The King is in the field

 Now that we are in the Hebrew month of Elul, it was the perfect time to teach the kids how close we are to Hashem and we can ask for anything! First we learned what a King is. Morah acted out as a king and we learned some etiquette how to properly behave in front of one. We repeated "Yes, your highness" many times ;)  To help the children understand the concept of "The king is in the field"  We discussed places where we aren't allowed to go into.  For example, the Morah's room and the office etc.. We compared it to the kings palace as a similar idea! It is very hard to get in the palace, we need appointments and special permission. The field is different though, we don't need any permission! we can just run freely through it. Hashem being in the field (during this month of Elul) shows us how we don't even need special permission to be so close to Him, we can run right up to Him at any time!

We davened outside to get a feel of us being in a field :)

Crown arts n' craft

The children glued the the pompoms on the circles drawn on the crown.

"King in the field project"

We made a perfect place for all the Mitzva notes! This was a a great way to showcase what it's like to be in the field with Hashem! We come close to hashem with our our Mitzvos!

We took out magnifying glasses and had pictures of fields and Palaces. We used it as a tool to show us how close and far we can be with the King. We compared the palace with many windows and doors to the field where we can go wherever we want. 

ALEPH BEIS

We started out first letter this week! 

The "Aleph" 

We introduced it by having a visual for the kids how Hashem created the world with all of the letters. with a lamp we created the illusion of the Aleph coming out of it. This helped them understand how the world did not exist until Hashem brought it to life with the Letters.

We learned that the top Yud is Hashem and the Bottom Yud is us, we discovered how to keep us connected to Hashem by learning his Torah we build the strong attachment. 

Diving into the Chassidus of the Aleph Beis, we discovered how the Aleph was made up of 3 letters. 

two "Yud's" and a "Vov". Morah hid the letters and then the children found in the room, They worked together to put them together to create the Aleph!

Writing our names and decorating name tags during English Academics.

They made there very own honey book.

 From the first steps from the bees to the apple dipped in honey!

A baby's cry and the Shofar

Rosh Hashanah Unit

This week we started laying the foundation for the High Holiday of Rosh Hashanah. 

Hashem's love to us is like a parent with an only child. To understand this concept we started off by talking about the love our parents have for us!

We displayed baby pictures of each of our friends. Leah feeling so big looking at the difference between then and now. 

Using baby dolls and role playing how a baby is cared for with every cry being a way to communicate.

Our friends were invited to draw how big they are now. Leah said she can walk and run now since she's so big. Mordy, who has been very into colors, wanted to make himself big and brown.

Nechama, showing how to take care of babies in the bath.

Mendy, had fun feeding his baby. During these different baby centers we would take the opportunity to talk about how much a parent cares for their child. 

We even gave some babies haircuts while practicing our fine motor skills!

Our friends were really intrigued with how babies need their food small and mushed since they start off with no teeth. Leah and Mendy got really excited to share that our bearded dragon also has no teeth and he needs his carrots cut up. 

Mordy, coloring clothes for the babies. 

Having some fun watching the small foot prints the baby dolls were making.

We all felt so big after talking about babies! There are so many job opportunities for the children during the day and they feel so big and responsible while doing them. This was also a great time to discuss even though we are so big and our parents don't have to spoon feed us or we don't need to cry to talk they love us SO very much all the time.

Listening to our parents love videos they sent us! The smile says it all!

By the end of the week it was time to make the connection to Rosh Hashanah.  

We listened to an audio of a baby cry and a Shofar blow and it sounded so similar!

When we blow the Shofar we are talking to Hashem and He is listening to everything we will be davening for this coming New Year just like a loving parent.

                                                    

Pre-K' s first days

 Wow, it is so good to be back for the school year! It was so exciting to see many familiar faces as well as a bunch of new ones! We began our week with a fun orientation, where we got to meet the friends who will be in our class this year. Being that we are a Gan family, we began creating a big family scrapbook album. The first pages reflecting our summer break! 

One of the biggest factors that provides a child a sense of safety, stability and wellbeing is the predictability of what will happen next. With this in mind we focused our orientation on what the daily schedule will be at Gan this year. With a fun scavenger hunt each child was invited to find a clue in the classroom and see where it goes on our visual schedule.

One of our classroom routines is to "wish well" to each of our friends families. This gives us the comfort from our friends that we respect everyone's families 💙 

We put a lot of focus on the visual schedule and sticking to it, so the children can know what is coming next, and feel safe at Gan.  We counted from 1-12 going through our schedule.

Building houses! 

Being the first week, it is important for us to create a strong foundation for the upcoming weeks and ultimately the year. We saw pictures of buildings before they even had roofs! This taught us how  building our school doesn't all happen at once, but through all the small steps we make working together.

Aleph Beis tracing with playdough

Number recognition 

and counting activity

Spotting our names on the table with a handprint!

Outside play and smiles!

It is the month of Elul! We love when Rabbi Lang comes to sound the Shofar for us!

Welcome to Torah Tots!

Our biggest focus during the first weeks of school is providing the children with a sense of safety through visual schedules, predictability of what's coming next, and lots of connection between the Morah's and children.

Orientation allowed all of our friends to meet and greet, as well as enjoy a peek at the fun schedule that will take place at Gan! 

Our friends hand's got traced with a special kiss from mommy onto it! 

Eli was so excited to find his on the first day of school. This made the transition with out our parents so much more comforting.

We even found  our pictures in the sand bin! This was a great way to invite conversations between our friends.

Mendy and Nechama, decorating their family photos and letting us know who everyone is.

With different Morah's for morning and afternoon, we made a Morah puppet show to showcase everyone's roles. Our friends will take home their own set and role play their names and jobs.

Getting to know our classroom. Mordy, enjoyed the sensory wall and Mendy and Yossi gravitated to our calming bucket.