Gan Camarillo Preschool

Shabbat was the theme for our final week of Mini Gan Izzy! Each morning we explored another tradition from Shabbat- through art, song and discussion!

Shabbat Candles

Shabbat is ushered in every Friday night at sunset with the special mitzvah of Lighting the Shabbat Candles! This mitzvah is special for the girls, and our tradition is to start as soon as the child is old enough to say the blessing! During circle time we practiced how to do this mitzvah, and sang some important reminders of fire safety too!

Flame art

Flame inspired Playdough

Setting up images of flames alongside red playdough, the children were invited to create their own flames for shabbat candles.

Kiddush- sanctifying the shabbat on a cup of wine (grape juice!)

Grape Art

Using candles to create circle shapes, the children created their own grape art!

How Wine is made

We learnt how wine or grape juice is made! The children participated in every step of the process!

1. Selecting the grapes

2. Crushing the grapes- the children had many creative ideas of how to crush the grapes!

3. Draining the juice /separating the skins

4. Taste testing! Ofcourse remembering the special blessing "Borei Pri Hagafen"

Setting the table!

Using real cutlery, cups and plates- the children practiced laying out the dinnerware in the correct place to set the table for a Shabbat dinner! Placemats with correct markers of where everything goes helped the children measure out correct amounts of cutlery, plates and cups!

Challah

The Mitzvah of having 2 Challa's on our shabbat table comes from the special food Hashem gave the Jewish people when they were travelling in the desert. It is our tradition to cover the Challa's and have a plate or board under, just as the Mannah (food from Hashem) was given.

We played a "Peekaboo" challah game, to find where the Challah was hiding on the Shabbat table!

Challa Covers Water Art

The children decorated challah covers to use in their own homes! Dropping water colors on the white cloth created a beautiful art and worked on their fine motor skills!

Challah dough!

The children measured ingredients and mixed the dough to prepare real Challah for Shabbat! The best sensory experience...kneading the dough!

Baking Cake for Shabbat!

Baking a special treat for shabbat is an important part of the week! The children enjoyed measuring and mixing ingredients to make a special dessert for Shabbat!

Let's Shop for Shabbat
An important part of celebrating Shabbat is preparing for it! The children were invited to "shop" for shabbat, by selecting items that are needed to observe Shabbat, and "stick" them in their shopping carts!

Is it shabbos yet?

We enjoyed a Pajama day Popcorn Party while watching a fun video called, "Is it shabbos yet!" (sorry, no pics to share of this fun afternoon! We were completely immersed with the kids...watching the popcorn pop out of the machine :-)

Miscellaneous fun!

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom! Candle lighting in Camarillo is at 7:43pm this week! May the peace and joy of Shabbat flow into your whole week!

Wishing you a great rest of your summer!

Kibbud Av Va'eim

This week on "Mitzvah Blvd" our stop was at "Kibbud Av Vaeim Street." (the Mitzvah to honor and respect one's parents.) We spoke about how much our parents do for us every day and how thankful we should be. At center time one morning the children were invited to draw something that they are thankful to their parents for.

Moshe drew a picture of his mommy making him smile!

At circle time we continued talking about "bucket filling" (see last week's newsletter!) and learnt that moms and dads have buckets to! We talked about some ways we can fill our parents buckets. The kids caught on right away telling us how they can "Give Mommy hugs and kisses" or "Eat my whole dinner!"

Our puppet friends role played many scenarios to make it real for the children!

Life skills- Peeling and Grating

On Tuesday we really got a feel for being a mommy, by grating carrots and peeling apples in preparation for our thursday's event, "Pastries with parents!"