Meet Bibi the bird!

Bibi is helping us to introduce some Hebrew as part of our daily routines...

We ask friends and teachers to pass the water- Mayyim -מיים , Juice- Meetz- מיץ

then saying please- B'va-ka-sha-בבקשה , and thank you- Todah Rabah-תודה רבה

Some of us choose to greet our friends in the morning circle by saying Boker Tov- Good morning- בוקר טוב . We are also counting in Hebrew as well... 1.אחת-Achat- ,2.שתיים Shtyim,3 שלוש . Shalosh ,ארבע 4. Arbah , 5.חמש Chamesh ....

When we asked the kids if they know how do we say apple in Hebrew, Sadie responded:

You should go and ask Bibi, she will know...

The children are having fun speaking Hebrew and will learn more as the year goes on.

Lunch Bunch Clay 101!

Clay comes from the earth: ancient, organic, substantial. It smells cool and dark. It is grainy inside its smooth moistness.Clay requires muscle. We engage clay with our own hands and feel it on our skin.There is an intuitive aspect to working with clay; through many encounters, we develop a sense of it's fluidity and substance.These encounters take place over a stretch of time, not in a day or a week.

Today the All Star Lunch Bunch children seemed to enjoy their first encounter with clay!  The children had the opportunity to manipulate clay by rolling it into flat sheets and used their fingers to pinch and poke a single lump of clay into a variety of shapes.

Stay tuned for more updates from the Lunch Bunch crew, regarding their explorations with clay!

The Proper Way To Wash Apples!

Today in the sensory the children had the opportunity to play with ladles,bowls, apples and water.Some of the children used the ladles to scoop the apples into the bowls.While others compared the apples by size and counted how many apples fit in their bowl.

Sam however had a different idea. Sam provided the group with his version of the "proper way"to wash apples before you eat them."First you put the apples in the water and swish them around.Then you blow them with your mouth. After that tada, they are ready!" You learn something new everyday!

Applesauce

The Sunshines enjoyed a feast for the senses today as they worked together to make applesauce. Fine motor skills and some effective grips were on display. We practiced the give and take of working together.."my turn to sprinkle the cinnamon.." and learned some new cooking vocabulary as we talked about chopping, dicing and sifting. When we returned from Havdalah. we were greeted by the aroma of applesauce cooking in the crockpot. "Is it time for snack yet?"

A Good Week

Each Monday, we welcome the new week with a havdalah ceremony and today was the first of the new school year. All of the children and teachers gathered together in a big circle and Ali started the music. The Community Room was dark and we lit the tall braided candle. It really glowed in the dark room! Jeffrey held the kiddush cup up in the air and we all sang the blessing over the grape juice. We continued with the sweet smelling spices, as Sam walked around the entire circle of children and teachers, stopping to let each of us inhale the sweet scent. Then Aden held the candle up high, the rest of us held our hands up as we said the blessing over the fire. We tried to catch the reflection of the flames in our fingernails. When we were done singing, Avery and Aden entinguished the flame in the juice and we wished each other a shavuah tov, a good, sweet week.

Havdalah is traditionally done on Saturday night, to mark the end of Shabbat. If you'd like to try it at home the full ceremony (takes just a few minutes) can be found here:
Havdalah Blessings- Words
Havdalah Blessings- Music (play a clip or download the whole thing for 99 cents)

Math1234567890?

Each week the Haifa All Stars are keeping track of the New England Patriots score by putting together a colored chain. Each circle of the chain represents one point that was scored by the Patriots during the game.

Every week we are using two different colors for our chain. This week, the children created the chain using red and white strips. The children cut each strip of paper for the chain and then put it through the previous loop and staple the strip to create a circle.

If you have been following the Patriots during the first three games of the season, you know that they have scored a lot of points thus far. This week, the score was Patriots 38 and Buffalo Bills 30.

We are connecting each week's chain to the previous week and hanging them along our window. When you are in the classroom, come in and check are We are connecting each week's chain to the previous week and hanging them along our window. When you are in the classroom, come in and check our New England Patriots point chain. It is pretty amazing to see how long it is already!

Counting to 100

The 100th day of school is one of the most eagerly awaited events in the Scientist classroom! The anticipation is great as we count down daily, looking forward to our special "100th Day" party.

Each day, during circle time, our class leader puts a sticker on one more number on our number line, helping us keep track of how many days we have been in school. And just so we can visualize what "100" actually looks like, each day we also add one more marble into a special bag, representing the number of days that we have been in school. So far, we only have 9 marbles in our bag, with 91 waiting to be added.

Party Central will kick into high gear some time during the winter - usually around the end of February or early March. Stay tuned!