Crushing grapes on 'Shabbos Street"!

Shabbos Street!

This week we learned about Shabbos! We focused on the two special mitzvah's:

1)Lighting the Shabbos Candles (girls)

2) Reciting the Kiddush (boys)

A new book on our felt board: " I love Shabbos" 

Muka having fun 'pouring ' the wine in the fathers kiddush cup. It has been really fun reading to the children the story and watching them make their own spin on the story using the pictures from the book!

Lighting the Shabbos Candles and Experimenting:

After talking about how special it is for all girls 3 and up to welcome the Shabbos by lighting the candles, we did some candle and fire experiments.

It was important to start off with fire saftey!


What does fire need?
1) Fuel- we learned that the wick 'drinks' from the wax in order for the fire to be lit.
2) Air- To demonstrate that fire needs air we placed a glass cup over the fire and it went out! As soon as we lifted it the flame went back on!

Mazel Tov Muka!

Muka was especially excited to see a picture of a girl lighting the Shabbos candles since this Friday night will be her 3rd birthday and she will get to light her own Shabbos candle for the first time!

Candles inspiration in our Art Center

We placed contact paper, red and orange yarn pieces with a drawing of a candle and a wick.

Creating their very own candle holder

Making Kiddush (grape juice) from scratch

Next we talked about the boys special mitzvah of reciting the Kiddush on friday night.

We had a lot of fun talking about it through making our OWN grape juice!

Before telling the children what we had for them it is good to encourage their curiosity to try to figure it out!
Max and Elijah asked  "Morah is that blueberries?"

Instead of just telling them what it was we let them taste it !

First we worked hard separating the grapes from the vine. It was a lot of detailed work and great fine motor skills!

Then the fun part- we crushed them with blocks!

Placed them in a strainer!

The children were fascinated to see how ALL those grapes created just a SMALL amount of grape juice! It was delicious though and gave a new appreciation on the process from grapes to the kiddush cup!

L'chaim!!

Grape sensory play!

Look what we can create with home made purple playdough and different size bottle caps!

 

On Wednesdays we do our davening circle  on a parachute!

Each child had their own color and had to keep to their own space with out going on to a friend. This was a nice lesson on respecting people's space.

Levi giving Tzedaka in the middle of the parachute!

Torah, Torah I love you!

"Hi!"

Thank you Michaylen for subbing while Morah Rachel is in Israel!

That feels goood!

Loving our Friends!

Learning in a restaurant?!

Brachas Blvd

 This week was Brachas week!- We focused on some of the blessing that we say on the food we eat.

click on the link to learn more: Why do we say a brachas on food?

Our main message we wanted to teach the children is how grateful we are for the food we have and how important it is to ask Hashem (G-d) and appreciate all He does for us!

Bracha's Restaurant!

To learn our Brachas in a fun interactive way we set up a restaurant!! 

On each Menu we divided the food into five different categories, according to the distinctive blessing that is recited on each category of food!

When a 'customer' would ask for food, we would say, "Would you like a 'shehakol' drink?"

 

Katherine choosing what she wanted for breakfast!

It was so great to see the children switch role's from being a server and then being waited on.

patiently waiting for their food :)

 Elizabeth the waitress! Balancing all the food that was ordered!

Party reservation ;)  

Hamotzi Bracha:

For the blessing on bread/challah we placed a sink in the back of the restaurant to help them practice washing for bread and saying the correct blessing!

Shehakol Bracha:

Drinks, ice cream, cheese, ...

One morning we made pretend ice cream out of shaving cream glue and food coloring! 

Was a great sensory experience!

 

Muka adding to the experience by painting with her sunglasses ;)

Made real ice cream !

Using milk, a little vanilla, and ice cube-- we made delicious ice cream!

We learned about where milk comes from.

 

Best part of making Ice cream in a bag-- Got to shake it, a lot!

Our hands started getting cold so we worked together and shook it on a big towel!

Made a beautiful "Shehakol" Bracha and enjoyed our hard work outside ! 

Ha-eitz Bracha- Fruits that grow on trees

We made a delicious healthy fruit salad together!

After receiving clear instructions on how to use the plastic knives,  the children felt so big cutting the fruit up all by themselves!

Great hand eye coordination to hold the fruit steady and carefully cut. 

 Wow! all our hard work!

 

 Yummy!

 Ha-adama Bracha- Vegetables that grow in the ground.

There is no better way to learn about vegetables than visiting our own garden!

Before we started planting, we did a circle time about the vegetable plants we have and when we can pick them. We talked about the care that they need etc...

Then we worked together to plant pumpkins!

 

It will be exciting to reap the harvest of these pumpkins when Fall arrives!

 Changing up our davening routine  with a parachute!

Water slide fun!!

   

Questions to ask your child:

1) Who made all the food that we eat? (Hashem)

2) What did we make for the Bracha of Shehakol that was very cold? (Ice cream!)

     3) What fruit grows on a tree that we make the Bracha of Haetz? 

     4) What did we plant in our gardern for the Bracha of Hadama?  (pumpkins)

     5) What did you do in our Bracha's restaurant? Did you like being a waiter or to be served food?

     

Alef Beis Avenue!

  Alef Beis Avenue

Of all the alphabets in the world, the Hebrew one is unique because its letters were created by G-d Himself. Not simply colorful cutesy drawings, each of the letters have deep symbolism in its sound and shape and teach us many generalities of wisdom. 

This week we planted seeds for the children's recognition of where these letters come from, so when the time comes for them to actually read them- they have the background knowledge.  The children were surrounded with these holy letters, permeating their minds with meaning and spiritual ideas. 

Enjoy the many different ways Alef Beis were part of our week!

Direct from the source

Children innately wish to see/experience life in its purest, most authentic form. (Real metal pots and pans in the kitchen are way more exciting than the brightly colored plastic ones on the playroom! ) 

So when we introduce the Alef-Beis, we want our students to see the letters straight from the source- the Torah! 

We looked inside a "Chumash"- which is the printed version of the Torah. In here, the children were able to see the letters in the way that they were initially revealed to the world. (we will find opportunities to show the children a real Torah scroll, for now we used the chumash.)

The Torah is quite big ;) so we brought in a Chumash.

The children were fascinated how small the letters were! Aron found an Alef for his name!

 When we began our Davening circle, it was so much more meaningful to sing the Alef Beis.                 
Max enjoyed the special job of pointing!

 New book in our Story book felt center

This weeks book was "Good night my friend Alef"  by Tova Mordechai

Levi Lubin was very excited about the change he noticed.

 Alef for Esrog (citron fruit for the holiday of sukkos)- the children had fun finding the matching letter to the hebrew word. This was a great memory game as well as an opportunity to learn new Hebrew words!

 


 

Levi found the Besamim (spices) for Beis

Alef Yoga

Started off with breathing techniques. 

 

We used our imagination to "smell a flower" to inhale, and  "Blowing out a candle" to exhale. It was very calming for the children.

Colored tape on our carpet  helped us stretch our whole body in the shape of an Alef! 

 

Alef Beis Pretzels!

While making delicious Alef beis pretzels our little chefs also benefited from a math lesson. Following the steps of a recipe and reading the numbers on the measuring cups and spoons. 

Exercising patience, waiting (happily;) for our turn to mix. 

Each child created the first Hebrew letter in their name. Levi was being really resourceful by finding another Lamed on the baking tray to create his own!

Yehudis was thinking about her mommy so she wanted to make the letter Mem for mommy ;) and made a Ches for her brother Chaim! 

Can you BOUNCE the BALL on the letter BEIS? 

While the children were exposed to the phonics and recognition of the letter Beis, they polished up on some gross motor and hand-co-ordination skills. Lots of focus and control keeping the ball bouncing on our letter Beis, belly button!

 

 Bringing the letters into our daily routines.

Everyday we read a Mitzvah note for each child. This week after reading their Mitzvah note, the children were invited to find "their" letter (of their name) and place their note on it.

Dovi put his mitzvah note on the Daled.

Shua proudly put his on the Shin

Chalk painting!

For some outdoor education,  we drew chalk Alef Beis on the ground. The letters were an invitation for the children to use water and paintbrushes to "paint" over it, creating beautiful sidewalk art! It was fascinating for the children to see the new texture and design made when mixing the water with the chalk.

It was also an opportunity for the children to learn control of the paintbrush, carefully following the lines of the letters.

 

Alef Beis help our pre- writting skills

Shua tracing the Alef Beis in our art center.

Q-tip painting following the Hebrew Alef beis lines was a great way to practice hand eye coordination/

 Water fun!!

 What a week filled with Mitzvahs and happy children!

looking forward to next week!

Max and Aron saying the blessing on their Tzisis. Such Jewish pride!