Kitah Alef Prepares for Sukkot and Simchat Torah

In the short time we had between Rosh Hashana and Sukkot, we packed in multi-sensory experiences to introduce the children to the themes of Sukkot and Simchat Torah.

Using the color green like schach and popsicle sticks like the natural walls of the sukkah, we engaged in an open-ended painting process. Some children scraped the paint on their papers like Riva while others explored the feeling of the paint with their hands. Another time we used a box to shake the paint and sticks together to see what resulted.

Some people hang decorations in their sukkah so we transferred this idea to our classroom space. Together we can make our room even more beautiful. 

Another day we decorated CD's by gluing on colorful sequins with toddler-friendly glue brushes. Some children were kept busy just by brushing on the glue like Oliver and Leo, while others liked to sprinkle the sequins on and see them stick.

Busy workers used tools to build a small sukkah in our classroom. In doing so we learned the names of various tools as well as their differing uses. Hudson chose to bang the sukkah with a hammer and Eric moved the saw up and down, feeling the bumpy effect made by the ridges.

Hendrix made a connection between the tools and the screws in the furniture around the room. He looked all around, turning his screwdriver wherever he found a screw.

We explored the mitzvah of shaking a lulav and etrog with a plush play set. One day we brought in real lemons to feel and smell since they are similar to an etrog.

Rabbi Sollish presented an interesting demonstration of a real lulav and etrog. He showed us each part of the lulav branches and then brought the etrog around to see. 

Thanks to Kitah Bet, we had a small-scale sukkah on the playground to use! We stood inside, sat inside, and sometimes pretended to have a meal inside too.

 Immediately following Sukkot is the holiday of Simchat Torah. This is where we rejoice in having the Torah by finishing reading through it and starting all over again. It's customary to take all of the Torahs out of the ark to dance with them!

We made flags for the children to wave as they dance with the Torahs on Simchat Torah. To make them we pressed paint under bubble wrap to blend the colors. The bubbles were fun to pop too!

When our flags were finished, we brought them to circle time to dance together with our Torahs! 

Chag Sukkot and Simchat Torah Sameach!

Succot and Simchat Torah in KDH

 Beading our chimes.

Cutting, tearing, pasting and drawing a succah picture

Rabbi Sollish's visit with the lulav and etrog

Decorating and sitting in our Succah 

 Painting our crowns for Simchat Torah

Simchat Torah Dance

What a joyous time had by all!

Sukkot with the Kitah Gimmel Yeledim

Sukkot--the Time to be Happy . . .

     (Today, October 8, the children recalled some of their favorite holiday activities.  We sat down during lunch and chatted about all the good times of the past week or so.  We especially loved the dancing and the flag-waving of Simchat Torah! Below is a synopsis of some of our pre-YomTov activities, with a collection of our comments.  Enjoy!) 

      As soon as Yom Kippur was over, it was time to think about the joy of Sukkot.  We painted a box to represent a sukkah.  When it dries, we will put toy people inside it.  We will collect leaves and small branches for the schah, the open sukkah roof.

      We prepared our Sukkah decorations a few days earlier.  We used pipe-cleaners, beads and pine-cones. One boy said pine-cones grow on the ground; another child said they grow on trees.  We have to figure this out.

      The Morot shared several stories.  We also learned two new songs.  Our favorite is To the Sukkah, We Will Bring . . .because we can change the words.  We used toy foods to "act out" the story-line of the song.
 Here are some of the items we would bring to the sukkah:
Ari S:  mac and cheese
Noa:  cookies
Leiba:  lollipops
Ari E:  fruit
Shaya:  hot dogs
Henia and Pearl:  fish sticks
Sam:  apples
Shlomit:  chocolate
Yoni:  water
Rami:  ice cream and pizza
Levi:  vanilla ice cream
Reed:  fruit, apples and bananas
Hannah:  grapes
Ruth:  watermelon
Mortimer:  strawberries

     We created flags, too.  We painted and glued, and then we admired our photos.  We danced a practice  hakafa with our flags in our classroom.  We're ready to sing and dance on Simchat Torah!

Chag Samayach!

Morah Susan and Morah Sterny

The Joy of Simchat Torah

The holiday of Simchat Torah is characterized by utterly unbridled joy, which surpasses even the joy of Sukkot. We are celebrating the conclusion- and restart- of the annual Torah-reading cycle.

Who can better express the sort of uninhibited, pure and authentic joy that is felt on these days than children? We explained that there is an upcoming holiday called Simchat Torah in which we dance and sing with the Torah, and wave colorful flags to celebrate.

We sang the song, "Torah Tzivah Lanu Moshe" also known as the "Torah, Torah, Torah" song. We took our stuffed Torahs, and sang and danced in the classroom. If you are not familiar with the tune, you can listen to a sample here under Track 9.

After our Shabbat Party last Friday, we took our new Simchat Torah flags, waved them in the air, and danced around the kitchen with what can only be described as "utterly unbridled joy"! Take a look at some of our pictures from that day:

 

 

Have a chag sameach- a happy holiday!