Happy Friday Green Room Families-

The Green Room has had a wonderful week getting into the spirit of Chanukah. During the week we had many themed activities including Sensory play with blue Shaving Cream, Dreidel painting as a class, Chanankah candle painting, and lastly a story of Chanukah each day during circle time. On Monday next week after Dreidels and Dads, we will be making Donuts to end the semester on a high note! 

Morah Brook’s Lessons this week consisted of Sound Letters A-H, Number 1-10 and even a few new Montessori Trays. During Community time we started sharing something that happened the night before, such as what we had for dinner, who we played with, etc. This really helps our friends practice the act of listening to their peers and understanding what they enjoy doing. 

As many of you know we have some Germs floating around our classroom. I want to assure all the families of the Green Room that Morah Sarah and I are doing our best at cleaning the materials during nap each day. We sincerely hope that Chanukah break will rejuvenate all our friends and give our classroom Germs a chance to freeze up. 

Have a wonderful restful weekend! 

Warmly, 

Morah Brook and Morah Sarah 

Happy December Green Room Families,

Can you believe it’s December already? Wow! Hopefully over the next couple of weeks you are spending much needed time with your families, and enjoying the cooler weather.

This week in the Green Room we focused on getting back into the groove of things after Thanksgiving break. Each of your children shared with the class what their Thanksgiving was like with their peers, and used a whiteboard to show their peers what the table looked like before they ate.

Academically this week each child was given a few new lessons on Montessori Materials. Including, Knobless Cylinders, Name Tracing, Animal Matching, People Matching, and the Spindle Box. If you are interested in any of these works I will make it a point to show you one on one during your conference next week. Our Sound Letter this week was “e”. When we arrive back from December break we will be doing two to three sounds a week, and sending home sound letter books for you to begin practicing with your child.

Our Parsha Topic this week was Vayishlach. Morah Sarah talked about the two brothers Yaakov and Eisav, and the different choices they made in life. Today (Friday) she will be asking each child to give her examples of good choices and bad choices and wrapping up the end of the story.

We have many friends in the Green Room who are not feeling well. Please keep an extra eye on your child over the weekend, we do not want to spread the germs. During our community time we have been reading a story called “Germs are not for sharing”. Remind your littles to cough in their elbows and wash their hands frequently. Sarah and I hope everyone that was out this week recovers fast over the weekend. Give your kids a big bear hug for us!!

Morah Sarah and I hope you have a relaxing weekend!

Warmly,
Brook & Sarah

Happy Friday Green Room Families! 

Can you believe the Rain this week? We had so much fun watching the rain fall, splashing in puddles, and even playing in the rain for a few minutes at a time. With the rain fall it was a perfect time to use our morning group time to talk about the seasons changing into winter. We talked about winter clothing, winter activities, and briefly talked about winter holidays. 

Since the rain was falling hard at some times during the day we took the opportunity to really explore loose parts while crafting. Some awesome crafts we did this week include;

• Chalk Painting (hammered the chalk down, and created paint)
• Loose Parts Painting on Canvas ( Hanging in the hallway)
• Necklace Stringing  
• Thanksgiving Wreath 

Chalk Painting, and Necklaces were sent home day of. If you forgot them they are in your child’s cubby folder. Thanksgiving day Wreath will be placed on our door next Tuesday for all eyes to see, and Lastly Loose Parts Paintings are hanging in the hallway.  

Next week we are looking forward to spending time with all of you at our special Thanksgiving Lunch. 

As always, please remember to dress warm as we are taking advantage of the wonderful weather and spending more time outside. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Warmly, 

Morah Brook & Morah Sarah 

Happy Friday Green Room Families! 

This week the Green Room Friends created some amazing Parsha crafts, and worked on new lessons. We began this week by reviewing the season of Fall and started the conversation/topic of Thanksgiving. 

Crafts that were made by your child this week include; 

• Popsicle Tents
• Placemats
• Together bakes two cakes
• Pinecone Turkey 

Each of these crafts were made special for the Parsha. During community time we talked  about the story of Vayeira. Morah Sarah talked about Avraham and Sara and their time with three Angels, and the special gift that Hashem blessed them with. Our Parsha word of the week was Hosting. Since Sara and Avraham hosted many people and Angels into their tent, the Green Room decided to host the Purple Room for cake on Friday (many  pictures will be uploaded to facebook). These three crafts will all be sent home Friday, please check your child’s backpack, and folder inside their cubby. 

Lessons that were presented to your child this week include; 

• Vayeira 
• Hosting 
• Sandpaper letter C 
• Gluing letter C (Fine Motor, Recall)
• Line cutting (Fine Motor)
• Squash hammering (Fall theme)
• Sand pouring (Desert theme) 

Every Morning when we come inside from outdoor play the Green Room does four main lessons. This week we focused Vayeira, and the holiday of Thanksgiving. We really focused on expressing what we are Thankful for. As always we talked about the timeline, and classroom rules each morning. 

Lastly, with the seasons changing please make sure to bring your child a jacket for outside play and changing out their extra clothes. It’s the most beautiful time of the year, and we will be spending a lot more time outside! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Warmly, 

Morah Brook & Morah Sarah

Happy Friday Green Room Families! 

This week the Green Room Friends created some amazing Parsha crafts, and worked on new lessons. We began this week by reviewing the season of Fall and started the conversation/topic of Thanksgiving. 

Crafts that were made by your child this week include; 

• Desert Scenery
• Backpacks for their journey 
• Toothpick tents 

Each of these crafts were made special for the Parsha. During community time we talked  about the story of Lech-Lecha. We talked about why Hashem chose Abraham and Sara for a special journey through the desert. Each of your children were then dismissed to create the above with Morah Sarah. These three crafts will all be sent home Friday, please check your child’s backpack, and folder inside their cubby. 

Lessons that were presented to your child this week include; 

• Lech-Lecha 
• Timeline of our day 
• Letter Sandpaper Letters B, C 
• Numbers 1-5
• Button counting
• Sound B gluing 
• Fall leaf cutting/coloring  

Every Morning when we come inside from outdoor play the Green Room does four main lessons. This week we focused on Lech-Lecha, and the season of Fall with the holiday of Thanksgiving coming up.

We are continuing to plan our day together every morning so we are all on the same page. 

Lastly, with the seasons changing please make sure to bring your child a jacket for outside play and changing out their extra clothes. It’s the most beautiful time of the year, and we will be spending a lot more time outside! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Morah Brook and Morah Sarah

Happy Friday Green Room Families!

This week the Green Room Friends created some amazing Parsha crafts, and worked on new lessons. We began this week by talking about the season Fall, and all that Fall brings to us.

Crafts that were made by your child this week include:
The Flood in the Bottle
Noah’s Boat (on paper, and by boxes)
Rainbows
Pumpkin Painting (sending home Friday)

Each of these crafts were made special for the Parsha. During community time we talked about Noah and how he made the right choices. We also talked about the boat, and who was on it. Each of your children were then dismissed to create the above with Morah Sarah. These four crafts will all be sent home Friday, please check your child’s backpack, and folder inside their cubby.

Lessons that were presented to your child this week include;
Noah
Timeline of our day
Sandpaper Letters A, B
Numbers 1-3
Pumpkin Hammering
Sound A gluing
Fall leaf cutting

Every Morning when we come inside from outdoor play the Green Room does four main lessons. This week we focused on Noah and The season of fall. With the season of Fall we are reading a special book called “I’ll Love You Forever”. Our Green Room friends really like to know what is going to happen throughout their day. I have recently created a picture timeline that we plan out together every morning so we are all on the same page.

Lastly, with the seasons changing please make sure to bring your child a jacket for outside play and changing out their extra clothes. It’s the most beautiful time of the year, and we will be spending a lot more time outside!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Morah Brook & Morah Sarah

Happy Friday Green Room Families!

This week the Green Room Friends created some amazing crafts, and worked on new lessons. I
really enjoyed getting to know some of you during curriculum night. Thank you so much for
letting me be a part of your child’s daily life.

Crafts that were made by your child this week include:
● Clay Honey Dish
● Placemats
● Apple Coloring

Each of these crafts were made special for Rosh Hashanah. During community time we
talked about Rosh Hashanah and what the Holiday means. Each of your children were then
dismissed to create something beautiful for the table during their holiday meal. These three crafts
will all be sent home Friday, please check your child’s backpack as the clay bowls are very
delicate.

Lessons that were presented to your child this week include;
● Rosh Hashanah Holiday
● Timeline of our day
● Letter sounds/pictures A, B,C
● Numbers/Counters 1,2,3

Every Morning when we come inside from outdoor play the Green Room does four main
lessons. This week we focused on the Holiday of Rosh Hasanah and the meaning behind it. We
talked about the sweet foods we will be eating to celebrate, and sang songs to honor the special
day.
Our Green Room friends really like to know what is going to happen throughout their
day. I have recently created a picture timeline that we plan out together every morning so we are
all on the same page.
I come from a Montessori background and have found many ways to incorporate Reggio
with the Montessori style of learning. This week we started doing our very first Montessori
lessons with nature and loose parts: Letter sounds, and Numbers counters. I have posted some
pictures on CJP family group so that you can see first hand what these lessons look like.
Morah Sara and I look forward to hearing about your wonderful Holiday weekend.
Shana Tova!

Happy Friday Green Room Families! 

I have had such a wonderful time getting to know each of your beautiful children throughout the week. They are full of love, kindness, and hugs. As the year goes on I am thrilled to watch each of them blossom. 

This week myself and Morah Sara worked on creating a routine with our friends, and started the process of understanding Rosh Hashana. Our new schedule looks like this; 

9:00-10:15 Outside Play 
10:15-10:30 Community Time with Morah Brook (Morning Greeting, Read a story, and sing songs) 
10:30 Friends are dismissed from community time one by one to wash their hands and prepare their morning snack 
10:45-11:45 Open Exploration and Individual work
11:45 Community time with Morah Sara 
12:00 Wash Hands and prepare lunches 
12:30 Lights out for rest time

The schedule will be changing in just a few weeks after the holidays are over as we will be able to go out later in the day! 

For Rosh Hosanna we made Apples (they are hanging up in our classroom), Shana Tova cards, and Honeybee paintings. Looking forward to next week when we will be designing clay bowls for Honey. 

Have a wonderful and relaxing weekend, 

Morah Brook and Morah Sara

Hi Wonderful Families of Chandler Jewish Preschool,

My name is Brook Haley and I will be joining the Purple Room on September 16th. I have been a Montessori Guide for the last six years, and was Montessori student myself until grade six. I attend The Center for Guided Montessori Studies where I earned my Infant/Toddler Montessori Certification. I have also worked with Children’s house children age ranges three to six. Coming full circle has been the light of my life. Working with children is the greatest gift! The days are full of love and adventure. In my spare time, I love spending time with my Fiance, and our three dogs. Together we enjoy wedding planning, hiking, lake trips, and cozy days watching movies. I am beyond excited to begin this new journey with you, and your beloved children. Together we will make this an amazing school year!

“Children acquire knowledge through experience in the environment” -Maria Montessori

Dear Green Room Families,

It was “All About Me” in the Green Room! Our friends practiced writing their own names, painted self portraits, worked with loose parts to make framework patterns and explored different shapes by tracing them on the carpet with blocks. 

We also enjoyed our new “Safe Center” addition in the classroom. This is a space to go to when we are feeling sad, overwhelmed, or just in need of some space. It helps remind us that we are safe, loved and capable. In addition, our sensory table was filled with sand which had hidden pictures of emojis where our friends were able to learn and identify a variety of emotions. During circle time, we can choose to sit on pads which help us work together to create a calm atmosphere for davening and story time. 

We can’t wait to continue seeing the amazing learning that’s been happening.

Masha has been interviewing teachers over the past week to make sure we find the best possible teacher for your precious children.  We hope that by Wednesday, we will have official news and can introduce our new teacher to you all.  Thank you so much for your patience and understanding during this past week!

See you Monday!

Morah Sarah and Morah Brielle

Dear Green Room Families,

In the short time that I got to know your little ones they have blessed my heart more than I can express. Thank you all for bringing me in with open arms and treating me like family. Unfortunately, I have to relocate to Tennessee in lieu of a family emergency. Although I am departing I want you to know that the Green room will remain as is to enhance the learning and exploration for your children. I pray you and the children have a wonderful year in the Green room and that they blossom beyond my expectations. Thank you for understanding,

Sincerely, Morah Andrea

Happy Last Friday of the school year! 

This year has flown by! I love seeing how far the children have grown in height, academically and growth within the classroom in the short time I’ve been here. These children are a very close set of friends and act like a family! What a fabulous community! 

This week as you may have seen, we worked on many art activities. We studied 3 artists over the past few weeks and the children are loving the different media we have been doing. Today we talked about Claude Monet and how he used small strokes to paint his pictures. We are adding our own 3-d part to it and the kids will be able to take them home on Monday. They are so cute! 

The last week is upon us and we will be finishing up the year. We will be practicing for our last day graduation ceremony all week as well as doing our last project of the year. 

It has been our pleasure to work with all your children and getting to know each one of you. 

Thank you for everything you do for us and your children.
Morah Amanda and Morah Devora 

Happy Friday! 

Thank you Moms for all that you do! Your children worked so hard this week on many many projects! We measured and stirred a lot this week as we prepared your sugar scrub! It was cute to see the children smell the three different essential oils and to see which one your child picked out. Most went with the Lemon scrub and a couple picked the Lavender. We hope you enjoy it. We loved today and watching you all decorate your aprons and make your challah! It was wonderful to see the teamwork! Thank you for joining us.

This week we not only did our Mother’s Day project but we also learned about 2 artists! Henri Matisse and Piet Mondrian! Please look at our Henri Matisse Art that is posted in the hallway. Next week we will display our Mondrian pieces! They are so amazing! 

Please remember to bring a water bottle for your child as next week is going to be in the 90’s! We have been so lucky so far with just a few hot days but I think our luck has run out! 😊
Reminder- Please write your child’s name on all their belongings (towels, bags, clothes- swimsuit included) and apply sun screen before the come on Monday for water play.  Thank you in advance! 

Morah Devora and I would like to say Thank you to all the families who gave us the many wonderful gifts, treats and items for the classroom! We truly do love your children and are grateful for each and every one!  

I hope all of you Moms have an amazing Moms day and dads we appreciate you as well! 

Have a great weekend
Morah Amanda and Morah Devora 

Happy Shabbot and Friday! 

I hope everyone had an amazing Passover with your families. Devora and myself  spent some time with our own families and we are glad to be back! 

This week seemed to fly by. The children have noticed that the weather is getting warmer and the need for outside time was great! We have discovered digging, the bugs outside which we did some research on and found instead of them being Box Elder bugs they may in fact be Milkweed bugs and of course we found the water! I’m sure you have noticed how much fun they have had at bath time! 🤣. 

This month is going to be a very busy one as we start the end of the school year! We have so many planned events and lots of projects to complete before the school ends. 

We are going to be learning more about bugs and explore different art media! 

Wishing everyone a Happy Shabbat 
Mora Amanda and Mora Devora

Shabbot Shalom

The children have been so busy this week with Pesach projects! We have been busy sewing, painting, fusing beads together, making our Afikoman bags, as well as taking pictures for the Haggadah!!

The children’s sewing has improved so much! We only had a few pokes with the needles and it was mainly to Mora Devora and myself when they needed help to hold their sewing projects!

The Seder plate was made for future use- we used velcro on each piece so it is removable and can be used for many years. We hope everyone enjoys the keepsakes!

Mora Devora has been telling the Pesach story and the children have been very interested in it! They love the part of- “Let my people go!” And the Pharaoh says- “ No, No, No!”. The ten plagues have intrigued the children and we have had many interesting questions from it.

Please remember that our weather is getting hotter and that the children need their water bottles and to have sunscreen applied before they come to school. We will reapply sunscreen before going outside during the late morning hours.

Wishing everyone a Happy Friday and a safe weekend!
Morah Amanda and Morah Devora

Shalom parents
This week we had a really busy week learning about Pesach (passover).
The kids were busy cleaning our classroom for passover.
We learned about the story of the Jews in Egypt, how Pharoah was a mean king and made the Jewish people work so much, and built so many pyramids, and the green room made some real bricks too with plaster.
We learned about baby Moshe in the basket, and we had our own baby moshe in the basket, that was visiting us for a day, and the kids were really exited to play and take care of the baby.  They took turns giving it a bath in the sensory table and were very gentle when they soaped him down!
We made a cool experiment with the yeast: we made two batches of dough, one with yeast, and another matza dough without it, and the kids got to see how big the dough with the yeast became after one hour.  We learned that matza is the dough without the yeast, because once the dough rises its consider chometz, and we can't have chometz on Pesach. The kids were really exited to make their own real matza (even though our matzas were to hard to eat) and to decorate the matza box.
We also learned about the 10 plagues, and we even had some pretend blood in our class today.
We are concentrating on the 15 steps of the seder. We made some real grape juice, the kids were really exited to try it right away. We also made the cup for Eliyahu (Elijah) hanavi. Some kids are even writing the steps in Hebrew.
We missed Morah Amanda this week, and she will be back next week.
Shabat shalom, Mora Devora

Happy Friday! 

These last few weeks seem like a blur! Our children have been so busy doing different work around the classroom. They have been working a lot on phonemic awareness in the Language area. We have some children who are getting very good at sounding out the words when I write a secret message to them.  Just a reminder that I teach phonetically first and letter names come second. The naming of letters are very easy and they can learn within a couple days, sounds do not.  They not only have been working on English but their Hebrew as well!

This week we have concentrated on getting ready for next weeks Pesach theme! We have built our Matza Bakery oven with the children’s help, we have a cleaning station that they are excited about! We used it this morning for the first time- let’s just say that the Moras put too much soap in the spray bottles!🤣. We have had soapy tables quite a few times and had to be rewashed and wiped off with some serious drying!. No more soap in the spray bottles!

We have a new form for putting on sunscreen, please fill it out giving us permission to apply it. You may turn it into either Devora or myself.  This is a state regulation so in order for us to put more sunscreen on, we need your permission.

It’s getting warm out so we ask that you put sunscreen on BEFORE they come to school and we will REAPPLY it at recess time.  Also, please look in your child’s cubby for changes of clothes- you never know when your child may have an accident or a spill and need to change. We have a lot of wintery type clothes so we may need to switch to cooler clothes. Also PLEASE bring your child with a WATER BOTTLE! We ask that these have a straw instead of open lids as this makes it more successful for your child- they get flustered when it spills and they have a huge cleanup.

These next few weeks are going to be full of exploration and a lot of fun for Pesach!!

Just a heads up- if you didn’t know I will be out next week visiting my daughter in Dallas but we have Mora Victoria coming in to help Mora Devora. Plus I am a text away if they need anything!

Thank you for getting the opportunity to be a part of your child’s learning experience!

Mora Amanda and Mora Devora

Shabbat Shalom! 

This week was filled with triangles and triangles and more triangles as part of the Purim Story. 
We used our breath to blow ping pong balls through a maze, we threw a bean bag to “fill” our hamantashen, we glued beautiful gems into triangle shapes and we made triangle bracelets! 

We made our delicious Hamantashen on Thursday and we found out we have some wonderful chefs in our class! They did amazing with shaping them into their three dimensional shape! All our triangle works helped!😊

The school spirit is high in our class- 
Crazy Hair day-  we had Mason who had the coolest red hair as well as his dad!  What crazy spirit they both made! Ari had a lot of crazy barrettes in her hair and Hammond who was very colorful with his red and blue with a few sparkles in his spiky hair. 
PJ day- EVERYONE wore their Pj’s!!
I look forward to next weeks spirit days!  Hopefully I WILL remember too!😊

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and lots of outdoor fun!! The weather is supposed to be nice! 

Morah Amanda and Morah Devora

This week was filled with so many experiences!!

We have the castles up and we have heard so many Kings and Queens ordering food or telling their people what to do!🤣 We have had moms and dads taking care of the babies and brothers and sisters doing many chores around the castle!

We were building castles of many different sizes and shapes- cubes, cones, cylinders, spheres and rectangular prisms in our block area. There have also been many puppet shows of the Purim story! The children are really getting into the story and who the characters are!

In the Art area, we have been concentrating on the Costumes and building the castles! We have many Royal children in our class this week!!

In the Language area, we have been working on letter sounds and have been practicing writing in both English and Hebrew. The children are starting to put small phonetic words together!

In the Math area, the children are having fun with getting out the odd and even numbers as well as the 100 board. 

Be sure to check out the Facebook group for all of our pictures that I have posted along with a few videos.

Next week we will talk about the foods of Purim and will be cooking!! Yay!! Hamantaschen! Yum!

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend! Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Amanda and Morah Devora

Happy Friday!
On Monday this week we Introduced the Country of Israel. The Kotel was a big topic this week and the children have been building it in many different ways. We used the 3D version with building blocks and legos. The children built the tunnels to go with it. We used the building set using the screwdrivers and screws to make a flat wall. Last, they decided to add in a cardboard wall using glue and sand to make the Kotel which we will hang today. 

In the science area we talked about the Dead Sea and how it has salt in it. We did an experiment to see what items would float or sink in regular water and then we tried the same objects in salt water. They were amazed that it changed the buoyancy in a few items. 

Next Month we will focus on Purim. 


Wish list for our next theme: 
Shiny or bright colored material: 5-6 yards 
Any baskets you may not want anymore 
Any trays you may not want anymore

Please welcome Ido and Ariel to our class! They are visiting us from Israel for a couple of Months and we are excited to have them with us! 

Happy Shabbat and see everyone next week! 

Morah Amanda and Morah Devora

NEWSLETTER 2/8/2019 COMING SOON!

Happy Shabbat Friday!

This week has flown by so quickly as we are getting ready for our Shabbat dinner next Friday! The children have been doing some amazing art work as well as academics!

The children have been busy cleaning and working so they can getting ready for Shabbat. In our Dramatic Play area, the table has looked amazing many times with the candle, Challah, wonderfu dinners and everyone dressed up!

In the Art area we have been practicing our coloring and cutting skills.... the coloring theme seemed To be “let’s make it rainbow!”

We added a curtain to the loft. It has turned into many different places from a house to the bat cave. We kept the lights up in the upper loft and the children love to go up there to lay down with a friend and a book under our Aurora Borealis!

We have been working on our addition facts as well as our numbers this week placing “raisins” on our challah bread. 5️⃣➕2️⃣

🔵🔵🔵Next week we will be doing a few messy art projects- if anyone has any old T-shirt’s or paint smocks that we can have, we would appreciate them. If not, please dress your child in clothes that can get paint and stain on them just in case! Also, we will be working with a sander (yes, power tools!! Yay!) please let me know if any of the children can not be around sawdust.

Thank you to everyone who has been donating items off of the wish list! It is very much appreciated! ♥️ We are excited to put these items in our classroom!

Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing weekend! Morah Devorah will be back from her trip next week, we have missed her!

Morah Amanda

Happy Shabbat!

This week has flown by! We started our week off with our wonderful dedication to our new playground and having a special person or grandparent come to join us! It was wonderful to see everyone enjoying the morning with the children. It was so fun to see everyone at our orange juicing booth. We have a lot of children who loved juicing!

In the dramatic play area this week, we shut down oour flower shop and changed it out to celebrate Shabbat. We have a lot of soup making, challah making, setting the table and cleaning the classroom!

The block area has been busy with creating ice bergs and different cold lands.

Our light table was a busy area this week with tracing our letters using the light. We also worked on our Hebrew sounds with Mora Devora using paint to dot our letters.

We continued this week talking about The Artic and Antarctica Animals, mainly the penguin. We had our “northern lights” up inside the loft. And the children enjoyed laying down and looking up at it. It, of course doesn’t do justice to the real thing!

Our books for the week were-
“Animal babies in Polar lands”, “Way up in the Artic”, “Recess at 20 below”.

The children loved reading about children going to school in Alaska and how it’s so different from our school! We don’t get to sled on a big pile of snow for months!(in my opinion, Thank Goodness!)

Coming up next week- Talking more about Shabbat, with many projects for us to do and explore!

Have an amazing weekend!
Morah Amanda and Morah Devora

Parsha's Yisro:

In this weeks Parsha we learned about Matan Torah, the very special moment when Hashem gave us the Torah.  The Jewish people were getting ready for 3 days, and Moshe went to the sky for 40 days to learn and get the Torah from Hashem.
Hashem chose the mountain of Har Sinai, to give the Torah on, because it was a humble mountain, and Hashem wanted to teach this lesson to the Jewish people to be humble.
We also learned that Hashem gave us the 10 commandments, and it was a very special moment, that we remember it until today!!
Shabat Shalom

Happy Tu B'shvat!

This week has flown by with so many items on our Tu B'shvat list! The children enjoyed talking about the trees and the new life it brings for us as well.  They talked about how trees provide us with food, air, they are beautiful to look at, it is homes to many animals and it gives us much needed shade in our hotter months.

In the Dramatic area we turned our area into a Flower shop named Green Room Flowers. The children loved taking turns being in the front of the store, taking the orders.  We had quite a few orders for a variety of colors to cheer everyone up.  It turned into a math lesson as well with "I would like 5 pink flowers and 3 red ones" which we heard daily! The children (especially the girls) loved the arranging part with vases and bottles that I brought in.  The boys took our bottles to a new level!  The bottles are empty coke and pepsi bottles and when they saw them, I heard one boy say to the other,    "Would you like to have a beer with me?" I looked up and sure enough they had sat at a table and were pretending to "have a beer". :o)  We had a talk about the labels and introduced Pepsi and Coke! :o)

We have read several books this week about Trees and their parts. The children really enjoyed learning the parts of a tree and some were amazed about how large the root system can get.  One reference we heard, " They are like an iceberg, small on the top and bigger on the bottom!" I love seeing the amazed look of discovery when they can associate different ideas! We also read Apples and talked about who likes sour apples or sweet apples.  I was amazed that so many like the sour kind! :)

The children have been doing a lot of exploring on the playground and love for me to take their picture!  This week, we had a lot of slide fun and running around just playing together. Gross motor skills were high in the making in the Green room this week!:)  Please look on our Facebook page to see these wonderful events!

We brought in a tree branch and had the children decorate it with string and scraps or tissue paper.  It is turning out so beautiful!

Yesterday, our children made the Challah dough for Shabbot with Morah Devora for all of the classes.  They loved mixing and pouring the ingredients.

In parsha with Morah Devorah the green room has been learning about Parshas Beshalach.
We talked about:
-The big miracle of Krias yam suf, when the ocean split into two, and the Jews crossed the whole ocean on dry land, yet when when the Egyptians were crossing it, the water "closed" on them.
- all of the Jewish people sang a special song together to thank Hashem for this big miracle.
-how excited were the Jewish people when they were walking in the desert for 40 years, to get the Torah, and all the miracles that happened, the clouds that protected them, the fire that showed them where to go, and the "mann", that was the food they ate in the dessert, and on Fridays the got double portion, one for Friday and one for shabbat. That's why every Shabbat at the Shabbat table we have two challash, to remember the double portion of mann.  Ask your children about what they learned, I am sure they will be happy to share!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Shabbat and weekend!

Morah Amanda and Morah Devora

Happy Friday Everyone,

This week has been a getting to know each other week.  The children are adjusting very well and have enjoyed showing me where things are in the class.  As you may have heard, I have been changing the environment around a bit to enable a little more room for different work around the classroom.  This will continue as I add more items here and there through my observations of the children.

The theme this week has been Antarctica, The Artic and the Aniamls that live in each area.  It's been cold here but of course not like in these cold places in the World. Today we did an experiment to see how penguins can stay in the frigid water and survive. Please ask about it and how long your child could keep their hand in the water!

The Dramatic Play area is a lot bigger and we have been seeing quite a few chefs in the kitchen.  We have been seeing a lot of cooperative play with a lot of discussion about the fruits and vegetables the children tried during our sensory tasting on the playground with all of our schoolmates. This next week we will turn the play area into a flower shop!

The Library area has been used this week for "meetings" which we enjoy listening to. It's wonderful to see a few of the children curled up on the couch reading a book.  Morah Devora has been asked by Tzipi, Zoe and Jemma to join them in reading a book.

Mason, Levi, Ava and Jemma have been working on their mathematical minds this week! :) I have sat with them playing a version of shut the box and they absolutely love counting the dice and turning the numbers over.  This game has encouraged the children to want to play it quite a few times and I'm asked to show them more numbers.

The block area was turned into a floating iceberg with some brown land surrounding it. Jemma and Hammond enjoyed the Polar bears cave and we had many friends watching all the fun they were coming up with.  "Look Jemma, the Polar Bear is in the dark Cave so don't put in the penguins because remember they eat them!"

In Parsha, this week the green room learned about Parshas Bo.
We learned about the birth of Moshe, and how Yocheved and Miriam took care of this special baby, by putting him in a special basket in the river.
Years later this baby boy turned to be Moshe Rabeinu the leader of the Jewish people and lead them out of Egypt.
We also learned about how Pharaoh, the king of Egypt was very mean to the Jewish people and made them work a lot, without taking a break.  Hashem sent 10 plagues to Pharoah and Egypt.  The plagues were:
Blood
Frogs
Lice
Wild animals
Death of the farm animals
Boils
Fire and hail
Grasshopper
Darkness
Death of the first born.
After each plague Pharaoh told the Jewish nation to leave Egypt and afterwards he changed his mind.
After the last plague Pharaoh kept his word and he let the Jews leave.
The Jewish people didn't have time to bake the bread as they were running out of egypt, so it baked on their backs and that is why we eat Matzah!
Because of this special story, and the miracles, we celebrate Passover every year.

We are excited about next week and the Exploration of Tu B'Shvat!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Morah Devora and Morah Amanda