Yom Kippur- Trash or Treasure?

Yom Kippur was our main focus this week!

We learned a song to highlight a lot of important information.

"On Yom Hakippurim

No eating and no drinking

no leather shoes, no washing

until after Neilah

The locking of Tefilah."

The children were so excited when Morah Davina told them that their Mommies and Daddies could watch a video of them singing.

Morah Avigayil used visual aids to teach the children what they are not allowed to do on Yom Kippur

"Overheard in Kindergarten"- On Yom Kippur I'm going to give my mommy a massage to help her feel better from fasting- Muka H.

Yom Kippur is a very serious day because Hashem is judging us and we are fasting. Kindergarten gets ready for Yom Kippur, with a serious davening in our shul as well.

Yom Kippur also is a very happy day because we are given the chance to fix our mistakes and do better. Kindergarten practiced happy davening 

Treasuring our good Middos and throwing out the bad

                                                        We sorted pictures into good and bad action categories                                                 and made treasure boxes to keep all the good actions in. Kindergarten is always on the look out to do more mitzvos!

On Yom Kippur we are cleaning our soul ,while kindergarten was cleaning the classroom we were thinking about the Midddos we want to get rid of, cleaning away on Yom Kippur.  

Language Arts

We started our reading curriculum CAPIT this week. Muka, Max and Menucha work on letter recognition with this innovative Ipad program.

Elizabeth focuses intently on her work

Library Learning

Morah Malka read one of our favorite books during lunchtime. Kindergarten was so inspired from the book Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk , we decided to author and illustrate our own books!

*ask your child what word we use for the person who draws the pictures in books*

Math

Yisroel working on his number recognition and fine motor skills. 

   * ask your child to show you his/her pincher fingers*

Sensory Math Center

Sensory Alef Bet Writing

Using paint in ziplock the children were invited to copy the shapes of the hebrew letters.

Muka and Menucha  practice the shapes of a Bais and Vov respectively.

 

This week we learned that a Vais and a Vav have the same sound but are different letters.

I made a mistake, now what?

The children have been so inspired about their 'sweet' actions from our Rosh Hashanah unit, but what happens when we make a mistake??

 Does Hashem, parents or our friends still love us even when we make a mistake?

David and Dina help us out

Puppets are a powerful tool for children to relate to. 

We explored many scenarios of when we make mistakes,  especially focused on when we hurt our friends or their feelings.

This is such a crucial stage to learn empathy towards one another and this whole week we focused on being in tune with our feelings as well as our friends.

I'm Sorry 

What does it mean to say, "I'm sorry"?

 As adults, we are often quick to demand from a child "say I'm sorry" and then it's all better. But is it? Does it mean anything to the child saying it, if he's being told to? Does it mean anything to the other person who is hurting?

We learned how to empathize with the other friend by observing and understanding what they are feeling. Even though saying sorry is important, we learned it doesn't end there.

 Does the friend need help getting up?  Are my friends' feelings hurt? Is there something I can say to uplift my friends  spirits? 

  

A miscommunication at the play dough table created hurtful feelings. It was so beautiful to watch Rozie and Motty communicate and then make sure they were each happy! They turned it into a sweet episode and headed to the sweet board:)! 

Yom Kippur Shul

 On Yom Kippur we daven that all of our mistakes be forgiven. We created a mini shul center in our class for the children to role play davening in a shul. This was a great way to learn how we behave in a shul!

Rabbi Moshe leading the services as his friends follow along in their siddurim.

Dedicated Rabbi Moshe was found in shul even after all his friends were done. ;)

 

 On Yom Kippur we don't wear leather shoes. We placed slippers in the shul for the children to role play.

 Creating their own 'croc' slippers by punching holes in their slippers. Dovi and Evan trying different techniques to create holes.

 

 Ari counting his holes.

 

 On Yom Kippur we see a lot of white clothing. Tallit, Kitul (customarily worn) some women wear white. We placed pictures for inspiration with a lot of different white items.

 We placed a Machzor (special prayer book for Yom Kippur) and looked at all the Alef Beis inside. 

Menachem and Motty creating different letters in sugar.

 

 Mendel tracing different Hebrew letters.

Looking beneath the surface! Rosh Hashana - Kindergarten #2

The symbolic foods of Rosh Hashana

We learned a song that helped the children master the 4 names of Rosh Hashana:

Rosh Hashana, Rosh Hashana is the head of the year 

Yom Hadin the day of judgment 

Yom Truah, Yom Truah the day that we blow shofar 

Yom Hazikaron, Hashem remembers all we did.

"The Hidden Reason"

In class we discussed the different foods we eat on Rosh Hashana and the reasons behind them. We used the term "The hidden reason".

Round Sweet Challah

The round Challah reminds us of the cycle (circle) how we come back around to the beginning of the year each year. We ask Hashem that the coming year will be smooth. We add extra honey for a sweet year.

               

We did an experiment to show the children the differences between a round shape and a usual challah shape.

Muka is rolling a not smooth shape (usual challah)

and Max rolling a smooth round tire.

The children were able to see that when they rolled the tire it was much easier, that was one of the ways they understood the concept. 

Sweet things Activity

We did an activity where the children thought about the sweet "spiritual things" they do every year. These are the things that Hashem finds sweet!! After saying it they got to taste honey and jump a step up.

Some of the things they said; "When I was one I smiled at people and made them happy", "When I was two I said something sweet like a Brachah and that made Hashem happy", "When I was three I started to light Shabbat candles", "I started wearing a Yarmulka and Tzizit and that made Hashem happy", "When I was four..."

When we got to five, we asked the children what are you going to do this year that is even better and sweeter than last year?  It was so sweet to see how the children understood that every year we grow physically and spiritually.

Sweet Carrots

The hidden reason fot eating carrots:

In Yiddish- carrots are called "Merren". This word also means "more" in Yiddish. We ask Hashem for more good and happiness in the new year.

Head of a Fish

The hidden reason for eating a head of a fish is; we want to be like a head at the top, like a leader and not like a the tale at the bottom.

The children had a chance to lead the group holding a flag. We spoke about the responsibilities of a leader. A leader does his best to take care of the group.

Apples dipped in honey 

The hidden reason for eating apples dipped in honey is to ask Hashem to give us a year with a lot of sweetness. When we do mitzvas , it is giving sweetness to Hashem. In class we picked some sweet mitzvas we want to do this year for Hashem.

Pomegranates 

The hidden reason of eating pomegranates is because pomegranates have plenty seeds.We ask Hashem to give us a year with 'plenty' health, goodness and happiness.

To help make this lesson practical-  we filled our bulletin board pomegranates with 'plenty' of mitzvot the children did.