Fall blowing in our classroom!

 

Fall Unit

Our Big Idea was focusing on the wonders of Hashem in this world!

Children have a pure understanding and innate sense of the wonders of this world. They truly help us appreciate the incredulous wonders of every detail Hashem created for us.

 

Our Fall center:

We brought fall into our classroom by hanging leaves! We also placed a fan to blow them and plenty of leaves for them to place in front of the fan to blow them in the 'wind'.

Felt board to create a tree image  and a sensory table with a lot of fall items for them to discover.

 

 

Levi collecting leaves to blow in the wind

 

Leaves were tickling Evi.

 

Muka wanted to make her leaves falling off the branches on the felt board.

 

 

 

 

Recognizing the different types of leaves by dividing them in the correct line.

 

 

A great math skill as well when they were finished we talked about which has the most and least

 

 

Levi in delight with all the fall treasures he was finding..

 

 

Chani found a birds nest and wanted it to be her crown

 

 

In our dramatic play area we added a fall wardrobe for the children to dress up in. Sweaters, scarves etc.

(note- We actually enjoyed some fall weather at the beginning of this week, before it turned into 90 degree heat ;)

 

 

we couldn't forget their precious baby dolls so we placed a draw filled with baby size sweaters for them to dress their dolls.

 

Evi and Devorah Leah took some small pine cones and made 'pine cone cupcakes'

 

 

Learning through our Five Senses:

Each circle time was based on another of the senses, as this is the best way for the children to learn!

Eye sight- 

Using  a mirror we first had a discussion about the importance of vision. We spoke about how grateful we are to Hashem for giving us sight.

 

 

 

With our eyes we are able to experience fall in such a great way.

How many different colors do the leaves turn ??

 

 

Each child got to observe and take a closer look at their leaf to see how many colors they see.

 

 

 

Inspired by all the fall colors we got our hands into all those colors and created leaves for our fall bulletin board.

 

 

 

 

Leaf rubbing. 

We placed many different types of leaves under a big butcher paper and they had to find them all and see the shape.

 

 

Even with all the fall experiences in our classroom there is no other way to fully experience it rather than head outdoors.

 

 

 

Finding fall treasures.

 

 

Playing a color recognition game

 

 

 

 

 

Hearing Fall 

What sounds does fall make? we listened to the wind outside at the beginning of the week.

Then we gathered leaves and placed it in a wading pool. sliding into the pool and crunching on leaves was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

Play dough leaves.

We had a batch of play dough where all  the colors got mixed up.  It was a great opportunity to represent the leaves that are many different colors.

Great fine motor skills, making mini leaves on the bare trees that were drawn.

 

 

 

 

 

Torah portion coming to life

 

In this weeks Torah portion "Vayeira" our forefather Avraham teaches us how to be a host. He loved having guests and went out of his way to treat guests in the best possible way.

 

We were so happy when we got an invitation from the older class to be our hosts for a cookies and milk party!

  What a welcoming we enjoyed, with a tunnel of friends for them to walk through!

 

 

What a great time we had and we learned how to have manners and show appreciation.

(we saw some of the children washing off their paper plates by the sink after they were done;)

 

 

They even planned a fun game for us:

each took a turn being blindfolded and had to guess whose voice whispered in their ear.

Max and Evi reuniting after some sick days away ;-)

Animals Everywhere!

 

Hashem's amazing Animals!

After teaching the children about all the animals in Noah's Ark, and watching the children's interest peak --we decided to follow the children's lead, and expand the unit for another week! Giving them more time to explore, learn and appreciate these wonders of Hashem! 

 Animal center: new location for our circle time!

After observing the children's curiosity with the animals on Noah's Teiva last week, talking about the pictures they saw on the wall and floor, we felt it was now time to review and learn some of the names of the fascinating animals.

Role-playing different animals and the sounds they make.

Learning about different types of communication.

 

Giraffes eating from the tall tree

 

 

Block Animal Match.

Using two blocks, the children had to match up the correct bottom and top of the animal.

 

 

 

 

 

Great hand and eye coordination, getting the body of the animal to match in the correct position!

 

 

 

 Max wanted them to be standing up!

 

 

 

Animal magnets

Matching the parent animal to its baby.  Some children animated them to have them talk to each other.

 

 

Animal art expression 

By placing animals on a mirror surface it gave the children different dimensions and angles for them to draw.

 

 

 

 

 

Levi took his animal to a different mirror :)

 

 

 

Kosher animals

We learned this week that a kosher animal must have split hooves and  chew its cud. For our end of the week project we painted split hooves shoes to dress up with.

 

 

 

Experimenting with colors and mixing the paint to create different shades.

 

 

 

We headed outdoors to act like a kosher animal: chewing its cud 7 times! 

Shua demonstrating the split hooves

The Parsha/Animal Connection:

(While this concept is not necessarily a big idea of this weeks Torah Portion, there a times when we intentionally do not give the children a traditional lesson on the Parsha- as we feel it might be too much for the children to absorb in such a short time. Therefore we chose to connect the Portion to something the children are already familiar with and involved with at this time...hence the animal connection!)

This weeks Torah portion Lech Lecha we talk about how Avraham had so much faith in Hashem and left his hometown and walked to Israel- the promise land.

This was a great opportunity to connect the knowledge we learned on animals -- of how they walk and compare it to how us humans walk!

Everyone took their shoes and socks off to see our feet.

Was so much sensory fun for the children, (and for us) watching their reactions to putting their feet in paint and seeing their foot prints on the paper!)

With a hoof stamp we saw the difference between a foot print and an animal print. (One of the signs the Torah gives us for a Kosher animal is "split hooves."

Fun washing it off!

Classroom as our third teacher 

All areas in our classroom had different forms of animals. we never know how, when and what will strike a child's curiosity or expand their knowledge. For some it's when we formally have circle time for others by art and some while waiting on line to wash their hands!

Hence: our animal place markers on the floor---to line up for washing etc. 

We hope by providing different experiences that each child will walk away with more knowledge than before.

 

Chani was fascinated with the bunny on the floor.

 

Animal sound game

Different animal pictures were placed all around our classroom after hearing a sound of a certain animal they had to find the correct animal.

 

 

 

Animal Sensory

Play dough and popsicle sticks to create a zoo or a farm.

 

 

 

Tiger shaving cream.

We know the children love when we put out shaving cream! This time we added orange and black paint to it for them to create tiger stripes.

A picture of a jumping tiger was placed to get the visual and idea.

 

 

 

 

Max really wanted to paint the stripes ON the tiger!

 

 

Cow milking center

Hanging from our ceiling were gloves filled with watered down milk! This was for the children to experience milking the udders of a cow. With a tiny hole at the end and pictures in the table of what milking really looks like they each had fun filling their bucket with milk.

 

 

Team effort:

It was a lot of work --just like a real udder it takes time and patience to get the milk out. Here Levi and Aron worked together to get more out.

 

 

 

Zebra beading.

Black and white beads and pictures of Zebra's encouraged the children to work on their fine motor skills while discussing the beauty of a zebra

 

 

 

 

 

 

With one side taped on to the table, it helped the children not lose the end of their beads and know which side to place them on!

 

 

Fun in the sun

Sand is so therapeutic and its heartwarming to see the children melt into the sand and feel so comfortable!

 

 

 

Sand and water

 

Evi and Levi working on their Gross motor skills climbing and balancing

  

 

 

 

 

Devorah Leah "I am in a crib"