Garinim

The weather this week has been beautiful and we sure have enjoyed our outside time.  It was so refreshing to not have to bundle up when we went out to the playground.  This week we talked about pets.  We found that only two friends have pets in our class, but many want pets or wish they had pets.  At circle time we discussed what makes an animal a pet and what we can do with pets.  This led to a couple of discussions about different animals.  Some of the children felt that a horse and chickens could be pets, while others didn’t agree.  We finally settled on pets that are able to fit/live in our house, if we wanted them to, so that did rule out the horse and chickens, but these kids are onto something!  We will have lots of time to talk about horses and chickens next week as we move on to farm animals.  We had so much fun during music on Thursday with Morah Dawn and even got to try out her rhythm sticks!  The children were all so focused and determined to try to match her rhythms.  The children in Alim are really enjoying the addition to our weekly curriculum.  We were so happy to celebrate Shabbat again together, singing our favorite Shabbat songs.

 

Alim

This week we discussed Pets in our homes.  How to take care of them?  The children enjoyed sharing their experiences with one another at the gathering.  We had a new work shown in the Sensorial area this week called the Brown Stairs.  In the art area, there was a mini easel presented to the children and there was small watercolor paper provided for them to paint.  The Sound of the Week was “Vv”.  We read the alphatale Vera Viper’s Valentine.  There were also worksheets provided with sounds that started with V and letter formation sheets for the children to practice.  Next week we will be starting a Unit on the Post Office.  It’s going to be fun.

 

Alim Judaics  -  We learned the Hebrew names for some of our pets, as incorporated in our Yoga classes when we stretch in our para, chatul & kelev poses, and also learned how to say  rabbit in Hebrew which is ‘shafan’ and parrot, ‘too-kee’.

Sophie came to school this week with a shiny penny in her hand that she wanted to add into our ‘Tzedekah’ box.  We read a wonderful book called, The Very Best Place for a Penny,  which we learned is NOT under a bed or in the washing machine - haha, but in a Tzedekah box.  We talked about doing Mitzvot for others and sharing our pennies is a wonderful way to help others buy the food and clothes they need to live.

We also enjoyed singing ‘The days of the week’ in Hebrew, where I explained that our Jewish week begins with Sunday and goes through Friday being the last working day of the week and ‘Shabbat’ being our very special day of rest.

 

Alim Shabbat -  Sahar & Denny enjoyed being the Shabbat helpers this week as we celebrated Shabbat singing and dancing to Shalom Chaverim while waving scarves in the air.  We sang many songs about the braiding & blessing over the Challah and read the PJ Library book, ‘ Rise & Shine ( A Challah-Day Tale). 

 

Keshet

The children love experiments, discovering by doing. Learning about light and color, and creating a spectroscope on a sunny day was possibly the highlight of the week. The spectrum of the rainbow continued through the week as the children created colorful popsicle snowflakes, watching the colored ink droplets merge, then decorated with sparkling icicle beads.  We did Rainbow math - working with combinations of 10, practiced symmetry with colored cubes in specific designs, followed by coloring their own symmetrical designs. 

In their weekly Keshet Art class with Ms. R. they painted with forks and made ‘Three Snowy Owls’ which they insisted on bringing home instead of displaying on the bulletin board. 

The children follow the daily schedule to a tee - ask your child what we do first at school and then what comes next: Outdoor play, Morning Meeting with the date and weather and body yoga poses for the Hebrew words, immediately followed with the Shema, Modeh Ani, Oseh Shalom, sharing news one by one, question of the day, presentation of an activity, snack, journal writing, read a book to a friend or to a teacher, Montessori activities in all areas, group Math, group Science or English lesson, outdoor play, lunch, story, daily Hebrew class, Art class, Music class, Gym class, Yoga (on rotation), and chapter book just prior to dismissal. They are busy and no doubt exhausted at the end of the school day!

 

Keshet Yoga Yeladim -   We had too much fun learning about our Body parts in Hebrew.  We played ‘Head, Shoulders, knees and toes’ in Hebrew and played my Yoga version of ‘Head, Shoulders, Yoga pose’ and ‘Morah Sherri says (omeret) yadayim al ha peh (mouth), sheenayim (teeth), and lawshone (tongue)....  We stretched and acted out Raffi’s song ‘You brush your teeth.’ 

 

See this week’s photos here https://photos.app.goo.gl/efyyJ3C6gnypqbtq5