Monthly Archives: March 31, 2017

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!!

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 […]

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!

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 […]

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 […]