Simchat Torah

Sauci said it all when she said, the whole experience in the Santuary on Simchat Torah is "AWESOME"!

The etrog smells so good!

Over the last few weeks the children have had many opportunities to hold and smell the etrog, and to shake the lulav! Adamah has learned we have to be very gentle with the etrog and the etrog smells like a lemon, but is different.

This year the Adamah children can't seem to get enough of the etrog. These photos tell the whole story!

Bean Experiment

Tu B'Shevat is made for scientific exploration! The roots are an important part of the plant's sructure. Without them, the wonderful parts children see could not stand up and survive. Roots, of course, are underground and not typically visible. However, when children are given opportunities to germinate seeds in paper towels, transplant seedlings, weed a garden, or dig up plants for a terrarium, they will have opportunities to observe roots and develop their own ideas about the purpose of roots. On Tuesday, the children placed lima beans and brown beans that they found outside on the playground in paper towels and placed them in a ziplock bag. We will water/spray the beans everyday and encouage the children to record and represent their observations in our SCIENCE TALK JOURNAL. We will update you and share our observations!

Chanukah Puppet Show

We have turned our Dramatic Play area into a Chanukah Party, and today Audrey, Jack, Sophie, and Reed had a Chanukah puppet show.  They pretended to light their menorahs and made up a song whose highlights included  "We love the light.  The light is so beautiful.  We love the light." repeated over and over!

  

Etzim Visits With Ellen

The Passover Play!

What a way to learn the story of Passover! By acting out the story of Passover the Tel Aviv children have had the opportunity to experience the story first hand in a very special way! They know their lines/roles and know the songs well! Each time we act-out the story the children take on a new part or character. Today Jacob took on the role of the mean Pharaoh, Rachel-G-d voice, Hannah-Moses, Molly-Miriam, Lily-Frog 1, Eliza- Frog 2, Ezra-Aaron, Max-Slave 1, Eli- Slave 2, Dylan-Slave 3.

Matzah Play Dough?

I am sure you have heard of pizza matzah, matzah with cream cheese, jelly matzah and chocolate covered matzah... But what about play dough matzah? Well see for yourself the Haifa and Tel Aviv children made play dough matzah today!

We also built interesting structures with the big wooden blocks and magnitiles. Oh yes,and some of us enjoyed a long friendly game of "Torah slides and ladders". What a day!!!!

Designing our own pyramid!

By role playing with each other Sasha and I tried to teach the children about slavery and how it felt to be a slave. Slaves had no choices, were told what to do and when to do it! They worked all day and all night! The slaves had to build large cities for the mean Pharaoh!

When we think of Egypt we think pyramids and so if you were a Jewish slave one might think you had to build pyramids for the mean Pharaoh! So we decided to work together and build a pyramid out of paper bricks. Over the course of the next few weeks the children will trace, cut and design their own bricks for our pyramid. We are off to a good start!

Take 3 -The Story of Purim!

The Thursday Lunch Bunch children wanted to make a mask to go with their crown! Then we decorated them, and put on a fantastic Purim Play! We invited the Kohavim children to come into our classroom to enjoy the show. Every time we heard Haman's name the Kohavim children shook their groggers!


Acting out the Purim story gives the children the opportunity to experience the
story of Purim/characters first hand. Try it at home with the whole family... it's a lot of fun!

Take Two...The Story of Purim

Lunch Bunch begins with a short meeting...We talk about our day, sometimes we read a book and we also use that time to plan curriculum with the children. Today I told them that the Tuesday Lunch Bunchers had a great time making costumes and then put on a Purim Play. I asked them if they liked that idea? Well, what do you think their response was? That is right...YES!!!!!

They could not wait to get started! First they decided who they wanted to be, then they made a crown or a triangular hat. The excitement/energy in the room was high! After Leo and Ryan made their costume they asked ,"Where is the castle/palace?" I suggested we build one on the stage. They liked that idea a lot. I then asked the children, "What could we make the castle/palace with?" A few of the children said, "The wooden blocks!" So, that is what they did and what a castle it was!

The Unicorn and Sunshine children joined us and helped set up the chairs around the stage. After a few announcements the show started. I was the narrator and Mordechai, Lilly K was Queen Vashti, Ryan was Haman, Eli S and Sarah were Queen Esther, Avram, Jake, Max and Leo were King Ahashverus. The show was really something to see and at the end of the performance, everyone took a bow! Purim is such a fun holiday!

Tu B'Shevat Tree

As we have been discussing Tu B'Shevat in our classroom, we are even more appreciative of the beautiful trees that grow right outside our windows. We also decided that we it would be nice to have a tree inside our classroom. Not just any tree, but a big tree that we can put in the book corner of our classroom to help make it an even more beautiful and cozy area. There were many steps in the process of making our tree. Yesterday we rolled newspapers into a trunk and branches. Then we taped them together into the shape of the tree. Today we learned how to make paper mache (which, is turns out, is very fun so say over and over..). Paper mache is made by mixing water and flour mixed together. We then ripped newspaper into strips, dipped it into the paper mache, and used the strips to cover our newspaper tree. This project involved many skills and many steps. We all had turns exploring how to roll, rip, tape, cut, mix, dip, wait for a turn, and paper mache. More to come as our tree project grows....!

Hooray for Chanukah!

Most of the children, Sasha and Rachel (as you can clearly see) enjoyed the latkes for snack today. We read the Runaway Dreidel and then played the dreidel at the rectangle table. The Chanukah music was playing and we sang songs all morning long. At the end of the day, we gathered together and recited the Chanukah Blessings. Ezra told everyone, "When it is dark outside, then Chanukah will begin!"

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

Edible Menorah

The menorah is the most meaningful symbol of Hanukkah. Artistic Jews throughout the world have created their own versions. Taking the children to local Jewish gift shops, synagogues, museums to see the different renditions is a wonderful idea at this time of year.

Lighting the menorah can be confusing. The Haifa and Tel Aviv children are clearly naturals at lighting the candles on this yummy edible menorahs! We placed our bread on the plate. Spread it with sun butter and/or jelly. Placed on the base and candles with pretzels sticks, placing on one higher for the shammos. We placed the raisins on for flames and there you have it ...an edible menorah! Try it at home!

We unrolled Torah...What an experience!

Today was quite a day! We all gathered in the Sanctuary with Rabbi and Torah. Rabbi Todd talked about what we do on this very special holiday, called Simchat Torah (pick up Torah, unroll Torah, read Torah, dance with Torah etc). The entire children's center had the opportunity to hold the Torah in their hands. It was a sight to behold, to see each and every child cradle Torah like a baby.

Each and every year I find this experience so truly heart warming. To see each child cradling the Torah in their two little hands, is just the most wonderful feeling! Thank you Rabbi Todd for this wonderful experience!

Happy New Year!

Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the world. Jewish people everywhere wish each other Shanah Tovah, a good and happy New Year! Today the children had the opportunity to make cards for the Jewish New Year. As you can see in the photos the children put a lot of thought and time into decorating their cards! They liked their cards so much we encouraged them to take a picture of their card and capture the moment!