Olive and Oil paint

In the story of Chanukah there was only enough oil to burn for one night of light but because of Hashem that little bit of oil lasted all eight days, the exact amount of time it took the Jews to make more oil. We celebrate this miracle by eating foods cooked in oil, and lighting a candle on our Menorahs for eight nights.  So what does oil look like? Where does it come?  Does it smell?  What does it feel like? What can we use it for?  These are some questions we answered as we explored olives and oil.  The oil felt wet like water but it wasn't clear like water, it also didn't have a distinct smell either.  We saw our paper become translucent as we painted with oil on the paper. We squeezed the olives until we saw liquid come out. Could this be oil? Experimenting was enjoyed by all.

Menorah exploration 

Our friends had their own menorah to explore. They saw how shiny and fancy it looked so that means we have to be gentle and handle with care.  We counted nine spots to hold nine candles.  We noticed the spot in the.middle was taller than the rest, we learned this had a special name, we call it the Shamash which means helper in Hebrew.  We only had one menorah so even though it was really hard our friends waited patiently for a turn with it. Instead of using candles Avery balanced dreidels placing the largest of the dreidels in the middle.  We counted, and noticed there were exactly 4 branches on the either side of the shamash.

Next week we will be working on making our very own menorahs we can take home and light each night of Chanukah.  Shabbat Shalom!

                        

Chanukah

                         Chanukah 

This week in the Blue room we introduced Chanukah. During Chanukah it's customary to eat  a special food called latkes, potato pancakes fried in oil.  We eat these fried cakes along with other fried treats like donuts to remember the significance oil around this holiday. Potatoes were put in the sensory table for our friends to explore. 

                         Art

We also did Dreidel spinning art.  We set some some paint on the table along with some paper and instead of paintbrushes our friends used dreidels to spin or dot paint on their paper creating a personal design. This was a great activity to build fine motor skills.

                     

                                                     Dramatic Play 

Our friends had fun building a cave to play dreidels in.  In the block center we moved some shelves and some curtains to make our own cave to spin dreidels just like in the Chanukah story.

Next week we will continue to explore Chanukah. Shabbat Shalom 

Its all Sensorial

                                                           It’s All Sensorial

This week in the Blue Room we explored lentils in the sensory table.  The Morahs put a variety of kitchen utensils along with pots, pans , and bowls.  The inspiration for this activity was taken from this week’s Parsha,  Toldos.

                                                            Spices

Also this week we explored three spices, Paprika, Cinnamon, and Oregano.   First we smelled the spices.  The cinnamon smelled spicy.  Shaya thought one spice smelled like Pizza while the Paprika smelled smoky.  Each day we provided a different opportunity for our friends to use the spices .  One day we used the spices to paint and glue with so we could compare textures and colors.  On another day we added the spices to our playdoh and discovered our playdoh had a new scent and texture.

                                                            Highlights                                       

Mason and Morgan used their words and found a way to work together during play time.  Morgan and Mason were playing in the sensory center.  Morgan had spoon that Mason wanted to use , with some guided help  Mason asked Morgan if you could use the spoon when he was finished  and Morgan said, “sure.”

 

Next week we will be introducing Chanukah and welcoming a new friend, Levi to our room Shabbat Shalom

Thanksgiving

This week in the Blue Room we prepared for our annual Thanksgiving feast.  Our class was in charge of making salad dressing for the salad we had for lunch. We were given a recipe to follow. Our friends took turns carefully measuring out ingredients and pouring everything together. After all our ingredients were in bowl we took turns using a whisk to mix it all up.  This activity provided us the opportunity to broaden our vocabulary, practice self regulation, and gross motor, as well caring for community.  We also finished our projects for our parents.  We hope everyone enjoyed them as much as we did making them.  Thank you for everything you do.  See everyone on Monday.

This week in the Blue Room here's what we did:

Sensory
We had Cloud doh in our Sensory table Cornstarch, flour, and baby oil mixed all up. Our friends were so intrigued by the soft and squishy texture. they were busy all morning burying and digging up treasures and pouring and scooping up cakes.  We had a special davening with Morah Shternie and slowly but surely working our way to normalizing our classroom. During outside play we collaborated with the other classrooms and set up different centers.  There was a block center, sensory center, clay table, and bubbles.

 Thanksgiving
We started our place settings for Thanksgiving feast. Two different colors of paint were set out with some paintbrushes and our friends were invited to personalize a gourd to make our arrangement more festive and unique. Some friends chose to use one color and others chose to mix both the colors and discover a new third color.

Dance
We also had dance class. Friends did army crawls building core and upper body movements also played a round of freeze dance with special sparklers.  The big shul was full length laughter when the glare for the sun hit their sparklers to shine glitter throughout the room.

Highlights

 This week some personal highlights some friends showed self awareness. We're are working so hard on being aware of other friends work and personal space. This week  Shaya and Ava both chose to walk around their friends block towers  while playing outside in our centers. They chose to walk around instead of  through way to go friends. Yosef put both of his shoes on all by himself. He showed self care and is building his self confidence by discovering he can do things on his own.

 On Friday we welcomed Morgan back to class Next week will be our annual Thanksgiving feast we look forward to celebrating with each of you may please RSVP on the sheet outside our classroom door. This year our class will be making the salad dressing.  Shabbat Shalom.

           Blue Room

Apple Toss & Birthday Baking

Dear Parents,

          This week in the classroom we noticed that some of our children were getting super excited about throwing things. We brainstormed on how we might be able to harness this "talent" and we developed an apple and gourds toss game. Our friends took turns tossing fruit into colored circles.  It took so much patience  for each friend to wait their turn but when it finally was they were so excited to toss the fruit. Our friends worked on their motor skills, fine tuning their tosses to get them in the right spot. What a challenge  Our friends really enjoyed playing this game together as morning a activity. 
  
Also this week our friends worked together to bake a special birthday cake for our friend Avery's birthday.   First we read the recipe and gathered all the the ingredients were going to need then each friend took a turn adding their ingredient into the bowl. When everything was added we all took a turn whisking it all together. Then Morah Sydney put it in the oven to bake.  
      
Our week was busy full of teamwork and building social skills. Next week we start to our projects for Thanksgiving. Shabbat Shalom.
      Morah Felicia & Morah Sydney

Baby Goats and Still Life Painting

Dear Parents,

    It's great to be back in the Blue room!  I would like to personally thank you each and every one of you for your patience, support, and cooperation during my maternity leave.  

 In an effort to ease the transitions of all our friends please remember that :

1. Arrival time should be between 9 and 915 any later makes it moe difficult for our children to trnsition

2. Remember to write mitzvah notes for your child at morning drop off. We will potentially use them for an upcoming project of ours. 

3.  Remember to say your, “See you later,” at the door and let your child walk in on his or her own.

 A Morah will be at the door for any extra assistance needed with belongings or extra hugs.This allows for a smoother transition.  If your child is having a harder time with drop off prepare them ahead of time by explain step by step to them what will happen when they get to school so they know what to expect and the anxiety isn't so high.

      This week we had our 4th annual petting zoo out in the playground. The children had a blast as usual but there was an interesting impromptu twist this year, we had baby goats that ran around freely throughout the entire playground. Our friends were impressively gentle with all three kids and enjoyed frolicking around the grounds with them.

      Inside the classroom we incorporated farm animals into our clay provocations. Creating a variety of hoof patterns in our clay as well sorting our animals by color. We recognized the that ducks feet are webbed and horses have hooves. Also we introduced still life portrait paintings with gourds being our subjects. Children were encourage to excersise patience and be cognizant of the personal space of others. They are expressing and exploring  with seasonal harvest self creativity within the boundaries of the subjects they paint and colors being used.

        Next week we like to keep the exploration of animals and seasonal harvest open along with introducing the concept gratitude. 

 Shabbat Shalom!

                                  

Sukka Fun!

What a fun and short week! We were so surprised and excited to see Morah Felicia back in school on Wednesday and really cant wait until she comes back. Until then we are really having a great time with both our Morah Sydneys!
 This week we celebrated Sukkot with a dance party in our classroom we had guitars and microphones and boy did we have fun! We loved our Pizza lunch in the Succah and want to tell Masons dad a big thank you for bringing the yummy pizza all the way from Phoenix. We sang Todah Rabba (thank you in hebrew) to him when we saw him coming. on Friday we build succas in the block area, made our own stuffed Torahs, enjoyed the playdough Morah Sydney made and of course baked yummy Challah!

Chag Sameach & Shabbat Shalom
Morah Sydney & Morah Sydney

Moving, Grooving, Searching, Discovering!

Loose Parts and Play-Dough

Several provocations in our classroom and outside offered loose materials for the children to explore. This type of work emphasizes their process without any specific end product in mind.

Outside, there were large loose parts such as tires and stumps. Shaya chose to roll a tire up the hill. Morgan used the palm tree trunks and the cement edges as balance beams. 

In the classroom, David shared his play-dough, and the children chose to see what would happen when they pressed the loose materials into it. Ava, Morgan, David, and Talya were making pizzas and sharing slices with their friends. They also spent time building with Magnetiles. Talya and Shaya put their water bottles on the rug and the built a tower around them.

We Have Important Phone Calls to Make 

Morgan took the phone, held it to his ear, and said, “Hi, Mama!” Talya was opening the cabinets in the kitchen, took out some food, and picked up the phone. She spoke on it for a while, and then “hung it up” by placing it back on the shelf. Imitation and symbolic play, like talking on the phone, show that children are understanding the world around them. When Morgan called his mama on the phone, he was able to self soothe and allow his body to relax at school, knowing that his mom would pick him up at the end of the day.

We Explore Through Touch

The children had several opportunities to explore the world around them through the sense of touch. There were sensory bags with leaves, fish, and white gak. Each bag incorporated a symbol of Yom Kippur. Initially when they walked into the classroom, each child would push on the bags, then walk away. They continued to return to the bags throughout the day, and realized that they could see their handprints when the gel separated. At one point the fish all dissolved inside the bag. The children noticed that they could see their handprints more clearly in that (super gross) bag than the bag with clear gel and leaves inside of it.

Let's Find Our Feet!

Before we can learn about shoes and leather verses non-leather material, we need to find our feet! Morah Brey traced each child's feet on paper, then wrote their names on them and taped them to the floor. The long term goal is for the children to find their feet before they leave the classroom. This is a safer way to get ready for the hall than forming a line, because the children each have their own space away from their friends. For now, they were all so excited to find their names each morning. It was a challenge for them to make their shoes align with their footprints on the floor. Every one of them first tried to stand backwards on their footprints. It took time problem solving for them to solve this problem. It was like they were the puzzle pieces and their footprints were the puzzle board! Eventually, they all turned around and made a match!

Time to Boogie!

We had a great time with music and movement! The children love the dinosaur Shabbat song the most! After nap time, we played music from Uncle Moishe, sang and danced! It took a lot of attention for the children to listen to the lyrics of the song and dance along accordingly! It's a great way to end our day!

We Explored Rosh Hashanah!

Math Explorations

We started our week with a tangram matching activity. Mason and Shaya matched the colors and shapes of the tiles to the pictures on the table. This allowed them to practice persistence, one-to-one correlation, and problem solving skills. They needed to approach the activity with focus so that they could sort the shapes and then find where their matching picture was. They also needed to use problem solving skills when they had the right tile, but it didn't match the picture accurately. When they were able to manipulate the tiles so that they fit into the picture properly they were so proud of themselves!

 

Yosef and Shaya worked together to push and pull pipe cleaners through a colander. They were able to use both gross and fine motor skills to become successful at this task.

Shofar

Rabbi Tzvi continued to blow the Shofar for us this week. David brought in his own Shofar from home, and they blew them together! David took his work very seriously! This activity wasn't just adorable, it also showed that David could imitate Rabbi Tzvi: an important cognitive skill!

Happy Birthday, Yosef!

We worked very hard for Yosef's birthday party! The children worked together to paint his card and the wrapping paper to his gift! Working on a collaborative project is very challenging for toddlers. They are challenged to become aware of space, to share materials successfully, and to problem solve when actions occur outside their comfort zone such as a child painting in the spot that they hoped to paint in. The children were also challenged to self-regulate while they worked so closely together to keep everyone safe. They were able to grow their relationships with each other through this collaborative task. We all had such a wonderful time with Yosef for his birthday party!

Me, Myself, and Avery

Avery chose to take the mirror off the shelf and bring it to the table so that she could look at herself. This activity shows that she is becoming aware of herself and learning to differentiate herself from others.

Playing in Nature

We also had lots of opportunities this week to play outside! Mason, Morgan, Shaya, and David used their fine motor skills, to explore and discover what happens when they pick up pebbles, and let them drop to the ground. Morgan also chose to fill a container with dirt and pour it onto plants, pretending it was water.

 

Rosh Hashanah Activities

Shaya threw apples into baskets, practicing his hand-eye coordination and large motor skills. Yosef chose to sort the apples into different baskets. This is a great example how one provocation in the classroom can invite children to explore their own interests in different ways. 

Yosef chose to pick up and explore the wooden fish in our classroom. Avery began working on an observational drawing of the fish and an apple. All the children will begin this kind of work as they grow, but it's great to start the process as early as two!

Talya used tongs to place toy apples into a muffin tin. This is both a fine motor and a pre-math skill. She was able to concentrate, use her hand muscles, and drop her apples into each muffin spot.

L'Shana Tova!

We had a wonderful week together with Morah Brey and Morah Sydney learning about Rosh Hashanah and exploring the world around us! Have a very happy Rosh Hashanah!