Garinim

We had a nice week together.  This week we started to talk about Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed singing about Mr. Turkey at circle time (To the tune of “If you are happy and you know it” Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you? Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you? His feet go wobble, wobble and his head goes gobble, gobble. Hello Mr. Turkey how are you?)  We talked about what we do on Thanksgiving and how many people get together for a special meal.   We also talked about what kind of food you might eat on Thanksgiving; turkey, mashed potatoes, pie, stuffing, etc.  and sang another song to the tune of “Where is Thumbkin” We eat turkey, we eat turkey. Oh so good, oh so good. Always on Thanksgiving, always on Thanksgiving. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! And then substituted in the first line different foods- we eat mashed potatoes, we eat pie and ice cream, we eat stuffing. 

 

We spent our work time engrossed in Montessori activities, building with magnetic blocks, and creating art projects. We added a basket of feathers to our playdough this week and the children really enjoyed exploring this.  One child stuck a feather into a ball of playdough and others looked on with joy and then copied this for the whole week! This week we attempted to pour rice from a pitcher into two containers.  It proved to be a little tricky to try to stop the pitcher when the rice reached the line but with practice many of the children were able to accomplish this task after a while.  We enjoyed using brown and orange paint at the easel to create a piece of pumpkin pie.  We painted a hand brown and stamped it onto a paper and once that was dry used real feathers dipped in paint to add feathers and then added eyes, beak and legs to finish off our turkey hand.  We used dot markers on coffee filters to create colorful tail feathers for our clothespin turkeys.  We took a break from Thanksgiving for a bit one day to work on our clay Chanukiah (menorahs, candelabras for Chanukah).  The children all really enjoyed getting to work with the clay and mold it into their chosen shape and then used a candle to make holes.  We will finish these off next week so they will be ready in time for the start of Chanukah.  

 

This week we got to enjoy a couple of special activities as well.  On Thursday, Morah Sherri joined us for a Thanksgiving Yoga class!  We started with our sun salutation, with our newly painted yellow suns, before moving into learning about turkey breaths and the turkey pose.  We also played a game of “orange you thankful for” where we passed an orange ball with our feet to our next friend while saying what we are thankful for.  Many of the children are thankful for their parents.  On Friday, we went outside for a special Israeli Dance class.  

 

Alim

There were fun Thanksgiving activities throughout the classroom that the children were able to work on.  We did a project on What they are thankful for?  The children colored in a Turkey and they were able to glue images of what they are thankful for directly onto them.  For example, images like food, friends, pets, trees, rain, sunlight….  Also,  we worked on tracing turkey hands and decorating it which was super fun.  The Sound of the Week was “Dd”.  We read the AlphaTale story The Case of the Disappearing Donuts. This book was super silly. Also, there were worksheets to practice their letter formation and worksheets isolating the sound “Dd”.  

 

Alim Judaics   -  We enjoyed learning how to say ‘Thank you’ in Hebrew - Todah and our Fall/Thanksgiving colors in hebrew while playing  ‘Eye spy’ looking for items in the room that were tsahov-yellow, katom- orange, and hoom- brown.  We discussed our Tzedekah/ Thanksgiving fundraiser for Heifer international and how important it is to remember others who don’t have as much as we do and need help to put food on their tables and buy warm sweaters and coats for winter time. 

**For our Shabbat Celebration, Sophie and Emily Tova were my helpers as we danced with scarves to Shira Kline’s ‘Shabbat Bamba’,  ‘Thank you G-d’ and ‘Todah Rabah’.  We then read PJ Library’s book, I say Shehechiyanu to appreciate this prayer of gratitude for the 1st time something happens all throughout the seasons.  - A must read!!

 

Alim Yoga Yeladim -  We enjoyed a Thanksgiving/ Tzedakah Yoga class - learning how to ‘take 5’ and use our hands/or turkey feathers to help us breathe and calm ourselves.  We stretched to turkey tunes and enjoyed thanking all our body parts that help us breathe; such as our lungs, belly, nose and mouth.  We then played ‘Orange’ you grateful and passed an orange ball with our turkey feet to one another while expressing what we are thankful for- such as our favorite animals, food and families.  

 

Keshet

With Thanksgiving approaching we are learning about the Wampanoag Tribe that lived in the area (present day Massachusetts and part of Rhode Island) for more than 12,000 years, with about 4,500 Wampanoag still living in New England today. Ask your child what the Wampanoag ate, what their homes were made of, the jewellery they made… 

We also spoke about Colonial times and what life was like in England at that time, 400 years ago. Ask your child if the children in Colonial times wore the same clothing that we wear now, what their school was like, what games the children played. Following much discussion, we made Colonial style hats, and bonnets, aprons and some chose to pull their sweatpant hem to just below the knee (knickerbockers). In such attire we played marbles like the Colonial children did, which happened to be the same way that Morah Lana played marbles when she was a kid ‘though that was not during Colonial times’!

Merging the story, we went on to talk about the Mayflower, the difficult journey across the Atlantic (ask your child what the people had to eat while on The Mayflower for almost three months), life in Plymouth before and after meeting the Wampanoag.

We made the cutest little clay turkeys with feathers and all.

 

And just so that we don’t confuse any holidays, we are also making our own channukiot, practicing the blessings as we ‘light’ the Channukah candles, and practicing some Channukah songs. Channukah begins this year, at sundown on Sunday, November 28! 

 

Yoga Yeladim with Morah Sherri -  Thanksgiving/Tzedekah theme and tunes.  We practiced breathing with our hands/ turkey feathers learning to calm ourselves when worried, sad or frustrated.  We then played ‘Orange’ you grateful and passed an orange ball with our turkey feet to one another while expressing what we are thankful for- such as our favorite animals, food and families.  Check out and practice the Turkey Breath exercise ‘How-to’ flier together, which was sent home with your child. 

 

See this week's pictures here https://photos.app.goo.gl/EdmTW7pnhvtVtBdc6