Hashem's world comes indoors!

This week we continued to learn all about Hashem's wonderous world.

We focused on..

Day 3- Trees, flowers 

A nature center with plants, tree stumps and flowers that smelled so good.

Thank you Hashem for all the beautiful nature He created in this world.

Learning how a seed grows  some children were shining pretend sun rays on a friend pretending to be a seed. We also learned how seeds need water to grow. As Chana Rochel starting 'growing' we noticed flowers starting to 'bloom'.

 Taking care of our plants that were very thirsty outside.

We brought part of a fig tree to circle time to see if any of our friends can figure out what fruit it was. Esther using her nose to see if she could figure it out.

Play dough and nature items invited our friends to use their creativity and create their own creations.

 Batya brought a leaf to the flower art table 

and wanted to create a leaf for her art.

Moshe using his fine motor skills and pincer grip to trace the veins he saw on the leaf.

Mina creating a piece of art using flower petals and leaves, which will  be used in the creation book we have been working on.

Flower inspired art. Friends chose a picture to inspire them and got busy making their own beautiful flower.

Moshe's rose.

 Menachem worked hard on beading a branch and trying to make sure it didn't break.

Gardening in our sensory bin.

Enjoying a picnic on the beautiful grass outdoors.

Esther made a delicious cake and added mint from our garden.

Day 4: Sun, moon and stars in the galaxy.

Esther helping us at circle time, learning about the powerful hot sun Hashem made. 

Arik was excited to pull out his sunglasses to show us how he protects himself from the sun.

We talked a lot about how much the sun helps us.

 Batya making sure to protect herself from the hot sun before heading outdoors.

Sun art-------



Galaxy slime. Sparkling glitter placed in the slime was a fun way to discuss how many stars are in the galaxy!

Yanky's observation;  "The bubbles in the slime looks like seltzer!"

Discovering Hashem's world at Gan

This summer at Gan our theme is the 7 days of creation. 

As we learn what was created on each of the days, we will be discovering Hashem's amazing creations through art, sensory, science and more.

This week we learned about Day 1 & 2.

Day 1- Light & dark

To learn about light and dark we cut two holes in a box and placed some toys in them. As we passed it around and asked our friends to tell us what they saw we mainly heard, "There is nothing in there" "It's so dark!"

We then placed a flashlight in the second hole and our friends were able to see the toy ducks we placed in there. 

The children were then able to appreciate why we need light. Thank you Hashem for giving us light!

Dark and light negative space art.

Spraying different objects or even their hand was a fun way to learn about the contrast between dark and light.

Batya had fun playing with black playdough and placing white pieces in it. Menachem helped some of our friends get the playdough that was stuck inside some toys.

 Painting 'darkness'.

 Thank you Carole Goodkin for generously donating a new light table for our classroom. Playing with magnet tiles on bright lights was a whole new experience.

Learning about light and dark was a great opportunity to learn about shadows. A flashlight and a white sheet invited the children to put on shadow plays for their friends!

 Welcoming back our bearded dragon to our class. Mathew, was fascinated with the heat lamp. There are so many different types of light in this world!

Enjoying chocolate pudding and whipped cream as a dark and light treat ;)

Day 2- Water. Hashem placed water in the oceans and the sky.

At circle time we pretended our blue carpet was the water. Mendel wanted to show us how he likes to jump in the water. Sholom was wearing rain boots that day and showed us how he likes to splash in puddles.

 Having fun at the easel creating rain by using water droppers and cotton balls as the clouds. Sometimes, we get to see the water Hashem placed in the sky. We overheard all the different experiences they have had in the rain.

Science experiment

Research suggests that young children don't think as creatively or critically when adults tell them what to do. By just placing an ice ball with beads, some salt and tools we invited the children to learn science by using their own natural curiosity.

The blue beads trapped inside was a fun incentive to try to figure out how ice melts and the different properties of water.

Batya creating her ocean and sky picture using paint glue and cotton balls.

Fun water play! 

Watering our garden. 

 Adding water to the sandbox was a fun sensory and creative experience.

Shavuos: With One Heart

This week we started a new month in the Hebrew calendar. 

This month of Sivan is a very exciting month, it's the month that we received the Torah!

On Rosh Chodesh Sivan the Jewish people camped by Har Sinai. We learned that they were like one person with one heart.

How can that be? I doesn't feel that way...

There are many things that exist but are invisible, like Hashem, our heart and our Neshama... 

Even though we can't see it the Jewish people are connected and are like one all the time! It just doesn't always seem that way. On Rosh Chodesh Sivan right before receiving the Torah the Jewish people felt this connection and oneness very strongly.

We told the children when they hear the 10 Commandments in Shul they should close their eyes and visualize Matan Torah, the moment we receive the Torah. 

The children are the guarantors for the Torah. When children take upon themselves to learn Torah and do Mitzvos now, they cause Matan Torah every year. The Torah was given, and continues to be given every year, all because of the children!     

We made thank you cards for Hashem with a fun sensory process art.

Menachem drips watercolors into the shaving cream.

Swirling the colors made beautiful designs to dip our cards in.

Then we wrote our words for Hashem.

Bela Riva is writing a thank you card to Hashem in her own words.

The Torah was written with all the letters of the Aleph-beis.

Evan practices writing.

Incorporating math and Shavuos. 

Har Sinai had flowers all over, we colored in many beautiful numbered flowers.

Happy Birthday Morah Avigayil!

We love you!

We acted like seeds growing doing some body exercises.

Capit Reading Practice.

Games are fun and improve our fluency.

In this game we had to look for the word and get it. Yisroel and Motty got the word, the rest of the class had to write the word.