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!