Any Questions??

This week, we continued learning about Pesach.
Morah asked the children, 'Who do you think is the most important person at the Seder?' Some said, 'Eliyahu Ha'Navi,' and others said, 'Our guests!'. But on Seder night, the children are the most important! They ask the Mah Nishtanah and learn about Yetziat Mitzrayim. The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught that Pesach is all about chinuch (learning and asking questions), and Hashem loves when children learn Torah!

We played the 'Ask & Learn' Treasure Hunt! Morah hid small Pesach-related items around the room, and we took turns finding an item and asking a question about it. Some of our friends also knew the answers, which made it even more fun for everyone!

We learned about the 4 questions in the song 'Ma Nishtanah' and even made our own Ma Nishtanah microphone.

We incorporated special breathing exercises using the Simanim (steps) from the Pesach Haggadah!  This mindful breathing exercise not only reinforced their learning but also helped them be in their frontal lobe, allowing them to be more present and engaged!

Eli, picking the Siman!

We began the exciting process of making our own Seder plates using air-dry clay! The children worked carefully to shape and smooth their clay, preparing a special place for each item on the Seder plate.

Chana found a creative way to flatten her clay by using her body weight to press it down!

We created beautiful art by painting one side of the paper and then pressing the other side onto it, revealing a stunning painting of Krias Yam Suf (the splitting of the sea).

Building a Moshe figurine!

This week, we mentioned Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s birthday! Morah Chana made smoothies, and the children wrote about how they could be like the Rebbetzin in their own lives.
Nechama wrote "Be kind and humble, and do every mitzvah!" 💛

Pre-K Kria

K Kria

This week, we worked on recognizing and understanding silent letters at the end of words. The children practiced reading words carefully, noticing how some letters are written but not pronounced.

Academics

Science time! We learnt about surface tension by seeing how many drops of water a coin could hold.

Scientist Eli, completing his worksheet; making an estimation of how many water drops a penny/nickel/dime and quarter can hold, then using tally marks to record the experiment results.

Aftercare

Matzah bake!

Shabbat Shalom!

Let my people GO!!

This week at Gan, we continued the story of Pesach! King Paroh needed to learn his lesson and finally let the Jewish people go!

Zalman, helped show us what Hashem did to the Egyptians water- it turned to blood! 

When Ariella poured water for Moshe, it was delicious water. 

We learned that the King kept changing his mind as soon as he begged Moshe to daven to Hashem to take the plague away.

Next, we learned about the plague of frogs. It was quite hilarious watching the frogs pop out in different places, but it definitely  wasn't funny for King Paroh.

Making a frog project.

Ayal, brought in his real pet frog for us to look at!

Our friends have been working really hard on their Pesach Hagaddah. 

What happened after all the plagues? It was finally time to leave and fast! We role played having no time to properly rise our bread but rathe putting matzah dough on our backs and escaping Egypt!

Matzah factory time!

Chaya Mushka using a special tool that makes holes so the Matzah does not rise in the oven.

Baking our Matzah in the hot oven. 

Little bakers at work.

Working together rolling, poking and baking.

Looking at real Matzah factory pictures to get a feel of what they were doing for Pesach.

Taking care of our garden and lots of hugs!

Good Shabbos!

 

Leaving Today!

Pesach is approaching, to begin our learning, we asked the children what they already knew about Yetziat Mitzrayim (Leaving Egypt), and they amazed us with their knowledge! Leah, beautifully retold the story of Batya reaching out to baby Moshe, sharing how Hashem performed a miracle by stretching her arm all the way to the basket.

The children shared the story of how the Jewish people worked very hard in Egypt. They told us how King Paroh didn’t want to let them go, even though Hashem brought the 10 Makos. The kids imagined how hard it must have been to make bricks and work all day.

The children were so shocked when Morah told them that Yetziat Mitzrayim didn’t just happen a long time ago, it happens every day! We are all working to overcome the 'Paroh' inside of us, the part of us that doesn’t want to let go of our struggles, fear and challenges.

To help the children connect to the idea of breaking free, each child made handcuffs and wrote down something they want to break free from. It could be a bad habit, a fear, or something else that holds them back.

Eli, breaking free!

We talked about Kriat Yam Suf (the parting of the sea), where Hashem made a way for the Jewish people to escape. To help the children experience this moment, we did a 'Splitting of the Sea' walk, where each child dipped their feet in paint and stepped across a large sheet, creating their own path!

What color did the water turn into when we mixed the blue and yellow paint?

💚

We had so much fun exploring the differences between matzah and challah! First, we made two types of dough: one that rises (chametz) and one that stays flat (matzah). Challah had many ingredients, while matzah had only two - flour and water.

While the challah dough was puffing up, we made our own Gan Matzah Bakery! To add a fun challenge, we tried to make the matzah and clean up, all in just 18 minutes!

Chametz puffs up, just like when we feel too lazy or stubborn to do the right thing. Matzah stays humble and reminds us to follow Hashem’s way quickly, just like the Jewish people did when they left Mitzrayim! The Rebbe taught us that we should be like matzah-quick to do mitzvot and always ready to grow!

Green light red light game with Moshe and Pharaoh!

We made a vibrant and creative open art, embracing the spirit of spring in preparation for Chag Ha'Aviv, one of the names of Pesach.

Happy dancing for completing a challenging puzzle!

 Fun in the sun!

Pre-K Kria

Learning the letter פּ in fun & creative ways!

K Kria

This week, we introduction the Chirik sound! To make the learning process extra fun and memorable, we celebrated with a Chirik Party! The kids got into the spirit by dressing up as bees, which fit perfectly since the the word bee sound like a Chirik Beis, and they were so excited to form a shape of a Hebrew letter using their bodies!

Academics

We have been learning about American Symbols.
At Circle Time we played an American Symbol Letter Match Game.

At one of our Centers, we played an American Symbols graphing game.
This activity helps us develop data analysis skills…and is fun!

Aftercare

Building together!

Happy Birthday Yossi F. 💙

And Happy Birthday Morah Chana, Gillian and Keren 💗

Shabbat Shalom!