Garinim

This week was all about teeth, taking care of them, and visiting the dentist. We read books and listened to/sang songs about brushing our teeth and about going to the dentist, and did lots of work related to it as well. Some popular work included opening, pulling, and cutting floss- and some children even decided they wanted to try out actually using the floss in the mirror! We made sure to stress the importance of throwing the piece of floss away afterwards so we didn't share germs. The children also enjoyed practicing brushing teeth using toothbrushes on white beans, egg cartons, and mega-blocks. Self-care is an important part of the practical life curriculum, so it was a good focus for the week!

On Monday, Morah Jessica brought something that belongs to her baby to show the children. They all recognized it was a baby toy but no one knew what it was for! They learned that it was a teething toy that's soft and chewy to help babies while their teeth are growing in by giving them something to chew and bite on. Morah Jessica reminded them that babies don't have any teeth when they are born and the children thought it was funny to think about a tiny baby with a mouth full of teeth! How silly!

On Tuesday we had a visit from Dr. Scott the dentist! He showed us some of the tools that he uses to look inside people's mouths, and offered to demonstrate, but everyone was a bit nervous about opening up for him. So Dr. Scott showed us some pretend teeth instead, and even had a GIANT mouth full of teeth along with a HUGE toothbrush! The children had a lot of fun holding the big toothbrush and using it to practice brushing the giant teeth. He even gave each child a little goodie bag with a brand new toothbrush and some stickers. Thank you Dr. Scott!

At circle time we learned a little about how we care for our teeth at home. The children shared what kind/color of toothbrush they had- some have some very cool ones! They also were asked about their toothpaste, but that proved to be a tricky question. Many children answered "toothpaste" when asked what theirs tasted like!!

Morah Dawn brought her xylophone back on Thursday and the children were challenged to try playing the scale using two mallets instead of just one, alternating hands with each note. It is trickier than it looks! Everyone had fun trying their best. 

Judaics:

This week we learned all about our letzachtzech shinayim/brushing our teeth and even had a visit with Rofeh/Dr Scott Pearl! 

We arranged art activities to tie in with the theme of our dental practice. We created toothbrushes/mivreshet shinayim with popsicle sticks that the children painted and then made slits with scissors to form the bristles. 

This week we have been concentrating on having the children identify some of the letters of their names in Hebrew. The children have been using a Hebrew alphabet puzzle as we sing the aleph bet song. 

Wednesday was our challah dough making day and we baked the fluffy challah on Thursday! 

Friday we sang our way down to the chapel along with Aurelia’s grandma. Our whole class was able to participate in the Challah in the Bakers Shop song! They were such cute little challahs! Morah Lana told us about the Parshah Hashavuah in the chapel today. She explained that Moshe went up  to Har/ Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, he was gone for forty days. The Hebrew people began to worry that he would not return and were desperate to create something to pray to, so they built an idol, a golden calf. When Moshe came down from Har Sinai he saw that the Hebrew people built an idol. They were singing and dancing to this idol, so Moshe was very angry with the Hebrew people and threw the Ten Commandments on the ground and broke them. Morah Lana taught us a song to remind us of how much Hashem loves the Hebrew people and forgave them. 

 

Alim

Monday-

We talked about Dental Health in the classroom.  

Also, we are still talking about the continent of South America. Children are working on pin punching the continents out of paper to eventually make a world map. This is a great fine motor activity for the children.   We had a new penny polishing practical life activity in the classroom that was popular with the children.  

 

Tuesday-

We had a normal work day and the children were busy working in the classroom. 

 

Wednesday- 

We had a fun visit with Levi's father,  Dr. Pearl,  who spoke to us about Dental Hygiene.  He brought in a nice dental model and explained how to brush nicely to avoid cavities. He also showed the children what it would look like if we did not brush our teeth.  The kids were very engaged and enjoyed the visit.

 

Thursday-

Morah Dawn came to visit us and she continued her lesson with a xylophone where she practiced musical notes with them.

 

Friday-

We enjoyed going down to the chapel with the other Montessori students.  We did the Parsha with Morah Lana.  Then we enjoyed the Challah and grape juice.

The Shabbat box went home with Ella and her family. 

 

Alim Judaics   Our Dental week was in full force today. We played a game on “how to brush your teeth'' and incorporated Hebrew words into our vocabulary. Shen for tooth, its plural Shinaim and we even talked about the tooth fairy- Pyiat Hashinaim.. 

Dr Pearl came to visit and it was truly the highlight of the week. We got our mouth’s checked and we learned a lot about our teeth and dental hygiene. We read 10 Good Rules by Susan Resnick Topek and Sammy Spider Goes to Israel by Sylvia A. Rouss.

This week was Alim’s turn to make Challah. We always get very excited about it.

We finished the week celebrating Shabbat with all of our friends and learning a new song from Morah Lana about Moshe Rabeinu and the Ten Commandments.

Have a restful and peaceful Shabbat.

Anafim

Teeth, teeth everywhere.  We had such an exciting week learning about our teeth!  We enjoyed learning the names of our teeth (incisors, canines, pre-molars, molars) and where they are in our mouths.  There were many times throughout the week that the children could be seen counting their teeth.  There were lots of results ranging from 10-50 , but it was confirmed by Dr. Scott (the dentist that came to visit!) that the children should all have 20 teeth at this stage in their lives.  Speaking of the dentist visit, it was so awesome to have Dr. Scott and Jessie come to visit our classroom on Tuesday.  Many of the children were familiar with them, as they are Levi’s parents (from Alim class), and they welcomed them with such excitement.  Dr. Scott brought a large model of teeth with him, along with a giant toothbrush and the children were given a chance to brush the big model.  We also were able to floss in between the teeth!  We talked about ways to keep our teeth healthy, good foods to eat, and healthy oral hygiene.  Before leaving our classroom Dr. Scott also showed us a different model of teeth where some of the teeth came out.  It was great to see what the different roots of teeth look like, different teeth have different root numbers from 1-4, who knew?  The rest of the week was spent doing some nice work in the classroom.  We tried out a couple new land and water forms- gulf and peninsula, spelled with the moveable alphabet, worked on the hundreds board, tried out the trinomial cube and continued working on the map puzzle of the US.   For music class with Morah Dawn on Thursday, we worked on the xylophone.  We have been practicing keeping our wrists loose, with our bibbidee bopedee boo movements, so that our mallets make a lovely long lasting sound instead of falling flat.  On Friday we were all so excited to head to the chapel with the other Montessori classes.  We heard about what the Hebrews did while Moshe was up on Mount Sinai.  They built a golden calf and were starting to pray to it.  Moshe was quite upset and he threw the brand new 10 commandment tablets down on the ground.  Morah Lana then taught us a song about Moshe.  We came back to our classroom and enjoyed challah and grape juice together.  Have a wonderful weekend, we will be starting to learn about Purim next week!

 

Keshet

This week was Dental Week and we learned about keeping our teeth healthy; thanks to Dr. Scott Pearl for coming in on Tuesday morning and demonstrating with a very large set of teeth and equally large toothbrush!  The Keshet kids were horrified at the other set of teeth that were not well taken care of - teeth covered in bacteria! EW.  We sang our ‘visit to the dentist’ song ‘When I go to the dentist, to let him see my teeth…’ (ask your child to continue) and the brushing teeth song ‘brush your top teeth…’ (they will happily sing this for you!) They know the parts of the tooth (crown, enamel, dentin, pulp, roots) and the names and function of the teeth; incisors, canines, premolars, molars. 

As they are approaching the age of losing their baby teeth, we read a book ‘Throw Your Tooth From The Roof’ with traditions from each country. (In South Africa the tooth is placed in a slipper at the door to your bedroom and is taken by the mouse who leaves money as a thank you.  In my day it was a few cents but no doubt it’s R100 these days :)

In math we are learning about money (USA coins) starting with the penny, nickel and dime. Interesting facts include the president on each coin and the physical makeup of the coins.  Though many of us don’t seem to use cash these days, we did source a handful of very dirty pennies (we discussed how they might have gotten so dirty) and set up a penny polishing activity with a vinegar and salt solution. 

We’re comparing, counting, exchanging coins and practicing counting and writing numbers in fives. (Intentionally following our clock activity of counting by fives, which we continue to practice.) 

In English we are reading and writing and finding ways to creatively practice these new skills (letter writing to parents asking for a particular food for snack, or complaining about the one sent in that day;)   We have ‘secret slips’ which are little papers with sentences or phrases telling them to do a particular activity, which leads to them happily select activities in all areas of the classroom! A fun way to encourage sounding out words (ex. ‘paint a queen’), On Fridays we have introduced ‘make a story and then present it to the group’.  They LOVE this - time to cut and glue and create awesome scenarios, and then write up the corresponding story.  At the end of the day they stand up and share their story with the group. Creative writing at its best! 

With Purim approaching, they sat spellbound, as the story was told. They love the idea of performing the Purim Shpiel for you on Wednesday, March 20 at 10am. I’m sure you all saved the date from our Kindergarten calendar. More info. on that later. 

See this week’s pictures here https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rrpco8qRitp8RE3a8