Monthly Archives: May 30, 2019

Both the Sunflowers and the Butterflies (2’s) went outside to the playground to watch the release of the butterflies whose wings were finally strong enough to fly free.  As much as they were flapping their wings in their indoor habitat, they were not so eager to be released into their natural (outside) habitat.  All the children gathered around as Morah Aimee and Morah Debra helped release the butterflies.  They took flowers and placed the butterflies on the flower and then put them on a bush. It took the butterflies a few minutes to acclimate before they felt comfortable and flew away.   The children cheered with glee as the butterflies flew away.

Knowing how dangerous fire can be, the children followed the directions to stay on the steps during the bonfire last week.  The entire school sang songs with the Rabbi as Mr. Seth built our bonfire to celebrate Lag Baomer.  JJ’s mother and brother came to celebrate with us and brought the makings for s’mores.  The Morot took turns roasting the marshmallows.  Everyone enjoyed them as the evidence showed on their hands and faces. Thank you to everyone for helping to make a special celebration.

The children were fortunate to have a second special snack for Lag Baomer. Morah Debra brought in the makings for ANTS ON A LOG. Celery, (Tofutti) cream cheese, and carob chips.  Spreading cream cheese on the celery and adding a few carob chips the children were excited to try this scrumptious snack.  The Morot were happy that most of the children liked the snack.

One of the songs that the Rabbi […]

The Lag B’Omer bonfire was delayed but, what an exciting time we all had when it finally happened.  We are grateful to Seth Leeds for preparing such a magnificent fire on such a windy day.  Which is what occurred last Friday.  Rabbi Mischel brought his trusty guitar and we sang around the fire, roasted marshmallows, and made s’mores (such scrumptious treats!) thanks to JJ’s mom Esther.  A perfect way to celebrate Lag B’Omer.  It is celebrations of this kind, that leave an indelible impression on our young students.   They hear the stories and explanations of the holiday, but witnessing such a strong image really cements what they have learned.  They also felt the heat of the fire as they roasted their marshmallows.  When the different senses experience something, it lasts a long time.

A lovely tall building, using a new way to arrange the blocks, was used by our three builders.  Each time they build they are perfecting their structure, enhancing the structure, or creating a new shape or form of the structure.  There is a lot of problem solving going on and a lot of collaborative effort.  We found a little toy firehouse.  Simon has been fascinated by it and has used the blocks to create an extension to it.  Uriel and Ella have become interested as well and have brought their own ideas, including incorporating the tools to give a greater sense of building something.

While the children were looking at books after lunch, they started to play act and build stories off of one another.  It was suggested that they draw pictures of their stories in their journals and then dictate their stories to go along with the pictures.  They did not seem […]

The children collected And counted five sticks to make their very own bon fire. They also glued on red and orange shiny paper for the fire. The Hebrew word for fire is Aish We sang a aish is fire song that taught us fire is hot and we shouldn’t go near it or touch it. Rain/water makes the fire go away so our bon fire was pushed off till Friday.

The school wide bon fire with the Rabbi was an amazing sight to see. We all sang together and got to eat s’mores made by the Morah’s. The marshmallows were so sticky.

With spring in the air and Shavuot on its way we explored in our outdoor classroom this week. We planted with our shovels and spoons. Used our trucks for digging. The children’s imagination grew as they used Wood chips for plates and served mud pies to each other. Balancing was another way to strengthen our muscles.

We have two butterflies in our classroom. The children were fascinated to see the life cycle transform. Our butterflies are still babies and can’t fly yet. Did you know butterflies eat apples and oranges just like people? We will release them on Tuesday when we get back to school. We joined the three year’s old class as they released their beautiful butterflies into the sky. The children squealed with delight and waved goodbye to the butterflies.

defers

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Blimie and Morah Aimee

Morah Debra led a mid-week stretch to get the Sunflowers refocused so they could be prepared to celebrate LAG BAOMER. The children thoroughly enjoyed it.  Some of the children even had their own stretches.

Refreshed the children were so happy to work on getting ready for the BIG bonfire.   The children listened as Morah Pam told the them how Rabbi Akiva learned how to read Hebrew and became a great Rabbi that taught so many students Torah. We celebrate Lag Baomer by gathering around giant bonfires for bbq’s and have fun roasting marshmallows.  Lag Baomer gets its name from it being the 33rd day of the Omer, the counting of weeks between Passover and Shavuot.  In Hebrew the letter lamid is worth 30 and the gimel is worth 3. We put the two letters together to spell the word lag.  The children made their own bonfire using both their hands and feet. The outcome was unbelievable.  Looks like we have a new generation of impressionists.  Such masterpieces.

The weather kept us from being able to have a real bonfire on Lag Baomer but that didn’t stop us from making our own.  We invited the Little Beginners into our classroom and we all sat around a bonfire which was made out of twigs the children collected from outside and some shiny red, yellow, and orange paper. Everyone had a wonderful time.  The children said they felt as if they were indeed at a real bonfire.  The only thing missing were marshmallows.

The children had a wonderful time using many of our sensory stations.   Mushing the play-dough between their fingers is always a cool sensation.  Using the many play-dough tools to imagine and create whatever […]

We started our week by creating a habitat for our modeling clay caterpillars and butterflies to live on. Using green paint and a leaf sponge we enjoyed pressing it down on our habitat papers. Metamorphosis is the life cycle and the four stages of a butterfly. Our caterpillars in our class are still in its chrysalis state. The children check on them every day.

In preparation for Shavuot, we starting talking about Lag B’Omar. We are focusing on one of the rules in the Torah which is to love your friend. Just like the Torah has rules for the Jewish people we have rules in our classroom. We take turns with toys and help our friends. The children have shown tremendous growth in their sharing and caring capabilities with their friends. Our Kotel wall that we made for Yom Ha’ Atzmaut hangs in our room and is now filled with wonderfully written notes of the kinds things each child did for their friend.

We went to visit the three year old class to see their butterflies. The children were fascinated to see the transformation. We counted ten butterflies in their class. We are waiting patiently for ours to turn into butterflies.

We collected sticks from the playground for our special Lag B’ Omar Bonfire with the Rabbi on Thursday weather permitting. Many children asked safety questions about the Bonfire so we reviewed our fire safety rules.

Thank you to the Goldenthal family for providing us with our healthy snack of kiwis and apples this week.

Morah Blimie and Morah Aimee