Snack Tree Cafe

Tall bamboo stalks and sprightly leafy greens stand elegantly in tall clear bottles to adorn the snack tables in Kitah Bet. 

After taking turns washing their hands, children select a pale turquoise bowl and find their seats for snack time in what we call the “Snack Tree Café.” One at a time, children serve themselves for snack, scooping cereal and fruit with a serving spoon into their bowls. 

 

Learning the brachas for our food enables children to learn some Hebrew vocabulary and learn about where the food grows. Apples, they learn, grown on the tree—the eitz.

We thought together and created agreements to keep our Snack Tree Café a pleasant place for everyone. The first agreement was to keep our voices at a nice indoor sound, saving our yelling voices for outside play. Secondly, we agreed to stay in our seats until a morah tells us it is time to clean up. Having a shared goal of creating a pleasant and safe environment enables all the children and morahs to work together cooperatively, and empowers the children to work toward a common purpose.

The Snack Tree Café is an enjoyable place for children in this environment. Children smile and laugh with their classmates as they eat. Then they eagerly listen as a morah reads a story regarding the theme we’re currently experiencing in our class.

After eating, children dispose of any waste, then place their bowls in the bucket to wash. This becomes a fun outdoor activity next, as children work together with sponges and lots of soapy water to clean our class bowls for the day. We’re learning to take care of our classroom and the earth!

Snack Time in Kitah Alef

We've officially finished our first full week in Kitah Alef! So far, our new school year has been marked with excitement, a few growing pains, and an emphasis on learning new routines- many of them centering around responsibility, to ease the transition. It's important to us (Morah Chaya and Morah Lindsey) that the students feel engaged and invested in their new classroom, and one of our daily rituals is the perfect example of the many ways we've set out to encourage them in finding that ownership: snack time! 

Snack time is a Kitah Alef favorite! First, we wash our hands with soap, warm water, and a little scrub. 

Then, we ask each student to find their water bottle (already placed at their tables), and get seated. Then we feast; we're very lucky to have parents who bring fresh vegetables and fruits weekly (class favorites include blueberries, bananas, and tiny oranges), plus cheerios. While the students eat, each Morah has a ritual we like to do, which include songs and reading books. We sing "who is here today, who is here today, whos in school? Good morning to...", which is a song that names each child in the class, and also asks them to name their friends who aren't at school that day. "Whos not here today, whose not here today, whose at home, or on a trip?" A recent favorite book is Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? We make animal sounds together, and talk about the animals we've seen. 

Once students are finishing up, we sing another song that's especially helpful: "When you are finished with your snack, shake your plate in the garbage over there, come back and push in your chair". Then we ask the students to put their water bottles back in the class basket and stack their plates in the closet. Then it's time to play! 

After we shake our plates in the trash, we stack them in the closet, push in our chairs, place our water bottles in the class basket, and then it's time to play!

So far, Kitah Alef loves snack time, their friends and classmates, and it's shaping up to be a year of growth, play, and joy. 

Shabat Shalom to all!

Circle Time in Pre-Kitah Alef

Welcome to circle time in Pre-Kitah Alef! Circle time is an important part of our daily routine. It is a time in the day when we gather together and unite as a group. Our goals for circle time in its initial stages are to familiarize the children with the transition from cleaning up the classroom to coming together in a circle on the rug. It is a special time for us to interact with our class family as a whole and to introduce new concepts.

 After the toys are put away, the morahs sing: 

(Tune of "London Bridge")

"Circle time is starting now, 

starting now, starting now, 

Circle time is starting now, 

on the rug"

 and motion the children to join them on the circular rug. 

Our routine begins with a simple but engaging greeting song. We sing "Hello, Everyone" and then greet each child by name.

(Tune of "Skip to My Lou")

"Hello, everyone, how are you?

Hello, everyone, how are you?

Hello, everyone, how are you?

How are you today?!"

We continue with well-loved songs such as "The Wheels on the Bus," "ABCs," "Alef Bet," and "Torah, Torah." For children this age it is important to keep to age-appropriate time frames for the most success. We keep our circle time short, about 5-7 minutes, and sing the same songs in the same order for consistency. Children feel safe and empowered with consistent routines. Soon we will expand our repertoire to include morning tefilah (prayer) with Modeh Ani, washing our hands, and Shema. 

Sometimes we introduce props at circle time like puppets,  instruments and soft Torahs.

For the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashana, we brought out different types of shofars (ram's horns) to feel and blow.

We like to end our list of songs with a very special one. Conscious Discipline emphasizes the positive impact that an individual feels when part of a group. We unite by holding hands and singing our Kitah Alef class family song.

(Tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

"We are a school family, family, family, 

We are a school family, here at IJP.

We are Kitah Alef, Alef, Alef,

We are Kitah Alef, say hi to a friend! (Hello! Hi!)

Morah's here to keep you safe, 

keep you safe, keep you safe,

Morah's here to keep you safe,

and your job is to help."

Just as we began our routine with a clear starting point, we end with clarity as well.

(Tune of "London Bridge")

"Circle time is over now, 

over now, over now,

Circle time is over now,

Let's wash our hands for lunch!" (or insert next activity)

Circle time is a wonderful way to promote routine, social connection, sensory experiences, music and rhythm, attention and focus, and Jewish values. We will continue to document our class's growth and change in this area as the year continues. 

Keepin' it Cool in the Ice Cream Palace

One trip to the science teacher, Morah Mussy, was all it took... the kids were interested and we noticed! What was all of this excitement about? Ice cream, of course! Not just any ice cream, the kind we make in a bag, together, mixing and squishing and shaking, freezing and waiting. We asked the children why they loved ice cream so much, and this is what we got:

Because of these experiences, the children started making ice cream in the sandbox, during water play, and in the classroom. So we made a few small world trays and decided to turn our dramatic play area into a mock ice cream store.

Sela, Gavi and Sam are serving up cups of ice cream from the small world tray.

Asher made a cone out of brown paper and colorful cotton balls.

Lev found an air pump and is using it to pump up the ice cream. 

We made ice cream art using colorful paint, sponges and coffee grinds for added texture.

Then, something else happened: the ice cream truck came to our school!  Each child got a dollar bill to hand to the smiling gentleman through the window in exchange for his/her choice of kosher treat. The ice cream music was blasting and everyone was joyfully dancing throughout the whole process, which made the waiting much more exciting :) 

Expressing gratitude is something we do often. Here's Parker giving the ice cream man a picture he drew just for him. Mason, equally grateful, would rather pay money but made sure to say thank you for his treat. 

This got us thinking... we could do this! We could make our own ice cream and sell it! Our imaginations ran wild as we created flavors, toppings, pretend ice creams. We made signs and had talks of who would work where and whether or not we should have a truck or a store or both. All suggestions were heard and valued and everyone's interest was played out in one form or another.

 Yonah drew up a plan of how the ice cream store would look.  Here's his store, complete with a path that leads to the store and pipes on the top. 

Margot drew a map of ice cream all around the world

Asher created the flavor Strawberry Forest

Morah Nechama asked if we should have signs for toppings on our menu and Squirrel (Ziv) drew a sign for fudge. 

What kind of jobs should we have? Orli said that she would interview people for the store, her two questions were, What is your name? And, Do you like ice cream? She kept it short and simple and sent her new employee, Elliot, off to work in the store doing whatever he wanted!!!

Meet the Head of Hospitality, Margot! She's always making sure everyone is happy and has plenty of ice cream and toppings, particularly the unicorn kind. 

Erez and Ivy are the cashiers. They take the order, give the receipt and show their customers where they can wait. 

Once we became more familiar with how an ice cream store works, we were ready to assemble the menu and hang our signs.  We made small signs for the ice cream flavors and toppings but we also needed to create a big sign so everyone knew we had an ice cream store.  We decided on the name Ice Cream Palace and all chipped in on coloring and adding a border to the sign. 

Lily is drawing cookies, carefully placing chocolate chips all over, because she loves chocolate.

Adom is drawing a cone.

Mina is drawing lemon ice cream on top of a waffle cone.

Leora made a sign for the marketing team that says, Ice Cream Sale! "This way we can take it to the playground and let everyone know that we are selling ice cream!"

Asher and Margot are helping Morah Nechama create a giant menu.

On to the outdoor signage. Below is our big sign with a border taped on by the children.

Goldie helped Morah Stephanie hang the sing.

With all of this excitement going on, we forgot to mention that we're learning too! We've been thinking logically and collaborating on how to build the shop and what to put in it.  Our writing skills are becoming stronger as we write words by mimicking letters or observing others writing. We're measuring, counting and adding up items and numbers. Our vocabulary is growing and we're learning new words such as cashier, receipt, health inspection (yes, we had a health inspector come through to check on cleanliness!), signage... the list goes on.  Then there's the science of mixing the ingredients of the homemade ice cream and fudge.. and testing out flavors (everyone's favorite part).

Here's our final store front, seating is to the right. 

 We had a little help from the older campers in building the smaller tables and table decor.

Here we are learning our jobs as Morah Nechama pretends to be our customer.

Here we are in action, serving Kitah Daled. Orli and Goldie are taking orders, and Squirrel is asking how Sylvia would like to pay: with a high five, hop on one foot, silly dance, or counting to three with eyes closed. 

 The ice cream scooper is a big job!

 Erez waited patiently ( and didn't even eat a single topping ) for Sylvia to choose her favorite topping.

Not everyone was able to come into the store, so we took our truck to them! Kitahs Alef and Bet were very happy to be included, after all, who doesn't like to be served by superheroes and princesses? See below (extra pictures for added cuteness). 

Finally, we have to come to an end. How do we stop such a fun thing without feeling sad? With ice cream, of course! Our grand finale was an ice cream party along with baked and decorated cones and shapes for us to take home with us. 

Liav is painting his purple because that's his mom's favorite color. 

Elliot is making blueberry ice cream.