A Week of Brachos!

This week, we learned all about the brachos we say before we eat, starting with Hamotzi for bread! The children practiced rolling playdough and shaping it into challahs, and then we discovered a secret message.

It's time to practice the bracha of Hamotzi! Chana showed us how to wash our hands before eating bread, pouring water three times on the right hand and three times on the left hand.

Theo, passed around slices of sourdough, and the bracha of Hamotzi was said loud and proud throughout the classroom!

Everyday this week, we got to learn and practice a different bracha! For HaEitz, we tried grapes and apples and learned that this bracha is said on fruits that grow on trees.

Yossi and Yosef, found fruit in their lunchboxes and proudly said the bracha of HaEitz before eating them!

The children created beautiful artwork of fruit trees using only the primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, and toothbrushes for painting!

For Mezonos, we got to celebrate Eli F.'s birthday and say the bracha on the special birthday cake he designed! Happy Birthday Eli!

Our classroom turned into a vegetable garden to help us learn which foods we say HaAdama on! 🥕🥒🌽

We made vegetable soup to celebrate our HaAdama learning! Thank you Hashem for the June Gloom weather, it gave us the perfect cozy day to enjoy a warm bowl of soup together 😊

Yehudis, helped pour the soup into bowls and serve it to her excited friends!

Throughout the week, our friends created their very own Bracha Books, practicing their Hebrew writing and drawing skills along the way.

By the end of the week, the children were ready for the Mystery Bag Test!  Yehudis reaching into the bag and she pulled out a carrot and knew right away to place it under HaAdama!

 

Pre-k Kria

We finished the whole Alef-Beis this week!! 🎉

K Kria

We learned the names of shapes in Hebrew! The children had fun identifying different shapes and moving their bodies as they jumped onto the correct shape.

Academics

As part of our Social Studies curriculum we have been learning about wants/needs & financial literacy.  A game of coin bingo is a fun way to reinforce coin recognition.

At Circle Time each student took a turn to “buy groceries” & figure out the correct coin configuration to make their “purchase.”

Aftercare

We made edible candy bracelets from scratch! The children had so much fun creating their own sweet designs while practicing fine motor skills and creativity. It was a tasty and exciting activity, and everyone was proud to wear (and enjoy!) their delicious creations. The kids were as sweet as the treats!

Shabbat Shalom!

Soaking it all in!

This week at Gan we are relishing every moment before our year comes to an end!

Our big idea to end  the year is our friends realizing themselves just how much they have grown this year!

Being able to answer questions, draw their ideas, and share what’s on their mind is a wonderful sign of how much they’ve grown!

Being able to express what we are feeling and using play dough as a comfortable way to communicate with our friends. 

Look! We can write our names.

Our fine motor skills have gotten strong and we will showcase our work on our beautiful end of year backdrop!

We made fun flower necklaces using our fine motor skills and weaving noodles and flowers.

Sensory play watching friends get increasingly comfortable with getting our hands messy. Shaving cream was a fun way to practice making pictures and shapes.

Our costume art is underway! We used yarn dipped in paint to experiment with different patterns and see what would emerge.

We have also been very busy working on our end of year backdrop for our ceremony! There is nothing like art all made from our friends to celebrate a year full of growth!

Fun aftercare art!

All about me!

During the last couple weeks of Gan we wanted our friends to realize and process just how much they have grown!

First, we stared with how unique we all are. Taking turns looking in the mirror helped us realize all the different features each of us have. 

                                                     

Graphing our eye colors.

                    

Over these next couple of weeks we are working on a special "All about me" craft. A special place where we can document what each of our tastes are and what we are able to now do!

Zalman and Akiva, working on their favorite colors. 

Color graphing was a fun center to learn names of colors we might not know yet.

What is your favorite food to eat? 

Talking about our emotions is a good way to learn more about ourselves. 

Making self-portraits of how we were feeling.

We also worked on a fun summer craft since we are getting excited for summer to come!

Playing in our sandbox is more than just play. Scooping, pouring, digging helps children build regulation, focus, creativity, imagination, and connection.

In a fast-paced world, children still deeply need open-ended sensory experiences like these.

What looks simple on the outside is actually powerful brain work underneath the surface

Thank you Hope and Ken for visiting us and reading books!

During aftercare, we had fun with learning about gravity and building.