Egypt in our Classroom

 

 Mitzrayim- Egypt Center:

Our classroom traveled back in time to experience the Pesach story in a real and hands on way, while learning lessons that are relevant for now!!

We placed Pyramids (that the children decorated) with a hot sun beating down too,  with a lot of boxes for the children to role-play moving heavy bricks and building pyramids in the Desert in Mitzrayim.

During snack time Morah Micheala and I role played what a Jew in slavery might have felt like.

Using oversized 'puppets' of the King Paroh and Moshe (Moses) we demonstrated the different characters. King Paroh wanted the Jews to build him Pyramids. They didnt have any other choice but to build.

We focused on what having a CHOICE means.

Slaves dont have a choice!  As the week went by the children got a sense of how unfair it must have felt to be bossed around by King Paroh.

We always want to put our focus on the positive and thats when Moshe came into play. He was our caring leader who told us not to be afraid or worry, because Hashem will get us out!

 

 

 

 Hard at work!

We put out slave costumes to make it feel real

 

Elizabeth reaction to the way she looked was priceless!

 

 

 

Making a "pyramid house"

 

 

King Paroh was left in the center to role play.

 

 

 

 

Levi working really hard on his pyramid!

 

Eva working on balance.

 

We used the play in this center as an opportunity to discuss what it feels like when we accomplish something.  When someone says 'great job' or 'wow, what a nice pyramid'. It feels good!

King Paroh didn't say those things. We contrasted this to the way Moshe would speak. He was always caring. This was a great lesson for our class to make someone else feel good by complimenting and encouraging them!

 

Beautiful to see them take Moshe and help each other out!

 

 

Shua making everyone feel good and special with Moshe.

 

Hard work with Team work!

The bricks were quite heavy in Mitzrayim and I'm sure they had to work together to lift the big ones. In our class we saw a lot of team effort carrying BIG boxes to make pyramids with !

 

 

 

Evi wanted to make a big pyramid to the sky! He kept on asking king paroh "Is it good enough??" After getting the answer "no" he knew to turn to Moshe! We quickly picked up Moshe and said "Evi! That is quite an amazing pyramid!" His face shows it all :)

 

We placed pictures of hard working Jews and a place for the children to return their costumes when they were done.

 

 

Shua deep in thought while looking at one of the Mitzrayim pictures.

 

 

Construction Site 

Next to the pyramid block area we placed trucks and pictures of  what a modern day construction sight might look like. This was for the children to contrast the kind of  back breaking work the Jewish people did (by hand) back then,  as opposed to using machinery and trucks- which is what we have now.

Not only did King Paroh make them do everything by hand but he eventually didnt even give them bricks to build and they had to make their own!

 Took this part outside ;)

With sand and water and brick molds the children had to make bricks with Paroh telling them to work faster! 

 

 

 

One morning we noticed all the chairs being placed in a very long line!

The whole class was taking a trip out of Mitzrayim!

There were different opinions where they were going ;)

(some said Florida, others Israel)

 

Block pyramid making:

With a picture of pyramids and an example of how to make one we placed blocks on each tray as an invitation for the children to expperiement building Pyramids. 

  It was a great math skill to count each row the correct amount of blocks.

 

 

Sense of accomplishment!

 

 

A different dimension

With clay and a triangle shaped out of popsicles, Levi worked hard making small bricks and filling up the shape.

 

 Eva creating a pyramid with popsicle sticks!

 

Learning about the Seder

We set out all the items for the seder table (matzah, four cups of wine the items on the seder plate)

At first we got these questioning looks "is it friday today? Are we having a Shabbos party?"

We talked about all the differences between the SEDER TABLE and the SHABBOS TABLE!

Levi looking at the seder book and copying what he was seeing!

 

 

Devorah Leah adding the food items on the seder plate

 

 

 

Levi offering grape juice to everyone!

 

 

 One day this week it was quite hot. We put out some sponges and a water table for some refreshing fun!

Evi and Eva washing our bikes! :)

 

We want to wish a Happy birthday to Shua and Chani Shneerson!! It was double the fun!!

Fine Motor Fun!

Loads of Fun with Fine motor skills!

Promoting the use of fine motor skills is an important part of preparing young children to write, catch and throw a ball, type on a computer, open a door, and the list goes on. As young children develop the muscles in their hands, they develop the strength they need to complete fine motor processes that will play a valuable part in higher level learning.



Young children are still developing the muscles they need in their hands and fingers to hold a pencil correctly. Thus, young children will start off holding a pencil or crayon in a way that looks awkward or incorrect but given time and good opportunities to build fine motor strength and skills, most children will self-correct on their pencil grip when their fine motor control and strength gets to the point that they can manage the pencil with the correct grip.

Throughout the week we had many different activities and centers for the children to strengthen their fine motor skills.

Colored beads

The children were required to match the beads to the correct color. This activity helped them strengthen their "pincer grasp" fingers as they maneuvered  them while practicing color recognition.

Muka figured out a way to do a lot of them at once :) 

using the pincer grasp fingers (thumb & index together.)

Tracers are a good way to help children control their fingers. We had the children first follow the shape line with their pointer finger.

This activity was done on laminated sheets, so the children could self correct themselves with wiping it away. (Self -correcting is another important skill for the children to master. Helping them realize its ok to not get it right the first time, and build the confidence to try again, and again independently (without giving up)- and then seeing the success!)

We put out a big cardboard box that had a lot of holes in it. It was an invitation to insert the pipe-cleaners through the holes. It was challenging trying to get it to fit and get pushed through into the box.

At first a lot of them used there whole hand which was a lot harder as the pipe cleaner would fold. This was a great activity to encourage the writing fingers to do all the work.

Finger games.

After learning the names of our fingers through the song 'where is thumbkin' we focused on our pointer finger. With a figure 8 on a paper the children had to follow the 8 with their finger.

Different Ways to encourage pencil control.

One morning for art the children were greeted with objects on their paper instead of a blank sheet.

The challenge was to try to 'weave' with their crayon around the objects. It was interesting to see the different reactions.

The younger children drew circles around the object

The older ones were able to make to the end of the paper.

It required a lot of hand eye coordination and control of their hand.

Levi observing his friends work before trying it out.

Squiggly straws and foam circles.
They had to place a foam circle with a slit in it through the whole curvy straw which took a lot of muscles in their hand to maneuver.

Believe it or not pulling is a great pre-writing skill.

With different size ribbons we tied onto a box they had to pull it through and bring it back in through the inside of the box.

After cleanup time we have charts for them to fill in if they cleaned up.
We changed things up a bit and placed two big 'clean up hands' with pictures of each child in a different finger.
Placing stickers in side the square was another great fine motor building activity!

Beads 

Elizabeth focusing on placing little beads on spikes.

Pre-writing skills are worked on throughout our day in our everyday life .

Elizabeth opening up her lunchbox zipper ...

Life Skills

We Placed button down shirts for the children to practice buttoning which is very challenging!


First Levi A. found the hole and pocked his finger through it,

Trying to keep the hole 'open' and place the button took a lot of concentration and hard work

:) counting how many are buttoned

Taking it home
This week we made for the children a fun motor skill activity that they can take home and practice.
We had a circle time to learn how it can be used.

Max using a clothespin to open and place on the paper.

Levi learning how to sew through the holes.

Evi and Shua were really excited that they had velcro on their shoes like on their paper!

Devorah Leah practicing buttoning!

Taking care of our olive tree!