Dinner's ready!

It is interesting to see how the manner in which children play with the same materials evolves and becomes richer over time.  There are often two or three children working in the kitchen area together in our classroom.  They might share some food or cook together.  This morning Ethan set the table in the kitchen with about a dozen different plates.  He chose and prepared food for each one: a slice of challah, a tomato, some lettuce, or some carrots.  He grabbed a pot and a spatula and banged away - extending an invitation to the rest of the children: "Dinner's ready!"  He was very excited when Harrison and Nancy joined in to sample his cooking.  It's great fun to cook, but to have others enjoy what you've prepared is a wonderful feeling.  Yum, delicious!

Cooking in Class for Skill Building....and enjoying with friends!

Snack is one of the favorite times of day in the Levana class.  And with such delicious snack options, who can blame us?  On Wednesday, we spent the morning preparing a delicious apple crisp by cutting crunchy apples, mixing ingredients, filling the plan, and baking it in the oven.


Cooking in class is a great way to work on several preschool skills.  We talked about following directions by reading and studying the recipe together, we worked on our fine motor skills cutting the apples into small pieces, and we are beginning to learn about measurements, using different measuring spoons and cups in our recipe.

Make sure to ask your kids about the apple crisp this week...every student ate and enjoyed it.  Samantha L. took one taste and said, "Ooh...yummy!"  Harold held up his plate when finished and exclaimed, "I ate it all!"








We also got to practice the important Jewish concept of "Hachnasat Orchim" or welcoming guests.  Smadar was in school helping out on Wednesday at the front desk.  We invited her to come in and join us for snack, and sat with our class, and enjoyed the delicious apple crisp, too!

Havdallah with Levana

The Levana class extended an invitation to the Keshet class this morning.  Would we like to join their Havdallah this morning?  The answer was a resounding yes.

First, the Keshet children enjoyed sharing the Levana "Boker Tov" song as we passed the class's torah from one to another around our big circle.

We came together to mark the end of Shabbat and the beginning of a new week.  The braided candle burned brightly.  We enjoyed smelling the sweet herbs as we imagined the sweet week to come.  When our singing and blessings were completed, the candle made a hiss or sizzle kind of sound as it was extinguished in the cup.

Thank you so much, Levana class, for sharing with us and for including us in another Jewish ritual.

The Etzim and Tel Aviv children join together to have snack in the Sukkah!

The Etzim teachers and children invited the Tel Aviv classroom to join them for a snack in the sukkah.  It is a mitzvah to gather and invite friends and family to share in activities and meals in the sukkah.

Just before the Etzim children arrived the Tel Aviv children put their sukkah up and when our guests arrived, we welcomed them with open arms and enjoyed a delicious snack all together!