Chanukah is coming!

Dear Parents,
   This week in the classroom we started introducing the Holiday of Chanukah.   Jewish Holidays give us the opportunity to remember something special Hashem did for us.  Some questions we kept in mind while planning this unit are, "What is Chanukah?" and  "How do you we celebrate Chanukah?"  Some of our activities we did this week are read books, hunted for oil, played driedel like the Macabees, and created a heirloom Menorah that will be sent home today for you and your family to use for the holiday.  Here are some highlights of the week:

Discovery Table

As the children entered early in the week we had  a table top dedicated to all things Chanukah.  There were pictures of Menorahs, Chanukah books,  pretend frying pan, some latkes, gelt, and dreidels and a Menorah with candles.  The children were invited to explore everything on the table.   Our friends loved taking the candles and putting them into the Menorah, taking turns spinning the driedel, and flipping latkes.  Gavin  took the frying pan and put it in the oven for the latkes to cook.  Morah told him that we use lots of oil to cook with our food during Chanukah.  Then we "tasted" them, mmmm delicious.  Later in the week the Sensory table had all the same things inside hidden in cloud dough and our friends, especially Leah,  had even more fun sifting for the Chanukah treasures, matching colors with the candles and the dreidels.

The big Chanukah book
         Morah Menucha shared the story of Chanukah. 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 Wednesday Morah told us about the miracle 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. After reading the story our friends were invited to be like the Maccabees and search for the little tiny bit of oil. Morah gathered the children in spot of the room and they were encouraged to cover their eyes while the oil was being hidden. Then when the oil was hidden our friends got up searched for the oil. Davis really enjoyed the is activity and wanted to keep playing all the way through lunch.

Menorah Making

This week our friends were invited to make a Menorah they could take home to use. We gathered rocks from outside to use as the base for the candles and got some tiles the children could use to glue the rocks on.  Pictures of Menorahs were set out as visuals along with an example from previous years.  We counted the rocks as we placed them on the tile.  How many spots do we need for our candles?  We counted nine! Eight candles nicely in a row and one Shamash, that we learned was the helper candle, used to light all the rest.  After the children glued their rocks onto their tiles they had the opportunity to paint and decorate with mosaic tiles to personalize it even more.  Most of the children started off so interested in dipping their paint brush into each color of paint on  their pallet before they plopped the marbleized mixture on to their piece.  Then after some time hands, fingers and some arms were covered in paint and being stamped onto the paper!  Rivkale and Ronan appeared to love the feeling of the the cool wet paint on their hands and arms. This gave the Morahs an idea there will be some messy finger painting next week so the children really get a chance to explore more.

Check our Facebook for pictures.  Next week we will continue with our Chanukah unit.  As always wishing you a restful weekend.

 Shabbat Shalom, Morah Felicia and Morah Menucha   

 Dear Parents, 

    This week we started our Gratitude/Thanksgiving Unit along with Parsh Vayeria. Here are some highlights 

        Parsha 

We learned that Avraham and Sara helped other people who were traveling through the hot desert.  The tent they lived in had 4 doors and their doors would always be open so they could see all travelers coming from all directions.  Once their guests were fed and had water to drink Avraham would tell them about the ways of Hashem.  One week Avraham was not feeling well, suddenly Hashem appeared to Avraham to help him feel better.  Although Avraham was grateful that Hashem came he wanted human guests to come so he could serve and teach them. Soon after this Avraham saw three travelers in the distance.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity he ran out to welcome them in.   Once Avraham and Sara got them settled the travelers told them they were special messengers sent from Hashem.  They were there to heal Avraham and to tell them they were going to have a baby!  Sara laughed, being so old she didn't expect to have any babies.  One year later Avraham and Sara welcomed their baby boy, who they named Yitzchok, meaning laughter because he brought such joy to the couple.  After eight days Yitzchok was the first baby boy to have a bris milah, a mitzvah for Jewish boys ever since.

Blocks
In the block center our friends were invited to create their own tent just like Avraham and Sara.  We used some big loose parts such as foam noodles and cardboard pipes to construct the frame work of a tent and big airy fabrics to go on top.  The children crawled through and sat inside and practiced inviting each other in.

                                                                          Table Top Manipulatives

This week our friends focused on  pouring water for guests and themselves.  This is a great practical life skill to have.  Our friends built concentration and working on a tray defines work space.  Children notice mistakes, (like spilled beans) quickly and are willing to correct on their own, this is known as control of error.


This week we also worked on making our own juice out of clementines, lacing napkin holders, and folding napkins.

Gross Motor

  Our friends were invited to paint with pumpkins this week.  We set out butcher paper, pumpkins, and orange and brown paint.  The Morahs encouraged the children to dip the pumpkins into paint and then roll the pumpkins on the butcher paper to create pumpkin paint marks.  First the children enjoyed using the pumpkins to stamp the butcher paper they joyfully examined the blotchy print the bottom of the pumpkin left behind. Once the children become more comfortable with the material they started rolling the pumpkins across the paper and then the Morahs tried to catch the pumpkin to roll it back.  Pushing and swinging the pumpkin helps strengthen the shoulder, arm and leg muscles.  Balance and flexibility are also improved as the children work to focus on getting the pumpkin on the paper and rolling it hard enough to make its way across to the end of the paper.  Lastly, gripping the pumpkin helps strengthen the hand muscles needed for holding a pencil.

Next week we will continue with this unit and we hope to see all of you at our annual Thanksgiving lunch Wed. Nov. 21 at 11:30 a.m.  We hope you all have a restful Shabbos,  Morah Felicia and Morah Menucha

Transportation/ Lech Lecha

Dear Parents,
                                                                                                               
          This week our class focused on forms of Transportation and the Parsha Lech Lecha.    Here are some of the highlights of our week.
                                                                                                   

Parsha Lech Lecha 

Long ago in a land called Charan lived a man named Avraham and his wife Sara.  They lived in a place where people didnt know about Hashem, but Avraham did know about Hashem. So he and his wife Sara would teach the people of Charan about Hashem.  Many of the people in Charan learned about Hashem and became followers of Avraham. One day Hashem came to Avraham and told him he needed to pack up and move.  Avraham and Sara had so many followers that lived with them, that was a lot of people to pack up!  Charan was a desert- a dry hot place.  Traveling in the desert with so many people is not easy, there is little water and no shade from the sun. Moving would be very hard. Plus Hashem didn't tell Avraham where they would be going!  But Avraham made good choices and listened to Hashem.  And so Avraham and Sara and their followers packed up and left Charan and traveled to a land called Canaan- the land that would one day become Israel.  When they arrived Hashem told Avraham they would have a child, and from that child would come many children and from those children would come even more children, until the children that came from Avraham would be as many as the stars in the sky!  And the land of Canaan (Israel) would be forever theirs.

                                                                                                      

Tinkering/Manipulatives

This week our friends were invited to tinker and play with shapes to create their own star Mandalas.  A visual picture of a starry night sky was set out along with pictures frames to define individual work space, and shapes such as hexagons, parallelograms, squares, and triangles.   An example was displayed and the children were encouraged to add on and create their own.  Leah, Gavin, and Rivkale really enjoyed this activity. They added on to Morah Felicia's example then they started  their own.  We created patterns with diamonds and different colors.  

                                                                                                                                   

Matching/sorting

Morah Felicia invited Ronan and Davis to join her in a game.  First Morah showed images of a road, sky, a body of water and train tracks.  When  Morah showed the images of the water, Davis said, "hey that's where fishies live!"  Morah responded, "How interesting, you're right."  After all the images were presented Morah showed her friends a basket with different pieces in it.  Morah asked "I wonder where a car would move, do you think in the sky with the birds?"  Davis answered, "Noooooo, a car drives on the road"  and placed the car on the picture with the road.  We continued to sort matching the boat with the water picture and planes with the sky picture.  Ronan found a train in the basket and said, "Choo Choo"  and put the train on the picture with the train track.  Our friends were then encouraged to play the game again with each other.
                                                                                                                               
This week we also worked on creating forms of Transportation such as trains and boats out of shapes and we worked on creating a classroom boat. Our friends sanded and painted the wood pieces and the morahs helped assemble the boat. We will later experiment to see if it floats on water!

Next week we will be starting our gratitude/Fall unit. We hope to see all of our CJP families at our Thanksgiving lunch on Nov. 21 at 11:30 a.m.

And don't forget to come out to our annual  Sip and Shop this Sunday Nov. 11 starting at 6 pm.  Support our pre school and small local businesses.  As always wishing a restful Shabbos enjoy your long weekend.

Dear Parents,
   This week in our classroom we continued to learn and explore about animals.  A lot of our activities this week focused on building and refining our gross and fine motor skills which our friends really enjoyed.  We also did some hebrew letter and english letter recognition with puzzles and matching games.   Here are some highlights of our week.

Block Center/Gross motor

  In our Block area this week we had a farm with animals and tractors.  The children used the tractors to drive around the farm and put the animals into different corrals in the farm.   The children were also invited to sort the animals. The Morahs asked "do you think there is enough space for all these animals to live together?  Do you think they will all play together?"  Our friends are using eye/hand coordination and upper body resistance as they move the tractors and animals around the farm.  Our friends also enjoyed making animals noises as they played. 

We enjoyed playing a bean bag animal toss game.  Using a recycled wipes box we created an animal head (bear) and some bean bags.  The children took turns tossing the beanbags in the bear's mouth.  Bean bag play works on developing balance and coordination. We also learn about turning taking and social skills and following multiple directions.  We extended this game into playing catch with one another.  The children partnered up and took turns tossing the bags back in forth to each other this was a great hit. 

Art/Gross motor

This week for art our friends worked on tractor painting outside with the Peach Room.  Butcher paper was taped to the ground and paint was set out .  The children were invited to dip the tractor wheels in paint and roll it on the paper.

Inside the classroom our friends used rolling pins covered in rubber bands to paint with.  They dipped the rolling pins in paint and rolled it around the paper.  Afterwards we took the time to explore the variety of stripes each child created.  We also used this as an opportunity to talk about all the different animals that have stripes.

This week we also took some play animals and paint and the children dipped the animals feet into the paint and tracked them around a paper.  We compared footprints.  We discovered some animals have hooves others have claws, and some even have hands and feet that look like ours!  All these activities highlight to our friends the different kinds of animals that we have in the world.  They learn about the features of some animals through these art and sensory experiences.

Playdoh/Fine motor and literacy

Our friends enjoyed rolling out play doh onto their trays and then using cookie cutters to cut out letters and different shapes like ovals, triangles, squares, and circles.  Our friends strengthen their little muscles in their fingers to prepare for future skills such as gripping a pencil to write and draw.

Friday was a special day!  Along with Shabbat Sing a long our friends got a visit from a few animals that we have been learning about over the week. Check Facebook for pictures.  Wishing a restful Shabbos, Morah Felicia and Morah Menucha