Parshat Achrei Mos-Kedoshim: In Plain Sight

Parshat Achrei Mos- Kedoshim:In Plain Sight

In this week's Parsha we learn about many Mitzvos. 

Hashem says "I'm holy, so you should be holy too!". 

When we learn Torah and do Mitzvos it makes us and our environment holy.

We acted out some of the Mitzvos we learnt. 

Menucha and Yisroel are acting
 Lashon Hara and Rechilus - we are not allowed to go around talking
and laughing about other people.
Menucha and Yisroel are talking and laughing at Morah Davina.

Devora Leah and Max acted out the Mitzvah of respecting your parents. ''You are not allowed to sit on Tatty's chair'' - Devorah Leah 

What if a kid wants to do a mitzvah and not sit on the chair but his mommy tells him to?- Levi Yitzchak asked

Elizabeth and Levi Yitzchak role played the mitzvah not to do "Nekamah" - Taking Revenge. "If someone grabbed markers, you don't have to grab back" - Menucha

We also learned about the Mitzvah of respecting important people like Rabbis, Parents and Older people. The way we do this is by standing for them when they walk in to a room.

In Plain Sight (Words)

Kindergarten has been working on recognizing some common "sight" words.

In addition to our workbooks, we create fun educational games to help the children practice!

*Getting ready for a game of Sight Word Bingo*

The tension builds as we hurriedly look for the word "up"

Max concentrated on matching the upper case to the lower case.

We have practiced and practiced using our pincher fingers this year.

And Max has the grip down perfectly!

Numbers and More

Combining reading and math with a life-size matching game!

Playing learning games that encourage movement provides children who learn through movement an opportunity to hone their skills.

Elizabeth practices matching the number to the number word.

Levi Yitzchak and Menucha challenged each other with multi-step addition.

different colored tiles represents each number individually.

Here Levi Yitzchak presented Menucha with 

7+5+8= ?

Opening a pizza store during center time can be tough work!

Luckily we had this book about money in our library, so we could decide how much everything cost!

Classroom Collaboration Art

Yisroel helps Morah Avigayil collage the letters for an up and coming Aleph- Bais poster.

Malka works on one piece of a puzzle poster

This is an exercise in collaboration and we can't wait to see what the poster looks like once all the pictures are together!

Highlights!!

Max gladly shared his Beyblade Tournaments with his friends. 

Everyone was so eager to try it!

A class that colors together, laughs together!!

Happy 6th Birthday Menucha!!!
We are so lucky that you are a part of our class!
Keep Learning and growing!!

Preschoolers learning Kabbalah?!

Lag B'omer Unit

Next week will be the joyous holiday of Lag B'omer. One of the reasons we celebrate this day is that a Holy man named Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai passed away. He is responsible for writing the Zohar, the Kabbalah which is the deepest secrets of the Torah. He specifically requested that his day of passing be one of celebrations. Lag B'omer is traditionally celebrated with outdoor fun and bonfires.

To help make this day meaningful for our preschoolers we wanted them to understand some of the Kabbalah/ deep secrets of Torah that was written by Rabbi Shimon.

Torah = Light

Torah brings a lot of light into this world. We began by talking about all types of things that are bright and light.

Ari creating a fire picture using a fork and paint.

 Mendel and Motty creating flames with play dough.

During circle time each child got to say something that they knew was shiny and light. 

A fun 'fire sensory'  table using shaving cream and drops of red paint. 

 After talking all morning about fire, light and little treasures the children were finding around the class, it was time to go deeper and introduce what brings even more light to this world!

For the children to get a visual with this concept we placed a gold box that the children helped prepare the day before.

With wide eyes and curiosity the children all asked "what is in the box?!"

The Torah!

When we learn Torah it brings light into the world that is stronger than any other physical light! This was a high concept but throughout the week the children were starting to understand how the Mitzvahs we do and the Torah we learn is so much more precious than any gem or light in the world!

 To make this practical we placed all the Mitzvah notes the children brought in on fire flames which they painted, and we hung from the ceiling. Each time we placed a Mitzvah on the children knew to say proud and loud

"My Mitzvah lights up the world!!"

Dovi when noticing the flashlight instinctively shined it on his Mitzvah note flame!

 

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's Cave center

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai learned as well as expanded and found deep secrets in the Torah. During his life time he had to run away from the Romans. They felt he didn't give them enough respect since Hashem and the Torah was his priority.
In order to save his life he and his son Eliezer had to find
 shelter in a cave, where they remained for 12 years! During this time is when the Kaballah was created!

Shayna and Ari enjoying the beautiful Alef beis jewels that hung from the caves roof. 

We placed Alef Beis books as well as Torahs and Siddurim to create a holy environment inside the cave.

 While hiding in the cave Hashem performed a miracle for Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai . A beautiful carob tree  grew which provided food for them to eat! Mina and Batya observing what it feels like.

Another miracle Hashem performed was creating a stream of water near the cave for them to drink. The children were invited to help with the process by creating a river made out of an assortment of blue materials on contact paper.

 Learning Kabbalah!

Children have pure and innocent souls that can connect to the deepest parts of the Torah in such a special way! This week we focused on a Chassidic concept that stems from the Kabbalah.

How can we truly love another person?

This can be a life long journey! Are we loving another for what we can gain? Do we truly love them just for who they are?

It is quite age appropriate to hear in our classroom

"I'll be your friend if I can have that toy" etc..

After talking about what true love is, each time the children were 'caught' loving their friend 'just because' they received a special heart sticker.

Saige and Hannah role played finding a gem and sharing it without bribing each other to be their friend if they did.

True love moments 

Menachem "I hugged Evan just because!"

Saige "I am Hannah's friend even with out giving or getting treasures!"

Parshat Tazria Metzora: Just Right

Parshat Tazria- Metzora: Just Right

In this week's Parsha we learn about the Tumah of a Metzora. A Metzora is a person who spoke Lashon Hara (he spoke not nicely about someone) and Hashem puts Tzaraas (white spots) on his skin. He then needs to be checked if he is Tamei. If he is Tamei he is sent out of the camp to do Teshuva. Only a Kohen can determine if he is Tamei, because a Kohen has a special inner quality of kindness. This kindness causes the Kohen to be extra careful. He will double and triple check before deciding that someone is Tamei. A Kohen can truly feel the pain of the other person as if it was his own.

The Torah teaches us two very important lessons: 

1) We should be very careful how we use our mouth.

2) We should look at the good in others and try to help them, like a kohen.

Counting Down To Shavuos

We are counting the days and preparing our souls to receive the Torah.

This week we learnt about another inner quality of our soul. It is called Gevura which means; strength, rules and boundaries. At times Gevura can lead to fear.

We learnt that the world cannot exist with too much of Gevura or without any Gevura. 

In our class we played 2 different games. One was with too many rules. The kids were very restricted and it was hard to play that game.

The second game was with no Gevura, no rules. The children grew frustrated. These games led the children to understand that the right amount of Gevura is good. It's about knowing the right time and the right amount of Gevura to apply.

Hebrew Reading Games and More! 

When we played Aleph- Bais Bingo in class we reminisced about the beginning of the year. We have come so far in Hebrew reading after only a few short months!

We played a game where we could either look for a certain sound or write it. 

Writing it turned out to be faster for Malka!

Practice is important, but it doesn't have to be boring.

Muka and Menucha work together on a hebrew name word search!

Menucha found her own name right away!

Math Practice

Taking advantage of the Gan classes math unit, kindergarten was able to use these sensory math hands to practice our addition!

Muka successfully used these hands to make a math problem.

Max liked the way the math hands felt beneath his fingers.

  

Colors of the Rainbow

This week we have been working hard on identifying our color sight words.

Menucha reads the words and then uses a dry erase marker to color on top of the correct card.

Devorah Leah comes to school each day with a smile on her face, she was so excited to read and trace the words in the matching watercolor.

Playing a color matching game

Honing our fine motor skills and practicing our sight words with these coloring pages.
Yisroel proudly showed off his finished picture!

Math Matters- A numbers filled week!

Sefiras Haomer and Math

Our class is getting very excited as we continue to count the days towards when we received the Torah on the Holiday of Shavous!

We took this opportunity to focus on our math skills! 

 

Concept of a WEEK

We count 7 weeks of the Omer - which is the time between Pesach and the holiday of Shavous.
We took this opportunity to discuss what a week is and how many days are in a week.

Shayna placing a picture of our school by Mon-Fri and a home by Sunday and Shabbos!
We were cognizant during this math week of some of the younger ones who are not yet recognizing numbers but can count dots. Mendel helped us add the correct number of dots by the numbers.

Davening circle and math!

The children were invited to roll a die and figure out what number song they would be singing next!

Math and Fine motor skills

Ari and Motty using a lot of concentration while tracing the number with yarn on top of sticky contact paper.

Saige and Evan had fun using hole punchers to create the correct amount of holes!

Bela Riva working on her number project.

Batya placing the correct amount of beads on the pipe cleaner.

Faiga putting the lego numbers in order.

Mina matches the dots to the corresponding numeral, Faiga presses playdough into the shape of number four

Part of the process 

We have started implementing the children being part of the process of their learning activities.

A fun math activity was prepared by the children themselves the day before it was used.

They filled the gloves with sand and assisted with the Velcro. This was a great way for the children to see the process and appreciate the activity placed by center time as well as being organized and thinking ahead.

This activity was a great hands on activity for the children to solve math problems. 

Rozie counting the drops of water.

"Painting" with water while practicing our number recognition.