First Day of Winter!

Dear Parents, 

   Here are some of the highlights of our week in the Blue room.  The First day of Winter was this week, so we took some time to explore the cold season. 

Table Top

Can you make a snowflake?  We used loose parts like gems, straws, toothpicks, and craft sticks to create our own unique snowflake.  Hana started lining up gems along the edge of the table. Carefully placing gems side by side until all were gone and they wrapped around the table.  Morah Felicia said, "It looked like you were concentrating so hard on creating, can you tell me about your work?"  Hana joyfully replied, "It's a slide!" then she traces her creation with her finger, "See?"

Our friends also built candles using tangrams on a mirror.  

 Art

This week our class split up into two groups and used watercolors to paint on canvas.  They did extremely well working together on such a small work place.  Zoe, Yochai, Hammond, and Tzippi painted one canvas and Jemma, Mina, and Hana painted another.

Sensory

At the beginning of the week ice was set out in the sensory table.  Mina, Zoe, Yochai, Hammond, enjoyed scooping shovel fulls of ice into buckets making loud rumbling tubmbling sounds.  "The ice feels cold"  Morah Felicia heard someone say.  Mina says, "The ice is melting."  Morah asks, "Why do you think the ice is melting?"  She pauses from her work, because it's cold."  After some time exploring with the tools we added salt to the ice.  "What do you think will happen when we add salt to the ice?"  Our friends each took a turn adding salt to the ice.  We discovered the salt stuck to the ice!  The salt also made the ice crack but it didn't fall apart!  Zoe said, "Look, it's sticking!"

The second half of the week we played with "Snow"  made out of baking soda and hair conditioner.  We molded snowballs and crushed the snow between ourfingers.

Thanks for a great week! Shabbat Shalom, and have a wonderful winter break. 
Morah Felicia and Morah Kayla

More Chanukah Fun!

Dear Parents,

   Here are some highlights of our week in the Blue room.  Morah Kayla reads us a BIG Chanukah story  that was passed to each class to enjoy.  Our friends enjoyed looking at all the colorful pictures.

Blocks

This week in the block center we used tape to make bridges for our little people and cars to walk and drive across.  Jemma and Zoe work together to construct and Mina and Yochai take turns using people to walk across, boy that's a tight squeeze.

 Table Top

Our friends started making fun dreidel sun catcher collages taking time to place small pieces of paper on sticky contact paper.

 Also we add our finishing touches to our menorah to light on the first night of Chanukah!

 Art

Our friends use oil, water, and liquid watercolor to make marble paintings on cardstock paper.  First we added drops of colored oil to water then placed the paper on top.  

 Sensory

We did a sink and float activity with dreidels and candles then used eye droppers to transfer water from containers.

 Happy Chanukah!  Shabbat Shalom.  Morah Felicia and Morah Kayla

Caves, Olives, and Fingerpainting!

 Dear Parents,
    Here are some highlights of our busy week in the Blue room.  We continued to learn and explore the next Holiday coming up, Chanukah!
         Each morning before we daven Morah Kayla shares a part of the Chanukah story with all of us. She tells us long long ago during the the time of the second temple, the holy land was ruled by a mean Greek king named Antiochus and his people. The Greeks treated the Jewish people poorly. They took land from the Jewish people, destroyed the Beit Hamikdash, and made it illegal to study Torah and keep mitzvot, like Shabbat. The Jewish people would learn Torah while hiding away in caves but when Greek soldiers came by they would quickly take out dreidels to play so they would not get in trouble.  No one could stand up to them until the brave Maccabees came.  They finally drove the Greeks off the land and took back what was theirs.  Being brave means doing something that may not be easy and we may feel a little afraid because it's new or different but we do it anyway. We can all be brave like the Maccabees.  On Tuesday Morah Kayla told us about the mircale of oil.   First, the Maccabees thought the Greeks ruined all of the oil so they searched and found a jar with just enough oil to burn for one night. Because of Hashem's great miracle, the oil burned for eight nights! The Jews cleaned the Beit Hamikdash and began to serve Hashem again. On Chanukah we celebrate the joy that light brings when overcoming darkness by playing fun games like dreidels, singing songs, and eating yummy food.

Mina and her friend Hammond pretended to be Maccabees and played dreidels and sang Chanukah songs in our classroom cave.

Art

For Chanukah all the students here at CJP wanted to wish each of their Grandparents a very special Chanukah.  So this week we worked on making Holiday cards to send.  On Tuesday our friends finger painted for the first time in the class.  In recent weeks I've observed many of our friends express interest in this technique and thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take handprints from each child for a great keepsake.  We set out some blue tempura paint with butcher paper covering the table. When our friends first sat down and saw the paint on the table they appeared to be unsure of what they should do with material.  One friend even asked, "What do we do, Morah?"  Morah Felicia replied, "What would you like to do?"  They answered by smearing their hands across a puddle of paint and squeezed it between their fingers. 

As our friends indulged themselves in a sea of blue Jemma extends her hands up towards Morah Felicia and  excitedly repeats, "It's so sticky, Morah!" Morah Felicia asked Jemma, "What else can you tell me about the paint?"  "It's Blue."  she says.  Our friend Hana appeared to be in deep concentration as she covered both hands and forearms front to back in paint.  With this being our first classroom experience with fingerpaing everyone showed an immense amount of self confindence trying something new for some and stepping out of their comfort zones by geting a little messy.  They were brave like the Maccabees.  Once our hands were nice and blue Morah Felicia stamped each friends hands onto a paper for our cards.

Menorahs

This week we also started making our own Menorahs to take home and light for Chanukah We began by sanding pieces of wood that would be the base of our Menorah.  We sanded any rough patches along with the edges.  This took some patience and a few attempts to hold the sand paper in one hand and wood in the other as they applied  some force to smooth the surface.  Next we glued pennies and nuts to the top for candles.  Our friends counted each spot as they glued their pennies and nuts down to the wood.  Lastly our friends will decorate to add their own personal touch. 

 Olives to Olive Oil.

Our friends explore olives and try to turn olives into olive oil.  We used a small mallet to pound the olives turned into a liquid!  This was a great gross motor activity.  Some friends were brave and tasted the olives.  Zoe said, "This tastes like watermelon" as she ate a few handfuls of olives. Tzipi said the olives tasted salty when Morah Felicia asked her if they were sweet or salty.  Saya scrunched her face and said, "Yuck, disgusting!"  She didn't care for the taste of the olives.  We discussed how we use oil to light our menorahs.  We also discovered where olive oil comes from.

    

Thank you for a great week. 

Shabbat Shalom, Morah Felicia and Morah Kayla 

Introducing Chanukah

Dear Parents, 

 Here are some highlights of  our week.  In our class we introduced the next Holiday approaching, Chanukah.  Here's what we did:

Dramatic Play 

This week in our Dramatic area we made pretend latkes using our props, oil, spatulas and pans.  We also read a book about making latkes called, 'A Chanuka Story For Night Number Three.'  The children would pretend to put oil in the pans and use the spatulas to flip them, and then serve to others on plates.  One day the bottle of oil was opened and created a whole new experience for the children.  We learned to some properties of oil like how slippery it is and when it touches paper it makes the paper look wet but when we touched the paper it didn't feel wet, pretty neat!

Sensory

The sensory table was filled with Chanukah foam stickers, menorah candles, and dreidels.   Our friends enjoyed exploring the feeling of contrasting textures.  The stickers were soft and squishy but the candles were hard and bumpy.  Once the children discovered how to peel the backs off the stickers they decorated the inside of our table making it more festive.

Process Art 

We practice our fine motor skill, eye and hand coordination as we paint using driedels.  Morah Felicia demonstrated how to dip the driedel in paint then spin on the paper.  After this our class was free to paint within the boundaries set.  Some friends chose to stamp others chose to smear, and some freinds spun their dreidels each creating their own unique piece of art that will be used later in our Chanukah unit.

Table Top 

This week our friends were invited to build their own Menorah using clay and loose parts.  This provided great opportunity to introduce new vocabulary such as Shamash and parts of the menorah.  The Shamash is the helper candle that we use to light the other candles each night of Chanukah and it's placed in the middle of the Menorah and is taller than the rest.

Thanks for a great week.  Next we will continue exploring Chanukah.  A friendly reminder to label lunch containers to avoid any mix up during snack and lunch time.  Thanks.  Shabbat Shalom
Morah Felicia and Morah Kayla

Fall

Dear Parents,
Here are some Highlights of our week.

 Parsha Toldos
Morah Kayla tells us about two brothers Eisav and Yaakov, who are the twin sons of Yitzchok and Rivka.  We learned twins are babies born on the same day.  The brother are very different from each other.  The older brother, Eisav has reddish skin and hair all over his body and Yaakov is lighter and has smoother skin.  Eisav is very active, he loves to run around and meet people, and act a bit wild.  Yaakov is more gentle he loves to go to school and learn.  Yitzchok and Rivka both taught them to love Hashem and to do his mitzvos.  For Yaakov this was easy, he enjoyed to do mitzvahs but for Eisav it was more challenging because he liked to rush through mitzvahs when mitzvahs took time to do.  The brothers both knew about the special bracha from Hashem that would be passed on along to their children. Eisav being the older one would be chosen to get the bracha and Yaakov was worried that Eisav wouldn't know what to do if he got the bracha.  One day Eisav came home so hungry and tired and saw that Yaakov was making lentil soup.  He asked his brother if you could have some and Yaakov of course was willing to share.   He decided this was the perfect time to ask Eisav for the special bracha.  Eisav was so distracted by the soup he agreed to give the bracha to his brother.  Many years pass and Yitzchok gets so old and is unable to see anymore.  Yitzchok didn't know Eisav already gave the bracha to Yaakov, and he told him it was time to take the bracha.   Eisav thought about the mitzvah was always so careful about, kibud av and rushed right away to prepare a tasty meal for his father.  Yaakov went to his father pretending to be Eisav.  He dressed in a big furry coat and had a delicious meal.  Yitzchok could feel Eisav and smelled the food he brought, but knew right away once Yaakov started talking it wasn't Eisav.  In the end Yitzchok ended up giving the special bracha to Yaakov.   

Sensory
This week in our sensory we had lentils for our friends to explore along with vegetables and cookware inviting them to prepare their own lentil soup just like in the Parsha .  Some things we explored what are ingredients?   What Bracha would we make over soup? Over vegetables? On Thursday our friends enjoyed homemade lentil soup prepared and cooked by the purple classroom for all the classes and it was a hit! We all agreed it was very yummy.

Table Top
This week our friends enjoyed juicing oranges to make their own juice.  First a Morah modeled  how to squeeze and twist until there was nothing left but pulp and peel.  Then carefully pouring the juice into cup to drink.  After the children were invited to try themselves. Our friends look on eagerly waiting for their turn to juice.  Only providing one tray of an activity encourages the children to take turns and build patience.   The purpose and aim of practical life activities such as this is to help children gain control in the coordination of their movemnet, and help children gain independence as well as adapt to their society.  Practical life activities also aid in growth and development of children's concentration and an orderly way of thinking.

 Group Projects

At the beginning of the week our friends did a Fall themed Still life painting using pumpkins as their subjects to paint.  Each child had their own materials, a paint palette with paint, a brush and a canvas.  Morah Felicia invited her friends to paint what you see.  What did they see laying on the tables?  "pumpkins!"  What shape does a pumpkin remind you of?  It looks like a circle or a ball.  a ball is also called a sphere.

Our friends were focused using continuous circular strokes creating their own perception of what they saw.  

This week we started to work on creating a Thankful mobile for Thanksgiving that will be displayed at our Thanksgiving Lunch next Wednesday.  Our first step of this process was using watercolors to paint  little lanterns that will hang from our mobile.  Next week we'll continue to add pieces to our creation.  During circle time we have been discussing thankfulness and exchange things we're thankful for that we will also add to our mobile. 

Thanks for a great week. Shabbat Shalom.  Morah Felicia and Morah Kayla

Thanksgiving is coming!

Dear Parents,  

Here are some highlights of our week in the blue room.

Group Project.

With Fall in the air and Thanksgiving around the corner, this week we used our senses to discover and investigate a pumpkin.  Our friends took turns touching the outside of the pumpkin. They noticed the texture was mostly soft with a few bumpy rough patches around the pumpkin.  Then we cut the pumpkin open and felt the inside. They texture was completely different!  Some words our friends used to describe the inside were, "So squishy" and "Slimy." 

Some friends were more cautious as they explored, unsure if they liked the texture of the inside of the pumpkin, while others dove right in, getting their fingers tangled up in the strings and seeds.  We scooped out the inside of the pumpkin and placed it in a ziplock bag which we used later to squish.  We also saved extra seeds to plant later in our garden!

Sensory 

Our sensory table was filled with spices this week.  Cinnamon, Paprika, and Oregano aromas were present as the children used measuring spoons and cups to pour spices from spoon to cup.  We saw that the Paprika and Cinnamon spices left a residue on our hands.  Some friends said the Cinnamon smelled spicy. 

Outdoor 

This week we got to use our water pump!  Our friends took turns pumping the handle to push water out of the ground, it was so cold!  We are excited to discover new ways to use this new tool in the upcoming weeks before it gets too cold.

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Felicia and Morah Kayla.