Reflective practice- in a preschooler!

Reflecting on past experiences and accomplishments is a valuable skill for all of us at any age. 

As we approach the end of the year, we take time to help the children reflect on their growth and celebrate their accomplishments. This week we talked about when we were a baby, and the things we can do now that we are a whole year older! (Baby Chaim was a great prop for this discussion.)Performing our daily routines-- through the lens of "Was i able to do this when i was younger?" creates a whole new level of self confidence, and recognition in the children's abilities!

Tracing Letters:

This is an emerging skill for many of our students. Who clearly recognized this is something they can do "now that they've grown!"
(All those fine motor activities at the beginning of the year provide the finger muscle strength needed for writing skills!)

Number Recognition

Co-ordination to connect small parts

Puppet making & Story Telling/Imaginative Play
The children worked hard to place the button eyes, nose and mouth in the correct places (definitely not a skill they could master in the early 2's)

 focusing!

Using the puppets to role-play and tell stories! 

Color sorting & number counting

Fun outdoors! Look how high i can climb!

By reflecting with the children on how much they can do now, in contrast to when they were younger, we plant seeds for continued reflection, and continued growth. Both looking back and looking ahead!

Learning from a Mountain! Personal Torah Connection for our little ones!

The past 2 weeks we have been preparing for the upcoming Holiday of Shavuot.

Our circle times centered around the famous midrashic story of the Mountains, competing and arguing with one another as to who would Hashem choose to give the Torah on.

To help the children understand the story, it was told via puppet show, using cut out mountains that could talk/tell the story.

Eva adding flowers to little Har Sinai

Using our gross motor skills to stretch as tall as a Mountain!

 We learned a song that tells the story of the Mountains:

I am a mountain so very high I can reach way up to the sky

The Torah should be given on me cuz I am as high as can be you see.

OH NO!  I am much wider then you and there are so many things I could do

The Torah should be given on me cuz I am as wide as can be you see.

Little Har Sinai just stood there and sighed I know I’m not tall, I know I’m not wide,

The Torah won’t be given on me cuz I am as small as can be you see.

From all of the mountains Hashem chose Sinai,

Because he did not hold his head up high,

He had such simple and humble ways,

From this we learn that humbleness pays!

Har Sinai Center

The children enjoyed painting and decorating a life-size mountain- complete with thunder bolts & flowers. The finished product added excitement as we got closer to celebrating the giving of the Torah on Har Sinai.

    

Once it was up, it became a fun activity to insert flowers into the holes we punctured onto the mountain. In addition to the activity being a great hand-eye co-ordination for the children-- they were able to re-tell the story of the miracle of flowers appearing all over the Mountain in preparation for receiving the Torah on it.

Understanding WHAT is inside the Torah?

To help our children understand what the Torah is, and why Hashem gave it to us as a gift, we made little Torah's with them.

Step one was decorating a beautiful velvet cover for it. (The sequins and glitter gave it a special/precious appearance, as well as authentic Torah look)

Step 2 was helping the children understand what is inside the Torah. To make it relevant and meaningful for the children, we gathered their personal "Mitzvah notes" (narratives of good deeds the children have done over the last few months), and invited the children to paste them onto a "parchment" which would be the inside of the mini Torah they were making.

This personal connection between their actions/mitzvah's created a strong understanding of what the Torah is, and why we love the Torah so much.

It was fun going down memory lane, reading mitzva's the children did from a while ago!

Fine Motor Mountains

Har Sinai Audio/Visual Center

The children were invited to listen to the sounds of thunder and lightning alongside visualizing it on the pictures posted on the table of the audio center.

Mountain Art

Mountain Inspired Playdough Creations!

Friends walking hand in hand!

Muffins with Mom- Every day is Mothers Day!

Every day is Mother's Day at Gan Camarillo!

This past Thursday we enjoyed a very special and meaningful morning, of Muffins with Mom!

As with all parts of our curriculum, we believe in making the children part of the preparation and process, as it facilitates more meaningful moments in whatever they will be experiencing.

We actually began this week to prepare for the upcoming Holiday of Shavuos—which will be shared in complete detail in next weeks Blog post! (The preparation & lead up for the Holiday makes the actual Holiday that much more meaningful  for the children when they actually experience going to the Synagogue and hearing the 10 commandments!)

In this case our students baked muffins, helped set up the room as well as created beautiful gifts for their Mommy's.

Preparation

Grating Carrots, pouring, cutting, mixing, measuring....

Nursery Class- Moments with Mom

Beading a Necklace together!

The children were able to find a seat by finding their picture on the placemat.

Pre-k Class:

Moments with Mom-- Presenting the gifts...and enjoying time together in our classroom!

It was exciting to welcome Mina Leba Muchnik for the first time!