A 40 year old preschooler?

Lag B'omer with life lessons!

In preparation for Lag B'omer we learned about the famous sage, Rabbi Akiva whose passing, this day commemorates. Click here for more about Lag BaOmer

We chose a portion of his life story  to focus on with the children. How he went from not knowing much Torah as an adult, to becoming a most sought after Rabbi.  Our main goal this week was to show the children how even though he was a grown man- he started with learning Alef Beis in a preschool setting-- NEVER GIVING UP!

We asked the children to think about something that might be hard for THEM in their own lives. With that, we tried really hard to work on it, practice and for them to see how with hard work they can accomplish their dreams.

 Circle time with Rabbi Akiva

The children helped Akiva learn his Alef Beis! They were able to share THEIR OWN knowledge!  We also worked on respectfully correcting him if he made a mistake ;-)

Elizabeth helping Akiva learn by testing him on different Alef beis, this was a great review for ourselves to polish up our Hebrew letters!

Fun Alef Beis review

Hannah being so kind- by sharing dough with her friends.

'Never giving up' becoming practical!

After some talk about "never giving up" and "to keep trying even when it is hard" we caught some in action!

Dovi has been watching the older boys getting balls in the hoop and he REALLY wanted to get one in! After some discussion he had an idea, he brought over a chair and wanted to start by being a little closer to the hoop. With supervision we watched his expression on his face go from sad to one of  empowerment as he felt himself getting closer to his goal!

It was not about getting the ball in but rather to keep his eye on his goal and find different ways to accomplish it.

Things got a bit more exciting for him when he saw the older boys were now using his idea!!

Rabbi Akiva puppet was brought outside to remind us to keep trying harder and harder!

Levi said he wanted to show Rabbi Akiva how high he can now jump!

 Devorah Leah balancing.

The children started picking up the puppet and used it to encourage each other!
Devorah Leah encourages her friend, "Don't give up Levi Yitzchak!"

Max working really hard climbing! This picture was also taken to reflect with Max on a memory from when he just started Gan at age 2 when he wanted to climb up but couldn't master it yet. This is the why we feel so fortunate to witness the major milestones through the years they are with us!

Our next door neighbors were putting up a bird feeder on the big tree. It took quite a number of times to get the rope around the big branch.

We heard some adorable children say "Don't give up, keep trying!"

Yehudis helping us count the Omer.

Motti, "Making a bracelet for Mommy for Shabbos!"