Dear Parents,
   This week in our class we continued our Beraishis unit with the creation of animals and people and  the day of rest, Shabbos!  Here are some of the highlights of the week:

Literacy 

This week we made a fun game with the book, Brown Brown Bear. We photocopied pictures of the book then cut them in half.  As we read the book the children matched the heads to the tails. We practiced skills such as visual discrimination and matching.  Everyone really enjoyed putting together the pieces as she read the book with the Morahs. 

Gross Motor/Art

We had some bubble wrap fun this week creating track prints in the classroom.  The Morahs set out butcher paper, bubble wrap, tape, and paint.   The children were invited to use their imagination to pretend to walk like their favorite animal.  They could STOMP like an enormous elephant or hop like a tiny bunny.   The Morahs started off my taping a shoe of bubble wrap on to the children's foot then the children dipped their feet in paint and walked across the butcher paper.  The children enjoyed seeing the texture and hearing the popping sounds as they  walked.  We extended this play with shaving cream and outside.   Our friends loved experimenting with the different textures on different parts of their bodies.

Parsha Vayeira

In honor of Parsha Vayeira this week the Blue Room received a special invitation to be guests and eat snack in the Purple Kindergarten room.  We were welcomed with open arms.  Each kindergartner was invited to help one younger friend get settled inside Abraham's tent.  They served us oranges and sang us a special song. 

Our friends also enjoyed building animal farms in the block center. We continued to build our fine motor skills by giving animals a"bath"  We used tooth brushes and soapy water and the children were invited to scrub the animals clean with the brush.  We practiced some math and science as they enjoyed playing an animal match game. 

Thanks for a great week, wishing you a restful Shabbos, Morah Felicia and Morah Menucha  

Continuing Creation

Dear Parents,

          Our focus for the creation unit has been Hashem created EVERYTHING!  This week we picked up where we left off and continued with days 3,4, and 5.   Here are some highlights of our week:

Day 3 Creation of land and plants

On Monday and Tuesday our Sensory table was filled with sand, rocks, different plants from outside, leaves, some funnels and spoons for pouring and scooping. We love playing with the Sensory table it is a great way to start conversations while the children explore and experience with all their senses. We had a conversation about all the beautiful things Hashem created.  He created all colorful flowers that smell so fresh, the grass and leaves that are so green, the trees that are so big and strong that provide shade on hot days.  He created the sand that we run our fingers through, and rocks to build with. Thank you Hashem for creating such a beautiful world.

With the weather being so amazing we took this opportunity to work outside and set up clay tables with the peach room.  The Morahs placed mirrors on the tables with clay and some water along with some sticks and leaves to explore and create with.  Some children used the loose parts to stick and add to their clay while others just enjoyed the texture and squishing it through their fingers.  The mirrors added great dimension and a different perception.  The children saw themselves, the sky, clouds, and birds and anything else that flew by as they worked!

The children also worked on a nature collage with foliage from outside and some sticky contact paper.  The examined the variety of shapes and sizes of all the leaves and flower pedals. Some were long and pointy and others were round and small. Some were smooth and shiny and some wouldn't even stick to the paper.
We also worked on a sand art project.  We took a bottle of elmer's glue, squeezed glue out to make designs, and then poured sand on top of the wet glue.  Then we brushed off the extra sand to reveal a colored design.

Day 4 Creation of the Galaxy Moon and Sun
Wednesday we played with homemade galaxy slime and talked about how Hashem created all the stars in the night sky and the moons, planets, and sun.  Most of our friends had fun rolling their own planets in the slime and stretching and pulling the sticky, sparkly slime. 

Day 5 Birds and fish
Thursday and Friday our friends worked on fish and bird puzzles building with different shapes.  We also worked on decorating our own birds with feathers.  Morah Felicia explained to the children that after Hashem created the land, water, plants, skies, moon, sun, and stars He wanted there to be creatures to live in this new beautiful world! So he created birds to fly in the sky and fish to swim in the seas.  After this explanation we sorted out our own birds and fish.  We put all the birds with a sky picture and all the fish with an ocean picture.

 Along with all of these activities our friends always have the opportunity to explore the classroom;  they enjoyed painting at the easel, cooking in the kitchen and taking care of babies.  Thanks for a great week.  Next week we will continue with days 6 and 7 of creation and expanding more into animals. Wishing you a restful and peaceful Shabbos.

Morah Felicia and Morah Menucha.

Upcoming dates:  Petting Zoo November 2

Parsha Bereishis

Dear Parents,

          This week and next week our unit of interest is Parsha Bereishis, the story of creation.  We took the story and incorporated it into our centers.  We focused on the first two days of creation this week and will continue with rest next week.   Long ago in the very beginning there was NOTHING! Only Hashem, no world, people or animals, no trees or stars, no water or light. Hashem didn't want things to stay like this.  He wanted to create a beautiful place where people could do only good and a place where he would be recognized.  Since there was no such place, Hashem decided to create it.  On the first day he started by creating light.  Hashem made the light shine part of time, called day and made dark for part of the day called night.  Then on the second day he created water then he created space in the middle filled with air called sky.  Next he made dry spots of sand, clay, and rock called land that divided the waters into oceans, lakes, and rivers.  He created trees and plants that live on this land.  Then Hashem created two great lights to tell us when it was day and when it was night, the sun and the moon.  Next he created creatures to swim in the seas, fly in the skies, and crawl on land. After this he created animals and finally created the first people.  Hashem saw that he created such a beautiful place just like he planned and he gave the people the responsibility to keep it beautiful and good by showing kindness and practicing mitzvos. This would make Hashem recognized and comfortable.  Now Hashem's work was complete so he rested and made Shabbos a time to rest.  It would be a time to celebrate all of Hashem's beautiful work, his creation of life and world.

Light and Dark

Monday and Tuesday our sensory table had white beans and black beans to represent light and dark.  We had some sun, moon, and star shapes in various sizes along with spoons and buckets.  The children hid the shapes as well as scooped and poured into buckets developing and strengthening their fine motor skills, self regulation, and vocabulary.  We took this opportunity to have conversations about Hashem creating day and night.  Then we asked What questions like what do you see in the sky in the dark time?  what do you see in the sky during the time?  Hashem created all of it!

   Gavin practices early math skills with sequencing in size.   Gavin says, "I found a big moon.  I find a small moon.  I find a baby moon."

We also explored with the light table on Monday and Tuesday the children experimented with color blocks.  They built structures and made different colors when they stacked them on top of each other.  For example Rivkale put a blue color block on top of a yellow colored block and made the color green!

Our freinds had fun exploring the contrast between white and black when we did an open painting project and used different objects to paint with such as tubes, sponges and paint brushes.  The girls took it a step further and experimented with their hands and fingers.

Wednesday and Thursday we played with shaving cream and our Sensory table was full of blue water and gems to explore. Representing the second day of creation  When playing in the Sensory table Ronan says, " the ice is cold" and picked up some of them gems and splashed them into the water.  Davis really enjoyed playing with the shaving cream he drew circles with his fingers then wiped them away to draw them again.  We made our own puffy paint with shaving cream and elmer's glue to create puffy clouds just like Hashem did!  

We will continue our Bereishis unit next week, thanks for a great week and Shabbat Shalom,  

Morah Felicia and Morah Menucha