Countdown to Passover

  This week our friends had so much fun learning and exploring new elements of Passover!  We talked to our friends about the bitter herbs we dip in salt water to remind us of the bitter times we faced while the Jews were slaves in Egypt.  Our friends enjoyed exploring with parsley in the sensory table.  We talked about how it feels, smells, and what it looks like.  This is a great way for our friends to become aware of their senses and learn about some traditions of Passover.

  Our friends started cleaning our classroom for Passover.  We explained to our friends how on Passover, we don't eat any chametz.  Chametz is leavened grains that have been mixed with water and allowed to rise.  For example, bread, cookies, crackers etc.  In preparation for Passover, our friends started cleaning the table and chairs.  Our friends had so much fun exploring with the soap and water creating bubbles and feeling the different textures of the sponges.

  Our Matzah making factory is in full swing in the Blue Room this week!  Our friends loved "making" and "baking" their own matzah.  They would roll out the dough, put it on the baking sheet, placed it in the oven, and pull out their finished product.  It is a great way for our friends to learn logical sequences while performing a task.  This type of dramatic play helps them communicate with their friends, follow instructions, and build logical reasoning.

  Thank you all for another fantastic week at CJP!  Again we ask if you have any extra paper bags from Whole Foods, Sprouts, Trader Joes, etc., if you could bring them in we would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,
Morah Felicia and Morah Courtney

Passover

This week we started our Haggadah books for Pesach.  We learned that a Haggadah is what we follow on Pesach during our special meal called a Seder.  First we explored grape juice in the sensory table.  Our friends poured grape juice into the kiddush cups and had fun saying the bracha on the "wine".  We talked about how this is the first step we do on Pesach.

We also started exploring the Pesach Seder plate!  Each item on the Seder plate has a significant meaning behind it.  We taught the children a song to help them remember the items on the Seder plate.  Our friends had the opportunity to "set" the Seder plate with an engaging match game.  To help with their fine motor skills, we created a matching game for our friends.  Matching with a negative space image requires visual motor skills and spacial awareness.

Our friends had a blast at our grape juice sensory station this week!  In our sensory table, we added water with grape juice for our friends to explore.  They used Kiddush cups, bottles, and containers to practice pouring and filling new objects.  This type of play is great for their eye/hand coordination while also gaining exposure to traditions they will encounter during Pesach.

This week we read many fun and new Pesach stories.  Our friends loved reading "Company is Coming" and "Dinosaur on Passover".  It created a visual connection for our friends between what we talk about in class and seeing it on paper.  They continue to use their imagination and visually picture what their Pesach Seder might look like.  Maybe a dinosaur might come knocking on their door during the Seder!

Thank you to all the parents for bringing in swimsuits for your children.  They had a blast playing outside in the water this week. We will send their swim stuff home every Friday and we ask you bring them back Monday morning.  If you would like the swim items sent home every day, please let us know.  With Pesach quickly approaching, our friends will be working on many Pesach projects, we ask if you have any extra paper bags, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc., laying around to please bring them in to keep us organized.  Our goal is to have one bag per child so it makes it easy for us, and you, to easily take all their fun projects home for Pesach.

Thank you,
Morah Felicia and Morah Courtney

Introducing Pesach

  Introducing Pesach
Now that Purim is over, this week we started to introduce Pesach (Passover).  We started with introducing new  vocabulary through play in our centers; some examples are Pesach,  Pyramids, Egypt, and yeast.  Our sensory table was full with sand, water, and  tools to experiment and build their own pyramids.  We added sponge blocks to the block center for more pyramid play and exploration.

            Yeast experiment

This week our friends also did a science experiment.  We took 3 bottles and filled them with a different liquid  Soda, vinegar, and yeast sugar water.  Then we covered the tops of the bottles with a balloon.  We observed how the bottle with yeast made the balloon open.  Through this experiment our friends explored the properties of yeast and other liquids in connection with the Pesach unit.  We were able to visually see how the yeast rises and blew up the balloon.  We connected this to our weekly Challah Baking activity which rises so beautifully. In contrast, Matzah is flat and doesn't rise because there is no yeast.

             Sports

This week in sports our friends played a game called Slap Ball.  The objective of the game was to move their ball from one end of the field to the other with only their hands.  Our friends used their arms as rackets to hit their ball across the grass.

Thanks for a great week. We will continue with Pesach exploration and play. Shabbat Shalom.

                  Blue Room

Purim is here!

               Purim Auction
We started this week with our classroom project for the Purim Auction.  Every year each class works on a collaborative keepsake project that is then auctioned off at the annual Purim party as a fund raiser for our school.  Last year the 2 year old classroom did an art piece inspired by the famous Kandinsky circles and this year we chose to do a piece inspired by Mondrian. Over the week our friends explored a variety of art mediums such as paint, water color, oil pastels, and markers to design patterns and experiment with color on craft sticks which we collected to create a geometric design on canvas.

              Shalach Manot bags
This week our friends also made Shalach Manot bags to give to each other.  First our friends took turns picking goodies to put in their bags. We talked about the different brachas we say for each food and how it's mitzvah to thank Hashem for what we eat.  After we made our bags we sat down for morning circle and talked about how giving Shalach Manot is one of the 4 mitzvahs of Purim and we exchanged our bags we made with a friend.

              Sports
During sports this week we played Chinese jump rope and tug a war! 

              Purim Party
On Friday we all celebrated Purim with Lovely Buttons and dressing in costume.  This week was great fun thanks for showing School spirit and participating in all the dress up days.  Shabbat Shalom.
Morah Felicia and Morah Courtney

Purim is coming!

                          Exploring Purim
We started this week by making masks for Purim.  Our friends painted them and alsohad the the choice to add feathers. When our masks were dry we glued on a stick for a handle.

                        Graggers
This week we made graggers, noise makers to shake when we hear, "Haman!". We took rice and poured into a plastic egg, then closed them and decorated it with fun stickers.  Our friends enjoyed pouring and peeling off each sticker. During our gragger making we read the Purim story and we learned that Haman wasn't nice to the Jews in Persia so when we hear Haman we say, "boo!"  and shake our graggers so loudly.  Mordechai and Queen Esther's worked together to stop Haman and help save the Jewish people.

                         Bean bag game
To help learn about the different characters of Purim we played a bean bag toss game.  The Morahs taped four shapes to the ground, circle, triangle, rectangle, and diamond and put a picture of a character inside them.  Our friends then took turns tossing their bean bags into a shape and named the corresponding character.  This was a popular game.

Next week we will continue with our Purim theme.  We will putting together Shaloch manot baskets and would appreciate some classroom supplies to complete this activity.  There is a list posted outside our classroom. Thank you for a great week, Shabbat Shalom.
Morah Felicia and Morah Courtney