Thanksgiving has Jewish roots!

This week we started our Thanksgiving Unit!

We learned about the Pilgrims and how they wanted to pray to their G-d freely, so they left their home and went on the Mayflower ship- to travel to a place where they could pray to G-d .

What were they feeling when they came to a new place? (this was a great time to discuss how we all feel sometimes shy and uncertain)

The Native Americans were so welcoming and they ate a big delicious meal together and thanked their G-d.

Through out the week we brought out different lessons from the Thanksgiving story.

(how to treat new friends, being thankful etc)

 The children made a model of the  Mayflower out of Legos!

 Thanksgiving as a Jew every day!

Each and everyday we get to be thankful to G-d, Hashem as we proudly sing 'Modeh Ani".

This prayer is thanking Hashem for waking us up and returning  a special soul inside each of us!

During our Prayer/ Davening circle time we have a large Siddur (prayer book) with different songs.

On the Modeh Ani page , the children were invited to  draw why they want to thank Hashem!

Feather turkey fun!

Ever wonder what else a colander can be used for?!

Placing feathers inside different size holes was a great fine motor skill activity!

We noticed this basket had holes in it too! Levi was being quite creative trying to stick the feathers through the holes while it was on his head!

Cinnamon scent inspired art

Hanging from the ceiling above our art table was a cinnamon whisk.

This caught the children's attention and all had their own ideas what it smelled like.

Hannah " It smells like cake!"

Dovi "It smells like margarine!"

We placed cinnamon inside the paint as well. It was fun using a different sense while creating art.

 Thank you to the Nemtzov family for giving us a new table for our block area!

Imagination and fun outdoors!

After a fun game of musical chairs, Elizabeth came up with her own twist to the game by having everyone crawl under the chairs! It is so amazing to watch the children grow in their creativity and leadership skills!

Animal discovery and a trip to the farm!

After a week of Noach and the Teiva/Ark, we decided to extend the Animal topic for deeper discovery.

We explored many types of animals and learned what makes an animal kosher. 

Motty and Bela Riva placing the correct animal pictures on our Kosher animal chart.

The animals on the Kosher side are those that chew their cud 7 times and have split hooves. Some animals were tricky since it only had one of the two symbols!

Ava having fun categorizing the animals one morning.

Learning about animals through art

By dipping the animals in paint the children learned the different types of foot prints and how many legs each animal has.

Animal inspired art:

We placed various pictures of animals on the table along with a variety of mediums. It was an invitation for each child to create their animal of choice.

Animal Show and Tell!

Show and Tell is a great way to practice public speaking and turn taking! Each child was invited to bring in a stuffed animal from home. They took turns listening and sharing all  about their special friend!

After 'showing and telling' us their animal, the children knew to raise their hand if they had any questions to ask them. 

Animal Literature

Dovi and Yehudis created structures for their animals out of play dough!

Dovi; "My animal is stuck"

Washing our animals clean!

Little animals frozen in ice trays!

Trip to Underwood Farms!

It was such a treat to take the children to see live animals.  It was a great hands on experience to learn about Hashem's special animals. 

 Feeding the animals!

snacking on Clementines they picked!

Enjoying a pumpkin ride!

Challah baking with 'Uncle Baruch!'

Washing the world clean! Beautiful live harp music!

This weeks Torah portion came to life on so many different levels.

We started off with a puppet show about a special man named Noach. He did many sweet things in this world. He was very different though to all his neighbors, and the rest of the people in the world. The other people were only interested in acting very unkind.

Hashem decided to 'wash the world clean'.

A 'Mabul'- flood

Menucha and Rozie helped us decorate big raindrops for our ceiling decorations.

A fun rain activity! Water droppers in a clean empty wipes container was a fun way to squirt rain drops coming down from the cotton ball clouds!

Shaving cream clouds!

Water beads. Such a great sensory experience!

Learning about the Teiva- ark

Yehudis working on her Teiva project.

Hashem commanded Noach to build a Teiva- Ark . There were three floors:

Top floor- Noach and his wife Na'ama and their three sons

Middle floor- All the animals

Bottom floor- Trash

Blocks and animals

This was a great way for the children to review the story with their own imagination.

Team work!

Building a big 'teiva' together.

This was also a great review to learn all the names of the animals.

Learning through play

Devorah Leah added a colored window block to the top of her Teiva. In the real Teiva there was also a special stone that would light up when it was dark and dim when it was day. This was the only way to tell if it was day or night since the stormy floods made it dark all the time.

Bela Riva learning about our Bearded dragons, they were on the Teiva too!

Muka and Max learning about balance while trying to make a Teiva together.

Cloud sensory experience!

 After the flood, Hashem showed them a beautiful Rainbow! This was a sign that Hashem will never bring a flood again! Now it was their job to fill the world up with a lot of beautiful Mitzvahs.

Rainbow art

We had a lot of fun making a big rainbow out of shaving cream, glue and food coloring!

Rolling out the dots of paint and watching a rainbow form!

 Happy birthday to Levi Yitzchak who turned 4 this week!

 Levi Yitzchak's Safta from Israel brought a harp and played beautiful music and let the children try too! What a treat!!