Sparkling teeth at Gan

Dental health week

It is a Mitzvah to take care of the body Hashem gave us. This week, we zoomed in on our teeth and learned how to take care of them.

Brushing teeth with shaving cream toothpaste.

Learning which foods are good for our teeth and which are not. It was quite tricky since the treats tooth was yellow and had a sad face on it. Some of our friends asked us "but I like candy" This was a great discussion on sometimes what we like is not always good for us. "We can just have a little," was the response and they were on target! We emphasized how its okay to have sweets occasionally but to know what is really good for us.

Ben, " I like broccoli" 

Teeth brushing at circle time! After a funny show by the Morah's, on how to properly brush, it was time for each friend to show us their techniques and faces that go with it! 

It is okay to sometimes have sweets and treats but we learned it's so important to brush our teeth after.

Shua, brushing off blue candy :)

Making a mouth out of apples peanut butter and some marshmallows as the teeth! Mendy, counting the 'teeth'.

Some of our friends had sweets in their lunchbox, right after snack time got their toothbrush and cleaned , to get their teeth sparkling again. A mirror helped our friends notice the motion they were doing and how to get the tricky spots in the back.

Playdough stuck in ice trays and block toys was a fun way to learn how to floss out plaque that gets stuck in between our teeth.

Menachem, counting teeth.

Practicing our cutting skills while creating the brussels on a toothbrush.

 Morah Shira went to the dentist this week and we looked at all the pictures of what happens at a dentist visit.

On Friday we had a real dentist come visit us ! Pictures to follow next week.

Eating the Rainbow

 Our Mitzvah Menchies have constantly been hearing about growing food. But what does that mean ? Does it mean food that grows in the ground? 

This week the nutritionists in our class delved into the science of food, and what it does to help us grow. Eating the rainbow is a great visual that helped us understand what we need to be eating to help us grow.

                                            We sorted our fruits and veggies into the colors.                                                                                     Something that we really loved learning about was what                                     the different colors of food actually do for our bodies.

Esther helping her friend find the colors she needs to draw and sort the different foods.

 Sitting by snack and lunchtime and getting excited about what we are helping our body do by eating each color was really exciting.

We learned about the different food groups, and which goes into each of them. Each contains different nutrients that our bodies.

                                        We put eating the rainbow into practice with our salad bar.                                                  Preparing the veggies and dressings.

 Everyone found things they enjoyed and it was so empowering to be able to choose exactly the veggies we wanted.

Animals need different nutrients than people! It's important to give each creature what is right for them.  Shmuel uses magnet letters to make his name

Incorporating eating the rainbow and different nutritious foods into our morning centers.

 Fine motor color sorting and aleph beis recognition.

We were so excited to have our ice cream party this week! Realizing the amount of Mitzvos we did at school was amazing!

Working on a huge sand mountain is a team effort!

Happy 5th Birthday Chana Rochel! We love you! Keep learning and growing!

Torah Tots take a DEEP breath

 Emotions unit

This week we have been exploring all our different feelings. The big idea we wanted the children to walk away with, is all feelings are validated. We all  have times we feel sad or mad and that's okay. We learned different techniques to help us relax so we can regulate those big feelings and respond in the best way we can.

Shua, showing us his happy face in the mirror. Yakov, helped us show different emotions for us to copy and figure out what the child might have been feeling.

This brought up a lot of self reflection and discussions by circle time. Leah, was reminiscing  about the time she hurt her knee and felt sad and Mendy wanted to include a funny face.

Holding up mouth expressions and trying to match our eyes. 

Ben, making a happy face and we noticed his eyebrows went up.

Expressing ourselves through playdough faces.

Making our own puppets as a representation of ourselves.

We were so proud to see how our friends now know on their own how much liquid glue small pieces need.

Self portraits of different expressions. Menachem decided he wanted to make a lion face.

Sensory balloon balls had different faces on them. 

Chana, wanted to make a family and a story with them.

Menachem, building a face structure.

Fun in the sun while talking about feelings. 

Leah stood quietly in thought near the happy face while Menachem wanted to make a happy face on top of the mad one.

How does our bearded dragon show feelings? We took him out to get a better look.

We found out that when he gets frustrated his neck turns a dark color.

It is so important to get enough oxygen into our system. We learned that when we are feeling sad or upset,  we don't get enough air into our bodies. Having enough air in our bodies is a very practical way to help our bodies relax, and move from a frustrated/angry/upset mode, to a more relaxed, calm state of being.

Playing with a puppy is a great way to relax. We noticed our friends breathing differently, becoming so calm while holding her.

Breathing exercises shut off the body’s “fight or flight” response, allowing children and adults to calm themselves and choose effective responses to conflict and upset.

We created a pinwheel with a flower to help us learn the skill of taking deep breathes. 

Shua, sniffing the flower and Menachem blowing a long breath to make the wheel move.

Playing with cornstarch and water is such a fun calming activity. 

Good Shabbos and take a deep breathe ;)