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May 16
Today was an exciting day. After welcoming our friends, we got right to work. In small groups each child received a sheet with an outline of an open Torah. We reviewed that the upcoming holiday is called Shavuot aand we got something special on this holiday. After identifying it we then discussed how a Torah looks different when opened and shut. To demonstrate this, we borrowed the Torah from the 5-6 class, took off the beautiful velvet cover, unwrapped the band and slowly opened it and got to look inside. We found lots of letters! After singing the Aleph-Bet song, each child got colorful Aleph-Bet stickers and were tasked with placing them inside the Torah.
After our 5 minute warning, we began cleaning up and gathered together on the rug for Tefila. Our new Tzedakah song is so much fun; each child placed a coin into the tzedakah box. We had a very nice Tefila followed by a new book called The Torah- Book of Opposites by Nechamy Segal. In this cute book there are pictures illustrating opposites such as the Torah being opened or shut, black or white…
We explained that Shavuot is also called Chag Matan Torah. We celebrate receiving the Torah by decorating our homes with flowers. Things got a little confusing when we talked about how a long time ago, people would bring fruits to Jerusalem—where Hila is today! Elijah wanted to know if Moses was also in Jerusalem today.
We ate snacks and got ready to go outdoors. It was such a beautiful day and we enjoyed every minute! Lunch, nap time, and dismissal came really quickly after that!
May 15
What a great day!
This morning as the children worked, small groups gathered to make flower collages. We reviewed the words “Shavuot, Torah, Har Sinai” and “Moshe.” The children asked for flowers in Hebrew (“Efshar Perach Bivakasha?”) and practiced their colors as well. They then sorted through the pile, choosing types of flowers and colors. We hung the beautiful Perach collages on our bulletin board. When we were done, each child chose a flower to help decorate our own Har Sinai.
After Tefila and Aleph-Bet songs we ate snacks and headed outside. We played with soft balls, in the sandbox, with the seesaw and with our friends in the 3-4 class.
After cleaning up the children ate their lunches and had a nice rest.
Yoga class with Sokna was great. The children were focused little yogis in their different poses and loved the closing song about the sun.
After snack the children gathered for a goodbye circle where we reviewed what we had learned about prachim. We all sniffed a lovely rose and discussed how plants need water to live and grow.
Tomorrow we will be making our very own grass-heads for Shavuot. Some children demonstrated how to add soil and seeds. We can’t wait to see our seeds grow!
May 14
Today we had a wonderful day for a wonderful new week.
This morning during Work Time the children were introduced to the upcoming chag-holiday of Shavuot and the Mitvzah of Bikurim, bringing the first fruit of the seven species—wheat, barley, figs, dates, olives, grapes and pomegranates—to Jerusalem. As we counted the seven species we found the corresponding color and requested in Hebrew for the crayon to fill in the fruit on their own papers.
After this we had Tefila and incorporated a new Tzedaka song, which the children really enjoyed.
We had a lovely outdoor play with the 3-4 class and shared the toys beautifully
During circle time we talked about Shavuot and the special present we received—the Torah!
After eating lunch the children settled down for rest time and then had so much fun with their whole bodies at music and movement. They especially enjoyed walking around like tigers, galloping like horses and stretching out their necks to be giraffes.
After a quick goodbye circle we were accompanied by our wonderful friends in the 5-6 class up the stairs for dismissal.
See you tomorrow!
April 20
Today, Anat was our Shabbat Ima, and her parents came in to help us celebrate. Anat’s parents read us a book in Hebrew (and translated it to English) called Kova Ksamim (magic hat), by Leah Goldberg. In the book, a little girl dreams about having a magic hat that would make her big, or even turn into a boat so that she can sail around and have wonderful adventures. We all watched as Anat’s dad made a magic hat out of a large piece of paper and then turned it into a boat! Each child was then given a magic hat to wear, which was then turned into a boat as well. Anat showed us a few pictures from her own book. It was really great watching Anat as she confidently and excitedly told her friends about the animals in the book.
After Anat helped us bring in Shabbat, we thanked our guests for coming, and went to play outside. While we were playing, we had a special surprise; the 5-6 year old class came to play with us! It was very sweet watching the children socialize and play games together. We love how gentle and caring they are with our class.
We changed our schedule a bit and ended up having work time after lunch. To help with the schedule change, and ease the transition from lunch to work, we had the children clean up and then choose a material from the shelves. The transition was seamless and within 15 minutes the whole class was working diligently with the materials. We were so proud that they were able to transition so beautifully!
After work, we listened to two Israeli songs from our holiday DVD: Hatikvah (Israel’s national anthem) and Kol Ha’aretz Degalim (a song about Israel being filled with flags). We explained to the children that Hatikvah is a beautiful song about Israel that we must listen to carefully and sing from our hearts. The children took this very seriously and all listened attentively. We then got up and danced with the Israeli flag to Kol Ha’aretz Degalim. Both songs can be found at the links below on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBD9j94Chu8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0h1UBjoaN4
We will be celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) with the entire early building on Thursday 4/26. In honor of Israel, please dress your child in blue and white. In addition, the children will all be provided with an Israeli lunch of falafel with pita and salad. You will not need to send in lunch on Thursday. However, please send in a lunch from home if you do not think your child will eat falafel.
Reminders - Wednesday, 4/25, is picture day!
April 19
As the children walked into class today, they noticed a huge Israeli flag (degel) hanging on the bulletin board! This was a great way to begin the conversation about the flag of Israel, which continued in small groups during worktime. The children looked at a picture of the Israeli flag and labeled the colors as kachol-blue, and lavan-white. The children then asked about the star in the middle, which some thought looked like a pretty flower. We told them that it was a special star called a Star of David, or, Magen David. They were then asked if they would be able to help us cut pieces of blue paper to glue onto our flags. The children were then introduced to a new tool in our class, scissors-meesparayim! The children were really excited to start cutting the blue construction paper strips into small pieces, but they needed a few pointers and reminders before they began. We discussed that scissors are sharp (for safety reasons, our scissors have rounded tips) and that they need to be extra careful when using them. We also talking about having our thumb pointing up to help us cut straight; we told them that it’s easiest if you can see your thumb while you cut. Our last tip was to make sure their fingers aren’t too close to where they are holding the paper. The students then had hand over hand practice with the open and close motion. The children practiced this with three different scissors, a beginner scissor, intermediate scissor, and a regular scissor. We worked together to figure out which scissor worked best for their current skill level, and then began cutting out pieces of construction paper for our flag. After we cut enough strips up into small pieces, the children glued their pieces onto the two stripes of their Israeli flags.
During circle time, we learned the chorus of a Yom Ha’atzmaut song called “HaDegel Sheli Hu Kachol v’Lavan” (my flag is blue and white):
Hadegel sheli hu kachol v’lavan
Etmol, hayom, v’gam machar.
Hadegel sheli hu kachol v’lavan
Kemo hayam v’hamidbar.
(My flag is blue and white. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. My flag is blue and white, like the ocean and the desert)
Below is the link to the song, the chorus begins at the 40 second mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du2RDjkQY-4
In addition to all of our Israel fun, we read the book Good Night Israel by Mark Jasper and illustrated by Anne Rosen. The book took us on an adventure through the different natural and cultural landmarks of Israel. Some of the places we learned about included the old Jaffa (Yaffo) port, the Negev desert, Ein Gedi, the Dead Sea (yam hamelach) Tel Aviv, and of course the Western Wall (kotel) in Jerusalem. The children sat beautifully during this reading, adding comments from their experiences in Israel and asking thoughtful questions about the pictures. While talking about the Dead Sea, Liam mentioned that it does not taste good! We told the children that the water is very salty, so we try not to get any in our mouth. We also looked at how all of the people were floating because of how salty the water is. While reading about Ein Gedi, we came across a new animal, the ibex, which Elijah told his friends is a type of goat. One of the last pages depicted children folding up notes to put into the cracks of the Kotel. We discussed that people write down their hopes and wishes down on the paper and put it in the wall for Hashem to read. Many of the children expressed that they wanted to ride camels like they saw in the Negev desert. We all agreed that Israel is a beautiful place!
April 18
During Work Time, we put green and yellow floam out on the table for a fun, sensorial, spring activity. The children used their hands as tools, rolling, packing, and molding to create flowers, leaves, and suns. While working with the floam, the children worked on requesting a piece of the color that they wanted from their friends. In order to divide the floam, the children thought that we should use the plastic knives to help us cut. This was a great idea! The children then cut up pieces of their floam and shared the material with their friends. Because the texture of floam is so interesting, it provides great stimulation and sensorial input for the children. What I loved the most was that the children made connections to when we worked with this material over Chanukah! Many of the children told us that they remembered the sevivonim that we hid in the floam for them to find. Great remembering, guys!
During morning circle we incorporated a gross motor activity into our morning greetings. The children were told that I was going to call their name and ask them if they are ready, and that once they responded, I would throw them the ball and we would greet each other. This activity was done in Hebrew and went like this:
Morah Hila: Leeba, at moochana? (Leeba, are you ready?)
Leeba: Ken, ani moochana! (Yes, I’m ready!)
Morah Hila: Teetfesi et ha kadoor (Catch the ball)
*After Leeba caught the ball, Morah Hila greeted her
Morah Hila: Boker tov, Leeba! (Good morning Leeba!)
Leeba: Boker tov, Morah Hila! (Good morning, Morah Hila)
*Leeba then threw the ball back to Morah Hila
This was a great way to work on making eye contact while greeting one another. It also allowed us to practice asking a friend if he or she is ready to catch the ball before just throwing it at them (which we are working on during outdoor play).
During snack, Morah Aviva read a popular Hebrew book, Tiras Cham (hot corn) by Miriam Roth. The story is about a child who makes music by drumming and singing about hot corn, which leads to a search for some actual corn:
Bim, bam, bam
Tiras cham!
Tiras cham!
Bim, bam, bam!
(Bim, bam, bam, are the sounds that the drum makes, which rhymes with hot corn in Hebrew)
This song is repeated throughout the book and by the middle, many of the children were singing along!
We will be celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut next week, which means that there has been a focus on Israel in our class. We will be exploring all things Israeli including songs, artwork, literature, and dramatic play. We love that the children are already starting to incorporate Israel into their thoughts and ideas. For example, Elijah and Jack used the small wooden building blocks to build a large house in Israel. During outdoor play, we pretended to fly to Israel (the back wall). Once we landed, we pretended to eat falafel. It was so much fun that we decided to try other modes of transportation. After we pretended to drive and ride bikes, we jumped and swam all the way to Israel. The children thought this was hysterical!
