Thursday, October 27, 2016

A Lesson in a Suitcase!


 "VeYaakov Halach Ledarko"

"And Yaakov went on his way", a phrase we say after all the beautiful Holidays come to an end. Instead of just saying goodbye and waiting till next year we can take these 'big ideas' and pack them in a 'suitcase' and use it through out the year!

The idea of reflective practice is an important life skill for all of us to master. Being able to reflect on experiences, and see how they can enrich our life ahead adds depth and meaning to one's life.

All in a suitcase

To bring this idea to life we placed some items from all the Holidays/ circle times/ centers into a suitcase! This was a great way to show we are not fully saying 'goodbye' to each Holiday. The beautiful big ideas that we learned can stay with us the whole year!



 

Memory suitcase 

We put out a large assortment of pictures from the past month. Children blowing shofars, dipping apples in honey, building Sukkah’s & Shaking Lulav & Etrog’s!

Each child found pictures they wanted to add in their own personal suitcase.

Rozie found a picture of her trying on slippers for Yom Kippur.


This was a great opportunity for the children to communicate with one another. It was really cute listening to all the 'catch up' conversations from over the Sukkos break.


So good to be back with friends!






  

Enjoying the sensory bin.

Talented Levi!


Thursday, October 6, 2016

Mistakes can be sweet too!


This week we seamlessly transitioned from Rosh Hashana to the Holiday of Yom Kippur.
The children were very familiar with the concept of 'Being Sweet' and wanting a 'Sweet new year'.

We wanted the children to understand what happens on Yom Kippur?
What happens when we make a mistake?


Yom Kippur Shul Center

Davening in our Shul center was a great time to discuss what we are asking Hashem for. We want a sweet new year and we are SO SORRY for all the mistakes we might have made.

Each child brought in slippers to role play what is worn on the day of Yom Kippur.

 

So many sweet moments were still being documented on our sweet board.
Levi noticed Motty needed help with tying his shoes and offered to help him. He quickly ran over to draw what he did and showed his friends.



And it was catchy ;)


Mistakes become SWEET

For our Yom Kippur we added an 'uh oh' circle on our board.
What happens when we don't do something sweet?

Our puppets role played different scenarios of friends making a mistake and not being sweet to each other.
Saying 'I'm sorry' is a very important life lesson that starts from a very young age.
After saying 'I'm sorry' we have a chance to fix it and make it better.



When a child did a mistake they would document it on the 'uh oh' circle.  After saying I'm sorry and fixing the situation they realized that even when they make a mistake it can be fixed and it makes Hashem so happy.







Menachem and Devorah leah playing with our friend puppets.





Challah dough made by the Torah Tots themselves!


The children are loving our new quiet time routine with mats and blankets!