Monthly Archives: November 22, 2016

When we spoke about the holiday of Thanksgiving, we talked about the name given to the holiday. The children kept repeating the name over and over, faster and slower. They began to hear it as two words, thanks and giving. That was interesting. We asked why the holiday would be called that. Who was thankful and for what? The Pilgrims wanted to thank the Native Americans for teaching them how to plant food and how to live in the cold winters in America. So the Pilgrims made a feast to say thank you. In our circle time we talked about what we have in our lives that makes us say thank you. Anna is thankful for her baby, Sammy. Eli is thankful for his drawing pens. Effie is thankful for his new big bike. Mae is thankful for her bed. Noam is thankful for his Abba and Ima. Tal is thankful for his superhero toys.

We wrote what the yeladim answered on foam leaves. They then decorated their leaves with the corn kernels that we dyed last week. We hung our leaves on our “Thankful tree”, and it looks so nice in the room. We always have to be thankful for what we have.

We thoroughly enjoyed looking at and feeling all the different types of vegetables that we brought into our kitah. We did notice that none of them had a very strong smell from the outside before they were cut, but they felt very heavy. The yeladim picked up each type of squash and the other vegetables. They felt their different weights. They realized that the pumpkin was the heaviest. When we cut open the vegetables we compared their flesh and seeds. The children observed again that the pumpkin had the biggest seeds.

So now we saw the inside of a pumpkin. We noticed its orange colored flesh. We even baked it and tasted it. It was not too sweet.

The children remembered how we made Pomegranate Play Dough back at Rosh Hashanah time. We decided to make Pumpkin Play Dough for Thanksgiving!!
Our recipe called for canned pumpkin to make our special Pumpkin Spice Play Dough. When we opened the canned pumpkin, we compared what the canned pumpkin looked like to what the real pumpkin looked like. That was interesting. The yeladim loved taking the pumpkin in their hands and squishing it!! They loved mixing the playdough with their hands as well. We counted and measured all the ingredients.

It feels so smooth and cool when we play with it! We love playing with it every day.

The yeladim love learning the story of Thanksgiving. We love singing all our Thanksgiving songs and telling the story using the felt board. But our favorite part is acting out the story on the stage. Role playing gives each child the opportunity to try on different personalities in a safe way. Some children are naturally cautious and quieter; some are innately strong and more comfortable “strutting their stuff”. Taking on the personality of different types of people helps children to understand different viewpoints and opinions. This is the beginning of so many important skills including being empathic, socially aware, and even debating opinions.

The yeladim in our class were each given a different part in the play; the king of England, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. It was so great to see how each child played their role so seriously. And they didn’t want to stop at one show!! They enjoyed reenacting the story in so many different ways in so many areas of our school; from the exploration room to our classroom and even the indoor playroom. All this repetition brought out different aspects, encouraging the children to keep thinking of the why and the how, giving them the opportunity to delve into the story even deeper.  Hope you enjoy the pictures!