Preparing for Yom Kippur

Shalom Green Room families!  We’ve been having such a great time in school, and I want to share with you some things that have been going on.

The Green Room has been getting very excited for Rosh Hashana, the new year, and new beginnings! There is so much to look forward to this coming year. Have you seen our “Shofar Sho-good” photo shoot?

Morah Gitty and I have been teaching the children that Yom Kippur is not a goofy or silly holiday, but it’s a more “serious” holiday.  We practiced making “serious” faces.  We learned that some grown ups choose not to eat on Yom Kippur, so that we can spend some “serious” time davening to Hashem for a wonderful year.  When Mason told us that he didn’t want to eat on Yom Kippur so that he could “seriously pray” we told him that it’s actually a mitzvah to eat if you are a child!  Our Green Room friends were happy to hear that they can both eat and pray on Yom Kippur!  

On Yom Kippur, we read the story of Jonah being swallowed by a whale.  Morah Gitty did a great job telling the story, and our friends thought it was pretty funny that Jonah got to be inside a fish’s belly.  After we talked about Jonah, friends were invited to paint an ocean inspired scene with water colors.

During the first couple years of life, it is common for children to switch back and forth between using their right or left hands.  During the third year, and by the fourth birthday, most children will have a dominant hand.  My method of finding out who is right or left handed isn’t scientific, but it seems to work.  I held a small object in my hand, like a marker, and nonchalantly asked each child to take it from me.  The hand that they reached out with is typically their dominant hand.  Friends were invited to make a hand print on our LEFT or RIGHT graph. We enjoyed doing this fun activity and we will see if our predictions are accurate!  

We added a bunch of new loose parts to our classroom this week.  The children explored the different textures and shapes and discovered that some of them are hollow and some make noise if you shake them!  They enjoyed sorting them into different piles based on different qualifications that the children created themselves.  We're excited to be incorporating more loose parts in to our classroom in the coming weeks!

Morah Gitty and I would like to wish you a meaningful Yom Kippur, and an easy fast, if that is your custom.  
Shabbat Shalom and Good Yomtov!

-Morah Deena and Morah Gitty