A SMALL toy, BIG lesson!

Purim is in the air!

Castle Megillahs

Each child was invited to paint their own castles and create the main characters in the Purim story to go inside.

Graggers

We learned when we hear Haman's name we make a lot of noise with graggers! The children got to pick their own container , decorate and fill it. 

Some children enjoyed creating them outdoors.

Drama in the palace continues..

Shalach Manos- food gift basket

On Purim we give at least two different foods to another Jewish person . Such a tremendous lesson to be thinking of others. Creating their basket was a great fine motor skill activity as the children were invited to cut their own ribbon and weave it just the way they wanted it.

Mordechai and Esther moments
It has been amazing to watch the children be so sweet with one another just like our Purim role models, Mordechai and Esther.
Yisroel was trying to bring a tire to the other side of the play ground. We noticed Levi Yizchak join him and then remarked, "I got this, you can call me for help." and the proceeded to bring it on his own to the grass area.

Mimi helping Menachem maneuver his car through a tight spot.

Max and Levi enjoying their walk to the field together. 

Hamentashen
Making the dough together! Problem solving to get the right consistency.

Learning shapes as we made circles that turned into triangles!

 Graphing Hamentashen fillings
With three flavors to choose from (chocolate, strawberry and apricot) each child and Morah documented what they wanted in their hamentashen!

A SMALL toy with a BIG lesson

Why do we get dressed up on Purim? After some guesses it was time to learn a life lesson together.
We had come accross these small Winnie the poo toys; each one had a different 'costume' that was removable. The children could see how all the bears were the same inside.

 

While Haman's decree of hurting the Jewish people (G-d forbid) was active it seemed like Hashem was HIDING like in a costume. Rozie helped demonstrate this by dressing up as a bee. Is she now a bee or is it still Rozie? The children were starting to connect the dots.
Even when it seemed bad Hashem is ALWAYS there and that never changes!

The conversation that followed was so inspiring. It was time for the Morahs to learn!

Levi, "Hashem is invisible He's not hiding He's always there!" 

Dovi, "Hashem is not a person He is always there for us!" 

Wow!! For our precious children , this concept is so much more real and obvious that Hashem is always there and never leaves our side! It was a powerful lesson for our entire class!

Each child got to choose a dressed up little bear which will help trigger a big lesson.

Which Purim Hero's did we focus on?

Jewish Holidays are a golden opportunity for us to instill life lessons in our students...

 This week we learned the story of the Megillah. Before introducing the King and palace we wanted the children to connect to the Jewish hero's, Mordechai and Esther. Our main goal was to have the children connect to them and see them as role models who always believed in Hashem when it seemed so dark.

ESTHER AND MORDECHAI'S JEWISH HOME.

 The dramatic play house filled with familiar mitzvahs. Jewish books, Tzedaka, Shabbos Candles, Challah, Torahs. They were just like Mordechai and Esther!

 We placed pictures of them doing mitzvahs in the Jewish home!

A ritual everyday turns into a lesson

Everyday we read their Mitzvah notes written by their parents. Each child gets to feel so special to hear what they did and it empowers them to want to do more Mitzvahs.

While reading them one morning we decided to include Mordechai and Esther.

Ava and Evan placed their mitzvah notes on the entrance of the Jewish home.

Challah Center

Pictures documenting the process how to make challah encouraged the children's independence to learn how to braid.  

Stuffed knee highs was a fun way to practice the three braid before trying it on dough!

Levi Yitzchak glazing his challah with 'egg'.  "It's all ready for the oven!"

Yisroel found a Megillah to read!

Bela Riva and Yisroel role playing Mordechai and Esther and leading the songs at our davening circle.

Mitzvahs everywhere!

Documenting their own Mitzvahs that they love to do at the art table.

Evan finding the coins in his play dough and doing a mitzvah!

Now that the children connected to Mordechai and Esther and realized how special they were just like them we set up the Palace center.

The King Achashverosh who loved to show off and boast was now looking for a new Queen after getting rid of Vashti.

All the beautiful girls were excited to see if they were the right fit but Esther was hesitant.

She didn't want to live in a palace.

The children knew exactly why after spending time in the Jewish home!

What a powerful lesson, what are true riches and glory?

Role playing the feast of King Achashverosh. We discussed his motive of wanting to show off  and how we should act when we host our friends.

Queens making scepters.  

Creating Castles out of magna tiles.

We placed different castles from all over the world for inspiration!

Thank you Morah Elinor for bringing the Purim spirit by using your face painting talent!

Getting messy and learning from Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock!

Art in Early childhood education

Art is such an important part of early childhood education. There are so many valuable skills learned by creating art. Click the link to learn what is really happening when a child creates art! Early childhood and art

The past couple weeks the children have been invited to get inspiration from different famous artist and create their own using interesting and engaging techniques. It has been such a wonderful journey watching the children feel proud of their work and discover all types of art.

At the end of the week we created an 'Art Exhibit' in our classroom for the parents and visitors to enjoy!

Claude Monet

The Japanese Bridge

We used a special technique while inspired by this bridge and water painting. The children first created an image using crayons and than after using water colors. The crayon which has a wax texture came through the water color and created a unique experience.

Claude Monet

Water lilies

Inspired by this painting, we used chalk and Vaseline to help create the oil paint look.

The process is as important!

Yisroel problem solving how to make the chalk into chalk dust that was needed for the project. First he used his weight and than decided a heavy block would work more efficiently.

Dovi enjoyed sticking his finger in the Vaseline and mixed it with the chalk. It was quite a sensory experience!

Devorah leah creating the pond.

Our main goal with the art unit was for each child to feel special and unique while sharing their work with others and verbalizing the process of what they created.

Von Gogh

"The Starry Night"

We invited the children to use a shaving cream technique to create their version of "The starry night"

While getting inspiration from the art piece Devorah Leah and Motty created swirl affects with a fork.

Levi Yitzchak transporting his shaving cream night design onto his paper.

There are two versions of this painting. One using WARM COLORS and one using COOL COLORS.

Max helped us learn why he thought they were called warm colors. "It reminds me of lava"

 Bela Riva using her fine motor skills to create the silhouette for the sky painting.

Piet Mondrian

His art consisted of white ground, upon which he painted a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and the three primary colors.

Jackson Pollock

Inspired by his drip art using his whole body.

Evan found his own 'brush' to use!

Jewish Art!

Mr. Michoel Muchnik (Devorah leah and Menachems zaidy/grandfather)

is a world renown Jewish artist who came to visit us and inspire us about Jewish art.

(check out his website for inspiring art http://www.muchnikarts.com/)

At first he made grapes and than asked the children "How can we put a Jewish twist to this?"

"Put it on a Kiddush cup".

This gave the children such inspiration that even after his visit they enjoyed creating Jewish art books to be shown at the art exhibit!

Working on beautiful mosaic art of the seven fruits of Israel!

Hebrew Letter Daled

The children were invited to draw chalk on the letter Daled to help review and recognize the letter.

Muka discovered if she removed the tape it looked neat.

Levi Yitzchak proud of his daled.