making adjustments

Many of the children were engaged in play with the Playmobile toys after snack.  The children explored the accessories for the knights and became quite imaginative in their play.

Gabriel really wanted to play with the motor boat that Rose was using.  There were other boats available, but not quite like the motor boat.  As soon as some of the children heard the word boat, several others also realized that they, too, would like to play with a boat.

Rose traded the motor boat with Gabriel for a smaller ornate boat.

They both seemed please with the trade.  Grayden found a boat to use while he waited for a turn with the motor boat.

Josh, who thought it might be fun to use a boat, decided to create his own boat with a flat piece of plastic and simply placed "his guys" on top.

Great job making adjustments so that everyone seemed to get what they needed!!

Havdallah with Levana

The Levana class brought their Havdallah celebration to our classroom this morning.  The children enjoyed singing the chant together, smelling the sweet spices, and voicing their hopes for the upcoming week.  We all look forward to enjoying a sweet week!  We also shared our morning songs - those that the Keshet class sings as well as the Levana class's traditional songs.  We spent some time playing in the sand table and the library before we parted.  Thank you, Levana!  You made our morning a delight.  

red and orange

green and blue, shining yellow purple, too.  All the colors that you know, live up in the rainbow.  It was a colorful morning in the Shamayim class.  We had lots of opportunities to sort, match and play with color today - take a look!!

Our First Shabbat Together!

First we spent some time outside playing on the playground. Josie and Zach enjoyed spending time in the kitchen area, making goldfish cakes. Molly and Charlotte decided to play house and care for Molly's baby. They put the baby on the swing, fed her and changed her diaper multiple times. It is so nice to see the children playing and connecting with both their new classmates and their old friends.

At circle time we read Sammy Spider's First Rosh Hashanah, sang our welcome song, picked our first STICK PERSON for next week (very exciting stuff Adam will be our leader for the week), and talked about our hopes for the Jewish New Year. During free play we braided our own challah and had the opportunity to make New Year cards.

We ended the day by gathering together for delicious group Shabbat snack...We said the blessings, sang songs, ate challah and apple cake! It was a wonderful ending to a fantastic and fun first week!

Sasha and I wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year!

sunshines on a rainy day

water babies

Our sand table is gone and in its place is a new slippery water table!! The Rainbow class worked very hard to remove all of the sand (thank you!) and we finally filled the new container with water. It was a perfect day to get a little wet - it is so warm out! We used cups and laddles to pour the water and then realized our babies were a little dirty. Zachary and Noah Sussman took their sleepsacs off and plopped them right into the water. We used wipes to clean them off and they are now clean and nice and cozy in their crib.

What to do with a GIANT piece of cardboard?

Today we presented the Tel Aviv class with a HUGE piece of cardboard and a lot of cardboard boxes. We were so excited to create an open-ended project that could be based on the ideas of the children in our class. When I presented them with the board and said what do you guys want to make and there was a overwhelming response of, “SUKKAH!!!” So, Sukkah it is!

The class is SO excited about creating our new class sukkah and today everyone started decorating the cardboard wall by either drawing designs or by cutting shapes and gluing them on. Dylan was the very first one to start drawing and brought many the other boys with him, and then the girls were quick to follow. They colored on complete side and then decided that they wanted to also color on the other one! Jacob drew lots of zig zags and then Eliza also added some zig zags next to Jacob’s in another color. Eliza also added an “M.” It was so neat to watch the children’s excitement about having the freedom to create and draw anything they wanted. Then they even decided to add some other media. Max and Eli were the first to start cutting. They decided they wanted to use scissors but they didn’t know what to cut. They tried to cut a milk carton and cardboard but found that that was challenging. Then they cut up newspaper coupons and found out that the paper was much easier to cut. Once they cut the paper up, they excitedly glued it to the sukkah adding a new layer to our creation. Rachel found some glitter paper and cut it in a circle creating a section of different layered paper. I was so pleased that every single child added something and I am excited to see how this project will grow and evolve in the upcoming week.

Wonderous Wedesday

Our Wednesday in the Unicorn class was definitely a fun one!  We are certainly working on getting our routine down in the classroom and the Unicorn friends are doing a great job walking down the halls and stairwells together with all 13 of us!  Our morning free play consisted of magnetic builders, wooden blocks, play dough, puzzles, art and our Science Center!  Our Science center has been a big hit with it's little flashlights.  Today, our science center turned into The Unicorns D.M.D. when Harper, Max, Abby, Madison, Jared and Julia took turns pretending to be the resident doctor checking teeth and recommending tooth paste.  Abby and Harper opened up a manicure station with the magnetic builders.  It was a great first Wednesday of the school year, and look forward to our first Thursday tomorrow!