baby dolls.

 

Our song and movement with baby dolls:

Get Your Baby (tune of Oh My Darlin’ Clementine)

Get your baby, get your baby, get your baby, it’s time to play.

Get your baby, get your baby, get your baby, it’s time to play.

 

My baby’s  on my lap, my baby’s on my lap.

This is my baby, my baby’s on my lap.

 

My baby’s in my arms, my baby’s  in my arms.

This is my baby, my baby’s in my arms.

 

My baby’s sitting down, my baby’s  sitting down.

This is my baby, my baby’s sitting down.

 

My baby’s laying down, my baby’s laying down.

This is my baby, my baby’s laying down.

 

Where is my baby?

Peek a boo.

Bye bye baby.

It was a welcome relief to have cooler weather, and we relished our outdoor time. We spotted airplanes and dragonflies, took turns on the slide, and watched (even joined) some of the elaborate play of the older children. We looked for bugs, explored the yard, rode bikes, and built with blocks.

As our class grows, our friends are relating to each other and seeking each other out more and more. They inquire if someone is absent and remark if someone is sad. As their budding language and awareness of self and others develop we are noticing a growing sense of community togetherness.

Parsha Vayera and Baby Dolls .

Dear Families,

This week we incorporated activities based on the parsha, Parshas Vayera in our classroom. In this week's parsha, we learn about Avraham inviting guests to his house.

Morah Ora brought  more stuffed toys and dolls into the classroom for our friends to enjoy. We decided to invite them to our circle time so that we could daven and dance with them. Our friends enjoyed this work a great deal.

Baby Doll Circle Time provides the opportunity for young children to experience being the nurturer by interacting with their baby dolls (stuff toys) in the same ways that we, as caring adults, might interact with them.

Another fun activity we did from this week was inspired by the part of the parsha where Avraham helped his guests by washing their feet. We set up two bins outside: one with bumpy rocks and one with water. First our friends went through rocks to feel how bumpy it was and then through the water. After that they wiped their feet with a towel. Most of our friends didn’t like to go through the rocks but they loved to go through and jump in the water. 

The Purple Room invited us to be guests in their classroom where we had the opportunity to practice being good guests while watching them be gracious hosts! They prepared food for us, then we sat together and ate. We love interacting with our friends in other classes.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Ora, Morah Rivky, & Morah Chaya

All About Me and My Feelings

Dear Families-

 

This week we are continuing our “All about Me“ unit.

Thank you for sending your child's favorite book to share with our class. Our friends were so happy to see their books and share them with each other.

Leif’s book: Kindness Makes Us Strong by Sophie Beer 

As the Morahs  read the book, we spoke about how nice it is to be kind!

 

Audrey's book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear ,What Do You See? by Mill Martin and Eric Carl 

As we read this book, we asked our friends what sound each animal makes and we repeated colors after Morah.

 

Asher's book: I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak.

We spoke about how, no matter what, we all love each other! 

 

Next week we will continue sharing the rest of our friends' books.

 

Inspired by the book My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss, our friends created portraits of themselves with colors based on how they were feeling. We talked about how we can feel many different feelings at many different times, and they are all okay to have because they are a part of us. 

Morah provide our friends with paint brushes and different colors of paint.

Our friends began painting with paint brushes, then they decided to use there hands to feel the colors.

Morahs even heard some friends saying, "It's cold!"

After that, our friends mixed all the colors, and we saw their work become different shades and colors.

Morah's job is to provide our little ones with the materials they need so that our friends can use their imagination and creativity. It's amazing to observe each of them to see how we all so different.

Shabbat Shalom 

Morah Ora, Morah Rivky, & Morah Chaya

 

All About Me

Dear Parents,

 
We would like to welcome Leeann to our classroom! She is a joy to have with us!

 

All About Me

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' hands and feet.

Self Portrait 

This week our friends made their first self portrait . Mirrors, black and white photos of each child, and paint pallets were set up for everyone to explore.
Audrey  pointed to her eyes and began painting  them first.
Leeann  enjoyed mixing all the colors and had a big smile on her face.
Liran  looked at the self portrait picture and said “It's me!"
Aria enjoyed looking at herself in the mirror.

Kai looked at the mirror and smiled.

Leif pointed to his nose and looked at his morahs with a big smile on his face.

Friendship Tree

We made a Friendship Tree for our classroom! I explained that everyone in our class is best friends, and even when we do things that upset each other or hurt each other’s feelings, we should always remember that we are friends, so we should use kind words and apologize when we do something wrong. Then I told everyone that we would be making a friendship tree to hang in our room and remind each other that no matter what, we were all friends.

Morah started by drawing the outline of the tree on a poster board. I used the brown marker for this, then colored in the trunk with the brown paint  so that the outline would stand out better. Once that was finished, Morah provided each child with yellow, green and red paint. Our friends dipped their hands into the paint and stamped them on the poster board. Each leaf (hand print) looks so different like everyone in our classroom family.

 

Sharing from Home

For the next couple weeks we will be covering "All About Me." If it’s possible, we would love if each friend can bring their favorite book from home to share with the class . Thank you!

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Ora, Morah Rivky, & Morah Chaya.

Simchas Torah & Mitzvot

Dear Parents,

Hashem wants us to be happy so he gave us one more holiday!

This holiday is all about our special Torah. The holiday is called Simchas Torah.

It means Happiness of the Torah. We are so happy we have the Torah.

On this holiday we dance and celebrate together.

Each day, during davening time, we talk about mitzvot and how our Torah is full of mitzvos. Then Morah reads our friends' mitzvah notes, and we celebrate them because we are so proud of them!

On Monday our friends created their own flags, and we took a walk to the big shul to see where we keep our Torahs full of mitzvot.

Our friends were so excited to see the Torahs, and we sang Torah songs, jumped so high and waved our flags .

Shabbat Shalom 

Morah Ora, Morah Rivky, & Morah Chaya

High holidays

Dear Parents,

Over the past two weeks our friends explored two more big holidays! 

For Yom Kippur we learned about the importance of saying please, thank you, and sorry. We practiced our manipulative skills by putting coins in the tzedakah box while learning how to give to others. Our friends each got their own tzedakah box and a pile of coins, and we practiced putting in one coin at a time, making sure to keep the rest of our coins safely on the table. We listened to the coins drop in and noticed how the sound changed based on how full the box was. 

For Sukkos we built and explored our classroom's own sukkah! Each friend had a chance to sit inside, look through the leafy roof and play with friends. We then went outside to a life-size sukkah and experienced what it was like to sit outside and celebrate. 

 

We worked as a team to make a sukkah decoration. Each child got a palm branch and dipped it into paint, which they then dabbed onto a big piece of cloth, creating a unique design. We practiced shaking the lulav in all four directions, symbolizing how Hashem is everywhere.

Shabbat Shalom and happy holidays!

Morh Ora, Morah Rivky, & Morah Chaya.

Shana Tova U’Metuka

Dear Parents.

We are so excited to welcome our new friend, Aria, to our classroom!

This week we continued to explore and learn about Rosh Hashana.  

 

Dramatic Play

 

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.

Discovery Table

Our friends learned about bees, flowers, and honey.

We spoke about how the flowers benefit bees by providing them with the food bees need. Bees feed on nectar and pollen of flowers.

Nectar is the sweet liquid that flowers produce. Then we spoke about how bees need flowers to make honey.

 

While our friends were invited to the discover table, Morah explained to our friends that we dip challah in the honey to have sweet new year.

On Rosh Hashana we bake round challah because they do not have a beginning or an end. This symbolizes that the blessings that come from Hashem to us, should be constant and never-ending.  

Rosh Hashana Project

Morahs gave our friends foil pan, baking brush, honey and challah dough rolls. Each of them chose how many rolls they want to have on baking foil and we counted them! . Then our friends dipped their baking brushes in to sticky honey and glazed the challah dough. 

Our friends tried hard not to taste  the dough and lick the honey.

A big thanks to Rabbi Dietsch for coming and blowing the shofar every day. We love to hear the sounds of the shofar, and we cant wait until Rosh Hashana is finally here!

Dear parents, we want to wish you

Shana Tova Umetuka and Shabbat Shalom

 

Morah Ora, Morah Rivky, &  Morah Chaya.

Rosha Hashana Exploration

Dear Parents,

Our friends are getting adjusted very well! We all got to know each other a little better over the week. In the morning our friends are so happy to see each other and ready to play.

Rosh Hashana is almost here...

Discovery Table

This week we began Rosh Hashana exploration through the Rosh Hashana discovery table. Our friends took turns looking through the magnifying glass to build their own experience with the materials 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. 

Art:

This week  our friends also made Shana Tova cards for our loving grandparents.  We had so much fun using our apple stamps that we made from real apples to decorate the cards.

Sensory Exploration:

On Monday and Tuesday  in the sensory table we had apples, oats, and scoops.  Our friends use scoops to scoop the oats and hide apples with the oats .Then we counted how many apples there were in the sensory table in English and Hebrew. 

 On Wednesday and Thursday we enjoyed washing apples and practicing the bracha ha-etz before we eat them.  

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.

Another sensory experience that we offered the children this week was when we had green and red apples to taste. We tasted to see which ones were sweet and which ones were sour. Then we dipped them in the honey to have sweet new year.

Music & Movement:

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!

Shabbat Shalom,

 Morah Ora, Morah Rivky, & Morah Chaya.

Our First Week of School!

 Dear Parents,

This first week of school has been a great opportunity for all the morahs 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 takes some getting used to. Entering this new journey with love and patience for all is the key to success. 

The Routine

 

At the beginning of the day, the morahs greet each friend  at the classroom door with hugs and by saying, "Hello." Then we help each friend  by put their belongings away in their designated spot, wash hands, sign in and get to work. Establishing a routine so that children feel safe and comfortable to explore their own environment is the goal for this week and next week.

Classroom Exploration

Our friends were so excited to explore all of the centers in the classroom: the sensory bin, kitchen, library, slide and much more. 

Liran spent a lot of time in the art area. She drew some art work for our art wall.

Audrey and Leif had fun going up and down the slide .

Kai played with small balls and threw them in a bucket.

Asher loved spending time on the carpet playing and stacking cups.

 Group Project

 

Along with free exploration our friends came together and sat down for a group activity.  We incorporated some literacy with art.  Our friends used different color paint dots and markers to create a background for our English alphabet chart. We will hang up their work in the circle area for our friends to sing with and learn from.

Thank you for trusting us to guide your little ones. 

 
Shabbat Shalom! 
Morah Ora, Morah Rivky, & Morah Chaya.

Project and good bye school year of 2020-2021

Dear Parents,

 This week we focused on our last project of this school year! It will be displayed at the Moving Up Ceremony on Thursday.

This year's graduation theme is "Twinkle, Twinkle, You're a Star" from Conscious Discipline:

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

what are wonderful  child you are.

Every child is unique. Every child has different version of learning, exploring, and discovering what is around them.

 

Our friends were invited to do a science experiment on their unique star placed on a canvas.

First we brushed glue around our star. Then we took salt to sprinkle. Next we squeezed water colors with eye droppers on top and watched the paint spread.

Some friends enjoyed sprinkling the salt and even tasted it! Some friends enjoyed squeezing the eye droppers.

As we wrap up our school year, next week will be a short but busy week as we practice for moving up ceremony performances, and complete our projects. Thursday morning you are invited to attend our graduation celebration at 11:00am and our school year will come to a close with a 12:30pm dismissal. 

To our dear parents, thank you so much for a great year!

Shabbat Shalom

Have a great  summer! 

Morah Ora & Morah Chaya

 

Shavuot

 Dear Parents,

 This week in the Peach Room we introduced another Jewish holiday: Shavuos.

On Shavuos, we celebrate Hashem giving us the Torah on Har Sinai. Our friends were able to create their own beautiful Har Sinai out of foam tear, flowers, and rocks. It was so fun to see their imagination explode with their creations!  It is great sensory exploration for our friends to feel and mix all the different textures.

We celebrate Shavuot by decorating our home with flowers to remind us of how Hashem adorned Har Sinai with flowers. In the sensory table we had water, vases, and measuring cups. Our friends practiced their hand-eye coordination by filling their measuring cups and pouring water into the vase without spilling  water. This is also an exploration into math concepts related to volume.

 

With  discussion about the Torah this week, our friends took a trip to the big shul to see where we keep our big Torah full of mitzvahs.

We all give the Torah a kiss.

Another discussion this week was about how, on Shavuot, we take brake from meat, and we eat dairy instead. We made our own homemade ice cream! We used ice cream salt, milk, and vanilla extract. We put all the ingredients into a zip-loc bag full of ice and shake, shake, shake, shake! While we were shaking our bags we had music and movement with the song, "Hashem is Here." When we were done making ice cream we ate, and it was delicious! We heard some discussion about our friends experience: 

Ice is cold. 

I cant wait to taste!

I want ice cream!

Yummy!

It was so much fun to discover and explore about the holiday of Shavuos. Please remember that there is no school on Monday or Tuesday next week to observe Shavuos.

Shabbat Shalom & Happy Shavuos,

Morah Ora & Chaya.