Mini Shul on Yom Kippur and a hug from Hashem in a Sukkah!

Yom Kippur

A day of prayer and asking forgiveness for all our mistakes. 

We created a 'mini shul' in our classroom to get a feel of what Yom Kippur is all about.
It was Beautiful watching these precious children find a siddur (prayer book), sit down and daven all the songs they know. Their innocent sweet voices was a lesson to us as Morah's to try to strive for the pure love they have for Hashem.

Devorah Leah and Elizabeth bringing their babies to Shul.

Sitting quietly davening.

Rabbi Dovi reading from a copy of a Torah scroll.

We placed slippers in our Shul and taught the children how we don't wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur. Levi had fun trying on adult slippers.

Slipper matching game.

Shua "Even policemen daven to Hashem!"

Siddur and alef beis play dough cutters was a great way to learn the Hebrew letters and enjoy some sensory fun!

White is customarily worn on Yom kippur to be like Angels. Children had white paint to create any picture they wanted.

Sukkot

We role played the story of when the Jews were in the desert and Hashem placed a cloud surrounding and protecting the Jewish people. The holiday of sukkot reminds us of this special 'nes' (miracle). The outdoor structure called a Sukkah- represents the cloud. Anything we do inside the sukkah becomes a mitzvah!. The main idea we instilled in the children, is the kaballistic explanation:  that a Sukkah, is a big HUG from Hashem! Hashem loves us and is consistently protecting us and taking care of us. 

In the Sukkah we feel that in a very real way!

During this discussion, as if on cue-- Liam came to visit us and asked if he could give Levi a HUG! ;)

Later on in the day, Max took the initiative to review the story of the clouds.

Max loves to make us laugh, he told us (as he was picking up a cotton ball)

"This is a cotton meatball!"

Sukkah Decorating

What happens when a baby cries? Lesson on the Shofar! Apple addition & More Sweetness!

The sweetness continues!

Rosh Hashanah has definitely been felt in our classroom this week. 

We have been busy continuing to shine a light on sweet actions among our students in helping them understand the concept of "Have a happy SWEET new year!"

How lucky we are as Morahs to witness the sweetness each and every day!

Yehudis noticed Dovi trying to get his nectar in the bee hive. "I'll hold it for dovi!" 

                                                            Sweet love by circle time!

                                     

We found a piece of a REAL bee hive outside! What a great way to get a real understanding of hives and how the honey is made!

Curiosity at its best. 

We noticed a few of the bee hives holes were closed up. Shua helped us 'dissect' the bee hive to find out what was under it- dried out honey!

 Bee hive inspired Art

Bubble wrap, formed around the children's hands created a 'bee hive' look with the paint.

Menucha loved the feeling and sound of the bubbles being popped.

Lots of great fine motor exercises to get those bubbles popped!

To take our honey sweetness to the next level...

 Each child went around and said something sweet about a friend and at the same time give them a taste of honey!

Elizabeth: "I love Devorah Leah and I like to play with her!"

Levi: "I like to play toys with Aron, he's my friend!"

With all this sweet talk to each other, Dovi was compelled to give his brother Levi a hug! :) 

The sounding of the Shofar: What is symbolizes.

Preparing the children to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashana,  we learned WHY the Shofar is sounded!

Max demonstrating ;)

                                                 

Using a baby doll, we demonstrated how when a baby cries, we run to help him or her and show our love.

The Shofar sounds like a cry - It represents us children crying out to Hashem. Just as a parent listens to his child and loves his child so much. Hashem is our father and we are His children. He loves us so much, and when he hears our Shofar sound- he listens to all our requests.

                                              

Learning where a shofar comes from

Muka asking questions about the Ram.

        

Later we noticed Levi checking out a sheep and comparing it to a ram.

 Playing with the stuffed ram.

                                         

Chani getting excited for Rosh Hashana!!

Learning the sounds of the Shofar 

There are three different sounds of the Shofar

Tekia - one long blast 

shevarim- three medium sounds

Teruah - nine small short sounds 

To help the children learn the sounds, we made a visual Shofar game, where the children had to stand on the correct tape representing the sound.

Apple Addition

We focus on multiple intelligence's, while learning about the Jewish Holidays. Using apples we focused on some math skills!

In each box the children were able to pick numbers along side the correct amount of dots for those who are not up to recognizing numbers yet. 

In each 'tube' they dropped down the corresponding amount of figurine apples. Once that was done, together we counted the total sum in the bucket below.

On a two year old level this activity was a thrill to just see the "cause and effect" of the process of dropping them down the tube!

Apple graphing

First we did a survey on how many of us like green apples and how many of us like red apples! 

It was a great way to introduce graphing and counting sub totals.

 How many apples tall are you? (visually helping the children understand units and space)

Water play on those hot sunny days!

A very Bzzzzy First Week At School!

After weeks of preparation for another fun filled, enriched year, it was so good to see those smiling faces walk in the first day of school!

"I am Big!"

We wanted to start the year with our class feeling and being aware of how much they have grown up since the last year. For them to visualize it we printed out pictures of them at this time last year! (For the new students- an old picture from home ;-).

Their reactions were priceless. They had so obviously physically grown up! As a group we discussed how many more things they now know how to do and the fact that we will be learning many new things this coming year!

 

 Muka (pointing to a picture of herself) "Thats Faiga!" (her younger sister:)

 

Now look what I can do!! 

Self - portraits

 

These simple drawings are an activity we do at several benchmarks in the year. It is an extraordinary window into how much the child has grown and developed over the year. We consider the growth in fine motor control, the ability to make specific shapes. (oval for the face...) 

By the end of the year when we do this again their growth is so apparent.

(we created a 'practice' for the children to understand the concept of looking in the mirror : an invitation to create on paper, what they see)

Muka and Dovi checking themselves out

Levi concentrating really hard on connecting his oval

On a four year old level the details will be more defined.

"May you have a SWEET NEW YEAR!"

The phrase we hear and say again and again in the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah- the Jewish New Year.

Here is how we made it meaningful and turned it into an empowering lesson for the children in our class.

 

  Step 1. Inspiring interest

By adding cinnamon to our play dough and smelling the sweet scent, it was an opening to spark discussions on what is so yummy and sweet.

 

 "What do you like that is SWEET?"

Max drew on our white board "chocolate"

 

Step 2. Our Sweet Board

After discussions all morning on what is sweet, it was now time to take it to a deeper level , allowing the children to understand the phrase "Have a SWEET new year!"

We created on our white board easel a yellow honey jar. 

By circle time we talked about what else can be sweet? MITZVAHS are sweet. 

Role playing:  "Max that was so SWEET that you helped your friend this morning with the cars" 

Each time a child did something SWEET they drew it on the board....

chanie drawing herself helping her brother

Step 3. Feeling how SWEET it is, to DO sweet things!

To make the connection even stronger, and help the children appreciate the value of "SWEET" actions, we gave the children a tiny taste of honey, immediately after noticing the "Sweet" mitzvah that was done. At this point we reminded the children why we wish each other a "sweet year"-- as we want the year to be filled with "sweet Mitzvah's"

 

being happy for the "sweet" things!

Bee Center

Bee hive ;)

Hanging from the roof was a make believe hive. The children were able to learn from this, the process of how bees make honey, bringing nectar to the hive- which then turns into honey. 

Flowers and Nectar

Egg cartons became bright fun flowers for the children to learn how a bee makes honey. 

Fun ways to play the role

The children used a bee puppet, bee hat or costume and were invited to use a tweezer to collect the little pieces of nectar out of the flower and carefully bring it to the bee hive.

It was hard work!

Having a multi-age classroom offers many benefits for each of the age groups. The more advanced students become filled with confidence and esteem when they are able to "model" more advanced skills, alongside the extra push for the younger ones, to strive to grow and move to the next step in their development. 

It was very apparent at this center with the opportunities presented to each age group

On a two year old level this would be using their fingers which is the beginning of fine motor skills.

Notice Dovi holding a tweezer in one hand, while using his fingers on the other! These are the first steps in him reaching that milestone.

We placed bottle caps in some of the holes to help out the younger ones since it required a little less balance.

.

Contrasting different bugs: 

We found a wasp (it was dead and in a special tube) to compare and contrast with a bee

Bee hand prints!

Learning the process of honey through literature.

Thank you Morah Keren and her daughter Eden for making these precious bee puppet socks that came alive this week. Even during story time the bee joined us!

Yehudis "the play dough is sticky like honey"

Group sensory art!

Happy birthday to our dear Levi Abadi-Bergholtz who turned three!

We had a big birthday Fabrengen (click here to see how to celebrate a Jewish birthday) 

Since it was also the Bal Shem Tov and Alter Rebbe (the first Chabad Rebbe) Birthday! What a special day!

"We love you Levi!"