This week we have been reading Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister since the book encourages sharing. The children have also been practicing their gluing skills and using their little muscles to squeeze the glue bottles.
We have been decorating our classroom with lots of spring themed items. The children have painted flowers and butterflies which we’ve put up on our big board. We’ve also been doing felt stories with the children which include The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman.
We have been talking about the holiday of Lag BaOmer, the 33rd day of the Omer. We learned that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai lived in a cave with his son and studied the Torah. On Lag BaOmer we celebrate by having picnics, barbeques, and bonfires.
We had a pretend picnic with felt food and each child took a turn bringing food to our picnic basket. We talked about fire safety—that we never go near fire and that firefighters have the important job of keeping us safe during an emergency.
FROM MORAH MIMI
We are continuing our count, all the way to receiving the Torah. We know there are many rules and laws that are in the Torah. We said Na'aseh v’ Nishma, we will do and we will listen. We keep trying to do many mitzvot.
We started talking about our new holiday called Shavuos which is the day Hashem gave us a present, the Torah. We told a felt story about three mountains. The highest mountain and the widest mountain were fighting over which mountain the Torah should be given on. But little Har Sinai just stood there and sighed, “ I know I’m not tall and I know I'm not wide. The Torah can’t be given on me” he said. Because the tallest and widest mountains were not simple and humble, the Torah was not given on them. Hashem made the little mountain( Har Sinai) very beautiful because he didn’t hold himself high. He deserved to have the Torah given on him!
FROM MORAH MIMI
We are excited to talk about the holiday of Shavuos. We are so lucky that Hashem gave us the Torah. Hashem asked other nations, but they said no. The Jewish people said, “Yes, we will do and we will listen.” We are learning about the concepts of tall, wide, and small. For example, when we play, we make tall towers—even taller than us! We use a step stool to put more and more pegs on top. We read the book When the World Was Quiet by Phyllis Nutkis. We painted our own Har Sinai mountain and grass for our spring board. We also used markers and flower stickers for a fun art activity. In addition, we added blocks, pretend flowers, and birds to help bring our spring learning to life. In our play area, we have grass, flowers, bugs, and items for the children to pretend to plant with. We talked about what plants need to grow: water, sun, and air. The children used shovels and tongs to pick up the bugs and flowers and place them on the grass. We encouraged them to use their imagination and explore creative possibilities! Have a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom!
Please send mitzvah notes. The children love hearing about the special mitzvot that they did!
We have almost made it to Pesach. The children are very familiar with the Pesach story, the Seder and the Ma Nishtanah. While we talked this week about the preparation for Pesach, we used sponges and cleaned up our classroom. We mopped the floor, vacuumed the carpet, and washed the kitchen. We made sure there was no chametz. We separated the chametz from the non-chametz foods. They understand now that fruit and some vegetables are ok to eat on Pesach and that bread and cookies are chametz. We got to use our Pesach figures: Paroah, Moshe, camels , horses and baby Moshe. We used our felt Pesach props while we sang our songs. We brought the plague of frogs to life with our parachute and jumping frogs in and out—filling the room with laughter and big smiles! We pretended to part the waters with a song and instruments. We danced to a song about Miriam and how she danced with the Jewish people out of Egypt, playing her instruments and tambourines. We enjoyed singing the Dayenu song—Enough, enough, enough! The children are really piecing the story together. They’re even finishing my answers to my questions! Seeing how much they know about the story makes me so happy. I hope they share it with you at home. We set up a pretend table with all the essentials: 3 matzahs, 4 kiddush cups, 2 candlesticks, and 1 Seder plate. Plus, we got crafty! Using Pesach stickers, we decorated items for our Pesach book. Your little artists can't wait to show off their creations. Have a wonderful pesach! Shabbat Shalom!
This week we have been continuing to learn about Pesach through felt stories, songs, puppets, and tactile items.
We started decorating our room for Pesach and filling our sensory table with kinetic sand—a reminder of the hot and sandy climate of Mitzrayim. The children will get to build pyramids out of wooden blocks. They will also pretend to work just like the Jews did in Egypt, using hammers, pegs, and clay.
The children have also been working on a special pesach book this week! We can’t wait to show you the finished product.
Have a great weekend! Shabbaty Shalom!
Guess what holiday is coming next? Yup, I can’t believe it’s almost Pesach!
We have already started going through the story of Pesach. As we shared different details, the children’s facial expressions were fantastic! You could see how excited they were to feel the story come alive. We will continue learning about Pesach in interactive ways through songs, puppets, and tactile items.
We started decorating our room for Pesach and filling our sensory table with kinetic sand—a reminder of the hot and sandy climate of Mitzrayim. The children will get to build pyramids out of wooden blocks. They will also pretend to work just like the Jews did in Egypt, using hammers, pegs, and clay.
We have been introduced to the famous Pesach songs that we can’t wait to share!
We enjoyed our model Seder, trying crunchy matzah, bitter herbs (don’t worry, they weren’t too bitter!), egg, and potato. We also talked about the symbolism of each food.
We also started learning the first question of the Ma Nishtana.
Looking ahead, the children will decorate special Pesach book.
Have a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom!
We had a great Purim party, and it was so exciting to see everyone dressed up! The children had a wonderful time celebrating together.
Please remember to send in Mitzvah notes so we can continue sharing with our friends in class.
Just a reminder that we have been working on the Zones of Regulation in class. You may have heard your children talking about the different zones:
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Red Zone – when your body is out of control (for example: hitting, yelling, or feeling very angry)
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Yellow Zone – when your body feels wiggly, excited, or too loud
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Blue Zone – when you feel sick, tired, or sad
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Green Zone – when your body feels good, calm, focused, and in control
We are helping the children connect emotions with colors by looking at pictures and talking about how they feel.
Have a great weekend!
This week in class, we decorated our Purim Mishloach Manot bags using stickers and crayons. During the holiday of Purim, we give gifts of food with different blessings to our friends to bring joy into each other’s lives. The children are so excited to share their special bags on Purim day!
We also made our own graggers (noisemakers) and decorated them with stickers and glitter glue. Inside, we added pasta and pom-poms to create loud sounds. The children loved shaking them and hearing the different noises! Along with this, we are learning about sounds — loud and soft. We are using different tubes filled with various materials to help the children hear and compare the difference between loud and soft sounds. This hands-on experience helps them begin to understand sound awareness in a fun and meaningful way.
We have also started learning about the Zones of Regulation. Each zone represents different emotions, and at this age, children are beginning to recognize how they are feeling and connect those feelings to colors.
Green Zone – calm, focused bodies
Yellow Zone – silly, wiggly, or not listening
Red Zone – hitting, screaming, or feeling out of controlWe’ve been continuing learning about the story of Purim. In our felt story area, we put lots of different felt Purim characters that the children could play with and pretend to tell the story of Purim themselves. We have our puppet theater with our Purim puppets, as well. Our dress-up area is in full bloom, with so many crowns and costumes to choose from. We even have bracelets and mirrors so we can look at ourselves all dressed up!
Guess what? A new holiday is coming! You guessed it. It's the holiday of Purim. If you stop by our classroom, it looks like there's a party going on. Our science table has been turned into the palace of Shushan with puppets of Purim characters and table and chairs. The children are enjoying reenacting the story of Purim that they hear at group time when I share the story of Purim using the felt board with the felt characters.
We sing songs in the interactive story.
Song : King Achashverosh Made a Great Feast.
King Achashverosh made a great feast. He asked his wife Vashti to come.
She had many pimples, a 100 at least. She said I won’t join in your fun.
The king was so angry. He said to his guards. “Take her, I don't want her, She's mean!”
But from all the maidens that Shushan town had Esther became the new queen.
Haman told everyone,” Bow down to me.” But Mordechai said, “ That I’ll never do.
I bow only to Hashem, Hashem Elokim, and I’m proud, so proud to be a Jew!”
This week we continued our unit on nature and trees. During circle time we did “where is the owl” and we sang “the green grass grows.” We talked about how fruit comes from trees, like apples and oranges. We also got to try some yummy snacks of some fruits that grow on trees or vines earlier in the week. The children got to try dates, raisins, and olives; some friends were really huge fans of it all and others were not but it’s okay.
This week we started learning about the birthday of the trees.When the Jews were in the desert, Hashem gave them Mann and instructed them not to leave any over for the next day - except before shabbat, when a double portion fell. Some people tried to test Moshe by leaving mann out on Shabbat to make it look likehis words weren't true. the birds came and ate that mann early so there was no mann out on shabbat. As a thank-you we show gratitude to the birds by feeding them on Shabbat Shira that is why we did our bird feeder project which were sent home yesterday. We talked about what lives on a tree, such as birds and squirrels. We also talked about how fruit comes from trees, like apples and oranges.
We also did tree handprints in our classroom. As well as painting on actual tree branches. Our classroom is currently filled with nature things to go along with our tree theme.
We are all learning how to use our words instead of grabbing things from our friends’ hands. Instead, we remind the children to ask “can I use it when you’re done?” We give them the words to use because they may not have them.
Hi families,
This week we have continued our unit on winter. We’ve been talking to the children about how the weather is getting colder and in some places it gets so cold there’s even snow. We also talked about how we need to bundle up to stay warm! In class the children got to play with scarves, gloves, boots, and other winter clothing to help get a better understanding. The children also got to paint some igloos using legos to stamp the snow bricks. They also made a snowman using contact paper and cotton balls. They played with our classroom sensory table with white rice (snow), arctic animals, scoopers and shovels (for dumping and pouring). We have new magnets and felt in our classroom to reinforce the winter theme.
During outside time we played with shaving cream (snow) and arctic animals which the children loved. We also played with ice and tried to melt it with droppers.
We read a book called Hands Are Not for Hitting. We are working on keeping our hands to ourself. It may be easier to get a reaction when we use our hands but we are trying to give them the words to use when a friend takes a toy or they want to use a toy. We talked about what our hands are good for and the children answered what our hands are good for?
We are working on being independent. Putting our belongings away where they go. We are working on self regulating our bodies. We go to a calm area when we feel mad, or upset. It’s not easy but we are so proud of ourselves when we do!
