reminiscing the year gone by...

As we sat for circle this morning, we discovered that today was our last full day of school as the Shamayim class.  We will meet again on Wednesday but we will also have the big Shalom party so it will be a little different than usual.  

We started by counting from September to June on our fingers...that's 10 months!  Ten months is a VERY long time!!  We've done so many things as a class and have had a lot of fun learning and growing together.  Here are some memories from our year together:

Grayden:  I liked playing in the sand table.

Josh:  I liked playing on the slide.

Isabella:  I loved the swings and when daddy dropped me off.

Bennett:   I liked hiding behind the tree on the playground.

Rose:  I loved when dada comes to pick me up at the end of the day.  

Sonia:  I loved doing beads at school.

Lily:  I loved the big girl swing.

Sydney:  I liked knowing what snack we would have.

Ilan:  I liked playing with friends and toys inside and out.

Victoria:  I made new friends and loved to climb on the structure.

Ava:  I liked Dancing Nancy.

Max and Gabriel were not at school during circle.  Their friends brainstormed what they thought Max and Gabriel's favorite things at school would be:

Max:  Digging on the playground and listening to stories
Gabriel:  playing with the trains and singing.

Judi:  I loved seeing the smiling faces of the Shamayim children whey they arrived at school each morning.
Rebecca:  I will miss all of the shoes in the Shamayim class.  The children have grown so much and it has been fun to see all of the new shoes enter our classroom.

We hope you have a wonderful summer and we look forward to seeing you all in the fall!!!

taking it all in

When we arrived in the Community Room for Dancing with Nancy, Noah Sussman wasn't quite sure how it was going to go. We had been having dance in the Social Hall the past few times and, although we are familiar with the Community Room, it was a bit of a change from our routine.

We began to stretch and then move around. Noah decided that he was more comfortable sitting with Judi and watching. It was obvious he was taking it all in and figuring out how to help himself enjoy the activity. Sometimes, it is important to allow children time when beginning an activity. The comfort that we may have to "jump right in" may not be the same for a particular child. As the time passed, Noah smiled at his friends as they moved and danced. When Nancy took out the parachute, Noah approached it with confidence...he knew he wanted to do this!

The torch has been passed

Sam was very excited to be the line leader this week and especially to be the Havdallah helper. In another pose which I was seconds too late to capture, he looked a little startled when Ellen lit the flame and carefully extended her hand and the candle out to him. Yes, Sam, you are now a Kohavim, the oldest class in the Center. You are the one to hold the candle during our Havdallah celebration. I have the rare privilege this year to teach many of the children who were in my class last year as well. Seeing their growth and maturity over the summer is amazing. Today I truly saw Sam "in a new light".