Catching SWEET moments

Rosh Hashanah is in the air in Torah Tots classroom! 

Our dramatic play area had Rosh Hashanah items to invite the children to practice the traditions and rituals of the upcoming Holiday. 

The apple dipped in honey was a favorite! 

Making our learning practical

Each year when we get to Rosh Hashanah and wish each other as well as sing, "Have a happy SWEET new year,"  we try to make that a hands on practical lesson for the children to walk away with. 

How can WE be SWEET? What is SWEET to Hashem and each other?

Each time a child cared for one another or did a Mitzvah , we said "That is so sweet". After a couple days the children caught on to what is TRUE SWEETNESS. 

"Caught being SWEET"

Batya noticed Esther was looking for a spot by line up, she quickly moved over and helped her in,

After Adelle returned Esther's pretend phone they showed each other appreciation by hugging. 

Moshe jumped up to help his brother Yanky with his applesauce.

After some sweet moments, the children got to taste some honey to connect the concept. 

We overheard Emma a couple times noticing a friend who was sad and said "Are you Ok?"
Shmuel tasting honey after his mitzvah note of listening nicely to his bedtime story.

Apple inspired art

A display of real apple as well as pictures inspired Eli to create his own.

Making our Rosh Hashanah mats. Mina apple painting and Moshe using his thumb print to make bees.

Apple Sensory

Apple sensory bin with red rice, circle items and black seeds. Adelle using her fine motor skills to try to get the little black seed in the middle of her 'apple'.

Can you find the pretend baby apples in the shaving cream?

Apples and colors

The colors of the apples were a fun way to practice our color recognition and sorting skills.

The call of the Shofar

Watching a clip of the three different sounds a Shofar makes. 

1) A long sound- Tekia, 2) Three medium sounds- Shevarim, 3) Nine short ones- Teruah

Listening to the sound and stepping on the corresponding tape.

Shalom practicing the sounds.

Painting our Shofars.

Thank you, Rabbi Lang for coming to blow the Shofar for us!

A Buzzy New Year

What an exciting week! We got to meet our new friends and do so many new activities. It was very buzzy.

This week we learned about the special month we are in. The month of Elul. 

The children heard the story about a king that lives in a big beautiful palace. It's very hard to see the king but once a year the king comes out of the his palace to the field. In the field everyone can see the king. All different types of people come to meet and greet the king. The old and even the young babies.

Who is this special king?

Faiga screamed out: "HASHEM".

Yisroel and Evan painting the field.

Every Mitzvah I do gets me closer to the king.

We learned that this month Hashem is so close to us and we want to be so close to him. We try to be extra good by giving more Tzedakah and Davening to Hashem. We also hear the shofar. The shofar awakes us and reminds Hashem that we are His children and He loves us!

Everyone was so excited to hear Rabbi Lang blow it for us in the morning.

Morah Avigayil dressed up as a handy-man and 

explained our classroom rules to our class.

Rules Are Our Tools!

 

Morning Trays

Our morning trays have a wide variety of compelling activities, connecting to all areas of development. Upon entering the classroom, each child is invited by the Morah's to select one in which they are interested.

Morahs' are on hand to show the young explorer how to use the activity.

             Rozie used the slime to completely fill in the

        pomegranate for Rosh Hashana 

 Yisroel goes Rosh Hashana shopping,

sorting the items he needs for the upcoming holiday.

Faiga uses pretend apples to help her count to the right number. 

Mendel pretended to be the King coming to the field

and Evan asked him for new clothes!

TK exploring the Hebrew letter Aleph

TK is practicing patterns!

Bela Riva uses connecting blocks to make a pattern.

Evan uses colorful shapes to create a motorcycle.

Kindergarten Alef Bais

 Recognizing letters with a bingo game. Learning the Alef Bais is fun!

Each child started working on there own Alef Bais poster. They used special tools to poke out the letters. At the end of the year they will bring it home. 

Happy 5th Birthday Rozie!

Rozie celebrated her birthday on the first day of School!

Her mommy came and shared  story with the class.

We love you Rozie!

Continue learning and growing!

A "Kissing Hand" facilitates a smooth transition

A new year, a new beginning 

At our orientation, we read "The Kissing hand," By Audrey Penn; a classic children's book about a young raccoon who is worried about going to school without his mother.  The mother raccoon kisses his hand and tells him her love will stay with him the whole day. 

Each child was invited to make a 'kissing hand' card with their Mommy as a preparation for their first day at Gan! This was a way to proactively facilitate a smooth transition for the new children on their first day at school!

 Mendel and Sholom brought their kissing hands to the library center and started kissing their mommy's.

The kissing hands especially helped during a new transition or a friend who was missing his or her parent on the first days of school.

Eli brought his kissing hand to the art center. Arik said he wanted to eat snack with his mommy.

 A puppet is a powerful tool to help children understand their emotions. 

This week Sara the puppet came to visit us at circle time. She was missing her parents and home while she was at school. 

We talked about it and gave her, her own kissing hand. It was so sweet to watch the children look out for her and comfort her during the rest of the day while learning how to cope with their own emotions.

We found Chana Rochel giving her a hug and Esther reading the Kissing hand book to her.

The kissing hand was such a hit this week, we made a bigger size one for our mommy's and daddy's! 

Chanie was fascinated by the texture of the glue.

Pictures of their families on the art table helped the children draw their emotions on paper. 

New skills and routines

Learning how to give each other space by the washing sink.

Learning new songs and how to wait patiently for a Morah to give a sticker after circle time. As well as counting how many stickers are needed in order to get a prize!

One of our favorite sites in the classroom is watching an older child volunteer to help a younger friend learn the ropes. Mendel saw Adelle couldn't reach the faucet and quickly came to the rescue.

 We are so excited about our new sensory board. Zippers, locks, lights, different textures is a great way for the children to get their sensory input at any time of the day. 

Enjoying Music with Morah Malka.

Creating 'rain' on a hot day by making holes on the bottom of the cups.

Happy 2nd Birthday sweet Adelle!