It's Always the Same, (and That's a Good Thing!)

We're Thankful for Our Family, Friends and Our Stuff

(Whether we're three-years-old, or four, or even much, much older.)

(Above:  Kitah Gimmel, all of us, all together.)

 (Above:  Morah Susan's child-friendly Thanksgiving table, awaiting the youngest grandchildren.  Below:  Taking a walk in Mason Mill Park on Thanksgiving Day, just enjoying the neighborhood. Morahs are grateful for their families, and for the more material aspects of life, too.)

     Last week, we asked each child individually,  "What are you thankful for?"  Some of the Kitah Gimmelniks answered right away.  A few children needed time to think.  Some of us needed a further explanation of the question:  what are you happy about, here at school or at home?
    Morahs like to share with Morahs.  So when I told another teacher, "It's always the same answers.  The children are thankful for mommy and daddy and their toys."
    Of course, it's true.  It's also true for adults.  And it is a good thing.  It's a Jewish concept, too, to be grateful for our relationships, as well as for all our bounties.
    What were the children's responses?  What are we thankful for?
Avraham Chaim:  trucks.
Annabel:  playing with Benjamin, Lilly, Mommy and Daddy.
Asher:  my baby sister.
Ben:  toys.
Dalia:  my Mommy and Daddy are here everyday, and I'm happy to be here with my friends.
Eli L:  chocolate in the car, and Mommy and Daddy.
Eli S:  my Mommy and Daddy.
Eliza:  playing house with Dalia, and playing with my brother.
Emmett:  my doggies Bean and Lucy.
Ezra:  my Baca and Grammys came to my house because I have a baby!
Gabi:  eating challah..
Harper:  my birthday coming up, for my sister and me.
Leah:  chocolate in my backpack.
Logan:  my sister Hannah.
Maddy:  playing at my home.
Menny:  Hashem.
Rafi:  playing with my brothers and Mommy and Daddy.
Shane:  Ruby, my Mommy and Daddy and Grams.
Shayan:  playing with my Mommy and Daddy.
Sylvia:  my baby brother.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving Weekend, and Shabbat Shalom!

The Kitah Gimmel Morahs, and all the grateful Kitah Gimmel Yeledim

 

An Attitude of Gratitude by KDH

An attitude of gratitude is what we foster in IJP. Every day we begin tefilla, singing Modeh Ani, thanking Hashem for our neshama and "giving us another day." Giving tzedakah every morning also reminds us of how fortunate we are to be able to help others.

Of course, while preparing for Thanksgiving we focus a little more on being thankful. We asked all the children,what they feel thankful for.

I’m Thankful for…. 

Ari Effron:  my friends.

Ari Shacham: my whole body

Casssie: My mom,she gives me presents, we go out to dinner and picking acorns.

Dovid: My mom and my dad, my babies, my brother, my birthday, my house and the Torah.

Freeda:  my baby brother.

Hannah: my birthday.

Henia: the Torah. I love it!

Izzy: my cousins.

Levi: the Torah.

Max: my brother.

Noa: my cousins.

Pearl: my mother and father. They give me treats when they go away and come back home.

Reed: my sister.

Ruth: hugs with my mommy.

Sam: my house.

Shaya: my house.

Yoni: my toys.

We wrote each child's comment on a "feather." Each child then drew a picture of what he/she told us, and cut out the feather.

Finally, we put it all together:

Our Thankful Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Morah Ruth
Morah Sara
Morah Gail

We Are Thankful . . .Every Day, and Thanksgiving Day

      What do we know about Thanksgiving?   We know that we are thankful, and we say this every day in our Tefillah.  We also know our American history . . . and that the Thanksgiving  holiday celebrates the first Thanksgiving so long ago.

Spontaneously reenacting the First Thanksgiving on our playground.  Morah Sterny asks, "Boys, where are you going?"  Rami has his hands on the wheel while Yoni responds, "We're going to America!"

We are Thankful for . . .
We made a list of everything we are thankful for. . . 

Rami:  my house.

Shaya:  hugs with my brothers.

Reed:  my sister Ansley, and brushing her teeth.

Ruthie:  Mommy.

Yoni:  my kitty-cat.

Noa:  my neighbor's dog.

Pearl:  my parents.

Mortimer:  my Lego set.

Izzy:  Mommy and Daddy.

Ari S:  Ima and G'ma, Safta, Amber, Amanda, Lev (he's almost big!) and Aba!

Hannah:  Aba.

Ari E:  the hugs I give to Ziva and Albee.

Leiba:  a trip to Disney World.

Shlomit:  Mickey Mouse.

Sam:  food on the table.

Levi:  the food in my house

Henia:  my Aba and my Ima and my kitty. 

     We shared a few stories about Thanksgiving.  One of our favorites was about Squanto, the American Native who taught the Pilgrims how to plant and fish.

 

We are watching our variegated corn cob experiment.  What will happen next?  We will wait . . . 

    









     We learned about the importance of corn to the American Natives.  We tried our hand at baking corn bread.  The result was tasty!

Our delicious, nutritious yummy-in-the-tummy recipe for corn bread: 

1/4 cup corn meal
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 8 or 9 inch round pan.  Blend all dry ingredients, stir in remaining ingredients.  Pour batter into greased pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes.  And if you're expecting 100 guests for company, as we did for our recent IJP Thanksgiving lunch, simply multiply the above ingredients by 10, and you're ready to go:)

     We also tried writing and drawing with a feather quill.  Did people in the "old days" have iPads?  Definitely not. We dipped our quills in black paint and went to work.  Morah Susan told us that the Pilgrims squeezed berries and used that as their "ink."  To demonstrate, she squeezed a cranberry to show us the juice.  It was very juicy and red; it squished on her shirt, so we know it is a lot like ink!  (Pictures below:  writing and drawing with our quills and "ink.")

     

(Above, We take turns sweeping our floor with an old-timey broom.  A Pilgrim's work is never done!)

Some of us practiced building houses using our wooden logs.  It wasn't all that easy.  Imagine the life of a Pilgrim!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Morah Susan, Morah Sterny and Kitah Gimmel

KDH Show and Tell

Why were there so many hats in KDH today? Luba had a raccoon hat with a tail, Amitai was sporting a top hat, and Bryna looked glamorous in her Hello Kitty hat. Sholom was wearing a wizard's hat, looking like he was ready to pull off a few stunts. Perly had a helmet with him. Is it Purim already?!! No, not that. Adaya had a house, Kemp brought in a book about Homer and Mia had a stuffed animal, named Henry. Why??

Wednesday is Show and Tell day! Each week we have a different theme. 

Today's theme was the Letter "H." 

Show and Tell began after the Chagim. The first week was the Letter F as in Fall and/or Fall objects. 

 Cassidy is showing us the Letter F that she drew filled with fall leaves. 

Our next topic was the first letter of each child's first name.

Laylah wrote her name with Legos and Josie had a jar with the word jar written on it with stickers.

 Libi brought in a lamb that begins with L. 

 Mia had a monkey for M.

 Kiddush cup for K was what Kemp shared with us.

The next week the children brought in objects that started with the first letter of their last/family name. 

 Perly and Bryna Tedoff served us all tomatoes, yum!

\

 Ziva had an egg for E as in Efron.

 Adaya showed us her Mini Mouse for M as in Malka.

Motty shared a lime for L as in Levin with the class.

Before Thanksgiving the children all shared something that they are thankful for. 

 Josie is thanking for her parents, who got married. 

 Mina is thankful for her family and the trip her to Disney with her grandparents.

 Eli is thankful for the good things Hashem has given him. He has toys, art projects and a lovely family.

 Sholom appreciates his home and family.

Motty is thankful for the Torah. 

The Morahs are thankful for sweet, creative children, with their sense of  apppreciation and  humor. 

Cassidy actually brought her mother to school for show and tell to show us what she is thankful for. 

Motty asked us, "Do you know why Josie's parents' wedding picture is black and white?  That's because it happened a long time ago!"

Wipe away a tear and then, You gotta laugh! 

Morah Ruth