Monthly Archives: February 28, 2017

We are so excited that it is Adar! We can feel the energy in the kitah! Our beautiful castle has been built and the yeladim enjoyed acting out the story while in the castle. We had so much fun singing our Purim songs while playing our instruments. And because it fits right into what we are talking about, we focused on the fifth of our five senses as well, sound. We talked about how we hear the sound of the megillah and our graggers with our ears. We then had the chance to make a sound, soft or loud, and the yeladim had to label whether their sound was soft or loud! The yeladim listened very carefully!

In circle time we focused on the four mitzvot of Purim.; listening to the Megillah, giving Tzedakah, eating a big Seudah (meal), and giving Mishloach Manot (gift basket of food).

The highlight of the day was acting out the Purim story! The story began in our castle, where all the yeladim dressed up as different characters in the story. The yeladim are very familiar with the story in the Megillah by now so they knew exactly what to say!It was amazing to look at their faces during each scene! The yeladim showed they knew their character well by creating the different emotions that were needed. This really gave them opportunity to immerse themselves in this exciting Chag! Enjoy the pictures!

We went to the art studio where we started creating our very own groggers. Each child was able to choose the container they liked the best to use as a noisemaker for when they would hear Haman’s name. Different colors of acrylic paints were available and the yeladim were able to mix the colors to […]

As you can see we painted the top of our castle with a really beautiful shiny purple! The yeladim loved using these funny looking sponges! They worked very hard getting into all the nooks and crannies of the cardboard. We had a group discussion and decided to add some more special decoration on top!! We worke together very well!!

The children in our kitah really love working with numbers, so we brought back some of their favorite ways to play with them. This time the yeladim had to first recognize the number on the foam paper. Then they had to put clothespins (just like doing the laundry!!)  in order up to the number on the foam. This is great for number recognition as well as counting numbers is sequence. They used their pincer fingers to open the clothespins. Whew! That is a lot of work! The yeladim love this game and we will be continuing it in the kitah for awhile!

In parshat Mishpatim, we discussed in circle time that there are more laws that Hashem gave Bnai Yisrael. Along with Aseret Hadibrot, we discussed two other laws. The first one is Hashavat Aveidah, returning something that is not ours. If we find something in the park , and you really would love to keep it, it is important that you must find the owner.

The second law is separating Meat and Dairy. We cannot eat them together, and if you eat meat, you must wait some time before you can eat something dairy. We also must have separate dishes and cutlery as well. So we decided to make Meat and Dairy signs. Our Dairy signs have ice cream on them. The yeladim picked their […]

We really enjoyed exploring our fourth sense- taste! Three ingredients were put on the table, salt, sugar, and lemon juice. At first, we all just observed the items in three bowls. Well, the yeladim noticed a few things. First, they noticed that one ingredient was  a liquid. They also noticed that the lemon juice was yellow and the other two were white. They commented that the two white ingredients looked exactly the same! Wow! That was a lot of information and they have not even tasted anything yet. We talked about the fact that they were using their sense of sight while observing the bowls!

First, each child put a little salt in their cups. We said, “One, Two Three and Go!” They put their pointer finger in the cup and then put their finger in their mouth. “It’s salty!”, they all yelled. “Because it’s salt!”  Next, we poured the lemon juice in their cups. They dipped their finger in the cup again. All their faces started wincing! “So sour!” They weren’t sure what it was in the beginning, but then they figured it out! “Lemon juice!” On to the third ingredient. After they stuck their fingers in their mouths they new right away! “Sugar!” And they kept on licking! Who wouldn’t?

Adar is coming! It is this Sunday and we are busy preparing the kitah for this fun month! We reviewed the story of Purim during circle time. The yeladim love the puppets that Morah Lilli uses. We are busy creating our very own castle in our kitah. First we need to paint boxes and other items! Last week we painted one box silver. Today we painted another box gold. When we are […]

Since next Monday is Presidents’ Day,  at circle time we discussed that we have a new President. Donald Trump is his name and he lives in a big white house called  THE WHITE HOUSE. All the yeladim laughed. Sounds quite obvious. The president makes decisions that are best for the country that we live in. Presidents’ Day is a day that we focus on two President’s. The first one is George Washington. He was the first president of the United States. He was born February 22nd in 1732. A very long time ago. He is on the one dollar bill. We showed the yeladim the one dollar bill and passed it around our circle time. We also remember Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th President. He was born February 12th, 1809. Also a very long time ago. His face is on the five dollar bill. We passed that around our circle time as well. He was born in a one bedroom log cabin. This cabin is in Kentucky. We made our own log cabin on our carpet with Lincoln Logs. Each child had a chance to add a log to create a cabin like Abraham Lincoln’s! Later in the week we had fun doing penny rubbings. We could not believe that Abraham Lincoln is on the penny too!

The yeladim learned how important a job the President has. We must trust him since he is there to protect us.

We started painting for Purim! We are going to create a castle in our kitah. It might not be like King Achashveroshs’ castle, but it will be great. Boxes are being painted to create an entrance to the castle. Don’t worry, we still have to […]

We’re so excited to welcome Noach Mathias to our class! We are having so much fun playing with you!

The children came into the classroom on Monday and saw a table with many kinds of containers – tall, short, clear, opaque, metal and cardboard. There were also lots of materials – beads, buttons, pompoms, shells, and other things like that. They were immediately drawn to the provocation and spent a long time exploring. They put the items inside the containers and heard what sounds they made when they shook them.

One child said to another, “Mine doesn’t sound like that. It sounds like this,” as she shook her container, noting the difference between their noises. It was interesting to see the reactions the children had to the particular sounds each material made against the different construction of the containers.

It was good practice pouring and transferring, as well as great fine motor skill reinforcement.

We’re looking forward to revisiting this activity in conjunction with our Purim explorations, along with discovering some of our other senses.

And here are some pictures from the last few weeks that didn’t make it into a blog post but are too cute not to share!

Head shoulders knees and toes – a very important part of our circle time. We do it normally, then super fast, then so quietly. Our favorite!

Fun outside before the snow!

Getting down and dirty! Making an ice cream store 🙂