Puppets teaching a Yom kippur lesson.

  For Yom Kippur, we wanted to build on the Rosh Hashana big idea of Hashem loving each child/person. That love the child feels for his/her parents, is the love Hashem has for each of us.

Building on this idea- we posed the question to the children, "What if I make a mistake? Does Hashem still love me? Does my Mommy or Daddy love me even if I make a mistake?

Our goal was twofold- 

1. We wanted the children to walk away from this week with a sense of safety that Hashem will always love me no matter what, just like my parents do. (and that same love towards them is also there from us--their Morahs :-)

2.  To teach the children a sense of responsibility-- and give them the tools for what to do IF THEY DO make a mistake! It's okay to make a mistake. When we DO make one, we have a job to TRY AND FIX IT!

 

 

This is where our puppets Dina and David came in handy! :)

 

Dena and David puppets visit our classroom to help us explore social skills. We use puppet shows as a venue to explore social situations that unfold in our classroom. Puppet shows give children the opportunity to be ‘objective observers’, allowing the child to take in the whole picture- ‘both sides of the story’- and honestly assess right from wrong. 

The following Dina and David story describes a fairly typical scenario: Dena created something; David was careless, Dena was sad. How can David rectify his mistake and try to learn from it? What does forgiveness look like?

The story that you see below is what each of our classes enjoyed during circle time over the last 2 days. It is also what we sent home with each child as a preparation for Yom Kippur. (Your children decorated a beautiful cover for the book!)

Our children are so imaginative and intelligent. Encourage your child to expand on the story by asking for more details, or more interpretations. We included sample questions you can ask your child to help describe the scene and get into the hearts of Dena and David. Ask questions that will allow your child to think about the puppets’ behaviors and guide the puppets in showing caring and friendship for each other.

A Yom Kippur story:

“How We Show Our Friends We Care About Their Feelings!”

Dina is building something interesting in the block area.

Discuss: Describe what she is building. How did she feel about what she is making?

David walked by the block area to get to the other side of the classroom. There was not a lot of room there and he….

Discuss: If there was no room for David to walk what could he have done? Should David continue walking or does he need to stop and think about what just happened?

Dina saw her block building break. She started to cry.

Discuss: What happened? Why is Dina crying? How does she feel when something that she made broke?

David stopped and looked on the floor. Oh no! He knocked down Dina’s building.

Discuss: How does David feel when he realizes what he did? What would be a friendly thing to do when he realizes that he knocked down her block building? Is there something he could say to make her feel better? Is there something he could do? How can Dina let David know that she forgives him?

We had fun singing with Dina and David our new song:

 (TTTO: Where is Thumbkin)

Let’s be friends, let’s be friends,
Let’s share and play, let’s share and play.
I care for you, you care for me, everyday.

WHEN WE MAKE A MISTAKE....

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 will fix it too!

 

 

 

That very day we introduced the puppets, we observed Yitzi using them to role play with Aron and Levi.

Chani also enjoyed pretending to be 'Dina' and build a house.

Dina and David puppets have been helping ALOT with different conflict scenarios in our classroom!

 

Here, I share with you just a few of the many examples of how this played out!

Jacob and Ilani were playing with play dough at the activity table. All of a sudden, they both wanted to play with the same snake machine! After bringing up the Dina and David puppets we asked 'what should we do?, how can we work this out?' (we modeled the scenario using the puppets.)

 

Notice this is also a teachable moment for some friends in the back round! ;)

Jacob and Ilani both started discussing what they should do and they came up with their own solution!!

"We will look in the Morah's room for another one! Then we can both can have at the same time!" They decided.

Luckily we did have another one on our play-dough supply shelf!

They were so happy and thrilled that they worked it out together.

Jacob had important information to share afterwards:

 "Ilani even gave me some play dough so I can make a BIG snake!"

 

On another instance, while we were singing our 'lets be friends song' in the background.....

Look what we saw Levi doing: Helping Shua open his new lunch box!

Rochel really wanted to just play with Menucha, but she heard some of the other children wanted to play too! Just from a Morah singing the song in the background... Rochel came up with a new idea for their imaginary play... and came up with a job for Yaisef and Ilani to do, to make the game more fun!!

Levi being a great friend and giving Aron a ride!

 

Thanks to Dina and David we feel the big idea to know we can always "fix up" mistakes, as well as care for our friends exceeded our expectations! We are so proud of all the children! (Wish we could have more footage to share of the mistakes and beautiful ways the children "fixed it!"

We need a photographer to help us with better footage for this blog :)

Bringing Yom Kippur to life in our classroom!

One of the ways we empower children to learn appropriate behaviors is by giving them opportunities to role-play, and experience different situations in a make believe setting.

As a preparation for Yom Kippur, we set up a "synagogue Center" or as its traditionally called in yiddish a "Shul" (pronounced "shool").

In-case some of our children might attend a "shul" on the Holiday, we set up all sorts of items that might be found in a shul, along with chairs in a row.  So the children would be familiar and comfortable in the new setting.

 

 We practiced talking softly, and behaving as we would in a Synagogue!

Items for children to play with included: Torah, Siddur, Yad- pointer, Bima (table to read torah from),Kippot (head-coverings), Tallit (prayer shawl)

 

 

Ilani blowing the shofar like the Rabbi will do at the conclusion of Yom kippur!

After he blew the Shofar Ilani said "it sounds like crying" !

He remembered from Rosh Hashana circle time that the shofar sounds

like a baby cry, we are crying to Hashem.

Chani was watching her baby at shul!

 Trying on Slippers for Yom Kippur! The Yom Kippur Center included a shelf full of crocs and other non leather shoes- as is the custom of many to wear on Yom Kippur.

On the topic of Shoes and slippers....

Morah Lisa came up with a new game that the children LOVE called 'the shoe store' (which we've been doing each day at the end of outside time!)

  When playing outside, most of the children love to take off their shoes, enjoying the feeling of sand and grass in their toes...

This results in shoes being located all over the yard!

Morah Lisa puts all their shoes mix matched and each child gets to come up and sees how fast they can find their match!

 

 

All the Jr Rabbis reading from the Torah

Rachel, Mendel & Noach leading the congregation :)

 At the Audio center we set up a CD  with songs that might be heard in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. 

Trash Cans & Treasure Chests!

For our older children, we wanted to give them a tangible way to understand what is expected from them on the upcoming Holiday of Yom Kippur. 

At first glance...Yom Kippur seems like its not a "kids Holiday"

but at Gan Camarillo, we make sure to make it meaningful and appropriate for our preschoolers!

 

I showed the children these 2 containers with pictures of a trash can and a jewelery box on them.

I asked the children---What do we do with trash?

They all answered we THROW IT AWAY! 

 

 

I then asked them what we put inside a jewelry box?

They all told me things like- special things, treasures, important stuff, things we want to keep.

I explained to them, on Yom Kippur, Hashem wants us to look at all the things we DO and to sort them out! We need to take some things we might have done, and place them in the bin! (so we don't see them/do it again), and we need to take some of the things we did over the past year....and place them in a treasure box! We want to keep them, so we can do it again and again!

 Each child had a turn to pick out a picture from my special box.

The box contained all sorts of pictures from children sharing their toys, to being gentle with little babies, to listening with their ears, to pushing one another.

 

 After showing the picture to their friends, the children had to decide what they would do with what the picture described! Would they throw it in the bin? or keep it in a treasure box?

 I was so proud of our students...who all knew what they should do!

 

How the I-phone enriched our family bond & conveyed a special Rosh Hashana Message!

Rosh Hashana is definitely in the air at Gan!

 This week we welcomed many new students to the Gan Camarillo family!

It is appropriate that Rosh Hashana - the Jewish new year comes around at the same time as the beginning of the school year. As the lessons of Rosh Hashana can be useful in helping the children feel comfortable and safe in their new surroundings! 

We are focusing on Hashem (G-d) loving us and protecting us. 

Rosh Hashana is the time that we ask Hashem to be our King again, to  take us as his people and take care of us. We ask Hashem to give us what we  need and show us the way things work.

In our classrooms too, our students  come in very much dependent on their teachers. They are often somewhat timid  and while they may not verbalize it, they ask that us Morah's "be their king," that  we care for them and show them the way things work around here.  They need to know we will always take care of them and meet their needs. 

These first few weeks we focused not just on the traditions of Rosh Hashana (as you will see in this blog) but also on the deeper messages of the Holiday- which so beautifully tie in to transitioning the children into a smooth start to the school year.

Keep reading to the end to see how we used the Iphone to send this message over to the children!

 

 

Environment as the third teacher...Rosh Hashana Centers

Audio Center- With multiple head phones so more than one child can listen to the shofar sound at once!

 

Science- In addition to tasting honey at circle time, the children enjoyed feeling the honey sensory bag, and observing honeycomb- both inside honey and dried out.

Holiday Literature along with real apple and pomegranate to look and feel the difference.

Art- Painting apples to use as Shana Tova cards, and getting inspiration from looking at a picture of an apple.

We offered the children red, orange, and yellow- to mix and work with,  just like the real apple in the picture- that we offered the children to use as inspiration for their art.

What does Rosh Hashana mean to a Preschooler? And how we used the Iphone to bring over this message!

This year we focused on the concept of Hashem being our king and loving us as a parent!

 Hashem is like our father! He loves us, reassures us and protects us!

Specially for some of the new children in our classroom, the love of their mom and dad is in their mind. Coming to school for the first time, hearing their parent saying 'I love you' as they drop them off and reassuring the child they will return soon and pick them up with a big hug!

 

 

To help the children understand Hashems love, we made the connection between the love they feel from their real mother and father, to the love Hashem has for each of us.

We started off with a circle time about babies. Using a doll we reenacted what a baby does: cry! Babies need to be taken care of! We spoke about the fact that we all started off like babies! We had fun pretending we were babies and crying for our mommies...

We spoke about the fact that our parents are always there for us and thinking about us and loving us... no matter what. Hashem loves us that way too!

To make this a  meaningful lesson for the children we took videos of each child's parent with a 3 second love message for the children to watch.

At circle time one by one each child received a special spot light --- watching his/her parent say how much they love them! This was so special, and when we spoke about Hashem loving us so much...the parallel to the love they receive from their mommy or daddy---made it  SO REAL.

We went on to describe the feelings our parents have when we do things they want us to do....

Just like when we listen to our mommy or daddy when they tell us to brush our teeth, they say 'yay!' When we give tzedaka or do a mitzvah, Hashem says 'yay!'

We had fun naming some of the mitzvahs we can do and jumping up and saying 'yay!'

Chani was feeding her baby!

Our dramatic play area gave the children a chance to play the role of a parent and continue this special lesson while playing!

We added diapers, changing table, baby bottles, bibs ...to bring these feelings to life!

Measuring how big Noach got, compared to when he was a baby!

"My mommy loves me!!"

Ilan watching his Mommys message on a video

Noach watching his Ima's message on the video!

Jacob's face full of joy, seeing his mommy on the screen!

Yitzi laughing and asked to watch it over and over :)