Garinim

This week we continued to work with our fall themed activities in the classroom, and we added some fire truck and firefighter themed things as well, for our fire safety theme

 

The children were invited to experience and manipulate red and orange materials in the sensory table to represent fire, and also had the opportunity to use a blue straw as a ‘hose’ to extinguish the ‘fire,’ along with a little fire truck to come to the rescue. 

 

They also used a combination of watercolor paint and dot paints to add color to a fire truck outline. Many chose to use red but some made different colored fire trucks as well!

 

We have continued to sing our fall songs but we also added “Hurry, Hurry, Drive The Firetruck” and “If There’s A Fire” to our repertoire! The children are now very well versed in knowing that if there is a fire in their house, they should get out! (And that a firefighter can help them.)

Outside, the children have been very excited to collect fall leaves and other materials for our nature tray on our math and science shelf. There are many beautifully colored leaves to find this year!

Lastly, we were very busy creating our Shabbat box this week. The children used watercolor paints to decorate some wrapping paper for the box, and once the teachers had wrapped it, they added some fun foam stickers. They are so excited to take turns bringing it home to show their families their work, and to celebrate Shabbat with Kelev (Hebrew for dog), our little stuffed friend who will be coming along in the box.

We had a very busy week! We continued our review of the autumn colors; red, brown, yellow and orange in both Hebrew and English, as well as the parts of a tree in both languages. 

This week we will be starting the tradition of our class Shabbat box! So hopefully you can shift to low speed and embrace the religious aspects of many Shabbat memories. It will include challah, grape juice, and candles. Just return the box on Monday or Tuesday with a note of how your family settles in for Shabbat or anything else you did over the weekend. Sorry, matzo ball soup is not included!

Anafim

What a busy, exciting week we had.  We were all so excited to welcome Kevin into our classroom and he is quickly learning the ropes.  This week we spent learning about fire safety.  We talked about firefighters, smoke alarms, fire trucks, what to do if we are on fire and what to do if the room we are in is filled with smoke.  We spent time practicing how to stop, drop and roll as well as how to crawl under the smoke and stay low and go.  Check out the pictures to see how well it went!  One of the more popular activities this week was using a spray bottle.  There was a picture of a house that the teachers covered with shaving cream and some food coloring and the children had to use the water spray bottle to see if they could put out (or clean off) all the fire.  The children loved getting to spray the water and watch as it washed all the “fire” away.  

This week we worked together as a group to make our class’ very own shabbat box!  Each week a different child will take home this gorgeous box filled with homemade challah, grape juice, candles and a special stuffed animal Kelev.  The stuffed animal gets to spend shabbat and the weekend with your family.  We encourage you to write a little about what you did while Kelev was with you and then your child will bring the box back to school on Monday and share with all the other children about what they did together.  

It was so wonderful to have Abby’s Mom join us in the chapel for Shabbat this week and we can’t wait for so many of you to join us in the coming weeks.  If you have not already done so we encourage you to sign up for a week to join us in the chapel.  Have a wonderful weekend, shabbat shalom.

 

Alim

This week we all enjoyed the beautiful New England weather.   It was crisp and beautiful  during our outdoor recess.  This week our classroom transformed to the color Orange in Practical Life and Art.  We continued our Color Theory discussion on how to make the secondary color Orange.  We mixed red and yellow paint at the easel.  We glued red and yellow tissue paper together.  Also, the children really enjoyed mixing red and yellow playdough to make Orange.  All the children brought home a piece that they mixed together and were excited to share with their parents.  In Practical Life,  we had a fun new work called whisking bubbles and this was super popular.  They really had to use their fine motor skills to whisk and stir in order to make the bubbles.  There was a new cutting work in the shape of a pumpkin and a new leaf rubbing where they used the side of crayons to create the image of the leaves on the paper in ART.

WE celebrated Emily’s 5th birthday this week in the classroom.  She was so happy to wear her crown for the day.!!!!  The children all wished her many wonderful wishes.  For example,  one friend said “I hope you have a 1000 cupcakes for your birthday”  and another friend said …..”I hope you have a lot of presents to open”.  Everyone enjoyed a yummy brownie that Emily brought in for all her classmates to enjoy. Thank you.

For Hebrew this week,  the parsha’s theme was about  “Lech Lecha”  meaning Go to Yourself.We acted out the story of Abraham breaking away from the idols and leaving his homeland with Sarah to the Land of Canaan, Israel and starting the Jewish Nation, as Ha-shem commended. We are working on  learning some Hebrew letters.

It was our turn to make Challah this week.  The children made the dough and braided it.  The children really enjoy the PROCESS of baking and creating their own Challah.  

On Thursday, Morah Dawn came into our classroom and helped the children learn the Solfege Do Re Mi Scale.  Also,  she taught them a dance to help remember the scales. 

On Friday,  we all went to the Temple and had fun singing with Morah Lana. We always sing beautiful songs walking down to the Chapel with all our Prek and Kindergarten friends. This is a very special time for the children to sing about Shabbat.  Pearl’s family joined us this week at the Chapel.  I highly recommend signing up if you would like to be part of that special Shabbat morning.  Also,  our Shabbat helpers were Pearl and Lily.  We blessed the Challah we made and the Challah was delish.

Our Classroom will be bringing home a Shabbat Box every Friday.  It will rotate every Friday.  This week it will be Zevi and his family’s turn.  Everyone will have a chance to have it for Shabbat.  When you receive the Shabbat Box,  there is a Journal that will explain all the details inside.  The children are very excited about this box because we have a very special stuffed animal, a Fox included in the box. 

Keshet

We’re working on the ‘Hashem Sheli program’ to be held Thursday, November 10! Our journaling this week has been primarily ‘all about me’ and we will continue through the big day!  

Each week we work on new sounds and this week it was ‘ee’ and ‘ea’ (making the same sound) and writing words with the same sound but a different meaning, ex. Week and weak, leek and leak.

 

We celebrated three birthdays this week… happy birthday to Emmanuelle, Teo and Yoav! So much fun welcoming parents into our classroom (in person and online) and having them share our special Montessori birthday celebration! Ask your child to sing Happy Birthday in sign language, Spanish, French, Xhosa…

 

In Science / Culture we are exploring Connecticut, with Hartford the capital city. We’re learning about the state flower (Mountain Laurel) - ask your child if they would eat the petals of the Mountain Laurel. There’s a Connecticut state tree (white oak), animal (sperm whale), insect (praying mantis) and bird (American robin)...

 

In math we’re exploring shapes, patterns using colored squares, and ‘bundles of five’ using popsicle sticks and storytelling.  A favorite lately is voting on any number of ideas (including  dipping pretzels in ice cream, hummus or guacamole) and recording the answers using the tally system (bundles of five).

See this week’s photos here https://photos.app.goo.gl/4h1CCtzmVh1RSqZd7