A Hidden Gem 💎

This week, we dove into the story of Purim. Our friends acted it out beautifully!
Theo, as Achashverosh searched for a new Queen and chose Esther.

Esther, did not want to become Queen because it meant leaving her Jewish home with Mordechai. Mordechai, told her not to reveal that she was Jewish, so Esther carefully hid her Shabbat candles, her siddur, and her tzedakah box in the palace.

The name Esther in Hebrew comes from the word “hester”, which means hidden.

We went on our own “hidden treasure” hunt and searched for hidden things, like gemstones! The children all agreed that gemstones are not easy to find. You have to dig deep in the ground to discover them.

We learned that Hashem’s name does not appear openly in the Megillah. At first glance, the story might seem like one big coincidence… but when we dig deeper, we discover the hashgacha pratis (the Divine Providence) and see how Hashem was guiding and saving Mordechai, Esther, and every single Jew.

And then Yossi C. made the sweetest connection:
“A gem sounds like Hashem!”

Who’s hiding behind the mask?

Purim also means lottery, so we made our own classroom lottery to choose which part of the Megillah each child would get to work on..

When we read the Megillah on Purim, every time we hear Haman’s name, we make loud noise with our graggers! The idea is to make so much noise that we “erase” the name of Haman and all the evil he brought into the world.

But we didn’t stop there…

We doubled down and created special graggers that are actually tzedakah boxes! Because the best way to truly erase Haman’s name is by adding more light, by doing extra mitzvos! 

We practiced shaking our graggers every time we heard Haman’s name in the Megillah!

When “Haman” came to visit our class and told the children to bow down to him, the children knew exactly what to do! They remembered what Mordechai did, and together they answered loudly and confidently: “No, no, no! We will not bow down to you! We only bow down to Hashem!”

In the month of Adar we are meant to be extra happy! We celebrated with fun face paint!

We had so much fun dressing up this week!

We celebrate our friends birthday with a sweet tradition of making birthday cards for the birthday boy or girl. It was so heartwarming to see the children asking Moshe, whose birthday is coming up, “What’s your favorite color?”  “How do you spell your name?”

Pre-K Kria

We learned letter ל Lamed!

K Kria

We are working on our cholam sound..

Academics

We have been learning about voting and democracy. At Circle Time we read the book “President of the Jungle.”

We held a mock election to vote for the new President. Our congratulations to Sloth for being elected the new President of the jungle!

Shabbat Shalom!

Hashem IN the palace?

Purim story comes to life this week by introducing a new character, King Achashverosh.

Now that our friends have been familiar with Mordechai and Esther they felt the difference. The King showig off all his gold and glory.

Reuvi and Zalman, acted out how different Mordechai and King Achasherosh were.

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The King needed a new Queen. At first this sounded exciting for the girls to try out to be the new Queen. Once we brought Esther's struggle they realized what this meant. 

Esther, was comfortable with all her mitzvahs she would miss it if she was Queen. 

Mordechai empowered her if Hashem wants her to be Queen its Hashems plan.

Yocheved Sara, was so excited to hear that Esther was able to take her Mitzvahs with her!

Feeling brave becoming the new Queen.

Getting really creative in our palace building this week.

We learned how Mordechai was just like a Morah by gathering the children and learning Torah with them. This is was a big piece in the Purim miracle that Hashem listened to the precious children and saved the Jewish nation.

We have been quite busy getting ready for our Purim projects.

Oliver, working on his Megillah cover.

Soaking up all the sunny days!

The Hebrew month of Adar is the happiest month of the whole year! To celebrate the first day of Adar we had fun with facepaint!

Good Shabbos!

Mordechai and Esther are just like me!

While most classrooms start the Purim holiday with a story, at Gan we like be intentional with laying the foundation of the big idea. 

We first introduce our Jewish heroes in the Purim story, Mordechai and Esther!

Creating relatability will help make Purim more personal.

They had a Jewish home just like us!

Reuvi, chose the Torah in the home to hug just like Mordechai did.

Although so many years ago the Torahs mitzvahs stays the same! Zalman, giving Tzedaka!

Akiva, was so excited to show us the Alef for his name in the siddur. Mordechai, would teach young children the Hebrew Alef beis and all these thousands of years ago we are doing the same thing!

Catching 'Mordechai and Esther moments' is always a hit. 

Role model sharing, communication these are the type of people we are talking about!

Our friends were asked what mitzvah do you like to do just like Mordechai and Esther?

Drawing and documenting their own responses.

Our friends love to be part of the process of making the new theme bulletin board.

Recently, we have been exploring activities that encourage concentration, hand eye coordination. 

Good Shabbos!

 

On a Mitzvah High!

Purim is on its way! Before learning the story of Purim, this week we got to meet the main characters up close - Mordechai and Esther!

When our friends walked into the classroom, they immediately noticed Esther and Mordechai standing on each side of the home we created. Mordi, was so excited to share who they were!

Mordechai and Esther, although they lived many years ago in Paras (Persia), kept a Jewish home and did the same mitzvos that we do every day!

Yehudis, acting as Esther, lighting shabbat candles..

 Mordechai, making kiddush!

Yosef, wearing a kippah proudly!

Yossi said a bracha out loud before he ate, just like Mordechai!

Mordechai was a rebbe (teacher), and he had a Gan just like ours. With this in mind, we created a “Mini-Gan” in our classroom! The children had the chance to practice being the Morah, teaching a lesson and giving out class jobs. Chana, as the Morah, gave star stickers to friends who were paying attention, and Eli B. was so happy to receive one!

Avraham, became the rebbe for the day, teaching his students Alef-Beis!

Shhh.. lesson time!

We saw and heard so much kindness and sharing in our class this week, even more than usual!

Chana wrote a refuah shleimah (get-well) card to our friend who was out sick.

Oops! The tzedakah coins fell! Thank you Hashem, for the helping hands in our classroom!

We blessed the challah for Shabbat, just like Esther did in her Jewish home.

We asked the children, “What is your favorite mitzvah?” Some knew right away, while others needed to think it through..

Moshe’s favorite mitzvah is taking care of his siblings 💖

Eli's, is eating kosher food 💛

Ashira shared that she uses only “mitzvah-safe hands,” and not the “monster hands,” as she called them 💚

Theo giving Tzedaka!

We framed and decorated our favorite mitzvos, creating beautiful reminders of the good deeds we love to do..

In our quest to do more mitzvos, we learned a new morning bracha, Hanoten Layaef Koach. How fitting it is to thank Hashem for giving us strength each day to do many good deeds!
Avraham lifted the very full tzedakah box, showing the strength Hashem gives him!

The pencil-sharpening station was a big hit in our classroom this week!

Prk Kria

We learned the letter Lamed. We had fun cutting a Lulav for the letter Lamed!

K Kria

Cholam Party yay!

Mordi made a cholam malei, and Avraham made a cholam chaser!

Academics

We have been learning about Presidents Day. Here our friends are completing “Presidential “ themed activities! Happy birthday George Washington!

Shabbat Shalom 💜