The Shamayim children are learning about all the ways we take care if ourselves (brushing our teeth, washing our hands, putting on a coat in colder weather) and ways we can take care of each other (giving a hug or kiss, helping to rebuild, saying sorry).
Today, we explored how we can take care of each other at circle. After singing a few songs together, the children had the opportunity to stand and sing a solo (any song they wanted)! Travis, Piper, Joseph, Allison, Harrison and Avi were our first volunteers. All chose the ABC song except Piper who switched it up a bit with Twinkle Twinkle!
We faced our bodies toward the performer, tried to look at them so that they knew we were listening and gave a hearty applause when each child finished. Our performers felt proud and excited because we showed them how much we care!
We made tuna noodle casserole for the women who are living at Rosie's Place. It was amazing to see the difference in the children's understanding of this since the last time we made a casserole in the fall. We talk extensively about taking care of ourselves and taking care of each other. Kindness, being helpful, being a friend, smiling, and sharing are all ways that we take care of each other.
Sometimes we take care of people that we don't know because we know that they need our help and we know what we can do to help them.
Zach and Noah have been spending a lot of time together playing "Daddy and Baby". Zach (Daddy) speaks in a quiet gentle voice to his baby as he reads, feeds and cares for him. Later in the day Zach helped Noah place beads on wire. Noah was making a bracelet for his mom. Zach, thanks for being such a fine friend! We appreciate that you are always willing to lend a helping hand to a friend, classmate or teacher!
On November 1st, Kohavim will be welcoming a new child, Sabrina! This week, we have been getting ready to welcome Sabrina into our community. The children have been thinking about what Sabrina might need at school, what she might want to know about school, and how we can help her when she comes to Temple Beth Shalom.
Children have written messages and drawn pictures to tell her all about Kohavim. The children carefully thought about what they want Sabrina to know. Lots of messages included phrases such as "welcome" and "have a great 1st day!" The children also included information about the areas of our classroom, the playground, Shabbat and Havadalah. Max Greenstein wrote in one of his drawings, "This is the temple and it is fun!" We will be mailing our drawings and messages to Sabrina this week! We have also been searching the classroom to find what Sabrina might need at school. Hannah and Lily used clipboards to record what they found:
Hannah drew and wrote "hook" so we know Sabrina will need a hook or cubby.
Lily drew and wrote that Sabrina will need a photograph on our check in chart, a mailbox, and a hook or cubby.
The Kohavim children are so excited to welcome Sabrina into our classroom that they decided we had to figure out which day she will be starting. The teachers explained Sabrina would start on the first day of November, which is the month that comes after October. Together, we looked at the calendar and figured out which day is the last day of October. Then, Hannah added a message to the following day: "Sabrina Coming." The children then counted to discover she would be coming to school in 10 days!
