Chanukah Blessings !!!

Sufganoit!!!

 

We measured, stirred, and poured our batter into tiny doughnut makers and then we squeezed the jelly into our doughnuts. I must say, that I was informed by a reputable source, Sesame street bakers, that the jelly needs to be squeezed into the doughnut from the MIDDLE and not the sides to be authentic... Luckily, for us, Matty's grandparents came in just as we were finishing up our first batch of sufganoit ( jelly doughnuts) We were given the 'delicous' rating and proceeded to make more. Thank you boys and girls for helping make our Chanukah school celebration such fun and thank you Mia for helping me pronounce Suf gan noit!! We are all such helpful boys and girls.

I'm A Latke !!!

 

What do you get with a mandalin, potatoes, and a lot of cooperation??? Boys and girls worked together to prepare latkes. Can you see the amazed look on their faces when the potatoes were shredded and magically appeared underneath the mandalin? It was a lot of fun preparing and eating this delicious holiday treat.

Some boys and girls decided that they were 'eaters' not makers. So much fun

What NO food?? No Problem ~

 

The table was set for Shabbat and our Chanukah celebration. The fine china was out, but there was one slight problem. There was NO food. As one can see, Hadley and Mia got right to work, drawing healthy food choices, brocolli, strawberries, blueberries, and watermelon. It was a great dining experience. Thank you...

The TBSCC Kids Star in Candlelight by the Maccabeats

Kohavim Menorah Museum

Kohavim Menorah Museum

Lighting Our Very Own Chanukah Menorah

Lighting Our Very Own Chanukah Menorah

Chanukah Candle Lighting

The Menorah Performance

Chanukah Candle Lighting

The Menorah Performance

Tel Aviv Band & Dance Party

Kohavim Chanukah Dance Party

Decorating Dreidels

The Rainbow children decorated dreidels today using foam shapes related to Chanukah. It took a lot of fine-motor coordination to peel the backing off of the shapes and then stick the shapes to the dreidel. As is evident from the pictures, the children were very focused, determined to do this task  without teacher assistance. Thank you to Sophie and her family for bringing this activity in for us to enjoy!

Learning A New Song

Rohan also taught the Rainbow children the Sevivon Sov Sov Sov song. The children enjoyed hearing the Hebrew words,singing, picking, and spinning their dreidels. Getting to spin around like a dreidel was lots of fun too. This activity had many skills involved: listening, repeating, learning a new language, color recognition, fine-motor and gross-motor. Happy Chanukah everyone!

Candles, candles everywhere!

 

The Rainbows lit three candles today in celebration of the third night of Chanukah. The candles burned brightly in our window again. Later in the morning Sophie was the shabbat helper and lit the candles for us. The children are learning about the rituals around Chanukah which are new to them, as we continue to practice the rituals that shape our weekly shabbat celebration which has become an integral part of our time together at school.

Here's wishing all of you much warmth and light for Chanukah!

Reading Time

The Rainbow children enjoyed some reading time today with Nancy. As our reading area is a small space, the kids had to figure out how to sit without bumping into each other so that everyone could see and enjoy the book together. They all listened attentively to the story while asking and answering questions as Nancy was reading.

Levana Chanukiah

The first step is to paint the paper towel
roll candles that have been glued to a wooden base of our giant-sized chanukiah. We used a selection of sparkly colors to decorate. Samantha, Micah and Eliana carefully apply the paint with focused attention.
Eliana lights the candle with orange and yellow tissue paper.

We wish all our Levana families a blessed and beautiful light-filled Chanukah and New Year!

Hebrew with Rohan!

Rohan stopped into the classroom to teach us some Hebrew today! She started with one of our favorite songs "Sevivon, Sov, Sov, Sov". She taught us that Sevivon means dreidel and Sov, Sov means turn around in Hebrew. Then we pretended we were spinning dreidels as we sang "Sevivon, Sov, Sov, Sov". We sang the song again as we were spinning real dreidels. Everyone picked the color they wanted and started spinning away...Ah-dome (red), Ka-chol(blue), Tzahol(yellow), Segol(purple), Yah-roke(green), Katom(orange). Thanks Rohan we had a lot of fun!

Kids Taking Photos!

Check out these action shots! Teddy F, Kohavim took these photos!

Sharing Space...

Sharing space is not an easy thing to do, but these children make it look easy. Eliza and Lily thought it would be nice to eat snack in a cozy little space ...Underneath the easel? Hannah asked if she could sit with them, so they scooted over and made room for her. Then Rachel asked if she could sit with them, and they made room for her too. I don't know how but they did...It was tight quarters under that easel.

Happy Birthday Max!

Max will be 4 years old on December 24th! Kathy and Adam joined Max and his Tel Aviv friends for a special birthday celebration! We sang "Happy Birthday" in Hebrew and English, read Max's birthday book from his classmates and then read a few books that Max picked out from home. As of December 24th, everyone in the Tel Aviv classroom will be 4 years old!

The Chanukah Party

Dreidle Painting!

Today in the Haifa class we took our dreidles out of the sensory table and put them into the paint! We pulled on our smocks and took turns dipping the dreidles into the different cups of paint and spun away. Some people spun the dreidles, others printed with them, and others still turned it into a finger paint picture! We thought it was a fun way to take our everyday Chanukah toys into a new medium!

-Alison

To Israel!

On Sunday Tina will serve as part of a delegation of shagrirot (ambassadors) with 9 educators from our community to Israel for a week of learning, touring and visiting our partners in Haifa. Our partners put together a rich and meaningful program that will benefit the participants, their communities and the greater early childhood community. Upon her return Tina will share her experiences with our TBSCC community. This trip is part of the Boston/Haifa Early Childhood Connection and Tina has been preparing with study, joint learning, and classroom application over the past year. All through the school day you can see evidence of how important our connection to Israel is for all of us. The songs we sing, the Hebrew we speak, the pictures and books we look at, the topics we explore, all give us opportunities to bring Israel to us…and us to Israel. The same things have been happening in the classrooms in Haifa. As we celebrate Hanukkah in Needham the children in Haifa are singing the same songs, and spinning and making dreidels just like us.


Follow along with Tina's itinerary:

Sunday, December 25, Flight to Israel

Monday, December 26, Mt. Scopus overlooking the Old City to say the Shehechiyanu, Descend to the Kotel, Hanukah Candle-lighting

Tuesday, December 27, This Year in Jerusalem Begin the day at the Haas Promenade with a spectacular view over Jerusalem. Discussion on what “Lech Lecha” means in a modern context and whether Abraham passed the test of the Akeda. We then descend to the City of David, where Biblical Jerusalem began. Discussion of Jewish Political Morality in light of the Story of David and Bathsheeba. Walk through the dry Canaanite Tunnel and explore the recent excavations. Visit the Jewish Quarter & Cardo. Then we’ll explore the Machaneh Yehuda fruit & vegetable market and eat some sufganiot (doughnuts). Walk through Nahlaot neighborhood to see Hanukkiot displayed in homes.

Wednesday December 28, What Price Freedom? Ascend Herod’s mountain fortress of Masada by cable car. Delve into issues of the Great Revolt. Explore why the Jewish rebels chose to live here after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Descend by the cable car. Float in the Dead Sea. En route to Jerusalem, meet Ethiopian families who crossed the desert to Sudan to wait for months in refugee camps before being airlifted to Israel by the Mossad. Hannukah Candle-lighting with our Ethiopian hosts. Hands-on art program “Passover Haggadot” with Kol Ha’ot: Illuminating Jewish Learning Through Art.

Thursday, December 29, Jewish Space Workshop in the newly renovated Israel Museum. Set off for Tel Aviv. Reenact the moving moment when David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel at Independence Hall. Stroll through the Neve Tzedek neighborhood or the Namal (renovated port) area. Continue north along the Mediterranean Coast.

Friday, December 30, Visit partner early childhood schools in Haifa

Saturday, December 31, Shabbat with partner educators in Haifa

Sunday, January 1, School visits and secial program with Mirik Snir, Israeli children’s author, “literature as a second language.” At Hotel. Additional Haifa preschool educators are invited to join. Special program will include a talk, play, and materials exhibit

Monday, January 2, Yom Tiyul-Field trip with Israeli shagrirot to Ramat Ha-Nadiv near Zichron Yaakov. Special interactive workshop on the quality of the environment and promoting health. Walk through winery and main street in Zichron Yaakov.

Getting Ready to Say Good-Bye

Today we told the Unicorn children that Kira's last day would be this Friday. We talked about writing letters to Kira (she promised to write back!) Some comments from our friends included: "I will draw a picture of you when I miss you." "Just come over and visit us", "I'll make you something to remember us." We will all miss Kira but know there are lots of ways for us to stay in touch. We hope everyone will stop by on Friday during our Shabbat Shindig to help us send Kira off with all our love and best wishes!

Eight Little Candles, Burning Bright

The Levana classmates enjoyed a busy day working on a classroom menorah. We began with a large roll of paper, and worked hard to tape it to our floor. Sonia demonstrates the small motor skills required to tear the tape and attach it to the paper and the floor. We then spent lots of time tracing large circles for each candle, and decorating with crayons and markers.

Then came the performance... 
                               
                               Eight little candles burning bright, Chanukah is here.
                               Eight little candles in a row, with a flame so clear.
                               Melt little candles, one by one, you have been such fun.
                               Eight little candles go to sleep, when Chanukah is done.

In their role as candles, the children combined movement and song, and enjoyed the candle crowns that they had made earlier. We were happy to have our Unicorn friends join us, first as an audience, and later as co-performers. Pretending to melt and go to sleep is great fun, especially when shared with friends.

Where did all the wax go?

Yesterday we were able to light the first candles of Chanukah! Despite having to re-light them after a fire truck display, we got to watch all of the candles burn until nothing was left.

But then the question remained: where did the wax go?? We spent some time at our second circle coming up with theories about where the wax could have gone. We also checked inside the menorahs to see if the wax went back inside. We are going to spend some time today exploring ideas of evaporation and figuring out where wax could possibly go!

-Alison and Sauci

Meet Haifa's Stick Person!

Avram is our lucky stick person of the week!! He has led us around school at the front of the line, told us the weather, and will get to spend winter break with our friend Wallaby!!

-Alison and Sauci

Making Latkes

The Rainbows really enjoyed helping in the process of making the latkes. They helped peel potatoes, stir and mix everything together, and then watch as the potatoes were mashed up in the electric mixer. They even got to take a walk down to the kitchen to see the latkes being cooked on the stove. What a treat!