Just one more kiss?

"I just want one more kiss from my Mom." Sally was not finished saying goodbye to her Mom this morning.  She walked over to me almost in tears and told me she wanted one more kiss.  I told her,"Mom already left the building.  Sally I have an idea...Let's draw Mom a big kiss and write her a note, and give it to her at the end of the day." Ally liked this idea as well.  The girls asked me to draw a kiss/ lips and they drew the eyes and finished their picture.  Sally's note to her Mom said," Mom I wanted to give you one more kiss this morning so here it is!"

Sometimes children are not finished saying goodbye to their parents or just miss them.  I have found in moments like this, drawing or writing to the parent is empowering to the child, and usually hits the spot or solves the problem.  Writing/ drawing a note to Sally' s Mom was a tool  that worked for her today!

A Great Way to Celebrate!

We love to read books in the Etzim classroom.  When we read a book in our class we start by looking at the cover.  We discuss the cover art and talk about what the book might be about.   We open the book and examine the title page.  Today when we opened our new book we found something new inside.   A bookplate!  We read the inscription and learned that our new book was a gift in honor of Ellen's new brother, Jacob!   We all agreed that a gift of a new book is a great way to celebrate a new brother!   We were asked to read "Jacob's book" many times today!

Happy Birthday Joshua!!

Tuesday was Joshua's 4th Birthday!! His mom and grandma came in to sing, celebrate and read to the class. Joshua was so excited to share his books from home with us and we were excited to give our birthday book to Joshua! I have been impressed with how thoughtful the Tel Aviv birthday books have become as the year has gone on. Each child created something that they spent time on and dictated a special message for Joshua. We hope that you enjoy the book and thanks again for sharing your mom and grandma with us! It was such a special day!!

Welcome to Our Menorah Museum

Last Friday, the Kohavim children officially opened a Menorah Museum for the day. All week they had been preparing by bringing in their family menorahs from home. Each morning different children shared the stories behind their menorahs. Some were given to children when they were born, some were purchased on a visit to Israel, some had Hebrew letters, and some had children's names. Each menorah was as unique as the story behind it. The children prepared a sign for the museum and invited all of the classes in the Children's Center to visit. The children explained that the museum would be open for only that day, as the menorahs would need to go home for families to celebrate Chanukah. All of the classes accepted the invitation and it was such a treat to welcome them into our Museum. The Kohavim children stood behind the menorahs providing the visitors with details about each menorah and it's story. The children were particularly excited to give Rabbi Todd a personal tour. Thank you to all our visitors and supporters. And a special thank you to the children and families of the Kohavim class who shared with us their beautiful menorahs and special stories.

Happy Birthday Micah!

On Wednesday we all celebrated Micah's birthday! First we sang "Happy Birthday" in Hebrew and English. Then we read Micah's special birthday book that his Tel Aviv friends made for him. We ended by listening to one of Micah's favorite books he brought in from home.

Sustaining Connections with Our Families

At TBSCC we prioritize family-school connections. In the Etzim class, one way that children were encouraged to bring their family lives into the life of the classroom is through the family apples they created last week. Each child filled an apple with all of the members of their immediate family. Hung at child level in the wall, these creations have been attracting a lot of attention.

"Dad! That's my dad!" said Jacob, heading over to the board. Josh quickly joined him, asking questions about Jacob's apple and then reviewing his own. Soon a small group gathered around, examining all of the families, discussing each one, and explaining their own. Be sure to ask your child to give you a tour of the family apples the next time you are in the classroom.

Elias turned 4 years old today!

Elias turned 4 years old today! Karen came into the classroom to celebrate with all of us. First we sang "Happy Birthday" in both Hebrew and English and then Karen read a few books...Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride and the special book the Tel Aviv children made for Elias in honor of his birthday.

It is tradition in the Tel Aviv classroom to make a book with personal messages for the birthday girl or boy to take home. The children love the idea of being able to take the book home and keep it forever!

After we read the books Karen baked an apple cake with the entire class! Everyone participated! Karen had the children all take turns cutting, measuring and mixing all the ingredients together! Then we all walked down to the Community Room kitchen and watched Karen place the cake in the oven with some help from Elias of course. We are all looking forward to eating a piece of cake tomorrow!

Karen thanks so much for coming in to celebrate Elias's birthday with us! Happy Birthday Elias!

Spending Time With My Sister!

Hannah and Samantha took Goldie and Silver out for a ride!

Fun in the sun!

Hannah (Tel Aviv) said it all! "Today was the best day ever Mom!"

She said a mouthful!

A Celebration for Sophie

The Rainbows' day was filled with wonderful activities.  We started with a celebration of Sophie's third birthday.  (It isn't official until Monday!)  Tricia and Scott came to join us and to share a couple of Sophie's favorite books.  One was about Ariel's adventure as she and her friends teamed up to rescue their good friend Sebastian.  The other one was all about princesses.  My favorite part was when Sophie's Dad read that "Princesses are smart, and they read lots of books."  This fit right in with our celebration of Shavuot.  You'll see that we dressed in our pajamas to be comfortable reading "all night" from our collection of books.  We also enjoyed a dairy snack that we made ourselves.  

Happy Birthday Sophie!

Happy Birthday, Zachary!

Zachary Bern turned 4 yesterday!!  His mom and dad joined us this morning to read two funny books.  We enjoyed listening to the stories and seeing Zachary's parents in school...what a treat!  Hope the year ahead is filled with lots of wonderful  moments, Zachary!!