Kitah Gimmel's Dancing Feet

Music Moves Us 

     What do you do when you hear a stirring piece of music?  Do you sit quietly and focused, at the edge of your seat, listening and watching intently?  We do!  Or do you want to get up and dance?  We want to do that, too!

     Kitah Gimmel was entertained by Mortimer's dad recently.  He brought along his accordion and played for us.  At first, we sat quietly in our Big Library, taking it all in.  After we heard a song or two, we were ready to get up and dance, to join in and experience the simcha of it all.

     We had plenty of  time to listen, dance--and rest for a few minutes.  Then, Mortimer's dad showed us how the accordion worked.  It was fascinating.

     For most of us, this was the first time experiencing this instrument up close.  We looked inside it,and some of us touched it.  The accordion looks a little like a piano, works a little bit like a bagpipe.  All we know is--it was fun!

Great Times in Kitah Gimmel,

Enjoying the fun,

Morah Susan and Morah Sterny

Matzah Painting, Spring Nature Walk, and Pesach Jam Session - Kitah Alef

 Kitah Alef ventured out into the lovely spring air this week. We painted with brown paint and rollers to make "Matzot". Everyone enjoyed painting outside.

 Caleb and Annabelle made an extra painting outside. Annabelle: "I want pink!" Caleb: "I want red!"

 With the weather so nice we decided to go on a nature walk to see what we could find in the garden.

 The children found smooth pebbles. Sammy: "I put them in my pocket."

 We also found a rosemary bush. Morah Myriam: "Can you smell the rosemary?" Caleb: "I smell it!"

 Morah Myriam: "Should we take some back to the classroom?" Sammy: "Yes!"

There were yellow flowers. Caleb: "Yellow!"

 We brought some rosemary back to the classroom and everyone had a turn smelling it.

 Tehila, Evan, and Ezra watched us from inside the classroom. The children made faces at eachother through the window.

 On Wednesday we had a special treat. Evan's Daddy, Paul, came in to play his electric guitar for us! He even brought in his amplifier. The children danced and we sang "Where is Baby Moses", "Old McDonald", and "Let My People Go!"

The children each had a turn strumming the guitar. Morah Myriam (pointing to guitar) "What is this?" Ezra: "One, two, three..." Sammy: "It's red." Caleb (pointing to arm of guitar) "It's black!" Evan's Dad also sang us a song about everyone's shirts. "Tehila's shirt is green" (Tehila drums on her drum) "Sammy's t-shirt is wonder girl"  Morah Myriam: "What is your favorite song?" Caleb: "Ee Ay Oh!"

Kids in Motion!

Our class's favorite CD is Greg & Steve's "Kids in Motion."

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!