Yom Kippur is HERE

This week we said bye to Rosh Hashana and HELLO to Yom Kippur! (Day of Atonement)

It is a day that Hashem will judge us favorably! For that we are going to remind Hashem how good we are. That's why we spend most of the day davening.

Our class became a shul and we role played Yom Kippur davenings. 

It is a custom to wear white on Yom Kippur to make us look like angles!

We watched Shlomi the puppet put on his white Kittle (robe) for Yom Kippur.

On Yom Kippur we do not wear leather shoes, so we made our own slippers we can wear!

We played a fun sorting game using our shoes.

The days leading up to Yom Kippur is a time for Teshuvah, Tefilah and Tzedakah.

We made sure to have extra kavana (concentration) at davening circle. And every day this week we gave extra Tzedakah!

On Yom Kippur we read the story of Yonah. We watched a show about Yonah!

And role played the story with waterplay! The water beads were a fun sensory experience!

Oh no! the whale got Nechama H! 😊

After Yom Kippur we are going to celebrate Sukos! We build a Suka together!

Creating our own Sukka and decorations!

Leah is showing us how to shake the Lulav & Esrog! (Up, down, right, left, forward, backward)

Rabbi Lang came to do a special rally to pray for all the Jewish people in Israel and in the entire world!ֿ

Pre-K Kria

Using the Dot marker to color the ד (Daled)

K Kria

Starting the year with a new vowel - Patach!

Say "AH!"

Academics

We have been learning about why leaves change color/fall off trees in autumn.

 

We also made some leaf rubbings!

Aftercare

The children did a hands on, fun, STEM experiment. This was a sweet way to continue to involve apples  but also explore science concepts and beginning chemistry reactions.

Catapult Away….

Sometimes we make mistakes and that’s ok we can always learn from them. The children wrote down a mistake and will remember to stay focus and take aim to not make it happen again!

Have a meaningful Yom Kippur and Shabbat Shalom!

Yom Kippur- I can fix my Ooops!

The big idea of Yom Kippur is forgiveness! We wanted to help the children learn that its ok to make a mistake, and there's always a way to fix an "Ooops!"

Our puppet friends "Dina & David" visited the classroom a few times to teach some lessons on this idea. 

David was building a big block tower, when Dina was running by him and accidently knocked it over. David was so sad! 

We sang the song (TTTO Where is thumbkin)

Oops I'm sorry, Oops I'm sorry,

What did i do? What did i do?

I didn't want to hurt you,

I want to make it better,

I made a mistake

I'll fix my mistake!

The children enjoyed watching another episode of Dina and David, as they tried to sort out what to do when David took Dina's favorite slippers. It was meaningful for the children to connect with the characters, seeing how the puppets got upset, even thought about pushing their friend, but then figuring out how to "Fix the Oops", by apologizing and asking for forgiveness!

We have been singing the song in the classroom as a reminder to the children how they can also fix their "Oopsies." You can use this at home, as a positive way to fix up a situation! Watch your child smile as he runs to "fix" whatever mistake he might have made!

Mini Shule (Synagogue)

Another way we prepared for Yom Kippur was by turning our dramatic play center into a "Mini Shule". We repositioned the Aron Kodesh (Ark), chairs and prayer books to feel like a real Shule. 

One morning we did our davening circle time in the shule. The children had a chance to read from pretend Torah scrolls, pray from Siddurim (prayer books) and put on Teffilin!

The enthusiasm of your precious children is so heartwarming to witness!

White for Yom Kippur

It is tradition to dress in White on Yom Kippur. Representing angels and the purity of our souls. On Yom Kippur we like to focus on the pureness and goodness of our souls! The white helps us do this.

The children were invited to create open ended art using a variety of white materials!

Story of Yonah (Jonah) in the whale!

Another Yom Kippur tradition is to read the story of Yona. We read the story and had fun decorating whales! 

 

Rabbi Lang came in for a special rally!

The prayers of children can accomplish even more than us adults!

Wishing you all to be sealed for a Shana Tova. Next week we will focus on the next holiday of Sukkot! Reminder its a short week, school on just Monday & Tuesday!

Shofar sounds

 

We started our week with Pheobe the Beekeeper coming for a wonderful presentation on how Bees make honey! Did you know in a bees whole lifetime it only makes 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey! 

The children were invited to touch and see honeycomb, real bees in a glass, and see all the different steps of how a bee makes honey!

We also focused this week on the different sounds of the Shofar!

There are 3 sounds the shofar makes:

Tekia (one long sound)

Shevarim (3 shorter sounds)

Terua (9 mini sounds)

The children enjoyed all sorts of games, and activities to help them learn these musical notes!

Using visuals on the floor, the children walked, skipped and jumped to the sounds of the Shofar!

 

At one of our centers we used different size blocks and corks to trace the different sounds.

   Ayal pretended that the cork was the king in the field walking around his palace and excitedly exclaimed "look Morah Keren, Hamelech Besadeh" 

                                             

We used playdough to mold shofar shapes, and looked at pictures to help the children understand where the shofar comes from!

We enjoyed creating our very own toy Shofar that the children will bring home for Rosh Hashana!

We listened to an audio of a baby crying, it sounded very similar to the sound of the Shofar! We learned that when we sound the Shofar, Hashem hears it and responds to us with love, just like our parents respond to us with love, when we cry out to them! The children role-played taking care of babies! We know how much Hashem loves us, just like our parents love!

Decorating the clay honey jars that the children made last week!

On Rosh Hashana we eat ROUND Challah's! to symbolize the cycle of the new year, We played a game to differentiate between the round and the braided Challa's!

Using playdough and stones the children pretended to make Rosh Hashana Challas!

Our interactive Bulletin Board !

                        Good Shabbos!