What should "Sweet new year" mean to your 3 year old? VIDEO included!

 We chant the song, "Dip the apple in the honey....have a happy, sweet new year!"

We are constantly wishing everyone a "Sweet new year"... But what does that mean in the mind of our preschoolers?

Most of us are familiar with the traditional symbol of honey with apples... but what is a 2, 3 & 4 year old taking in?

Are they connecting the concept of the taste of honey and what the new year will look like? What should a sweet new year look like for a preschooler anyway? 

 

These are all questions we asked ourselves, as we prepared the curriculum for Rosh Hashanah.

Chanie tastes the sweet sticky honey on a slice of Apple.

We began our circle time by allowing the children to TASTE the sweet Honey. 

Every child had smiles on their faces as they tasted the delicious honey.  

 

The next step for us, was to help the children connect the sweet taste of honey- to a year filled with SWEET THINGS ...

Ie: Mitzvot...Good Deeds!

 

 

To make this connection- we created a "We do SWEET things" center.

It consisted of a grand Honey Jar on a white board.

  Above the white board was a dry erase marker and honey stick! What we did throughout the first week of school, was keep our eyes open for SWEET things the children might be caught doing. As soon as one of us saw something SWEET  (kind, thoughtful, caring) we called the children involved in the action- to the white board, and began drawing as we retold the SWEET action that they did.

After we "relived" the sweet story, the child received a drop of honey on their fingertip to enjoy ;-)

 

Check out this short video of one such episode! (Wish we could have video footage for each child...so you could see the beaming faces and joy in doing SWEET things!)

 

 

We were very intentional all week long to use the word SWEET to describe Mitzvot and nice things that we caught the children doing- so they would associate SWEET NEW YEAR---with a year filled with MITZVOT!

Here are some examples of sweet things we found....

Yitzy & Shua & Yaisef shared toys in the kitchen corner! Yaisef patiently waits his turn.

 Rochel, Mendel and Noach were playing together.....pretending they moved into a new house!  It was so sweet to watch them as they LISTENED to each others ideas, giving each other turns to be the one to decide what will happen next in the game!

Morah Shira draws a picture of what she noticed while we were playing outside. While lots of friends were taking turns on the roller coaster car ride, Jacob went over to his friend Yaisef and asked him if he would like a turn, and then saved his friend a turn!

 

By the third day, the children had totally caught on to what it means to HAVE A SWEET NEW YEAR!  A year filled with Mitzvot! (True happiness :-)

 

 

To the point that some of the older ones began asking to use the marker themselves, to draw their own sweet scenarios while the other children watched!

 

Here are some of the many sweet things our class did!!

Ellah- "I helped my friends I gave them water!" 

 

Jacob: "I played trains with Yaisef"

Noach: "I gave Menucha a ride on my back"

Mendel- "I was nice to Noach when he wanted to play with the car I wanted"

Rochel: "I let Mendel have space on the Couch.

 

Ilan- "I play hide and seek, see I covered my eyes so I cant see "

Levi- "put away my lunch box"

Menucha- " I helped Morah Lisa sweep the floor after lunch!"

Why Pomegranates?

Why do we eat "Rimonim ~ Pomegranates" on Rosh Hashanah?

During circle time one day, with our older children- we drew a "Rimon" on the whiteboard! 

A "Rimon" has lots of seeds. Some people say it has 613 seeds, which is the number of Mitzvot in the Torah! (Maybe towards the end of this year we can attempt to count the seeds!)

We did a fun activity to teach the children the significance of pomegranates on Rosh Hashana!

We took out the special "Treasure Chest" and each child had a chance to put their hand in, and pick out a picture---all the pictures were that of Mitzvot.

After choosing a mitzvah, the child stuck the picture into one of the many seeds we drew all around the board!

It was a fun activity to remind us why we eat pomegranates! We hope we will have a year filled with as many mitzvot as there are seeds in a pomegranate!

Snapshots of our older group!!

Peek at Morah Sara's Class!

Pizza Making!

Look, Listen, Touch, Taste, Feel...Engaging ALL the senses!

 Children (and adults) learn with ALL their senses!

 

Studies show, that when children have enough opportunities to engage in sensory based play & activities, it enhances imagination, increases attention span, decreases aggression and boosts classroom performance!

 

 This week, we took the time to help the children really connect, pause and be MINDFUL of how incredible EACH of their 5 senses are, and how much they benefit from each of them. (along with a whole lot of fun sensory opportunities ;)

Angie Dorrell, a NAEYC accreditation validator and former commissioner, puts this in perspective when she says, “Imagine trying to teach a group of four-year-olds about melting without allowing them to hold an ice cube as it melts in their hands or to watch cheese on bread in the microwave. As a grownup, imagine learning how to use a computer without actually sitting in front of a computer!” Ultimately and without a doubt, we need to experience certain properties with our own senses in order to comprehend and communicate important properties.

As a Jewish school, we take note of how the Torah's traditions engage all our senses! There's no doubt G-d made it this way to enrich our lives and help us appreciate all that He does for us!

From squishing and poking Challah dough, to its delightful aroma as it comes out of the oven, from the warm glow of the Shabbat Candles, to the smell of Besamim (fragrance) at the conclusion of Shabbat. From the Sound of the Shofar on Rosh Hashana to the shaking of the Lulav & Etrog on Sukkot. Every Holiday and mitzvah we have is FILLED with all sorts of SENSORY experiences!

5 Senses Wheel: Look, touch, taste, feel, listen!

Each compartment of this wheel represented another of the 5 senses.  This activity center was out all week, for the children to interact with and learn from.

One section was TASTE. Every day we put out different food items to wake up the taste buds! The little portion cups (labeled for each child) contained sour Lemon slices one day, spicy pickles another day, tart plums on another, and sweet raisins on another! 

 

After tasting their portions- it was a springboard for discussion on what it feels like to taste sweet, salty or sour foods! Some children loved the lemon, while others did not!

At circle time one day we made ICE CREAM (see pics at the end of this post). It was a great opportunity to discuss the CONTRASTING taste of the sweet to the sour!

This was the SMELL section! fabric wrapped cinnamon sticks, along with fresh herbs like garlic, fennel, rosemary and more!

This was the TOUCH section. Each row had a different fabric to feel. Spikey, furry, bumpy, soft, smooth and more! So many language opportunities as the children articulate their descriptions of each of the fabrics!

LISTEN! This audio center brought most of the moms back to their childhood! A good old record player with a choice of records to play! The children had to WIND up the handle to make it go round, and LISTEN carefully to some familiar songs like twinkle little star and humpty dumpty!

We also put out some toys that made different sounds when poked or shaken up!

SEE---> The SIGHT center had a fun "FIND IT" Jar filled with rice. We printed pictures of each item that was hidden in the rice. Using their EYES and lots of turning the Jar in all directions, the children had to find each of the items! The items were all Jewish items that engage the senses....like a SHOFAR that we LISTEN to its sound, and MATZAH that we TASTE its CRUNCH, and a Hebrew letter SHIN.

TOUCH AND FEEL CENTER

This was a fun and engaging center that engaged not only the sense of touch, but their critical thinking skills & Object permanence too. Each balloon was filled with something else.

 By squishing and feeling the balloons, the children had to match the balloon to the picture of what they thought was in it. For the little ones, who are still learning object permanence, it was an opportunity for them to appreciate that there was something INSIDE, even though it was not VISIBLE!

 

 

LISTEN: (and dance and sing ;-)

Thank you Rabbi Yosef for coming in one day this week to play LIVE MUSIC on the keyboard for us! 

SMELL: (and Art)

We put out SCENTED PAINT one morning! Brown cinnamon scented and Orange Pumpkin spice scented!

Science made tasty & Fun --> Ice Cream Making!

Step 1. 

First we placed milk, sugar and a bit of vanilla into a ziplock bag.

 Using our sense of touch, we felt if it was LIQUID or SOLID (like an ice cream texture.)

Step 2:

Children placed the ice into a BIG zip lock bag. 

 

Step 3: Place the small Ziplock bag into the large ziplock.
Step 4: Shake shake shake the bag! (This process turns the liquid milk into solid Ice cream!

Our hands got quite cold shaking it up and down! It was almost too cold to touch! So we came up with a solution:

 Make a parachute with a towel to help us shake it without touching it! We needed to time this for 5 whole minutes!

We Even played catch with it!

Caleb catching the Ice bag!

Rochel Loving the sensation!

She couldn't help but taste the ice cube! ;)

Step 5: Tasting the yummy ice cream! 

Mmm.....Delicious!

with sprinkles on the top!

Sense of Touch...Feel...Body Painting! followed by Water Play!

Eeewww...some of you might say! But for these healthy children, it was a most enjoyable and RELAXING experience!

 

You can be sure these children were SO relaxed after they were washed up from this!

Luckily for our fantastic JC's, who helped the children truly enjoy the moment!



 Sivan being tickled by the campers painting her!



Mushka letting Victoria and Rochel display their art on her!