4's Class

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!