Playng with Paint

 

Today during lunch bunch Jesse brought out some water color paints and white felt for us to explore in the sukkah. At first we used brushes to apply the paint to the felt. It was neat to see the vibrant colors but some of the kids found it tricky to get enough paint on the brush. Then we had an idea. We decided to drip the paint directly from the bottle on to the felt. It was so neat. The color was thick and vibrant and the children loved seeing the colors mix on top of each other. It was also neat to notice the different shapes the colors made and how the brush lines differ from the splatter paint effect of the bottles.  Many children came and spent time at this activity, all were excited to see the beautiful colors in our beautiful sukkah.

Rabbi Todd and the sukkah

Thank you Rabbi Todd for visiting with us in the sukkah!  We added our hand made decorations, shook the lulav and smelled the fragrant etrog.  Happy sukkot!!

In the Sukkah with Rabbi Jay

Today we took a trip to visit the sukkah located along the edge of the parking lot.  We were joined by Rabbi Jay who introduced the children to the idea of a sukkah as we sat inside.  Rabbi Jay read us a story about a sukkah and a squirrel.  We also learned about the etrog and the palm leaves which make up the lulav.  With the help of Rabbi Jay, several of the children held the etrog and the lulav together and shook them high, low, to the left, to the right, in front, and in back of their bodies.  We remember that G-d is everywhere as we celebrate Sukkot.  We also gazed up through the openings in the roof of the sukkah to see the sky.  Rabbi Jay told us of a time long, long ago when the Jewish people lived in huts like our sukkah.  We remember those times as we celebrate the harvest each year at Sukkot.

Building with Food!

Today the Tel Aviv class had a very special snack activity. The snack table had gram crackers, pretzels, soy nut butter and raisons to create our very own structures! Kids took plastic knives and put the butter on either the crackers or the pretzel sticks to try to create a structure that balanced and that had meaning to them. Quickly we learned that it was harder than it looked. The trick was putting the soy nut butter in the right quantity in the right place, which was pretty tricky to do and used a lot of excellent fine motor skills Although it might have tricky to begin with the Tel Aviv kids got the hang of it quickly and created houses and sukkot to eat for snack. Charlotte quickly realized that hers looked like a sukkah and then Zach made a sukkah too! Josie made a road and used raisons for the lines down the middle. So neat! We love watching their creativity at work and when they were done they had a delicious treat to eat. Yum! 

Chag sameach!

Happy Sukkot to everyone!  Today in the Etzim classroom, we ventured outside to the Temple's wonderful sukkah.  There we met Rabbi Jay with the lullav and the etrog in hand.  Rabbi Jay talked with us about sukkot, and lead us in reciting a blessing together.  Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha-olam asher kidishanu b'mitz'votav v'tzivanu leisheiv basukah.  


There were many decorations up in the sukkah already and it was looking marvelous.  We had many discussions about the decorations we saw including painted pumpkins, stars, paper chains and many other things! We are excited to start making our decorations in class tomorrow.  The Etzim children were so excited to be outside and in the sukkah, we can't wait to spend more time in both of them this week!

Building the Tel Aviv Sukkah!

During playtime today the Tel Aviv class decided they wanted to make their own class sukkah. They checked the room and hallway for building materials and found three big wooden frames and lots of cardboard boxes. Using lots of teamwork they quickly created a beautiful sukkah but then they realized…what about the decorations!?

Within minutes the majority of class had dropped the sukkah building and raced to the art table to eagerly create paper chains. Each child made a strip by coloring and adding tape. We soon had a nice size link made my many members of our Tel Aviv class. Some kids even choose to draw pictures of sukkot, wood and leaves on their links. How neat! We are excited to hang it up in our sukkah tomorrow!

Exploring Sukkot

The Keshet class was excited to visit with Rabbi Jay in the sukkah this morning.  We explored the sukkah, noticing the beautiful decorations: greens, pumpkins, and some lovely creations that were hanging from the roof.  We all looked out through the roof to see the blue sky and the clouds floating way above us.  Rabbi Jay explained how the Jewish people had lived in huts like ours long, long ago.  He also shared the lulav with us.  The kids had a chance to shake the lulav: in front, behind, to the right, to the left, up high, and down low.  Rabbi Jay explained that this was a way to remember that God is everywhere.

We took our paper crafted apples with us to the sukkah and hung them on the walls to add some bright color to this wonderful place.  We plan to return to the sukkah on Thursday and to have our celebration of Shabbat inside.  Please feel free to stop in for a look around the sukkah when you bring your child to school.

Circle in the Sukkah!

The Tel Aviv class had a lovely outdoor circle time today! We asked the question, "What is a sukkah?" It was great to be able to describe the structure we were in! We discovered that sukkot (the plural of sukkah) have wood, branches and doors and it’s kind of like a house or a building. Great observation, Tel Aviv class! After we discussed sukkot we looked at pictures of sukkot from all over the world. We noticed that some looked like the one we have at the Children’s Center but some are very different. However we all noticed that they had walls, a door and a roof- often made from branches. We also noticed that many had tables and chairs inside which made us want to have snack in the sukkah, which is now on our agenda for tomorrow. After we sang our welcome song with Torah, we headed inside ready to create our own class sukkah! It was so much fun dwelling together in the sukkah, I'm excited that we can do it again tomorrow!

Celebrating Sukkot and decorating the sukkah.

This week in the Unicorn class we have been working together to decide how we wanted to help decorate the Temple sukkah.  During a morning talk we talked about ideas such as adding plants we found on a scavenger hunt, pipe cleaners with blocks, or making paper chains with our own mural paintings.  It was a unanimous decision to bring in pieces of our OWN art into the sukkah decoration to make it special for our Unicorns!  Using scissors, tape and figuring out how to make circles from stripes of paper.  What started as a bit of a challenge has become a success and fun project that everyone has participated in!

Sunshine sukkah making

Sukkah Immersion

The Sunshines spent so much time making, visiting and learning about the Sukkah today. We played a fun "what's in the box" game with Ellen and even got a chance to have snack outside. It was a great day!

Look at my leaf!

The Haifa children came into the classroom to see their loft transformed into their own sukkah, but it was missing decorations. To find things to decorate with, we went on a nature walk. The students were very excited to find different colored leaves and run around in the sunshine. We now have a bag full of sticks and leaves that we can use to decorate our sukkah later this week!

-Alison and Sauci