Jewish Heroes come to life!

Purim Unit

Jewish Holidays are a special time for us to instill life lessons in our students. With the Holiday of Purim coming, we began our unit on the story from the Megilla, which we will read on Purim.

We first wanted the children to really feel connected to the two heroes of the story; Mordechai and Esther, and to most importantly view them as role models for their own lives.

Mordechai; the leader of the Jewish people at the time, he was also a 'Rebbe' (teacher) of small children and would teach them Torah!

Esther; a modest Jewish woman who filled her day with many Mitzvahs, she would play a very important role in saving the Jewish nation from harm.

How powerful for the children to really get to know them and feel empowered that THEY can be just as great as them, thousands of years later!

Mordechai and Esther's home

We filled our dramatic play area with many Mitzvahs.

Shmuel was so excited to be 'Mordechai' he found a Torah and wanted to read from it for all his friends.

Mina lighting Shabbos candles just like Esther! 

Yanky looking at some pictures we displayed of them doing all the Mitzvahs in our classroom.

Chana Rochel preparing the Challah for guests just like Queen Esther did.

Sholom was so excited to see a familiar siddur that he had at home too.

Giving Tzedaka in our Jewish home.

Learning about the different types of coins by dividing them up into different tzedakah boxes.

Mini Mini Gan

Inside our Jewish home we created a "mini Gan". Mordechai loved teaching children Torah, just like our friends do in Gan. 

Taking baby dolls and writing mitzvah notes before going to Mordechai's Gan.

Comforting our baby's before class starts ;)

Menachem as Mordechai teaching the children to love the Torah.

Our Davening circle moved to Mordechai and Esther's home. 

This was a powerful lesson to connect us to our Jewish heroes just like they davened to Hashem, nothing has changed!

During our Tzisis song Shmuel wanted to hold our Mordechai puppet.

Chana rochel holding the Mordechai puppet while drawing what mitzvah she likes to do. "Giving Tzedaka"

Happy 4th Birthday to our dear friend Esther!

How to correct someone else's wrong!

Celebrating our Roots

Planting with our grandparents on Tu B'shvat was a highlight of our week! Thank you to all the grandparents who were able to be there, both real and volunteer! 

Blossoms appearing  in our  Lemon Tree!

We planted this tree during the first week of school this year! Throughout the winter we have been observing it, noticing the bare branches, wondering if it will indeed blossom ?
It was very exciting to see tiny little buds appearing! We will continue to water it and observe it throughout the rest of the year!

How to correct someone's wrong! 
Lesson from the Torah Portion- Yisro


Yisro (Moshe's father in law) was very concerned about the fact that Moshe was being asked so many questions by so many people. He didn't like what he saw was happening.

When someone wants to correct someone else or let them know they are doing something wrong- there is a special kind way of doing it.

We learn it from Yisro in this weeks Torah portion! He used very soft, kind and positive words.

The words he used to tell Moshe was, "Its not good for you" to stand for so long, and its not good for the Jewish people to have to wait so long." How can there only be ONE person to assist millions of people?
Morah Avigayil role played this scene with our friend "Moshe!"

Then he came up with the idea of having "Shoftim" judges, so that there would be more people that the Jews could go to for help and wisdom in applying the laws of the Torah. He created captains in groups of tens, hundreds and thousands.

In our classroom, we came up with different examples of how we can tell people when we want something to change.

We can remind friends in a positive way when we see someone is making a mistake. We can choose positive words. For example- instead of breaking someone's tower, we can say "I'd like to use those blocks" or "I think you took my blocks, please can i have them back"
We also reviewed the lesson from last week, on talking it out! When we see someone doing something not nice, we don't have to tell the Morah, we can talk it out, directly with them in a positive way.

Respect your Parents

The Ten Commandments are listed in this weeks Torah Portion. One of the 10 commandments is "Respect your parents." We made door hangers to place on their parents room, as a reminder to knock before you go in, and respect their parents space, and not disturb them if they are busy. 

Matan Torah Art

Using ripped papers, the children created beautiful mountains! We also created flower art, in representation of the flowers that Mount Sinai was covered with when the Ten commandments were given.

Primary Colors

We introduced the children to the term "Primary Colors." Next week we will mix them and learn about secondary colors.

Group Exercise! Moving, stretching and Toning our bodies!

Celebrating our roots!

Our Tu B'shvat party this year we celebrated our ROOTS- our grandparents! 

Bonding with our grandparents while planting a succulent.

Thank you to the volunteer "grandparents" from our community for visiting and helping our friends who's grandparents couldn't be there.

Menachem filling up his pot with soil.

 Decorating our pots with happy smiley faces.

Feeling so proud of our work

 Reading books while waiting for other friends to be done.

 We gathered together to sing a special Tu B'shvat song

(T.T.T.O Tu B'shvat Higia, Chag La-Ilanot)

Tu B'shvat is here, it's the birthday of the treesEverything is growing, growing just like me.My grandparents they planted a garden full of roots.After many years, they can finally see the fruits!

Snack Serving- Using Menu's

Each child was given a visual Menu on a clipboard, to offer snacks to the grandparents. Using their math and memory skills, the children were invited to circle the correct number of items from each menu choice, and then prepare a plate for the grandparent!

 

Friends enjoying their own food after they served the grandparents.

Making sure to give Tzedaka on this special day!

Where does the trash go?

 Because Tu B'shvat is coming up, we started off the week speaking about our world and why we need  it.

Using shaving cream and water color paint to create a swirling green and blue earth like we see in space.

We spoke about why it's important that there are trees and grass everywhere.

We learned that trees create the air we breathe, and we create the carbon dioxide that trees need.

So we work together.

But a lot of trees are being cut down to make paper and furniture.

STEM science challenge, trying to see how many apples can stand on the tree.

Color our world by number, we could hardly believe that this paper is made from a tree.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We spoke about how many families are trying to reduce the trash they make, by using containers for food instead of bags.

Making stamps out of recycled materials like toilet paper tubes and egg cartons.

Recycling means remaking it into something else to use.

Thanks to Emma M. and her family for sending us in recycling materials this year!

Recycling, roll, count and color.

Creating a fun collage out of Recycled trash!

We had to plan out our collages, cut the pieces and then glue everything down.

Learning that our trash goes into a landfill, and watching a video about it.

Everyone found it pretty gross to think about all that trash going into the ground.

Sorting the "trash," figuring out which letters go in each recycling can.

We had to think which alphabet each letter belongs to, the ABC's or Aleph Bais.

learning about ocean pollution, and the effects that oil spills can have on sea animals. 

Oil is not easy to clean up from water!