A Lesson In A Suitcase!

 

 

 "VeYaakov Halach Ledarko"

"And Yaakov went on his way", a phrase we say after all the beautiful Holidays come to an end. Instead of just saying goodbye and waiting till next year we can take these 'big ideas' and pack them in a 'suitcase' and use it through out the year!

All in a suitcase

To bring this idea in a hands on and visual way we placed some items from all the Holidays circle times/ centers ! This was a great way to show we are not fully saying 'goodbye' to each Holiday. The beautiful big ideas that we learned stay with us the whole year!

 

 

Yom Kippur items of the Machzor and Talis :Even though Yom Kippur is over Hashem still loves us and wants to hear our davening!

 

 

Our Puppets that we used to learn about saying 'Im sorry' came out to show us we still get to be sweet to our friends and fix up our mistakes!

When the Sukkah came out they all knew what to answer !!

"Hashem is still giving us a HUG!"

 

When Dovi saw the bee puppets in the suitcase it brought him back to the bee center and requested the bee hive to come back in the classroom ;)

 

The precious moments of just 'getting it'

 

Back by Rosh Hashanah and talking about bees and honey our 'big idea' was how important it is to be sweet with one another! Dovi had two bee puppets in his hand.  Levi, with such sweet words asked Dovi for one, Dovi quickly gave it to Levi. 

Levi, "You can play with my toys at my house" . It was such a sweet moment and made me realize they have these lessons with them forever! 

 

 

 

Aron showing how he shook the lulav in his sukkah!

Chanie role playing with the 'yom kippur' puppets.

And its always fun combining the Holidays ;)
 

I Saw Shua putting the ram  (from learning about Rosh Hashanah and where shofars come from) on his head. After observing a little more he was remembering how he went on his fathers shoulders and danced on Simchas Torah !

 

 

Bringing it home- Suitcase project

Painting a cardboard suitcase and adding memory pictures from each Holiday!

 

 

 

 

 

Mini Shul on Yom Kippur and a hug from Hashem in a Sukkah!

Yom Kippur

A day of prayer and asking forgiveness for all our mistakes. 

We created a 'mini shul' in our classroom to get a feel of what Yom Kippur is all about.
It was Beautiful watching these precious children find a siddur (prayer book), sit down and daven all the songs they know. Their innocent sweet voices was a lesson to us as Morah's to try to strive for the pure love they have for Hashem.

Devorah Leah and Elizabeth bringing their babies to Shul.

Sitting quietly davening.

Rabbi Dovi reading from a copy of a Torah scroll.

We placed slippers in our Shul and taught the children how we don't wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur. Levi had fun trying on adult slippers.

Slipper matching game.

Shua "Even policemen daven to Hashem!"

Siddur and alef beis play dough cutters was a great way to learn the Hebrew letters and enjoy some sensory fun!

White is customarily worn on Yom kippur to be like Angels. Children had white paint to create any picture they wanted.

Sukkot

We role played the story of when the Jews were in the desert and Hashem placed a cloud surrounding and protecting the Jewish people. The holiday of sukkot reminds us of this special 'nes' (miracle). The outdoor structure called a Sukkah- represents the cloud. Anything we do inside the sukkah becomes a mitzvah!. The main idea we instilled in the children, is the kaballistic explanation:  that a Sukkah, is a big HUG from Hashem! Hashem loves us and is consistently protecting us and taking care of us. 

In the Sukkah we feel that in a very real way!

During this discussion, as if on cue-- Liam came to visit us and asked if he could give Levi a HUG! ;)

Later on in the day, Max took the initiative to review the story of the clouds.

Max loves to make us laugh, he told us (as he was picking up a cotton ball)

"This is a cotton meatball!"

Sukkah Decorating

What happens when a baby cries? Lesson on the Shofar! Apple addition & More Sweetness!

The sweetness continues!

Rosh Hashanah has definitely been felt in our classroom this week. 

We have been busy continuing to shine a light on sweet actions among our students in helping them understand the concept of "Have a happy SWEET new year!"

How lucky we are as Morahs to witness the sweetness each and every day!

Yehudis noticed Dovi trying to get his nectar in the bee hive. "I'll hold it for dovi!" 

                                                            Sweet love by circle time!

                                     

We found a piece of a REAL bee hive outside! What a great way to get a real understanding of hives and how the honey is made!

Curiosity at its best. 

We noticed a few of the bee hives holes were closed up. Shua helped us 'dissect' the bee hive to find out what was under it- dried out honey!

 Bee hive inspired Art

Bubble wrap, formed around the children's hands created a 'bee hive' look with the paint.

Menucha loved the feeling and sound of the bubbles being popped.

Lots of great fine motor exercises to get those bubbles popped!

To take our honey sweetness to the next level...

 Each child went around and said something sweet about a friend and at the same time give them a taste of honey!

Elizabeth: "I love Devorah Leah and I like to play with her!"

Levi: "I like to play toys with Aron, he's my friend!"

With all this sweet talk to each other, Dovi was compelled to give his brother Levi a hug! :) 

The sounding of the Shofar: What is symbolizes.

Preparing the children to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashana,  we learned WHY the Shofar is sounded!

Max demonstrating ;)

                                                 

Using a baby doll, we demonstrated how when a baby cries, we run to help him or her and show our love.

The Shofar sounds like a cry - It represents us children crying out to Hashem. Just as a parent listens to his child and loves his child so much. Hashem is our father and we are His children. He loves us so much, and when he hears our Shofar sound- he listens to all our requests.

                                              

Learning where a shofar comes from

Muka asking questions about the Ram.

        

Later we noticed Levi checking out a sheep and comparing it to a ram.

 Playing with the stuffed ram.

                                         

Chani getting excited for Rosh Hashana!!

Learning the sounds of the Shofar 

There are three different sounds of the Shofar

Tekia - one long blast 

shevarim- three medium sounds

Teruah - nine small short sounds 

To help the children learn the sounds, we made a visual Shofar game, where the children had to stand on the correct tape representing the sound.

Apple Addition

We focus on multiple intelligence's, while learning about the Jewish Holidays. Using apples we focused on some math skills!

In each box the children were able to pick numbers along side the correct amount of dots for those who are not up to recognizing numbers yet. 

In each 'tube' they dropped down the corresponding amount of figurine apples. Once that was done, together we counted the total sum in the bucket below.

On a two year old level this activity was a thrill to just see the "cause and effect" of the process of dropping them down the tube!

Apple graphing

First we did a survey on how many of us like green apples and how many of us like red apples! 

It was a great way to introduce graphing and counting sub totals.

 How many apples tall are you? (visually helping the children understand units and space)

Water play on those hot sunny days!