Dear parents,

The Peach room has been 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 baby's diapers, changing their clothes and we've 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 nap. Some of our friends have even engaged in role playing ("I'm the mommy and you be the baby")  We also learned the baby song, about putting baby to bed and then taking care of him or her when she wakes up. We take turns deciding what the baby needs to go back to sleep (a new diaper, a kiss, a bottle...).

 At the circle time each friend brought their baby to the carpet circle and our friends were so excited to show them how we sing songs and dance .

When We play with dolls or stuffed animals, We are learning...
-To use our imaginations
-To treat others with tender, loving care
-To imitate the parenting behaviors we see in our life 
-Interpersonal skills 

Reminder, there is *no* school Friday or Monday due to Presidents’ Day and a teacher inservice! See you on Tuesday!

Shabbat shalom!
Morah Ora & Morah Goldie 

Dear Parents

Our friends have been busy making final preparations for our annual CJP Family Shabbos Dinner, that will be tonight at 5:30.  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 unique and beautiful, we are proud of their hard work and hope you will be too!


Our three big projects this week were creating candle holders, Kiddush cups, and a shabbos box.

Shabbos boxOur friends painted Shabbat boxes and as they were working we noticed their preferences for both specific tools and color. Shai preferred green to all the other colors and covered her entire box with paint. Angie liked brown and only painted a small part of her box before deciding to paint more. Hailey enjoyed experimenting with the texture of the paint on her skin and how the colors changed when mixed. Yehonathan chose his favorite color, blue, and used the paint roller to apply the paint onto his box. We had such fun with all the different colored paint!

Kiddush cupsOur 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 their hands 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. 

Shabbos candle holder

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 use them at home!

Challah and counting 

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!

Chicken soupOn Thursday morning we made delicious chicken soup 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 experiences. We hope those of you who are coming tonight enjoy the finished product!

Shabbot shalom!

Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

 Dear parents, we would like to welcome our new friend Shai to our peach room! We are so happy and excited to have her with us!

   This week in the Peach Room our friends began to explore and learn concepts related to Shabbat. Morah Ora explained that after Hashem created 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 at the end of each week. We don't go to school or work! We might bathe, brush our hair, and wear our nice Shabbat clothes. A big meal is prepared and we light the candles. After lighting the candles we 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."

   Dramatic play    Our friends worked together to set up for Shabbat. After they were done we all took turns pretending to light the Shabbat candles, pour the grape juice in cups, and "cutting" the Challah. On Shabbat we eat with our friends and family as we enjoy each others company.

   Group Project   The big project of the week was decorating a challah cover and board. For the challah cover we used a fabric with fabric markers. Our friends decorated them in different ways, each way unique. For the challah board we used mosaic peaches and gems. Our friends dipped them in the glue and carefully glued them in the board in different patterns. 

   Table top   This week at the the table, we had play-dough. We have been practicing rolling and braiding challah. Our friends love to make their own challah and bring them home once they’re baked!

   Sensory table   At the sensory table we had beans, tops, spoon/scoops, and little wooden vegetables. Our friends pretend to make their own chicken soup. Madison likes broccoli in her soup, but with no carrots. Ella wants only chicken in her soup. Hailey and Shai prefer only beans in their soup. Angie likes tomato’s and carrots. Yehonathan liked to put everything in his soup. 

   Next week we are going to make real chicken soup to share over our CJP Shabbat dinner. We hope you will all enjoy!

   This week we added a new song to our Shabbat songs - “Days of the week”. 

"Yom Rishon, Avoda
Yom Sheini, Avoda
Yom Shlishi, Avoda avoda
Yom Riviee, Avoda
Yom Chamishi, Avoda
Yom Shishi, Avoda Avoda
Yom Shabbat Menucha
Yom Shabbat Menucha
Yom Shabbat Menucha Menucha

On Sunday we work work work
On Monday we work work work
On Tuesday we work work work, work work work

On Wednesday we work work work
On Thursday we work work work

On Friday we work work work, work work work

On Shabbat we all rest 
On Shabbat we all rest
On Shabbat we all rest, rest rest rest."

Next week we are gonna to make a shabbat box and candle holder!

   Shabbat shalom - Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

Dear Parents,
On Monday we had Grandparents day and the grand opening of our beautiful play ground! Thank you for joining us!

This week out friends had a lot of fun exploring our bodies. Our morah’s traced our bodies and our friends colored them.

At the table we had a mirror and rocks with pictures on them of different facial features. Our friends looked into the mirror at their faces and pointed at it. They then tried to make a face from the pictures on the rocks.

Block area - This week we brought different sized blocks to the table. Our friends built tall towers with them and then pushed them over with happy faces! They did this over and over again. Then we decided to see how tall our friends are by building the tower up to their height.
Hailey is 10 blocks high.
Madison is 8 blocks high.
Ella is 7 blocks high.
Angie is 13 blocks high.
Yehonathan is 12 blocks high.

Sensory table - At the sensory table we had sponges and farm animals. Our friends enjoyed washing the animals and used their gentle hands while scrubbing them. We had a conversation about how important it is to use our gentle hands, not only with our friends but with other things around us as well.

Next week we will start to learn all about shabbat!

Shabbat shalom! - Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

Dear parents
We have had a busy week despite some of our friends being out sick.  We miss them and hope they feel better soon so they come back to play and learn.

This week we continued learning about Tu B Shevat, the New Year for the trees .

We began this week from reading a books to our friends about trees and birds .
We learn that birds need trees for food and shelters, but trees need birds too.  We decided to make some birds feeders to make a gift for our birds .

Our friends took pine cones and dipped them in to sunflower butter and rolled them in to bird seeds and with morahs help we will hang them on the trees by our playground.
Hailey and Yehonathan asked the morahs for more pine cones to make more food to the birds and Yehonathan gave one to our classroom bird and says "thats for you bird!".

Sensory table.
This week our friends been planting seeds(cilantro) in small pots for our grandparends or special friends to take home as a gift at grandparents day on monday jan 21 at 10 oclock .
Madison enjoyed scooping the soil in to the pot and plant seeds.

Block center.


At the block center we added some pictures of fruits and vegetables .
Angie and Hailey where matching and naming each fruit and vegetable and stacking blocks, Yehonathan enthusiastically said Amen!

Table top
Clay, playdoh and branches were set out for our friends to sculpt their own tree. Playing and molding clay can be extremely therapeutic for a child who needs to physically express their emotions. In addition, their fingers are working to strengthen their fine motor skills and dexterity while their brain is working on their imagination and creativity.

Peach room Morahs and friends would like to Say Happy Birthday to Hailey! In honor of her birthday her family donated abc & 123 magnets with magnets board .Thank you so much!

Shabbat shalom,

Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

  Dear parents, Welcome back!

   Our Peach room friends were so happy to be reunited with all their friends after a week away! A highlight of this week was that our friends began exploring Tu B'shvat (the new year for the trees) We started our week playing with the sensory table which we loved! In the table we had soil and pretend fruits and vegetables. Our friends used their sorting skills to sort the fruits from the vegetables. We spoke about which fruits grow from the ground, and then practiced saying the Brochos!

   We say the bracha Ha'adama for the fruits and vegetables that grow from the ground.

   We say the bracha Pri haetz for the fruits that grow on the trees.

   

   What type of seeds do you see?

   Our friends used a magnifying glass to discover the seeds inside of some fruits and vegetables. We discovered that some fruits have many small seeds inside, and some are big. Then we tasted some fruits! Hailey and Yehonthan really liked the taste of the green and red apples. Ella and Angie liked the orange. Madison tried some kiwi and she didn't like it as much.

   For our group project we colored on a big piece of paper with markers and crayons. We are going to make a beautiful flowers, stems, and leaves from it. We displayed it on our bulletin board. Next week we are going to continue exploring Tu B'shvat by planting seeds in a pot, as well as making bird feeders for our birds.

   Shabbat Shalom! - Morah Ora and Morah Goldie

     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