Feeling it Out

We started out the week making a feelings scale, to understand how swiftly our feelings can change.

We listendeto a story and moved our scales to reflect the feelings of the characters.

Mendel enjoyed coloring in pictures using an emotional code

Emma uses playdough to make different emotions.

SOmetimes when people have strong feelings, they need to calm down

ONe way is to use a stress ball. We filled our stress balls with playdough and drew different faces on them.

PLaying bingo and having to identify and color the correct emotions that the people are showing

Moshe and Mina were so excited to finish their activity books and get new ones.

Moshe explained the last page to Mina and cheered for her to finish!

We learned that when we take deep breathes, it tells our brain we need to calm down.

Emma practicing with a flower.

Pajamas and Purim

Pajamas and Purim

This weeks parsha tells about the Mishkan- the house for Hashem the Jewish people were commanded to build in the desert.

We figured out which hebrew letters spell Mishkan and we wrote it down.

The special things that were used in the Mishkan were also used in the Beit Hamikdash!

The Shulchan was the special shelve that held the 12 loaves of bread in the Mishkan. 

This bread stayed fresh all week!

Menachem trying to form the Menorah out of one piece of "gold"

 Morah Avigayil drew a map of what the Mishkan looked like.

Pajama Party

We finished our POm-POm Jar and its the monthof Adar. 

We need to be extra happy in Adar so we had a pajama party!

Blowing up balloons for our balloon stomping game.

Yum! The best part of waking up in your pajamas is eating breakfast, Right Bela Riva?

Playing a math/reading boardgame.

 Purim is coming so soon!

Mina acts out the purim story in the Shushan Palace.

Purim popsicle stick puzzles are a challenge!

The REAL king is in the Palace!

After getting to know Mordechai and Esther, it was now time to introduce the Purim story.

King Achashverosh was a boastful not nice king. 

He invited people to come to a grand feast just to show off what he owned. 

We really felt the contrast between the Jewish home and the palace. It wasn't as welcoming, and kind and our friends picked up on it right away!

The King needed a new queen, Sholom acting out asking his servant to let all the girls know they can come and try out to be the new queen.

Esther was quite nervous about this since she most certainly rather be in the comfort of our own Jewish home. Our friends were able to relate to Esther and understand her uneasiness.

Mina, came and gave Esther a big comforting hug. We kept on telling our friends, "Hashem is also in the Palace", Esther was to be brave and proud  and not scared of the King.

Esther becoming Queen Esther!

Getting the royal treatment! Friends helping the queen put on fancy shoes.

Queen Esther kept Torah and the Mitzvahs EVEN in the Palace!

Adelle hid the Torah behind the dresses, Esther brought the Tzedaka from the Jewish home to give in the palace.

We learned Hashem is the REAL king and He was watching over her in the palace too!

This was a powerful lesson we will take with us forever that NO matter where we find ourselves Hashem is always there with us.

Yanky making a castle on wheels!

Castle crafts.

Esther, gluing different shapes to create her own fantasy castle. Chanie, had fun painting a 3d castle.

Ice castles with frozen jewels. working hard with tweezers to try to get them out!

 Adelle and Esther customizing their own crowns.

Bringing the palace outdoors

Hanging out with King Achashverosh.

100 Days of School!

This weeks parsha talks about the mitzvah of kosher!

We had fun sorting the foods into the three categories of Dairy, Meaty and Pareve.

 Pretend play with some other mitzvos in the parsha.

Each tray got to act out a different mitzvah.

Like not charging interest when you loan someone money.

We loved to listen to this song!

"Who spilled the milk"

Really brought home the idea of only speaking the truth.

This prompted a conversation about how we feel when we lie.

Counting to 100!

Faiga and Menachem order the numbers from 1-100

Making groups of 10 to count to 100.

Number sense Jenga!

Once Mendel pulled out the block he had to identify the number.

Counting to 100 with some yummy snacks!

Jewish Heroes come to life!

Purim Unit

Jewish Holidays are a special time for us to instill life lessons in our students. With the Holiday of Purim coming, we began our unit on the story from the Megilla, which we will read on Purim.

We first wanted the children to really feel connected to the two heroes of the story; Mordechai and Esther, and to most importantly view them as role models for their own lives.

Mordechai; the leader of the Jewish people at the time, he was also a 'Rebbe' (teacher) of small children and would teach them Torah!

Esther; a modest Jewish woman who filled her day with many Mitzvahs, she would play a very important role in saving the Jewish nation from harm.

How powerful for the children to really get to know them and feel empowered that THEY can be just as great as them, thousands of years later!

Mordechai and Esther's home

We filled our dramatic play area with many Mitzvahs.

Shmuel was so excited to be 'Mordechai' he found a Torah and wanted to read from it for all his friends.

Mina lighting Shabbos candles just like Esther! 

Yanky looking at some pictures we displayed of them doing all the Mitzvahs in our classroom.

Chana Rochel preparing the Challah for guests just like Queen Esther did.

Sholom was so excited to see a familiar siddur that he had at home too.

Giving Tzedaka in our Jewish home.

Learning about the different types of coins by dividing them up into different tzedakah boxes.

Mini Mini Gan

Inside our Jewish home we created a "mini Gan". Mordechai loved teaching children Torah, just like our friends do in Gan. 

Taking baby dolls and writing mitzvah notes before going to Mordechai's Gan.

Comforting our baby's before class starts ;)

Menachem as Mordechai teaching the children to love the Torah.

Our Davening circle moved to Mordechai and Esther's home. 

This was a powerful lesson to connect us to our Jewish heroes just like they davened to Hashem, nothing has changed!

During our Tzisis song Shmuel wanted to hold our Mordechai puppet.

Chana rochel holding the Mordechai puppet while drawing what mitzvah she likes to do. "Giving Tzedaka"

Happy 4th Birthday to our dear friend Esther!