Friday, January 31, 2020

What makes you strong?

What makes you strong?

This week we discussed what makes us strong.
We figured out that there are 3 things that people need in order to be strong.
Food/water, sleep and exercise. 
Resting during rest time gives us energy.

Doing an obstacle course and recording our times.

Discussing and creating vegetables.
Vegetables and fruit give us lots of energy.
clearly this is a fun experience. :)

Sorting food into the MyPlate system, to show a balanced meal.
Food bingo and guessing what category each item falls into.
Another aspect of how to keep our bodies strong is by listening to good words.
A lot of children were surprised and skeptical, so we did an experiment using plants.
We gave the plants an equal amount of water and sunlight , but to one plant we spoke nicely and to the other meanly.
(it was so sweet to see how hard it was for the kids to come up with something mean to say!)
Getting to watch the process sparked some discussions with everyone.

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
and discussed why he ate so much! He needed lots of energy to go into his cocoon for 2 weeks.
Some animals can eat a lot and save the energy for later, like bears when they hibernate.
but people aren't able to.


Punching holes through food  just like the caterpillar.
Creating our own hungry caterpillar! 













Thursday, January 30, 2020

What it must have felt like during the plague of darkness

Introduction to Gematria- Numerical Value of hebrew letters

This weeks Torah Portion is called "Bo" , which means "Come." There is always a deeper lesson into the Torah portion, that the name of it tells us! We found an interesting connection, by introducing the children to the concept of "Gematria" (numerical value of the Alef beis)

The Hebrew letters that create the word Bo, are an Alef and Beis, which according to the "Gematria" (numerical value) of each letter, corresponds to 1 (alef)  and 2 (Beis) =  3

The "Gematria" of Bo = 3- which hints to the fact that this weeks Torah Portion describes the last 3 plagues that Hashem sent to Pharoah and the Egyptians!



Faiga is connecting the Hebrew words for each plague with the corresponding images of the plague!


Plague of "Choshech" Darkness- 

To help the children understand what it might have been like for the Egyptians (and Jews) during the plague, we played a fun game. And at the same time developed some great communication and empathy skills!
 The children were in pairs, where one child had their eyes covered/blindfolded, and the other was instructed to guide the one who couldn't see. They were instructed to walk along a line that was taped to the floor. 

Morah Davina modeled it for everyone, and all the children did their best to guide her and direct her which way to walk. 

The children  had to work together to guide the friend who was "experiencing choshech" and gave them a real taste for what it might have been like during this plague that actually lasted 6 days! (not 6 minutes!)

"Choshech" Darkness Art

Painted papers black, and then stuck on many pairs of eyeball stickers in the dark! We learned that only the Jewish people were able to see during this plague! The Egyptians were completely blind!



Phases of the Moon

We learned that over the span of 30 days in the month, the moon changes each and every day! It begins with being a tiny slither. during the first days and slowly gets thicker and bigger, until it looks like a complete circle in the middle, on the 15th of the month. Then it slowly begins to get smaller and smaller until it gets to the 30th day when it looks like there is almost no moon.

We called up 3 friends, each who have 10 fingers, to represent each of the 30 days of the month.


Mina was in the middle and had her hands in a position that had 5 on one side of the month, and 5 on the other. By counting the children's fingers, 10 +5 =15, and then another 5 + 10= 15- totaled the whole 30 days of the Jewish month!


We also used 30 circle counters to mark the 30 days of the month, and placed pictures of the shape of the moon of what it would look like at each of the stages of the month. 

We used different shapes of the moon to create art, and reflect on what days of the month the moon looks like.

Preparing for Yud Sh'vat!

We are one week away from a very special day  on the Chassidic calendar. Its the day that will mark 70 years since the Chabad Rebbe, became the Rebbe. We are doing something small each day to prepare ourselves for the special day! One day we watched a short video, another day we heard a story. We will do something special together on Tuesday to mark this day!

Social Studies-

We continued to look at the continents using maps of the world, and zooming in on our own united states!

Using parchment paper, the children traced all 52 states of our Country America. 
Tamar is coloring a map of just our state, California. 



We also looked at a Map of our own city Camarillo, and learned about the "key" that tells us more about the map, to help us find landmarks
The children then had a lot of fun creating their OWN map Key! For the places they KNOW around our town!



Wednesday, January 29, 2020

A tree is like me!

Tu B'shvat Unit
A week filled with learning all about trees and how WE are like trees!

Tree inspired art. 


Tree sensory experience
Kinetic sand with green magnet tiles and branches were an invitation to create a nature tree scene.  
It's fun to watch how our friends minds work as Arik made a drink out of the sand and the branch was the straw. He was still thinking about our last unit of brachas as he shared what bracha his drink was! 

Esther creating a blooming tree out of play dough and leaves.


Miscellaneous objects created a stunning tree scene. Each child's work was so unique. 
Sholom working on his fine motor skills by beading his branch.



We focused on some parts of the tree this week and what it represents on a deeper level as a proud Jew.

Fruits 

Fruits represent our Mitzvahs! They are so sweet for Hashem.
At circle time our Mitzvah notes were on fruit and our bodies became the trees.

Dissecting apples. 
Placing the seeds, skin, stem and flesh in the right container.

Chana Rochel brought in a pomegranate from a tree at her house. It was a small one and we weren't sure it would taste yummy. 


Our friends came to the conclusion it was delicious. They all knew the correct bracha to say before tasting.


Trunk

The trunk represents what makes us strong and firm, learning the Torah. 
Yanky and shmuel showing us how strong they are. 
We took our Torahs outside and found a trunk of a tree.


 Dancing with our Torahs around the tree was so much fun.


Roots

The roots represent what keeps us from falling, our belief in Hashem.
Falling off our chairs ;)


While we davened we had in mind to think about how Hashem is always near us and we shouldn't worry or be scared. Menachem and Sholom davening with such concentration and love.


Chanie and Eitan dissecting a plant and finding its roots.
Root painting using strings.