Dear Parents, 

Here are some highlights of our week:

Outdoor Environment

Our friends enjoyed some premium mud play in our mud kitchen with the help of this week's rain.  Cakes, pies, and chicken soup were made for Shabbos meals. 

Sensory Exploration

This week we discussed different arctic animals and how they live in very cold weather.  We read some books, and friends matched animals such as walruses, beluga whales, orcas, and macaroni penguins.  We used our animals for ice play.  

Art

Our friends were invited to use water colors and paint dotters to paint their own snowflakes made out of doilies.

 

Fine Motor

Our friends used magnetic shapes to create snowflakes.  

 

 

We hope you all enjoy winter break with your families!  We will see you all in January.  Wishing you a restful Shabbos. 

Morah Felicia and Morah Shaina 

Dear Families, 

The Blue Room  had a messy, fun, sensory filled week exploring some concepts of winter.  Here are some highlights of our week:

Art

This week we made our own fluffy snow paint using glue and shaving cream. Our friends were invited to create their own snowmen after a discussion we had about the parts of a snowman.  When the paint was dry we felt a fluffy soft texture just like snow!

  

 

Fine Motor/Science 

Our friends were invited to look at some pictures of snowflakes and use materials such as q-tips, cotton balls, and moon sand to create their own version of a snowflake.  This activity sparked great discussion about snow and if any of our friends have ever seen or played in the snow.

Have you ever seen snow?

Can you make a snowflake?

Luka:  Yeah, I saw a motor bike in the snow.  Look what I made!  I made snow.

Ariel:  No, i making a Shemash.

Daria:  Yeah snow. (She then pointed to the stars on her sweartshirt then pointed to the pictures of the snowflakes.)  Daria thought the snowflakes resembled the stars.

Avigail:  Look what I made it's funny. Who's hiding over there in the snow.?

Bella:  Yeah I have played in the rain Halloween is over. 

We cornstarch and conditioner to make soft silky playdoh. Our friends were asked to describe what they felt as they were mixing the two ingredients together.  some words used were, "wet" "cold" "soft" and "creamy"

Sensory Table 

Our friends had the opportunity to explore and play with ice in our sensory table.  When the children first saw the ice. They yelled, "Bubbles!"  As they continued their explorations they discovered is it was something completely different!  The turned everyone's hands so cold and some friends would walk to the sink and run water under their hands to warm them back up.

Our friends were invited to trace and make shapes with shaving cream.  Then we added eye droppers and watercolor.  We watched the shaving cream "melt" as the water was added to it just like snow does when water is added to it.  Avi said the shaving cream felt soft and cold.

Thanks for another great, messy, fun week!  We're looking forward to more exploration and discovery next week.  

Wishing you a restful Shabbos.

 Morah Felicia and Morah Shaina

Dear Families,
   

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 were, "What is Chanukah?" and  "How do you we celebrate Chanukah?"  Some of the activities we did this week were read books, created menorahs out of clay, and played dreidel like the Macabees.  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, a pretend frying pan, some latkes, gelt, 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 dreidels. Later in the week the sensory table had all the same things inside hidden in sand and our friends had even more fun sifting for the Chanukah treasures, matching colors with the candles and the dreidels.

 

 

Our friends also explored olive oil. We discussed the miracle that happened so long ago when the Jewish people were trying to rebuild the Beis Hamikdash. They lit a Menorah with oil that was only supposed to last one night and it ended up lasting eight nights!  How do you light your Menorahs at home?

 

 

Music and Movement

 

At the beginning of the week we had a special guest come and do a Chanukah music and movement class.  Our friends spun like dreidels and lit up like candles to spread their Chanukah light. 

 

 

Social Emotional Opportunities

 

This week we celebrated 2 birthdays!  Happy Birthday to Bella and Yosef!

 

 

Fine Motor

This week the children were invited to use clay and candles to make their own Menorahs.  Some friends chose to make "cookies' and "cake" instead. 

 

Blocks

We used tape to create a giant Menorah on the ground in the block center.  Our friends were invited to use blocks and trace the Menorah.  They chose to extende this activity by walking and trying to balance on the blocks.  We focused on discussing parts of the Menorah and even pretended to light the candles!

We had such a fun week!  

We wish you a Happy Chanukah and a peaceful Shabbos!

Morah Felicia and Morah Shaina 

The sensory table was filled with sand this week. Our friends were invited to come and hunt for the numbers one through five. When we found a number, the children counted to that number with their fingers. Our friends also made pretend food with the sand such as sandwiches, pizza, and coffee which they offered to each other and "ate" together. Our friends worked on fine motor skills as they poured scooped and measured with the sand.

 

In the loft, Esther and her friends used their imaginations to go on a car ride to the  "blue car wash." When asked what their favorite part of the car wash was, they replied, "When the guy sprays the car with the water."

 

At the beginning of the week, we celebrated Ethan's birthday! First we made a yummy, chocolate cake then, after nap, we sang, gave extra tzedakah, ate cake, and read the book Ethan donated to our classroom.

 

 

The art center is a favorites for the Blue Room Class. Our friend described her drawing as, "a star a star like my name."

 

We explored colors shapes and sizes outside in the playground. 

 

Wishing you a peaceful Shabbat and looking forward to seeing you all at our Thanksgiving  celebration picnic outside next Wednesday!

 

Morah Felicia and Morah Shayna.

Dear Parents, 

 Happy Friday!  We had a great week in the Blue Room.  Here are some highlights of our week:

Outdoor Environment

Our friends enjoy being and exploring outside.  On Monday, we took a sensory tub and filled it with water. Our friends had some water exploration.  Being that it is Arizona, when we head out, the weather is pretty warm.  The children were invited to get their hands and feet wet to make feet and hand print patterns all over the top patio. As they created their designs they discovered that their prints disappeared just as quickly as they made them!  How did that happen?  Why don't our prints stay on the ground?  It's the Sun!  The sun warms the ground and causes the water to evaporate!

Outside is also a great place for a dance party.  Our friends enjoyed showing off their groovy moves to the Peach Room as they played Freeze Dance. 

Dramatic Play 

The most popular area this week in the classroom was our Dramatic  Play Center.  Dress up clothes and materials to create "Small Worlds" were added.  Small World play is when children are given the opportunity to use figures and other resources in miniature  to build stories and play imaginatively.  Our friends created barns, made all of their animals talk, and put them to sleep in beds. 

Giving our friends the opportunity to act out experiences through small world play supports the development of their personal, social and emotional skills.  When children take on and act out another role, it supports their language development, confidence building and self-esteem.

 

Our friends dress up and pretend to be anything they want to be from police officers to princesses. 

 

 

Fine Motor

Our friends learn and review colors and shapes as they lace beads and create structures. 

 

We are looking forward to another awesome week.   We wish you all a restful Shabbos. 

Morah Felicia and Morah Shayna

Dear Parents, 

Here are some highlights of our week. 

 Parsha  Discussion: Toldos

This week we discussed Parsha Toldos 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 brothers were very different from each other.  The older brother, Eisav had reddish skin and hair all over his body and Yaakov had lighter, smoother skin.  Eisav was very active, he loved to run around and meet people, and act a bit wild.  Yaakov was more gentle, and he loved 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 but for Eisav it was more challenging because he liked to rush through mitzvahs  .  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.  This story was a great conversation starter because this year in the blue we have twins!  We discussed how all siblings are similar and like the same things but can also like different things as well. 

Art/Literacy 

We chose a book about the Alef Beis to read and our friends were invited to stretch out on the floor to color and match their own Alef Beis letters when we finished reading.

Outdoor Environment

Our Blue Room friends had the opportunity to bring some of our indoor materials outside.  We feel it's important to explore and extend what we learn inside to outside and vise versa.   Our friends took turns and worked together to take their babies "shopping " outside with the shopping cart

 

We had a fun, busy week.  We wishing everyone well and a healthy peaceful, Shabbos.  Looking forward to start another awesome week.  

Morah Felicia and Morah Shayna