Monthly Archives: April 27, 2018

It’s all about the flowers in the Sunflower class!

On Wednesday we finished the fourth stage of our special metamorphosis project. The yeladim painted their “butterfly”. It was actually pasta in shape of a bow tie but it really looks like a butterfly! After painting the pasta the yeladim wanted to continue painting so the smocks went on and they painted a picture of anything they wanted! They had such a good time that some could not leave the table!

These pictures are on our windows in the kitah. Come on down and take a look at all their gorgeous art work.

Wednesday was an appropriate day to read the book Rain again considering the rain that was pouring outside. After the book was read we actually made our very own “rain” in the kitah. A large vase was brought to the table filled with water. Shaving cream was put on top of the water. That was our “cloud”. Then water that was dyed blue was dripped on top of the cloud. We had to wait awhile to actually see the “rain” come down in the vase. We had to wait for the drops in the cloud to get bigger and heavier until we saw the blue “rain”. The yeladim loved this science activity especially after reading the book!

On Thursday we put together our Science project. The life cycle of a Caterpillar to a Butterfly. Ask them about it! They really know so much!

As we were walking to the playground we noticed our garden had no plants in it. So we decided that next week we are going to do some planting. We will be learning next week about plants and flowers […]

By |April 27, 2018|
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From an egg to a butterfly in the Butterfly class

So many new things happen in nature in the spring. We’ve been finding lots of exciting things outside like dandelions and little pink flower petals, and we’ve been listening for the chirping birds and noticing little bugs all over the playground. We talked about the fact that bugs live outside. When we play in the playground, we’re visiting their home! We’ve been on the lookout for an anthill but haven’t found one yet. We also played hopscotch, drew with chalk, and climbed trees.

We continued our caterpillar explorations by learning about their life cycle. We read the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The children already love it and ask for it to be read every day. In the book, there is a tiny egg that is stuck to a leaf, and a caterpillar comes out from it. It eats and eats – some foods that are good for it and some foods that give it a stomachache – and gets bigger and bigger until it’s ready to make its chrysalis. It sleeps in there for 2 weeks and then it comes out as a butterfly! We noticed that our caterpillars have eaten a lot of their food and gotten bigger since we got them. We wonder when they’ll make their chrysalises.

After learning about the life cycle, we made a giant leaf collage. We also painted paper towel tubes to make chrysalises, and butterflies that can come out of it. To make the butterflies, we colored coffee filters with markers and then sprayed water on it. The water made the color spread!

 

Shabbat Shalom!

By |April 27, 2018|
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Learning about Caterpillars in Little Beginners

This week we focused on the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly.

On Monday, during circle time, Morah Deena read us The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We all sat and listened with great interest as we learnt how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly! We even had special visitors come to our classroom, can you guess what they were?  Caterpillars! We were all so excited to see the caterpillars, and the food they will eat to get big. We can’t wait to watch them get bigger and bigger and eventually turn into butterflies!         

In the mean time, we created our own caterpillars by folding and taping construction paper together to create a chain. Then we added little antenna’s and googly eyes!

 

We took advantage of the beautiful day on Monday and spent time outside. We really love going down the slide, and popping the bubbles.

    

On Wednesday we continued learning about the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly,  now we focused on butterflies! We had fun dot painting coffee filters and sticking our finished project in between clothespins. Now we have a caterpillar and butterfly to take home!

   
We had a great, busy week in Littler Beginners. Can’t wait to see everyone on Monday. Have a great weekend!

 

Morah Deena a and Morah Naama

By |April 27, 2018|
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Finally it feels like spring in the Sunflower class!

Spring has arrived in our kitah and so have our caterpillars! They are in a small plastic container and they are so small. We actually took a ruler and measured them. They measured 1/2 of an inch. We looked at a ruler and we saw where the number one was. That is one inch. We read everyone’s favorite book  The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It is a very colorful book with bold pictures about how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. We discussed that this process is called a metamorphosis. Such a long word but a very important one! We looked at real pictures of caterpillars, chrysalises, and butterflies. Our caterpillars are brown but other caterpillars are green and black and some are even yellow.

As the days pass we see our caterpillars are getting bigger! The yeladim were given rulers with which to measure. They loved counting up  to twelve (inches) as well. They measured the caterpillars and observed that they are more than half an inch! They actually grew in one day! They must be eating a lot!

While some yeladim were measuring, others were looking at a real butterfly. They observed all the beautiful colors on it using magnifying glasses. After observing and measuring we read another adorable book called The Butterfly by Anna Milbourne and Cathy Shimmen. Spring REALLY has arrived!

 

There are four stages of the life cycle of a caterpillar. The egg is laid on a leaf. Out of the egg comes a caterpillar that is very hungry! Once he gets big and fat he makes a chrysalis for himself and sleeps for two weeks. This is […]

By |April 27, 2018|
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We have caterpillars in the Butterfly class!

It’s really spring! It’s warm and sunny outside and the birds are chirping. In honor of spring we got a visitor in our classroom. Actually, 5 of them. Can you guess what they are?

Caterpillars! We were so excited to see the cup with 5 tiny caterpillars in it. We saw the food on the bottom and watched them move and eat a little. We know that they will eat all their food and get bigger and bigger, and then go into a chrysalis. They’ll sleep in there and when they come out, they’ll be butterflies!

Some children had some questions and comments about the caterpillars.

“Pink on it?”

“They will grow the chrysalis.”

“Brown food.”

“The chrysalis opens.”

“Not bigger yet!”

“Open the tank. No, silly.”

“They move up and down.”

“Eat more?”

We sang a butterfly song and flew around like butterflies.

We made a spring collage of insects shapes on a big butterfly.

And of course we’ve been playing outside a lot! It’s so nice to go out without coats and hats.

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By |April 25, 2018|
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What an amazing celebration it was in the Sunflower class!

On Wednesday we were finishing preparing for the big birthday day! We baked a delicious vanilla cake in honor of Yom Ha’atzmaut. Then we sprinkled blue sprinkles in shape of the Israeli flag. We also visited our last city in Israel. Eilat. We had the opportunity to play in the sand like being in the desert, play at the water table like swimming in the Red Sea and looking at sea shells with magnifying glasses! That was so interesting! We were so busy in Eilat we were just missing the sun!

We asked the yeladim what color we should dye our white T-shirts for Yom Ha’atzmaut. They yelled “BLUE!” just like the Israeli flag. So we put our T-shirts in blue dye in a big container. They stayed in the container for a very long time. When the shirts came out they looked Blue and White! Perfect for Yom Ha’atzmaut.

Our ice cream store was such a hit that we decided to make ice cream play dough! Yes! We wanted to have real “ice cream” that they could scoop out into bowls. The playdough really looks like ice cream! Vanilla and Strawberry were on the menu!

On Thursday the yeladim came into the kitah and they received their passports. Onto the plane they went. When we arrived they received an Israeli sticker on their passports as well as their flag and shirts. They were ready to go to the Kotel. They davened their as well as wrote notes to Hashem and put them in the Kotel.

Off to Tel Aviv where we sat in front of […]

By |April 20, 2018|
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We had a great trip to Israel in the Butterflies!

After preparing and learning about each city in Israel, it was finally time to board the plane for our big trip! We lined up and found our seats on the plane. The pilot flew us safely all the way there! On the way, we had a snack and took a little rest.

When we got to Israel, our first stop was the Kotel. We davened and wrote notes to Hashem.

Then we traveled to Tzfat to check out the beautiful art gallery. It was full of art that we made! There were finger paint masterpieces, chalk drawings, and collages.

After that, we took the bus to Tel Aviv and enjoyed a delicious ice cream treat at the ice cream shop. We also ate yummy Israeli salad.

The last stop was Eilat, where we played on the beach in the sand and water.

The day finished with a parade together with the Sunflower class. The Rabbi played songs on his guitar while we danced with our flags. It was so much fun!

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We’ll be sending home a book with even more pictures!

By |April 20, 2018|
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Israeli Flags and Playgrounds in Little Beginners

It was finally nice out today! We took advantage of this beautiful day and went outside to play. We had so much fun at the playground.

      

When we came back inside, we finished working on our Israeli flags. We began by gluing  blue stripes onto the top and bottom of our flag, we then colored our poles. We enjoyed waving our flag around the classroom.

 

What better way to end off the day then playing together with our favorite toys!

      

The Little Beginners had a great week! We can’t wait to see everyone on Monday!! Have a nice weekend

Morah Deena and Morah Naama

By |April 19, 2018|
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Our Tzfat is so beautiful in the Sunflowers

Last Friday was a beautiful day! It was sunny and warm and it gave the Sunflowers the perfect opportunity to become artists. Not just any artists but the artists in the beautiful city of Tzfat, the third city that we have learned about. Tzfat is a city known for its beautiful artwork. Many of the doors and windows of stores and houses are painted in beautiful bright colors. There are even murals which are paintings on walls in Tzfat.

We dedicated the classroom next door to create the city of Tzfat. We went outside and looked all around us at the world Hashem created. We noticed parts of nature, colors, how the sun and wind felt. The yeladim sponge painted beautiful bright colors on pieces of paper and enjoyed looking around them while they were creating their special artwork.

Uriel-  “I am making a tree.”

Negev- “I am making many towers.”

 

We hung up this artwork like a mural indoors. It really looks great!

 

During circle time we have been davening at the Kotel in our kitah. We sat in a circle on the floor and davened in front of the wall. It was so much fun to daven in a different place and they really sang so nicely as usual!

The Butteflies had their very own ice cream store in their kitah and invited some Sunflowers in for some ice cream! Yummy. Thank you so much for having us.

We continued working on our flags. We creating the two lines on the flag with different types of blue fabric. All the flags look different and they really look very creative and have a nice texture to them.

The yeladim wanted to make another mural […]

By |April 18, 2018|
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We Made Israeli Salad in Little Begginers

The first thing anyone said when they  came into our classroom on Monday was “mmm it smells good!” Well that is because we were making Israeli salad! all the children took turns adding spices, oil and vinegar into our salad. We then all mixed it together and ate it during snack time. Boy was it yummy!

 

We also began working on our Israeli Flag. We started by picking out our favorite paint brush. We then painted a blue Magen David Star onto our flag. We will be finishing up the flags on Wednesday.

We also had time to play, and listen to books that Morah Naama read.

We had a great day!! See you all on Wednesday!

Morah Deena and Morah Naama

By |April 17, 2018|
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