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. 

Happy Mother's Day!

 The Peach room has been learning all about babies this week! We filled our sensory tub with a bubble bath and gave our babies baths. We have tried our hand at changing our babies diapers, changing their clothes and bundled them up and put them to bed. All of this play with our babies has sparked other ideas for pretend play and we've taken our babies shopping, taken photos of our babies and put our babies to bed. Some of our friends have even engaged in play with roles ("I'm the mommy and you be the sister.")  We also learned the baby song, about putting the baby to bed and then taking care of  her when she wakes up. We take turns deciding when the baby needs to go back to sleep (a new diaper, a kiss, a bottle...).

As Mother's Day approaches we have been reading books about Mommies. Mommy and Me, Are You My Mother, and Teeny Weeny Looks for His Mommy are favorites. Mommy and Me has sparked some discussion about what we like to do with our mommies.

 We've also enjoyed working on a special project for our own mothers this week  to show them how thankful we are for them. 

With everything blooming outside, our friends really love to smell the flowers and bring them to the morahs. We thought it would be so nice to make something with flowers. Our friends picked some flowers in our playground, then we stuck them to sticky papers to create a sun catcher. Last, the morahs added a travel bracha so our mommies could hang it in their cars to travel safely.

Another project we did this week was painting picture frames using rolling paint brush with different textures. Then we added a picture with our mommies into it.

We ended our week by making Mother's Day cards with our hand prints; some friends even choose to use finger tips.

 We would like to thank you for your thoughtful kindness during Teacher Appreciation Week. Working with your children is engaging and joyful for us and we thank you for all of your support!  

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Mother's Day!

Morah Ora & Morah Chaya.