Anafim: (Including whole school activities)

Shanah Tovah!  This short week included sharing our Rosh Hashanah stories, playing outside on a beautiful sunny Wednesday, and Tashlich on Thursday.  We all marched from one room to the other singing...'To Tashlich we will go, to Tashlich we will go, to throw away our averot, to Tashlich we will go.' We spoke about all the good things we do, and then some things we do that are not so good.  These included ...'I will eat all my food and not say I don't like it,' 'I will not throw my toys out of my crib,' 'I will not run in the classroom,'... We walked around the water table (because it was raining and we couldn't walk to a stream or river ;) and threw in breadcrumbs / little pieces of foam paper (because we didn't have breadcrumbs). 

Thursday is music day with Morah Dawn and we learned a new song called 'A New Day' and had fun practicing with big arm movements.  Ask your child to show you the correct way to stand when you sing.  We couldn't play outdoors because of the rain, but had fun in the Youth Lounge, playing "I wrote a letter to my love and on the way I dropped it, someone must have picked it up and put it in their pocket.  It wasn't you, it wasn't you, it was YOU! ' and the chase begins , similar to 'Duck, Duck, Goose!' (Or as one child said...'Let's play Duck, Duck, Moose!')

If you're wondering why our hallway is filled with dot-stamped whales, large whale paintings, whale collages with all kinds of sea creatures and seaweed in it's belly, we're reading the story of Jonah and the Whale. The children were all transfixed as the story unfolded with the sounds of a storm approaching, large waves, Jonah being swallowed by a large whale because he didn't listen to G-d when asked to go to the city of Nineveh to tell the people there to 'share their toys, speak nicely to one another, be kind to one another, hold a friend's hand when walking in the hallway, listen to their parents and always help put their toys and books away...' Ask your child what happened when Jonah was on the big boat.  

Friday we had Shabbat in the Youth Lounge (we did not have access to the Chapel this week) and sat in a circle singing all our Shabbat songs, including 'Shabbat feeling' and our favorite, 'Five challot in the baker's shop.' Then everyone participated in the Jonah and the whale story, the sailors wore bandanas, the storm included children stomping their feet, and the calm blue water (blue towel) was waved vehemently as the huge waves crashed against the boat carrying Jonah and the sailors.  Back in our classrooms, the round challot with raisins and extra honey for a sweet new year were delicious! (We alternate challah baking between Anafim and Garinim classrooms each week.)

 

This week our theme was Yom Kippur and the story of Jonah and the Whale. We talked about the significance of the holiday and reflecting on what we can do better. After reading the story of Jonah and the Whale, we acted out the parts with laminated picture cards and were able to create a poster for our class, listing the things we think we could do better (check out our poster on our bulletin board outside). The children created whale paintings at the easel, egg carton whales (consisting of the children painting a piece of an egg carton blue and then gluing on eyes, fins, and a tail. We finished by adding a pipe cleaner spout). We were also busy fishing for “Jonah “ in our water table and making a bingo dotter portrait whale. We loved the whale character so much in the Jonah and the Whale story, that on Friday, we created a blue collage complete with different textures of blue fabric and paper, and of course, a whale.

At group time, we have been very interested in trying out sand paper numbers and playing the “number game”. The children take turns tracing the sand paper number with their finger, and then go around the room to find objects that match their number.  For example, a child holding sand paper number '2' may go around the room and come back to group with 2 blocks.