Grateful and Tasteful

This week our theme was "Baruch Hashem", the Hebrew phrase used to acknowledge our gratitude to Hashem /G-d, literally meaning "Blessed Hashem." While Thanksgiving is an American Holiday, its actually a very big part of our Jewish lifestyle. Saying "Baruch Hashem" is a phrase we strive to instill in our students in response to questions they are asked! Attributing all power of our health, happiness and even challenges to Hashem- is empowering ! 

We learned the story of a king in England who did not let the people talk to Hashem the way they wanted to. These people decided to leave England and sailed across the sea to America. When they got to America, they did not have enough food and  the winter was very cold. A lot of these people (who were called Pilgrims)  died and they did not know how to plant food and keep warm in their new home. They met the Native Americans, the people that looked different than them. Some of the native Americans were very nice and helped the pilgrims plant food. When they harvested their first crop, they made a Thanksgiving feast and celebrated the first Thanksgiving meal.

Acting out the story with puppets.

learning about our country of America, we spotted our state of California ;)

There is a Thanksgiving mitzvah in the Torah called "Bikkurim." It was when the Jewish people would give the first fruits as a gift to Hashem, by bringing them to the Beis Hamikdash. It was a way to show their gratitude to Hashem for the miracle of their trees producing fruit! 

They were the first and most yummy fruit of their farms. 

Bringing the fruit into our classroom we tasted some dates :)

Lots of concentration with this weaving activity, just like the baskets holding the fruit in Eretz Yisroel 

Modeh Ani Breathing

When we say the Modeh Ani prayer, we are thanking Hashem for returning our Neshama (soul) into our bodies!  We made this idea very visual for the children with a Modeh Ani Breathing exercise!

Laying in our backs, we raised our hands high with a deep belly inhale like our Neshama  going up when we go to sleep, and then exhaled deeply with our hands coming to our chest like our Neshama coming back down when we wake up. We are so grateful for our Neshama being in our body so we can do Mitzvos and learn Torah!

Making cupcakes for some special birthdays this week ;)

Reviewing the first row of the Aleph Beis Chart! 

What an accomplishment! 

This week we learned about the letter Vov. We shaped our own letter with pipe cleaners and seeing how it ended up looking like a hook was quite a fun activity. The significant shape of the letter teaches us how The Torah is the hook the connects Hashem to us- Bnei Yisroel!

Outside creative play

Menachem Freeman's job this week was the line leader and Menachem Heidingsfeld's job was the caboose! We had a Menachem sandwich for line up :)

Being Thankful

With Thanksgiving this week, we took the opportunity to explore being thankful and specifically saying "Baruch Hashem". (Blessed are you Hashem) Every 'small detail' is from Hashem and when we are thankful for everything in our life becomes so much more meaningful!

Our friends 'Baruch Hashem' quotes:

I am thankful to Hashem for...

Yossi F- "The crust on my Challah."

Eli F- "My Mommy and Tatty."

Mordy- "The sky so blue."

Leah- "Levi, my brother."

Yossi C- "Me"

Mendy- "Chilly lime chips."

Nechama- "Putting my garbage in the trash."

Axel- "Axel"

Us as Morahs are so thankful and blessed to be able to share so many special connecting moments with our friends each day.

Leah and Mordy, having fun in the sandbox.

Creative minds at work.

Thinking of others during davening circle by giving Tzedaka. 

Axel, using his breathing flower as the Alef Beis pointer.

Getting ready for our next unit, Chanuka. 

We feel so strongly about making sure our friends feel part of the process so the product is so much more meaningful.

One morning this week our friends had fun making the back round to the Beis Hamikdash (Hashem's home) that will be used to tell the story of Chanuka. 

Eli, getting some sun with our bearded dragon!

Fire safety, Hey Shakey

 This week we learned the letter Hey! Building on what we learned of the Daled shape (That the top of it is compared to our thoughts, the body of daled are our words. The Yud represents our actions. That's why we call it hey! We use our Hands to bring our thought and words to actions. That is the way we encounter the world. We DO Mitzvot! We practiced this week saying hey✋ with our hands to all our friends coming into school in the morning :) 

This tied in perfectly with the Torah portion this week. The part we focused on in Parshat Chayei Sara was the story of Avraham finding a wife for His son Yitzchok. He sent his servant Eliezer to find a girl who is kind! Eliezer went on the search with 10 camels. As he entered the city he asked Hashem to show a sign of who would be the right girl. He said if there will be a girl who will offer water to me after travelling, then it would be a sign she is a kind and caring person.  A girl named Rivkah appeared and offered water to him AND to his camels. This was the sign that she was the right girl to marry Yitzchak. The water actually rose up to her and she didn't have to bend down! This was another sign that Hashem is with her, and she must be a special person. 

Our breathing this week included rising waters like the well, where we lifted our hands up and then brought them down with a wooosh sound. The next breathing was the shape of the rounded back of the camel, gently going up and down with our hands as well.

Hand painting to represent the Hey

Through drawing our own cars we learned how it took Eliezer only 1 day to travel instead of 17! we were very fascinated by that idea and experienced walking like a snail and then running super fast :) back then they had donkeys and horses traveling with them, nowadays we have cars!  

Aleph Bet match it.

We put out blue tissue paper to represent the well full of water, our friends searched in it looking for water drops with letters on them. They were invited to match the drop of water letter to the letters on the thirsty camels! 

Building the letters using colored sticks

Enjoying the winds and fall leaves outside!

This week we had a practice fire drill. We also focused on fire safety rules in general. There were a lot of good and curious questions! Morah told the story about the boy who cried wolf. He pretended there was a fire a few times in the forest crying out "fire, fire!" the village people came every time until they realized he was pretending. Then when it happened to be a real fire nobody came to help because they thought he was still pretending! 

This story taught us how to be responsible and safe when it comes to emergencies. We can always asks adults if you smell smoke or see something strange. 

We traced the numbers 911 on a pretend phone, to help us learn the number to call in an emergency! 

Sara helps us learn about fire safety!

This week we showcased the very first Jewish mother, Sara!

Her Shabbos candles were miraculous and stayed lit all week. 

She came out for some puppet shows and taught us about this beautiful mitvah of Shabbos.

Fire sensory play using slime. Yossi adding his fire to his t-lights. 

Leah had fun using pretend matches to safely light her candles.

Was fun watching thier reaction to the different consistency it is compared to play dough they are familiar with. 

Eli using paint as a medium to create his Shabbos candle scene. 

Nechama, creating her fire picture using bingo markers. 

We took this opportunity to talk about fire safety.

Mordy, acting out during free play a fireman's job.

F for fire!

We learned how we should act around safe fire like shabbos candles or Chanuka candles. But what would happen if it became unsafe? 

We welcomed a new friend this week, Avraham Muchnik! He created his own phone to call 911.

We blew up a live phone to help recognize the 911 numbers. 

We learned when it should be called and when we don't. 

We prepared our friends for a fire drill. Leah, helped us listen first on a phone the loud sound and looking where our fire alarm is placed in our classroom . 

Nechama, helped us with our expectations for our friends during a fire drill. Looking at pictures of our front gate how we can safely leave and where we will be sitting when it happens. 

Our friends did so well! Using their walking feet, walking behind Morah, listening to attendance.

Enjoying some indoor bike play during a windy day!

 

Opting for Opportunity

This week in Parshat Vayeira we brought Avraham and Sara's tent to life! We learned two significant things that have to do with number 3! 

1. Hashem sent 3 Malachim (Angels) that looked like people to do Bikur cholim (visiting the sick) for Avraham (since he was recovering from his Bris).  Avraham always loved having guest and it made him really sad that there was no-one in sight to invite into his tent. It was too hot out, so no one was travelling.  Hashem made a miracle to send them on a mission and give Avraham the opportunity to do the special Mitzvah of Hachnasas Orchim (inviting guests into his home)!

2. While Sara was living, Hashem made 3 miracles happen in her home. Her Challah stayed fresh and fluffy the entire week. (We felt the difference between the hard challah and the soft challah and compared it to each other.)  The second miracle was that her Shabbos candles stayed  lit the WHOLE week! And the third, Hashem placed a constant cloud on top of her tent protecting them. 

We put up a tent in our classroom to make the lessons come to life!

Deep discussions in the tent

We have a lot of skilled friends tracing their own names!

Just like Avraham made sure to do the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim (inviting guests), we made our own "welcome" signs for our homes.

Different face play dough making

One way that Avraham did the Mitzvah well, was to make sure his guests have the yummiest food. It did not matter where the people came from or how they looked, he always had room for them and invited them!

The Pre-school class invited us to their classroom to enjoy some freshly baked cookies they prepared!

 It was a great way for us to see what the Mitzvah of "Hachnasat Orchim" looks like in real life!

Aleph Beis

This week we focused on the letter Daled. We examined the shape of how the little spout in the back are like hands, opening up for someone to give to them. The Gimmel being the letter before it is actually giving it money or things that it needs. We learn from here how the Daled is the beggar. Delet means door and it starts with the letter Daled. The Daled Knocks on people doors for Tzedaka (charity.) This tied in perfectly with the Parsha being that Avraham always invited guests who needed help! 

We had fun with band-aids, Matching the alef beis letters on the band-aids,  to the letter on the body.

 Just like Avraham was sick we brought that into our classroom by healing him with band aids and Aleph beis :)

Learning happens best when we use our entire bodies! We marched around the classroom with our hands behind our backs, to form the "Daled spout" so they can receive the tzedakah being given to them.

Our Gan family shared a few moments this week that really shined a light 

on how each child is so kind, empathetic, and thoughtful.

One of our friends hurt his leg one day and it was very hard for him to walk. All the boys took this opportunity to help hold him up to say the Brachah on his tzitzits, line up with the class, and support him by expressing times when they hurt their leg too and how long it took to heal! He had such a positive attitude towards it all even when all he was able to do was hop and crawl!  

One of the tots was crying by outside play. Menachem F not only went over to ask him what happened but called to other friends to see if they noticed anything as to why he was crying! 

Our friends gathered around him with love, and this brought lots of comfort to out tot friend :)