Monthly Archives: March 31, 2017

Getting Ready for the Seder in the Butterflies

Here’s a little peek at our seder preparations. We learned about the seder plate and each part of the seder through hands on explorations. The children were really excited to set up a seder table in our classroom. We’ve been using it each day.

We squeezed grapes to make grape juice, set the seder table, we sang the Mah Nishtanah, we leaned, we broke matzah and loved making it and eating it!! We sang Dayenu, we ate a special sandwich in honor of Rabbi Hillel and even practiced bentching!!

We are almost ready!!

By |March 31, 2017|
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We’ve got the Matza “covered!” in the Sunflowers

A beautiful addition to our matza trays were making matza covers. The yeladim picked out pretty spring colors with which to decorate their cloth. The liquid water colors were placed in trays and the yeladim used droppers to drop the colors on cloth. They turned out so nice! The look has a little bit of a tie dye design!

Last but not least, we of course need a wine glass for the Seder. The yeladim know that there are four cups of wine at the Seder. Each child picked out their own glass that they wanted to decorate. Then they decided what materials they were going to use. Some yeladim loved the tissue paper, while others decorated their glass with pretty stones. Either way, they look really great!

 

We started  reviewing the numbers six through ten with the clothespins again. They love this game, and we will continue playing it!

Who knew that the yeladim were so musically talented? We enjoyed a musical circle time with instruments while singing all our Pesach songs! They picked all the songs they wanted to sing and a great time was had by all!

By |March 30, 2017|
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More Matza! in the Sunflowers

Rabbi Y came to visit us this morning. We reviewed again how to make matza in less than 18 minutes, and the yeladim had a great time making it again. Speaking of matza our matza trays were stamped with something that looks like real matza holes. What is it you might ask? Bristol blocks! The yeladim noticed the little round bumps and noticed that when they dipped them in the brown paint and pressed them onto the fabric of the matza tray, WOW! It really looks like matza! These matza holders are now finished! Can’t wait for you to see how they turned out!

Since we began our focus on Pesach more than two weeks ago, one area of interest was life in a desert and pyramids. We have pictures of pyramids in our classroom. When looking at the photos we observed that the pyramids seemed very similar to a triangle. Each side of the pyramid is itself a triangle and they were just put all together, making a pyramid!

We decided to try to make pyramids in our kitah. We looked through our recycling closet to see what reminded us of all the pictures we saw of pyramids in the desert.  Each child chose a triangle piece of cardboard. Then we looked for what we could use to make bricks.  The yeladim took a look at the corks just like they did with the bristol blocks. They were thinking how they were going to put the corks on to fill the whole area of the triangle. Planning ahead is important. We loved this activity so much that we left out corks and triangles to play with indefinitely. We use math skills for puzzle activities like this. And think how it helps us later […]

By |March 29, 2017|
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Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! in the Sunflowers

We really felt like the Yehudim! We were in such a hurry! Why? Not because we are working too hard. Because we made our very own Matzah! When the Yehudim had to leave Mitzrayim, they were in such a hurry that their bread had no time to rise! The timer was put next to Morah Lilli. As soon as the water touched the flour we set the timer for eighteen minutes! All the yeladim had a chance to pour water over the flour. We had to work fast, fast, fast! We sang all the Pesach songs that we knew and we mixed , rolled, patted and poked holes in the Matza dough. Phew! We got it out of the oven right before the eighteen minutes were up. The yeladim know that after the eighteen minutes, flour and water become CHAMETZ!

We had a most exciting moment of the day was that the yeladim decide to create their own art table. They took out different color papers. They started coloring and then they took out scissors and started cutting! They did not need the Morot to help them at all. They all knew, “Thumbs up when you cut.”

Hope you enjoyed the number game that was sent home. We will be working on numbers six through ten for the next couple of weeks.

By |March 28, 2017|
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We are finished!……..Well, not really. In the Sunflowers

Our Hagaddah is finished. All the pinching, gluing, painting, and spreading is done. It is really beautiful and the yeladim love going through it and turning the pages to see what comes next!

We explored Romaine lettuce. The yeladim know that some people use it for Marror. They felt it, smelled it and some even tasted it. They agreed  that it really was not that bitter or spicy AND it did not taste like much. Out of the mouth of babes!

We revisited our Matza holder.The yeladim love putting on different fabrics and textures to complete their special project. Wait until they bring it home!

We actually did something so amazing in class. A real Matza was put in out on the table for observation. We discussed how Hashem parted the Yam Suf, so the Yehudim could walk through it. We took salt and colored it with blue food coloring. So we asked “Where did the water go in order for the Yehudim to cross the Yam Suf?”

“On the sides!” They yelled

“So put the water on the sides!”

They put glue on both sides and then spread the blue salt (water) on the sides of the matza. Then they spread glue in the middle and spread sand.  It looks so cute and is hanging on the wall in our ART GALLERY! To top it off we added foam fish to the “water” as well. Nothing like Pesach art! Two weeks to go!

By |March 28, 2017|
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Clay and charoset and salt water, oh my! in the Butterfly Class

This week we worked with clay! We love play dough and use it all the time, but we decided to use real clay to see how hard the Jews had to work in Mitzrayim. It definitely took more effort than we’re used to.

We carefully used real tools like pliers, hammers, and wrenches. We made a collaborative sculpture together on top of a real brick. We tried picking it up but it was sooo heavy. Imagine how tired the Jews were, lifting all those heavy bricks.

We also built with Lincoln Logs and blocks that look like bricks.

After that, we made charoset, which reminds us of the clay and bricks the Jews built with. We cut up apples and dates and mixed them together with some cinnamon and applesauce.

We also learned that tears are salty, and at the seder, we dip karpas ito salt water to remind us of when the Jewish people cried. Then we made salt water together and practiced dipping karpas in it.

By |March 23, 2017|
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The Seder Plate…… in the Sunflowers

Last week we focused on the egg. Today we discussed Maror and the Karpas. The yeladim looked and touched and smelled parsley. We discussed why it is used for a Karpas. It is green and a green vegetable is used because Pesach comes in the Springtime.  Morah Yafit uses parsley at her Seder. We also passed around celery. Morah Lilli uses celery at her Seder! The yeladim tried to smell the celery, but they all agreed it really did not smell like anything!

On to the Marror. The yeladim learned that some people use the “bitter and spicy” Maror. That would be the horseradish root. We passed that around and the yeladim noticed that they did not like the smell at all. Well, we all understood why! The yeladim knew why we eat Marror at the Seder table. Paroah made the lives of the yehudim very bitter. It is a hard concept to compare a food to a way of life but the yeladim really understand. We keep reiterating that all the foods at the Seder remind us of parts of the story of Y’tziat Mitzrayim. Morah Lilli uses Romaine lettuce for Marror and the yeladim will have the opportunity to explore that tomorrow.

We enjoyed making our sand play dough. During every new exploration we love adding a new ingredient to our normal playdough recipe. For example, on Thanksgiving we added pumpkin purée and spice. During the winter we added white glitter to represent the snow falling. And for Pesach the yeladim knew right away we were going to add sand. They are so smart!

We acted out the Yehudim leaving Mitzrayim again. Yesterday Eli was King Paroah and a Tal was Moshe. Today Anna was Moshe and […]

By |March 22, 2017|
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The Butterflies made their own grape juice!

We know that we drink 4 cups of grape juice or wine at the seder, so we decided to get hands on with it and make our own.
We really enjoyed exploring the grapes. We used our intrinsic muscles in our hands to squeeze out the juice. We noticed that it wasn’t purple like the grape juice that comes from a bottle and wondered why. It felt sticky on our fingers but looked like water! So interesting.

Then we practiced making kiddush before snack. We are getting ready for the seder every day!

By |March 21, 2017|
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It is Spring! The bears have awakened, and Pesach is in the air!

The yeladim were so excited to wake up their animals this morning. They were so funny when they brought them out of their “caves.” They hugged them and some said “I missed you!”

With Passover being the Holiday of Springtime we have been talking about what plants need to grow.We have been watering our parsley plants everyday, hoping they will be ready for our Seder at school.

We have been continuing our Haggadah and have been working very hard on each page. Our cover to our Haggadah was a very fun experience for the yeladim and the Morot. We decided to stamp the paper with real Matzah! Small pieces of matza were dipped in brown paint and the yeladim loved looking at the different designs that were made on the paper!

We have been learning the Ma Nishtana. We have practiced two of them, and also learned their meaning. It really gives the yeladim the opportunity to compare what they do during the year and what they do on Pesach.

The yeladim love learning what is on the Seder plate. Last week we talked about the eggs. We boiled them and peeled them. Next we focused on the Charoset. Apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine or grape juice is used. Since we cannot use nuts in school for our charoset we used dates. Morah Lilli actually uses dates for her Charoset. The yeladim were reminded again today that everyone does different things on Pesach.  The yeladim were given apples and graters. They grated the apples on their plates and then put the apple gratings into a bowl. They then used plastic knives to cut their dates. They did such a great job. The Morot  helped them but they had fun and […]

By |March 21, 2017|
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Miss Two Days in the Sunflower Class? No Way!

We got right back into the swing of things in our kitah. We continued learning about Pesach, and why we celebrate it. At circle time this morning we discussed the Seder plate, and what items go on the plate. Some families put five things on their plate and some put six. The sixth would be the Chazaret. the romaine lettuce that some would use for Maror instead of the hot horseradish.

We first focused on the egg. The yeladim are very familiar with what a raw egg looks like when it’s cracked open. We bake A LOT in our kitah! They remember that is is liquidy and sticky and the yellow and clear part slide around on the plate. They knew that we don’t eat an egg that is not cooked, so we had to cook it. The yeladim went to the kitchen with Morah Yafit and watched her put the eggs on the stove. She turned on the stove and then they went back to the kitah. (Morah Yafit made sure all was safe in the kitchen.) A while later when they eggs were cooked we put them in cold water and then the yeladim were able to peel the eggs! The yeladim noticed the difference between the raw eggs and the cooked eggs. They noticed that these eggs were firm and white on the outside. And when we sliced into them, they were bright yellow inside!!! Some of them wanted to eat the eggs as well! It was such an exciting experience!!!

We continued with our Haggadah and learning about the order of the seder. We went through each page and the yeladim had the opportunity to put their own art work on each […]

By |March 16, 2017|
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