Tashlich in the 4's Classroom: 

We went for a hike to a lake (pretend), sat in a circle and talked about Yom Kippur.  A few children remembered going to a body of water and shaking crumbs off their clothing. Another child said that he threw bread into the water.  Many children were familiar with the idea of fasting. In some families they "fast" by not eating treats for a whole day!  

We talked about things that we wished we could do even better...

Mendel:  be nice to Nissan better and to listen to my mommy and tatty...

Elet:       to cook Pizza better..

Peretz:   to mail things more to people (he clarified that he meant make and mail letters and cards like he did for Rosh Hashana). Later he added.... like making calls on the phone.

Chayla:  give more..give Devorah Leah whatever she wants for her.

Nechama Leiba:  

listen to my mommy...clean my whole house by myself even better! Give my toys to Rivky without even getting anything back. I don't care if she doesn't give me the toys.

Jacob:    I want to eat better...

Hilary:   I want to cook ...make challah with my mommy...

Dalya:    I want to make more challah with my mommy...

They listened to each other....another one of those wonderful moments 

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Elet explored with open-ended materials such as rocks and colored glass stones. He made many patterns and creative designs ... and a flower which truly looked like a flower! The whole class came over to see Elet's design.

 

Mendel, Dalya, Hilary and Peretz wrote something in their journals to welcome their parents to the classroom.

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The easel is open on a daily basis. Sara and Hilary painted at the easel with great concentration and care. Each child in the class was thrilled to paint with plenty of space and time to create. Morah Nechama even needs to keep a waiting list for who paints next! They literally beamed with a sense of accomplishment when they finished.

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Yesterday (Wednesday) the children were fascinated to hear the story of Yonah complete with visuals --- many thanks to Morah Sarah for putting this experience together in an age- appropriate and meaningful way. The children were mesmerized!

Last bit not least: some sweet humor:

Mendel: I'm a lefty..

Sara:    Oh... I'm a righty.

Hilary:  my daddy is a bothy....

Our days were spent talking about, preparing and experiencing the symbols of Rosh Hashanah. 

Apples: We want to have a Sweet New Year!

We examined them closely,  ate them with and without honey, test-tasted 4 different types, printed with them and we used them for a still-life painting. 

We also found a star inside of the apple! 

An Extraordinary Moment.....
I asked the children why they thought we needed to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashana.

Peretz: "it wakes us up"

Why does it wake us up? Are we sleeping in shul?  

Mendel: it's waking our neshama"

What do you think that means?

Chayla: "our neshama can't fall asleep!" 

Maybe it needs to be woken up sometimes..... (children were thinking)

What is a neshama? 

Mendel "its inside of us - it lives there, inside."

This led to us picturing a beautiful soft light inside of us. We imagined it getting brighter and brighter. Maybe the shofar sound wakes up our neshama and then it can shine brighter....

I asked the children to think about what would make their neshama shine bright in the New Year? Hilary said:  I could listen. When they made Rosh Hashana cards, I wrote down their other ideas. You should receive your child's card in the mail!

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In addition to holiday preparation, we pretended, built things, ran, climbed, played hide and seek and painted. We wrote in our new journals and read many books!

Elet works to master our Tecno Set - (a building set that teaches children to use basic tools such as a screw drivers, nuts, bolts, wrench, etc.)  

Each day he spends a little time working on it. 

Running and playing on the playground.  

a spontaneous group hug!

Learning Experiences: Preparing for Rosh Hashanah

We took a look at the calendar and counted the days until Rosh Hashana - we''re getting closer and closer. We learned about the shofar and got to hold a big one.

"it's smooth"
"it's light"
"it's hollow"
"I like the way it curves"
"it's weird!"

Only one person thought that Morah Anne could blow the shofar and make any 
sounds!

SURPRISE!! Even Morah Anne was shocked that she did it!

We talked about how friends often have different preferences and opinions. We tested this out by asking the children to list their favorite color.  

What did the children like better? Gala Apples or Envy Apples?

Bananas? Apples or Pears?

The answers surprised the children -- they realized that we all have different ideas and opinions.

We are still working hard on what it means to be a good friend. What do we do when our friends see things differently?
 

We are all learning how good it feels to share with                                                               friends.

We have so much in common but we are also unique individuals.

 

Hilary created her own unique patterns using some colored glass. 

Elet was delighted when he drew this very colorful picture.

We went on a nature walk and each child had a new partner. 

 an ongoing discussion.......

What is a friend? 

We have been incredibly impressed with their progress!

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Lastly, we had a wonderful Shabbat party where we pretended it was Shabbos evening. Mendel was our Shabbat Abba and Hilary was the Shabbat Ima. We sang together, drank grape juice and ate the yummy challah that we made. As you probably noticed, the challah that the children took home was filled with yummy sweet things like chocolate chips, sprinkes and topped with sugar and cinnamon (all parve).... this was a special treat in honor of Shabbos and Rosh Hashana.

Have a wonderful Shabbat and weekend!

LAST WEEK:

The highlights of the Thursday and Friday included:

•   Self-Portraits: the children were delighted to see that their portraits looked much more like themselves than prior portraits. Over the past year they have developed visual-perceptual skill and much greater fine motor control. 

The portraits were done on hard plastic and will serve as the children's lunch placements.

Sara experimented with mixing colors when making her cheeks. Unfortunately, permanent markers don't blend!

 

The children used mirrors to help them notice the shapes that make up their faces.

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• Sensory words for Apples and Lemons

We're learning about the idea of "sweetness." We compared the look, feel, smell and taste of apples versus lemons.  New descriptive words emerged to describe the textures ---- "smooth," 

"curved" 

"bumpy" 

"hard and soft."  

We realized that both fruits had a stronger fragrance once we cut it open. 

We demonstrated how to shine an apple. 

We also cut the apple across the middle and revealed a star inside the apple which we used for printing. 

Most children preferred apples (sweet) to the lemons (sour!) although a few children really liked the experience of eating a slice of lemon. 

• Choices: 

There was time for Center Play and making choices which included new, more elaborate family role playing and exploring new materials.

 We have a new doll in the room who is an older toddler. Her name is Devorah Leah and she joins her younger sister, Chana, who remains an adorable baby forever. 
They are starting to have sibling rivalry! Some of the children really dislike the newcomer...
  

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•  Shabbat

Last but not least, we had a lovely Shabbat celebration complete with grape juice, fresh handmade Challah (made with Morah Nechama Thursday, then kneaded/shaped/rolled/braided on Friday), candles and singing. 

Several children asked to learn how to make "a real braid." 

Elet was "Shabbat Abba" this week.

It was a wonderful week with beautiful weather. We read several books outside sitting together on a blanket so we could remain outdoors a little longer! 

Back to School - the first two days!

The children were SO happy to see one another. At circle time the first thing they expressed was how much they missed each other.

We are encouraging the children to help us label and set up the room in order to make it our classroom. They have come up with some great ideas for organizing the blocks and the manipulative toys. 

Sara works on her new Sign-In stick.

Hilary and Dalya explored with new nuts and bolts sets. 

Peretz got busy in the Writing Center. He discovered an empty wallet

 in the Housekeeping corner. When he couldn't find any real money to put into the wallet he took on the challenge of making his own money! 

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We are slowly stocking the Writing Center with writing materials: paper, envelopes, stamps, scissors, pens, pencils, etc. We will be focusing on writing as a means of communicating with others. Writing also goes hand and hand with learning to read.  

Look for cards, letters, dictated stories, books, invitations, thank-you's. Encouragement from you would be very helpful!  Don't worry if the letters are going in the wrong direction or if words are misspelled. This is completely age-appropriate. The key is to keep them motivated and excited about writing. 

PLEASE save and send in cards that you receive in the mail ---  Birthdays, Invitations, New Year's, etc. We can use them or parts of them to make ourselves cards and personalized stationery.

Elet and Mendel got busy building  an elaborate zoo complex. Others joined in too. They worked so hard that they ran out of blocks -- including a new set of large hollow blocks and a set of small wooden blocks! 

Chayla talked Jacob into joining her in the Housekeeping area as the baby of the family. He was delighted to be the baby until he realized that babies don't get to make too many decisions. They played well with lots of laughter, especially when Chayla tried to carry Jacob!

Yesterday we ate lunch outside and listened to new books from the library. They loved picnicking!- we will try to do it as long as possible. 

PLEASE bring sweaters or light jackets. We try to go out every day.