Friday, July 11, 2025

We need each other!


This week at Gan we 'landed' at the Kibbutz! A lesson we can learn from Kibbutz living is being a community, we all need each other!

We role played this by having a animal on the Kibbutz keep running away. Our friends came up and problem solved together. They come up with building a home for the little giraffe to keep him safe. We feel safe when we have each other to help us out! It was a powerful lesson we all learned together.


Using pictures of animals at the Kibbutz as inspiration to make delicious animal cookies.


It was quite tricky matching the right stamp to the animal cut out. 


Painting animals together.



A petting zoo came to visit camp! We all loved the duck's fun hair style.


Using our calm hands to help the animals feel safe with us.




Yehudis, showing us her own chickens that she has at her house! 



At the Kibbutz you might see a lot of gardens!
To bring this into our classroom we planted our own seeds.


Filling up the soil at the sensory table.


Eliara, planting her flowers in the playdough 'dirt'. 




Thank you, Rabbi Lang for coming in to do a rally with us! This week we celebrated the 13 of Tammuz which marks the day when the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, was released from Soviet prison after being arrested for spreading Torah and Judaism. His release is a celebration of Jewish strength, faith, and the power of standing up for what’s right—even in the face of danger. 


Saying the Torah Pessukim is a big highlight at the rallies!


Enjoying fresh watermelon together on a hot sunny day.



 



Thursday, July 10, 2025

Mitzvah Moments on the Israeli Kibbutz!

This week, we visited a Kibbutz, a place full of animals, farming, and most importantly… TEAMWORK!

"What is teamwork?" Morah asked. Mendy said, "It’s when we work together!"
We looked at pictures that showed examples of teamwork — a busy beehive, a soccer team, farmers in the field, and a Minyan (10 Jewish people davening together). Each one showed how we work together to get something important done.
In the picture of the soccer team, all the players were smiling when one teammate scored a goal. We talked about how we can all feel happy when something good happens to a friend — because we’re one big team! Shai remembered when a real beehive came to visit our Gan last year. He shared, “A bee only makes less than one teaspoon of honey in her whole life!” That’s why bees need to work together — so we can have lots of sweet honey! When the Jewish people work together, daven together, and feel joy for one another, we bring so much nachas to Hashem 💜


We created a beautiful "Teamwork Tree," where each child added a leaf showing something they’re good at. When we bring all our special talents together, we make one amazing team!


In a kibbutz, everyone works together to care for the land and animals, that’s why our week was full of hands-on farming fun! The children loved meeting real animals when the petting zoo came to visit, and we all enjoyed petting the duck’s silly little hairdo! 





Axel had a blast “milking” our pretend cow, Mooo-linda, while Yossi proudly took on the role of mashgiach to make sure the milk was kosher! We spoke about the beautiful mitzvah of Chalav Yisrael — how lucky we are that our milk is watched and prepared especially for us, just like Hashem watches over the Jewish nation with so much love.


We explored how sheep give us wool by creating a fluffy cotton sheep craft, and we even watched a video of people shearing a sheep that hadn’t been trimmed in so long she couldn’t even see!


The kids enjoyed decorating and sharing adorable animal-shaped cookies with their friends. Our class also put on a puppet show starring some very silly animals!




And just like kibbutzniks who love flowers and nature, we pressed colorful blooms — Mordy, had everyone giggling when he used his whole body weight to press them really flat! We used the pressed flowers to decorate beautiful bookmarks and even stamped them into our Eretz Yisrael passports!



Planting flowers! Now we watch Hashem’s creations grow...


Hashem gave us the special mitzvah not to mix meat and milk. By keeping them separate, we make our homes holy and filled with kedushaTo help us remember, we made our very own “Meat” and “Dairy” signs for our kitchens. The children carefully used stencils to form the letters.


Thank you, Rabbi Lang for coming in to do a rally with us! This week we celebrated the 13 of Tammuz which marks the day when the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, was released from Soviet prison after being arrested for spreading Torah and Judaism. His release is a celebration of Jewish strength, faith, and the power of standing up for what’s right—even in the face of danger. 


Lechaim!




Academics

We pulled the carrot we had been growing for the last few months!


Aftercare

Draw your dream kibbutz! Let’s explore our creativity by drawing what your dream kibbutz would look like! Think about the homes, the nature, the people, and how everyone works and plays together. What would you include in your ideal community?


We created our very own salad bar! Each child was in charge of cutting a different vegetable, and once everything was ready, we sat down and enjoyed the delicious salads together!




Shabbat Shalom!

Thursday, July 3, 2025

From the Shuk to the Kotel!

Get ready for takeoff! This summer, we’re going on a big adventure through Eretz Yisrael!
This week, we “flew” to Yerushalayim, and the children imagined gliding down with a parachute as we landed. It was so exciting to begin our journey in the holiest city!

To get ready for our travels, the kids decorated their very own passports! We stamped them with a special Yerushalayim stamp to mark our first stop!


On our bulletin board, we created a beautiful Kotel (Western Wall). The children's mitzvot are starting to fill up our Kotel, bringing us one step closer to the Beit Hamikdash! As Noah said with excitement, “Soon it’s gonna be here!”


We watched the Beis Hamikdash float down to start visualizing and getting excited for whats coming!


Although we are not IN Eretz Yisroel, we can elevate where we are now by doing so many Mitzvahs! Axel, showing us by saying the holy letters of the Alef Beis that adds holiness right where we are now!


Bringing the Kotel in our center we used pencils and rollers to make straight lines,


We used stamp sponges to create the bricks.


A very special place in Yerushalayim is the Shuk - a colorful market filled with fruits, vegetables, and yummy food stands. We brought the Shuk to our camp! The kids had so much fun writing their own grocery lists and role-playing as vendors and shoppers.




We used our fine motor skills to make tiny veggies out of clay!


Window painting!


Yerushalaim math game!


A fun puppet show theater came, and it brought so many giggles and smiles


Pool day!


Kria


Aftercare

Making chummus YUM!