This week we learned about caterpillar’s and butterflies! We also discussed the upcoming Jewish holiday Shavuot.
 

We learned that a caterpillar begins as an egg, then out pops a caterpillar! It will then eat lots before shedding his skin and forming a chrysalis. After about two weeks, out comes a beautiful butterfly.

We learned a new song:
“5 little caterpillars sitting on a leaf. One fell off and went to sleep. She closed her eyes and in about a week, up floats a butterfly flying in the breeze”. Repeat counting down until there is only one caterpillar left.

We found a beautiful Monarch butterfly outside this week on the playground.

We created paper towel roll caterpillar’s, the Ten Commandments for Shavuot, and our very own butterflies! We also painted caterpillar’s at the easel, did Qtip painting at the easel, and finger painting!

We read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar “, and “The Ten Good Rules”

We talked about all the ways we can be kind and nice to our friends and family.

We have been doing lots of sequencing, matching and story telling activities at circle time.

 

 

We finished the omer count and our mountain looks beautiful. It is adorned with 49 flowers. Our focus this week was on the Ten Commandments. The children have been busy working on the commandment train. They also learned a commandment song to the tune of jingle bells which they found amusing.

 

Shavuot is just days away (begins this year on Sunday evening) and we've been counting the days since Passover, adding a daily sticker as we count and climb each rock all the way to the top of Mount Sinai. (We're counting by two's on all the even days.) Since we aren't able to bake cheesecake or make cheese blintzes, we read stories about these, and the children learnedthat we eat sweet desserts to remind us that learning is good (sweet) and it is traditional to eat dairy on Shavuot as a reminder of one of the commandments to keep kosher (separate meat and dairy). By eating a dairy meal with no meat products, one consciously separates the two. 

 

Ask your child to sing this for you.

My name is Moshe, Moshe and I climbed up HarSinai

To get the 10 Commandments G-d gave me from the sky

I got down to the bottom, I was angry as can be

The people prayed to idols, which we know is wrong you see

So I took the 10 Commandments and smashed them to the ground

Now we know that these commandments 

Are the best rules to be found!

 

We spoke about the 10 Commandments and then created our own 10 good rules; some things we shouldn't do, like 'don't grab someone on the throat!' and rules that we should do 'help a friend'. 

The children cut and created tissue paper flower garlands, which some have been wearing the whole week, and painted baskets of fruit and vegetables, as a thank you for all the fruit and vegetables that grow each year, providing us with nourishment.

 

This week the children made 'banker crowns' and took their positions on their floor mats, getting ready to start the day.  Before we could welcome people to the bank, the 'bankers' sorted coins; nickels and dimes, and then counted them in 5's and 10's. Some bankers were instructed to go around and record the number of each of the other bankers nickels, then dimes, calculating the gross total. 

We  planted cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, basil, oregano and rosemary in the garden this week. Everyone had a chance to get their hands dirty and garden.  It was a fun activity to do together.  Now we have to water the plants every day and be responsible to care for them in the weeks going forward.