Garinim

We kicked off our week by sharing what we did for Thanksgiving- the people that we saw and the foods that we ate!

 

Then we continued right on into Dentist week! This week we have been discussing ways we keep our teeth clean and healthy, and learning that a dentist is a special doctor who takes care of our teeth and mouth.

A very popular activity this week has been using a toothbrush to brush dry erase marker off of a laminated tooth picture. The children enjoyed coloring the tooth back in to make it dirty again just as much as they enjoyed cleaning it! Another popular activity was practicing flossing using pipe cleaners and large mega blocks as teeth and play dough as plaque. 

On Tuesday we had a visit from Dr. Pearl, who talked to us about what a dentist does to keep our teeth healthy and the healthy habits we can do at home to keep them clean and healthy in between!

One thing the children have enjoyed is learning a bit of American Sign Language at morning circle time. We have been integrating a few signs over the last couple of weeks. Most children are quite confident with the ones that we use most often, now! Ask your child to sign “Good morning, my friends.”

Judaica: This week we had fun learning our shapes in English and Hebrew. The children used their hands to make rectangles, circles and diamonds. 

The children are tuning up their voices for our Channukah production on December 19th learning fun songs for the holiday!

For Shabbat this week we read, “Shabbat Hiccups”, by Tracy Newman. Lastly, we have wrapped up another terrific week baking our challah! We have finally perfected the challah making process!

Anafim

What a busy week we had.  Everyone was excited to be back together after our Thanksgiving break and quickly got back into the swing of our routine.  This week we spent diving into the world of teeth!  On Monday we discussed how many teeth we have (learning that they all have 20, 10 on top and 10 on the bottom) and how many they will have when they get their permanent teeth later in life (32).  On Tuesday we were visited by Dr. Pearl, a local dentist and father of Levi in the Alim class,  and he enjoyed sharing some tooth facts with us and talking a bit about what a trip to the dentist looks like and asked the children to share a bit of their own experiences visiting the dentist.  The children enjoyed hearing from him and were so excited for their new toothbrushes and notebooks, THANK YOU!  On Wednesday we set up an experiment using hard boiled eggs.  The shell of an egg is similar to tooth enamel so this worked out beautifully.  We predicted how different liquids might affect our teeth and what would happen to the eggs.  We used three eggs and put one in a cup full of water, one in orange juice, and one in soda (coke).  Their predictions were a little all over the place with what they thought might happen to the egg shells (turning red, cracking the egg, dissolving the shell, etc).  We recorded all of the predictions, as good scientists do, and returned to them on Thursday.  Once we got inside on Thursday the children were excited to come immediately to circle to see the results.  We excitedly emptied the cups and examined the egg shells.  We observed not much difference between when we put the egg into the cup of water and when we removed it the next day.  The color and texture were pretty much the same.  Next we looked at the egg that had been in the orange juice.  This egg had a bit of an orange grimy “skin” around it.  When we rubbed it you could feel a bit of the grime and it made the shell bubble up just a bit.  We think it was from the acidity.  The last egg, the one that had been in the soda, came out very dark and a bit slimy as well.  We compared our predictions with our observations and noted when we predicted correctly and when the results were different.  We also talked about how important it is to brush our teeth and showed this by using toothpaste and a toothbrush to brush the eggs.  The orange juice egg came very clean when we brushed it but it took a lot more work for the egg in the soda.  The children really seemed to understand why brushing their teeth is so important and how it affects their teeth.  

In small groups we learned about the different layers of our teeth; the crown, dentin, roots, and nerves and blood vessels, and the different types of teeth that we have; incisors, canines, premolars and molars.  The children enjoyed a dice rolling game, flossing teeth, coloring the different types of teeth and several teeth themed art projects this week.  They also loved that the paint brushes at the easel this week were replaced with toothbrushes!

The children are becoming more and more confident with the days of the week in English and Hebrew and were also extremely excited to start off a new month this week.  There has been a lot of discussion about how we are nearing the end of 2022 and that we are now in the last month of the year.  

This week for Shabbat our class was joined by Mark’s parents in the chapel where we heard about the Parsha (bible story) of the week.  It was so appropriate that this week Rachel is introduced and our very own Rachel (Mark’s mom) was there with us.   We enjoyed challah baked by the Alim class and are eagerly waiting to make challah again next week.  Shabbat Shalom! 

Alim

This week was  Dental Health Week. We had many discussions in the classroom regarding Dental Hygiene and ways to care for our teeth. There was a dental model that was fun to use to practice proper brushing.   We had a very special visitor named Dr. Pearl,  Levi’s father.  He talked about how to care for the teeth and asked the children engaging questions.  Also, he discussed good foods for teeth and foods to avoid. He discussed what a cavity is.   The children enjoyed the visit, especially Levi.  He gave everyone a special bag with a toothbrush.  It was a very nice visit.  We read the book Doctor De Soto by William Steig. 

On Tuesday,  we played freeze dance in the gym and played with scooters.

On Wednesday we made the Challah for Friday’s Shabbat. We talked about the Parsha.  We spoke about the Chanukah and the Beit Hamikdash, the Holy Temple, which had a menorah in it that had to be lit with pure untouched olive oil.  The Greeks had defiled the Holy temple and there was only enough oil for one night.  Miraculously the oil lasted 8 Days.  

On Thursday,  Morah Dawn came to visit us in our classroom.  She reviewed the same Do Rei Me lesson and the children really understand the concept now.

On Friday we went down to the Chapel as usual. We sang songs with Morah Lana and she put on a fun display regarding the Parsha with puppets and props. We had Henry’s parents join us for Shabbat.   We went back to our classroom and blessed the Challah we made.  The Shabbat helpers this week were Pearl and Taylor.   The Shabbat box went home with Henry this weekend.  We are so excited to hear about all of our friend, Shaul, the fox’s adventures with Henry.  Have a nice weekend.

Keshet

Montessori students choose their activities, observe what others are doing and are motivated to try something new. This week many chose the golden bead work and some are working in addition with numbers in the thousands. The students work in pairs or small groups collecting quantities and then putting all the unit beads together, all the ten bars together, the hundred squares and thousand cubes, and then count each group. When given an opportunity to select their work of choice, they feel empowered and excited to ‘work’. The hundred board and the sharing game  ( division) were equally popular activities this week. 

As a group the children played with pipecleaners, beads and numbers - experiencing subtraction as 'taking away' and then activity took its place on the math shelf where children worked in pairs and recorded their answers as number binds.

We’re learning about parts of the tooth, types of teeth and how important our teeth are to our well- being. Dr Scott Pearl ( Levi’s dad from the Alim class) visited on Tuesday and did some teeth counting, checked one student’s teeth ( only one as all instruments have to be sanitized and only used once!) and demonstrated how to floss! Our children had a lot of important information to share - including number of cavities and who’s parent has a crown ;)

We made “mind jars” on the rainy day and reread one of our favorite books, Moody Cow Meditates. The children loved making the jars and sprinkling glitter inside to represent their thoughts and feelings. We started using the jars for quiet time where we shake up the jars and watch the glitter fall slowly to the bottom. The jars represent our “monkey minds” with our thoughts jumping all over the place. When we use the jars we sit quietly and watch the glitter fall, it helps us to calm down, relax and stay present. 

In Hebrew we are continuing with our letters. This week we played a game called around the world, naming the letter sounds that we’ve covered. We are learning new songs including what we will perform for the Chanukah play! 

We celebrated Noa’s sixth birthday and her parents shared information about her growth over the years. The Keshet students shared all their knowledge too and sang happy birthday in so many languages that we almost forgot to sing in English!

See this week’s photos here https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZRoP99Zex1UbaRLZ8