Garinim

Monday and Tuesday we all had so much fun playing outside in the snow! The children were actually rolling around in the snow, making snowmen, making snowballs, while others were trying to eat the snow (we did say that they should NOT eat the snow, but we spotted a few taste testers).

As part of our Hebrew studies we spoke about the words for snow/sheleg, winter/choref, the temperature outside i.e. cold/kar, and ice/kerach.

In our Art center the children made swirling snow storms with glue and salt, snowball prints with a cork and white/lavan paint and we made white playdough! The children used snowflake cookie cutters with the new playdough. We also talked about animals living outside and finding their paw prints (we spotted a deer in the field across from our playground).  Another playdough related activity was making polar bear and penguin prints in our white playdough.

Wednesday we discussed how the snow fell - it was kar/cold, then got warm enough to rain and then sadly the snow was gone :(. Wednesday was challah dough making day, which is always a favorite activity.

Thursday we learned a new song with Morah Dawn! She asked us to stand in singing position, which is standing up with our arms by our side (ask your child if they remember what to do). The children started learning to sing do, ray, me, fa, so with arm movements.

This week the children have been very busy making a mini challah plate for Shabbat and a mini Havdallah set. They filled the spice bags/besamim with cinnamon and cloves and braided a havdallah candle to get us ready for a great week ahead/Shavuah Tov!

We had a terrific Friday singing with all our friends in the Chapel. Morah Lana continued the parsha this week....Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh to try to convince him to let the Jews free. But Pharaoh refuses to listen. Aaron turns his stick into a snake, but still, Pharaoh says no. So when they go again, G‑d tells them to tell Pharaoh that if he doesn't listen to G‑d, the Nile River will be turned to blood.

Pharaoh says no, and so the punishing plagues begin. First, the Nile is turned to blood. Next, Egypt is overrun by swarms of jumping frogs, and then by itchy lice. In the fourth plague, hordes of massive, scary, wild animals invade the land, and in the fifth, all the animals belonging to the Egyptians get sick and die. Next, all the Egyptians get these horrible, painful boils all over their skin, and in the seventh plague, big balls of fire and ice fall down from the sky as hail.

And each time, Pharaoh begs Moses to get rid of the plague and promises that he will let the Jews go. But as soon as the plague is over, Pharaoh changes his mind. And no matter how much Moses warns him that a new plague will come, and no matter how much he knows the Egyptians will suffer, Pharaoh's heart remains hardened, and the Jews remain stuck in Egypt.

Alim

Monday-

Yay!!!! The snow was super fun for the children to play in during recess on Monday. What a treat for all the kiddies !!!!!’ We still are enjoying our Space unit.  We read many new books about space. We went down to the Gym and played four corners with Coach Oren.  

Tuesday-

We had a normal work day with all the Montessori materials in the classroom.  There were lessons being done and the kids were busy. We did a group lesson with a new Sound of the week “Nn”.  We read the alphatale book called The Nicest Newt. There were letter formation sheets and sound association sheets available for the children to practice. 

Wednesday-

We had a great work day.  Some children helped make the Challah.  We practiced the Planet song as a group.

Thursday-

The Challah was braid.  We had a nice visit from Morah Dawn and she practiced more beat rhythms with the children. 

Friday- 

We had a great time with Morah Lana down at the chapel.  We sang songs and did the parsha with her.  Then we blessed the Challah in the classroom.  The Shabbat box went home with Silas and his family this weekend. We can't wait to hear all about Shual's adventures with Silas. Shabbat Shalom.

Alim Judaics  Winter has officially arrived! We had discussed the snow - Sheleg - on Monday and we shared our weekend adventures related to the snowstorm.

On Tuesday, we started talking about Tu Bishvat. We talked about the meaning behind the birthday of the trees, and we learned about the seven foods that represent the holiday. We read the book Netta and her Plant by Ellie Gellman.

On Wednesday we started our challah dough, talked about what Jewish holidays are or aren’t part of the Torah and we enjoyed a story called It’s Challah time by Berry Kropf.

On Thursday we braided our challot and watched two videos from Shalom Sesame. One is called : trees and Tu Bishvat and the other is called: Grover plants a tree.

We had a fun conversation about how important trees are in our lives, our environment and how we can help the planet by planting more trees, using less paper, recycling and being kind to Mother Nature.

On Friday we celebrated Shabbat with our Montessori friends at the chapel and listened to the parsha. In the classroom we had our usual Shabbat celebration with freshly baked challah and grape juice.

 

Anafim

We had such a lovely full week together.  This week we focused on arctic animals and the snow over the weekend really helped set the mood.   Everyone was quite excited to arrive at school to a snow covered playground and were very busy digging, scooping and shoveling the snow.  The snow sure did keep the children busy outside for the two days while it lasted.  We were all so sad to see the snow leave and are hoping for another good storm soon.

Monday, we were busy looking at some arctic animals.  We noticed that many are white and we discussed why that is.  Ask your child if they remember the reason, to help them blend in with the surrounding snow.  This week in gym class we learned/reviewed how to play 4 corners.  The children were excited to run to the different corners of the gym while coach Oren counted and then try to be quiet as he named a corner. 

Tuesday we enjoyed a science lesson.  First we dipped our hand into a bowl of ice water.  This was quite cold and many of the children pulled their hand right out.  We then put some vegetable shortening into two zipper bags.  We taped these together to create a glove.  With this insulated “glove” we then dipped our hand back in the bowl of ice water and noticed that it was no longer cold!  The shortening glove worked much like animal’s blubber.  We looked at pictures of real animal blubber and discussed how this blubber worked like the vegetable shortening glove that we just tried out.  The children loved learning the word blubber and were excited to tell their friends in other classes all about it. 

Wednesday was a long work day.  We spent much of our work period trying out different language activities.  The class favorite this week was playing eye spy trying to find different items that start with the given starting sound. 

Thursday the highlight was having music with Morah Dawn.  This week we started learning the scale/ musical notes.  We did this through learning the do rei me.  Morah Dawn created movements for each note and the children enjoyed learning the song and dance.  See if your child remembers it!

Friday we enjoyed a quiet Shabbat with no visitors.  We went down to the chapel with the other Montessori classes.  This week's parsha (portion) was all about the ten plagues.  We enjoyed playing the part of saying ‘no no no I will not let them go’. Back in the classroom we enjoyed challah made by the Alim class and some nice work time.  Enjoy your long weekend and we will see you Tuesday.  

 

Keshet

Leading up to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which falls this year on January 15, we have been talking about fairness, inclusion, and absurd elements in society… racism (we did not use this word) but what it is and how it makes people feel. We read I am Martin Luther King, Jr., by 

Brad Meltzer. sharing his specific life story leading up to the march and his famous dream speech.  We also read I am Ruby Bridges, a children’s story written by the adult Ruby. Ruby was the same age as the Keshet children are now and they could really feel for her and try to imagine what this may have felt for her.  This leads to the daily journal prompts, and as this is a complicated subject, even when presented at the appropriate level, the content is hard to understand when English is not your first language. Once I read and discussed it in English, Verred translated in Hebrew and all the children sat around, completely engaged!  It was a lovely opportunity for the children to hear a story in Hebrew, with pictures, that they recognise. We are working to create a library of books that can be read out loud in Hebrew - books that the children know quite well already in English.  We have some of these and feel free to share any suggestions of Kindergarten appropriate books you have in Hebrew that are available in English too.  

We continue counting in 5’s as we line up (which means we have ‘50 children in our Keshet class’). We explored fractions and the students seem to understand the idea of equal parts that make up a whole. We traced and cut out circles and then folded one in half and another in ¼’s and labeled accordingly, with the number of parts being the denominator (we did not use this word). 

Some students have been working this week on the Montessori Multiplication Board, as in all the Montessori materials, working with tangible objects to understand the concept (ex. 3 beads taken 4 times = 12).

The last period on Friday was a wonderful K-8th grade Kabbalat Shabbat celebration with Eliana’s dad, Yiftach Bick playing cello.Tani on the ukulele and Morah Dawn on keyboard. 

This week's pictures https://photos.app.goo.gl/MhF1PgtfkmJxDsx57