Spin Like a Dreidel

This week, we had a special Hanukkah visit with Dancy Nancy.  The Etzim class took time stretching, leaping, jumping and their favorite- falling, with Dancy Nancy to some fun Hanukkah tunes.  Hoops in motions, the Etzim class was spinning and twirling in time with the music, filling the community room with laughter!  We spun, spun, spun, spun and all had a chance to land on gimmel!  

I Had a Little Drediel......

Drediel is such a neat game!! We have all played it so many times but sometimes it takes a group of kids to truly remind you how such a simple game has so many wonderful opportunities for learning! We have been playing drediel all week and we have been using foam letters as gelt which has created a fun literacy twist to what is usually a counting exercise. Drediel teaches taking turns, identifying shapes, patience, good sportsmanship, counting, patterns, fine motor development  and more! The Tel Aviv kids are starting to really master which shape/symbol/color connects to which action and they understand that it's really special when it lands on Green Gimmel  because that means you get all of letters! Drediel is a fun game to play with siblings and friends throughout the week of Hanukkah! We hope you get the opportunity to play with your children and see for yourselves how much they know!

Rabbi Jay comes to call

Rabbi Jay came by to visit the Keshet class this morning.  He talked to us about the holiday that's coming up soon: Chanukah!  He shared a song with us that described how we will light the candles on the menorah, one more on each night of Chanukah.  We put the menorah in a window so we can share the light from the candles with lots of people.  During the holiday, we might give a present to someone we love to bring some light into their holiday.  Rabbi Jay also taught us about the dreidel, spun a number of our dreidels for us, and led us in the Dreidel Song.  At the end of his visit, he asked if he might return another day.  The children were excited by that idea and agreed that he should come back again.   Rabbi Jay then explained to the children that he has a room upstairs where we can go visit him.  He even has some toys to share.  We'll be sure to take Rabbi Jay up on his kind offer.

What's a Dreidel?

Remember last Chanukah? Well, not surprisingly, many of the Levana children do not. Four months is such a long time in the life of a three year old! Today we read a book entitled The Jewish Holidays, and reminisced about all of the holidays that we have celebrated together this year. We talked about the songs we have sung, some of the special foods we have eaten, and the games we have played. When  the question, "What's a dreidel?" was raised, we decided to revisit some of our Chanukah items, and had great fun spinning dreidels out of season.

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!

Happy Birthday Eliza!

Today we celebrated Eliza's Birthday! We sang Happy Birthday and danced around her in a circle. Karen, Eliza's mom, joined us for this fun celebration. Together we read the birthday book the class made for Eliza, then Karen shared a special dreidel book with the class. Afterwards, we played with dreidels. The book was so fun we might even read it again tomorrow. Thanks Karen for joining us so we could celebrate Eliza's big day together!

Dreidels with Gabi

The Levana children have been having a wonderful time this week exploring our dreidel collection with Gabi. Spinning a dreidel is a little advanced for our Levana fine motor skills, but we have been having a great time trying (and knocking them down once Gabi gets them spinning!)

Five Little Driedels

Felt stories are something that the Unicorns enjoy very much, so we had the idea that making them would be fun too!  In circle time we have been reading rhyming poems and wanted to create a felt story to go along with one of them.  A favorite of the class has been 5 Little Driedels.  After picking out the color we wanted the driedels to be, we picked out glue, glitter and confetti to make them shiny and fun.  After the driedels are dry and ready, we will surely play!

                                               

What is Hanukkah all about?

Rabbi Jay joined the Rainbow class and spoke to us about the upcoming holiday of Hanukkah. We heard that long ago there was a mean king who made a law that said being a Jew was no longer legal. Judah Maccabbee and his brothers fought to regain the rights of the Jews to practice their religion. When the people cleaned up their temple, they found just enough oil to last one night. When the oil miraculously lasted for eight nights, the Jews decided to always remember their victory and this miracle in the celebration of the Festival of Lights!

The Rainbows enjoyed decorating paper dreidels with markers and stickers. They also made menorahs with playdough and adorned them with Hanukkah candles. Later, at lunch bunch, the Rainbows and a few Unicorn children also had great fun spinning a large variety of dreidels together. Now that's a chance to work on a tricky fine motor task!