Tubes and Ramps in Extended Day

The children continue to build in Extended Day. Ramps were introduced during the summer as a building material.    

The children's interest in ramps has continued into this school year. The children used them to propel both balls and cars . 

Seeing the children inspired by these materials, we introduced tubes of different sizes.

                                             

Thank you Morah Dena for donating these large spools! They have really elevated the children's building.   

                                         

                            

Recently The children were offered duct tape, decorative tape, and scissors to decorate the tubes and take ownership of the material.

                                

With the addition of the decorated tubes, Tzedakah Island was reintroduced.

                                           

                                           

We will keep you updated as the children continue on this journey!

Sukkot Emerges in Kitah Alef

Just as we say goodbye to Rosh Hashana we get ready to welcome another holiday - Sukkot! The two main mitzvot of Sukkot are building a sukkah and shaking a lulav and etrog. Here's how we prepared for Sukkot in Kitah Alef:

The first thing we made available was a plush lulav and etrog set. The children had the chance to explore the different aspects and practice shaking them together during free play and circle time.

(Tune of: "The More We Get Together")

"Did you ever shake a lulav,

a lulav, a lulav?

Did you ever shake a lulav

and an etrog too?

Shake it upwards and downwards

and forwards and backwards.

Did you ever shake a lulav

and an etrog too?"

There was building going on in our classroom as well! An upside-down basket topped with real leaves served as our "sukkah-under-construction" as the children banged on its top with wooden hammers. This was a positive outlet for them to feel the sensations of banging toys together in a safe way, and they reveled in the opportunity.

We made our version of "schach", the branches that lie on top of the sukkah as the roof. First we pressed our hands into a green ink pad and then pat-patted them onto white paper for a sensory and artistic experience.

When it was dry we brought the paper outside so we could make use of the natural materials around us. The morahs poured glue all over and then the children were able to sprinkle wood chips and leaves that they found on the ground. 

A beekeeper came to visit us this week! She brought a travel-friendly beehive for us to examine and told us all about the important roles of bees in our environment. We watched the swarm busily building their honeycomb and looked at the close-up pictures of individual bees. Then the beekeeper handed out construction hats for us to borrow as we flew around like worker bees from flower to flower. We thanked the bees for their hard work in making sweet honey for us to enjoy from Rosh Hashana through Sukkot.

 Immediately following Sukkot is another chag called Simchat Torah! On Simchat Torah we celebrate the fact that we are so happy to have the Torah and dance with flags to show it. We decorated our Simchat Torah flags by squirting paint on paper, covering them with sheets of bubble wrap and pressing down on top in any way we could! Some stepped carefully on the bubble wrap, some jumped and some chose to pop the bubbles with their fingers. The result of this stimulating sensory experience is a blend of colors under that spreads on the paper. We can't wait to show you the final result!

Chag Sameach!

KDH's Rosh Hashana Party

KDH spent most of the first two weeks of school preparing for Rosh Hashana. With a web that grew bigger every day the children contributed to how we celebrate our new year. 

The children told us about apples, round challot, kiddush, shofar, head of a fish, tashlich, teshuva and tefilla, listening to the shofar.....The singing of "Dip the Apple in the Honey," became louder and more spirited daily. Using our senses, we examined, touched and tasted as much as we could to experience Rosh Hashana. Art, literacy, math and science were also included with our drawing and painting cards and honey jars, examining apples, graphing our preferences, reading and introducing the letters R, A, G, and Y. Cooking and baking our tzimmes, round challot, and honey cake - the children proved to be real cooks and chefs.

Most exciting was the shofar factory where everyone got to make his/her own shofar.

Rabbi Sollish, the Mad Scientist visited and taught us how Hashem renews the world and we built and raced balloon cars. We got to call out the sounds of the shofar and he blew them, loudly!

After packing up their bags with honey cake, round challot, shofar, honey jar and Rosh Hashana card, the children were ready for making our Rosh Hashana party.We know that the children are capable, but it is always exciting to see them be full participants in setting the table, lighting the candles, reciting the kiddush, reminding us of the order of the food and asking for the all the good things that the symbolic foods represent. 

On Friday morning, the children came in and noticed that the tables were in one long line with white paper on top. "What was in the center of the table and why were there also markers on the tables also? The children moved around the table and drew the apples, pomegranates, honey, dates, and round challot. In a little while, we had a beautiful yom tov table cloth. Next, came the plates, napkins and cups, put out by the children. "What else did we need for a Rosh Hashana table? The class told us: candles, grape juice, a fish head (and fish crackers) and most importantly honey! What about the carrots, beets and dates! With Rafi as our Aba and Maddy as our Ima we were ready to begin! Maddy lit the candles and we all recited the special Shehecheyanu blessing - thank you for our being sustained and reaching this special day.

SHANA TOVA U'METUKAH

FROM KITAH DALED HEY!

Morah Ruth

Morah Yael

Morah Shoshi

Morah Gail

Natural Paint Exploration in Kitah Gimmel

Rosh Hashanah is quickly approaching and the Kitah Gimmel Butterflies and Dragonflies are excitedly anticipating the festivities that come along with our new year.  As the holiday falls in line with the beginning of our school year, we decided to make our first art project follow the holiday theme as well.  Many items are symbolic for this holiday, one being the pomegranate.  The pomegranate, along with being a sweet treat, is abundant in seeds that serve as a symbol of hope that we will come before G'd with abundant merits. The students in Kitah Gimmel marvel at the sight of pomegranate seeds. Although it was difficult not to eat them, we made out with beautiful art work to display above our cubbies and as a special card for our beloved Grandparents.

First we sprinkled seeds all over our paper. We used cardstock to ensure the paper wouldn't rip with the pomegranate juice. Asher and Sela got right to it by scattering then splattering. 

Lots of smiles from Lev and Lily as the seeds popped and squirted red juice all over!

Mason dropped the seeds and Parker smashed them with the mallet.

Gavi and Yael were very careful when they made their painting. 

Twins (Yonah and Adom) find a way to make everything more fun!

Orli was concentrating really hard!

 Splat, splat, splat said Elliot and Liav!

Leora was feeling very regal while making her art.

Erez noticed that the juice went so far!

Look at the beautiful pictures we made!

Then our Morahs scanned them and made them into cards for our grandparents.

Finally, we got to put them in the mailbox ourselves!

SHANA TOVA U'METUKAH!