How to correct someone else's wrong!

Celebrating our Roots

Planting with our grandparents on Tu B'shvat was a highlight of our week! Thank you to all the grandparents who were able to be there, both real and volunteer! 

Blossoms appearing  in our  Lemon Tree!

We planted this tree during the first week of school this year! Throughout the winter we have been observing it, noticing the bare branches, wondering if it will indeed blossom ?
It was very exciting to see tiny little buds appearing! We will continue to water it and observe it throughout the rest of the year!

How to correct someone's wrong! 
Lesson from the Torah Portion- Yisro


Yisro (Moshe's father in law) was very concerned about the fact that Moshe was being asked so many questions by so many people. He didn't like what he saw was happening.

When someone wants to correct someone else or let them know they are doing something wrong- there is a special kind way of doing it.

We learn it from Yisro in this weeks Torah portion! He used very soft, kind and positive words.

The words he used to tell Moshe was, "Its not good for you" to stand for so long, and its not good for the Jewish people to have to wait so long." How can there only be ONE person to assist millions of people?
Morah Avigayil role played this scene with our friend "Moshe!"

Then he came up with the idea of having "Shoftim" judges, so that there would be more people that the Jews could go to for help and wisdom in applying the laws of the Torah. He created captains in groups of tens, hundreds and thousands.

In our classroom, we came up with different examples of how we can tell people when we want something to change.

We can remind friends in a positive way when we see someone is making a mistake. We can choose positive words. For example- instead of breaking someone's tower, we can say "I'd like to use those blocks" or "I think you took my blocks, please can i have them back"
We also reviewed the lesson from last week, on talking it out! When we see someone doing something not nice, we don't have to tell the Morah, we can talk it out, directly with them in a positive way.

Respect your Parents

The Ten Commandments are listed in this weeks Torah Portion. One of the 10 commandments is "Respect your parents." We made door hangers to place on their parents room, as a reminder to knock before you go in, and respect their parents space, and not disturb them if they are busy. 

Matan Torah Art

Using ripped papers, the children created beautiful mountains! We also created flower art, in representation of the flowers that Mount Sinai was covered with when the Ten commandments were given.

Primary Colors

We introduced the children to the term "Primary Colors." Next week we will mix them and learn about secondary colors.

Group Exercise! Moving, stretching and Toning our bodies!

Celebrating our roots!

Our Tu B'shvat party this year we celebrated our ROOTS- our grandparents! 

Bonding with our grandparents while planting a succulent.

Thank you to the volunteer "grandparents" from our community for visiting and helping our friends who's grandparents couldn't be there.

Menachem filling up his pot with soil.

 Decorating our pots with happy smiley faces.

Feeling so proud of our work

 Reading books while waiting for other friends to be done.

 We gathered together to sing a special Tu B'shvat song

(T.T.T.O Tu B'shvat Higia, Chag La-Ilanot)

Tu B'shvat is here, it's the birthday of the treesEverything is growing, growing just like me.My grandparents they planted a garden full of roots.After many years, they can finally see the fruits!

Snack Serving- Using Menu's

Each child was given a visual Menu on a clipboard, to offer snacks to the grandparents. Using their math and memory skills, the children were invited to circle the correct number of items from each menu choice, and then prepare a plate for the grandparent!

 

Friends enjoying their own food after they served the grandparents.

Making sure to give Tzedaka on this special day!

Where does the trash go?

 Because Tu B'shvat is coming up, we started off the week speaking about our world and why we need  it.

Using shaving cream and water color paint to create a swirling green and blue earth like we see in space.

We spoke about why it's important that there are trees and grass everywhere.

We learned that trees create the air we breathe, and we create the carbon dioxide that trees need.

So we work together.

But a lot of trees are being cut down to make paper and furniture.

STEM science challenge, trying to see how many apples can stand on the tree.

Color our world by number, we could hardly believe that this paper is made from a tree.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We spoke about how many families are trying to reduce the trash they make, by using containers for food instead of bags.

Making stamps out of recycled materials like toilet paper tubes and egg cartons.

Recycling means remaking it into something else to use.

Thanks to Emma M. and her family for sending us in recycling materials this year!

Recycling, roll, count and color.

Creating a fun collage out of Recycled trash!

We had to plan out our collages, cut the pieces and then glue everything down.

Learning that our trash goes into a landfill, and watching a video about it.

Everyone found it pretty gross to think about all that trash going into the ground.

Sorting the "trash," figuring out which letters go in each recycling can.

We had to think which alphabet each letter belongs to, the ABC's or Aleph Bais.

learning about ocean pollution, and the effects that oil spills can have on sea animals. 

Oil is not easy to clean up from water!

A Fruitful Week

This weeks Torah portion tells the story of the splitting of the sea- and the Jewish people's exodus from Egypt. There are so many interesting details that we don't get to explore when learning this story before Pesach, so it was a great opportunity to learn an important life lesson that applies all year round!!

We began with learning the story of the Jewish people miraculously crossing the see - as it split in half! We used mini figures to demonstrate as the story was told.

Splitting of the Sea Art!

As we got deeper into the story, we learned that Paroah actually TOLD the Jewish people to leave!  He even helped them to leave! But then he suddenly changed his mind! Pharoah had a change of feelings!

We spoke about emotions and what makes us feel the way we feel. And that those feelings can pass through us very suddenly!

The way Pharoah dealt with his emotions, was not the way we should act.

What to do when we have such BIG emotions?

Using this poster (see pic below) we explored 4 important steps to take when we feel a very strong emotion, before we do anything else! 

 These are important steps to take for YOURSELF and FOR OTHERS!

Pharoah- Screamed and got mad. Then it led him to get "physical" and began "fighting." He did not talk about it or try to fix why he was having these feelings!

Some Jewish people were scared, they said let's go back to Egypt! They didn't know where they were going or what would happen to them!  Some were excited, they said let's keep going, even if there was an ocean in front of them! Some were confident, that they were really free, and wanted to fight with the Egyptians, some wanted to just daven to Hashem!

Visualizing their feelings, and realizing we also can feel the same way throughout our day!

 Hashem sent a layer of dew that protected the Mun- the miracle food that the Jews ate in the desert.
One layer on top and one on the botton so it wouldn't get dirty.

The Mun looked the same, but it could taste like anything you wanted! 

 We got to play a game where we could taste it without seeing the food and had to guess what it was! It was interesting to experience taste without sight- which was what the Mun was like!

Tu B'shvat- Birthday of the Trees

Trees give us so many things! The children were asked, "What comes from Trees?" 

They provided all sorts of great answers such as:

Wood, shade, Fresh Air, delicious fruits.

Exploring the soil that trees grow in.

The children enjoyed all sorts of woodwork activities in celebration of the wood that comes from Trees!

Emma's creating her own talking fruit tree!

Shivat Haminim- 7 Fruits that Israel is blessed with

Yud Shvat- 70th Anniversary of the Rebbe's Leadership

After preparing for this day over the last week, it was special to actually celebrate the day with a "farbrengen!" We sang some special "nigunim", made L'chaims with grape juice, and spoke about the Rebbe's message that this world is a garden, and that our job as gardeners is to plant fruits, and flowers, which are our Mitzvah's- that beautify the garden.

This message lines up perfectly with Tu Bshvat- the birthday of the trees, when we enjoy many fruits. We used a variety of fruits to create a fruit flower Garden! and of course made a blessing on it, and enjoyed eating them!