Yom Kippur

 Dear Parents, 

This week in the Green Room, we explored the next high holiday, Yom Kippur. During Rosh Hashanah, we learned that we want to ask Hashem for help to be the best we can be.Yom Kippur is when we ask all our friend's forgiveness for any wrong we may have done towards them. During Yom Kippur we also hear the story of Yonah and the Big Fish. Morah Felicia told the story of Yonah and his journey to Ninveh.

Social Emotional

This week in circle we discussed mitzvahs vs. mistakes, and on Yom Kippur we take time to realize our mistakes and ask for forgiveness; asking for forgiveness means saying sorry.  Our friends used a scale to demonstrate how we want our mitzvahs to weigh more than our mistakes.That means we need many more mitzvahs than mistakes.Then we talked about how we could be better in the new year, like taking turns and using gentle hands, and helping our mommies and daddies at home.

Fine Motor

This week our friends cleaned pennies for tzedakah. Not only is it a mitzvah to give extra tzedakah on Yom Kippur, our friends have noticed how dirty the coins are and wanted them to be extra shiny. We used baking soda and vinegar to clean our coins and as our friends were cleaning, they discovered when they mixed the baking soda with the vinegar, a chemical reaction was made! They saw bubbles forming and heard sizzling sounds! They were all so proud of their discovery and work when the pennies shined in the light.

Also this week, our friends poked holes in the side of a lemon and carefully inserted cloves into the lemon. The room was so fragrant and smelled like Fall with the cloves. The children enjoyed smelling the cloves and lemon together. They also discovered that the cloves were poky and they had to be extra careful while putting them into the lemon.

For our moms and dads to smell them on Yom Kippur fast.

Smelling Besamim on Yom Kippur has been a long standing custom. As we fast, it is a challenge to complete the "100 Brachot" we strive to make each day; smelling Besamim helps us along to reach that goal.

Thanks for another great week. Wishing you a peaceful Shabbos.

Morah Felicia

Honey Tasting

This week we wrapped up our Rosh Hashanah unit.  Here are some highlights:

We tasted 4 different types of honey and documented our experience.  First, the honey was labeled with numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4.  Some things the Green Room Friends discovered were the honeys all looked a little different. Honey number 1 was in a tray and also had real honeycomb! The color was very light and transparent. Honey numbers 2 and 3 were both the same yellowish color but the textures were different. And honey number 4 was very brown was compared to looking like syrup. After we compared and contrasted the look and textures, it was time to taste!

Of course all of our friends enjoyed all 4 honeys but they all had their favorite:

Shai said,”Honey number 1 is my favorite, it tastes like ice cream.”

David said honey number 2 “Tastes like the honey at my house. My favorite one is the black one. (4)”

Lia pointed to her favorite honey which was also the dark honey. (4)

Ella said,”Honey number 3 is my favorite.”

Yehonathan said, “Honey number 3 is the best one. It’s really honey!”

We discussed how we dip apples in honey on Rosh Hashana to ask Hashem for a sweet New Year!

 

 

Rosh Hashana continues

This week in the Green Room we continued our Rosh Hashana unit. Here are some of our highlights this week.

Group Projects

This week our friends worked on creating their own keepsake honey jar! First our friends covered their jar in glue and then used tissue paper to cover the outside of their jar. This created a stained glass collage look. Our friends really enjoyed the getting sticky with glue and working with a new medium.  Each child will be sent home with one next week. 

On Friday our group project was a still life shofar painting. Still life drawings are valuable because our friends use something that is real and meaningful as a guide for their own creative expression. This activity challenges our friend's ability to look at the finer details in the everyday objects that are familiar to them.

Another group project this week was apple stamping. Our friends created apple prints while following a two step direction and using eye/hand coordination. Moving their hand from the paint plate onto their paper requires our friends to focus and coordinate their hand movement with their eye movement.  Lastly, this activity teaches cause and effect - demonstrating to our friends the plain apple and what happens after dipping it into paint to create a print on their paper.  

This week we conducted our first science experiment. We made apple eruptions! First, Morah Felicia cut out the core of 3 apples leaving them whole. We mixed some watercolor in vinegar and took out some baking soda. Each friend poured about 2 teaspoons of baking soda into their apple and before they added the vinegar, Morah Felicia asked the group, "I wonder what will happen when we add the vinegar?" As each child added the vinegar to their apple they discovered the mixture made fizzy sounds and overflowed their apple with bubbles! They were truly amazed saying, "whoa!" and giggling with excitement as they repeated this at least 6 more times. Science should be viewed as thinking and trying to understand how things works and how the world works. It's not the time to memorize facts. Our friends need multi-sensory approaches to learning. Therefore, science experiments involve asking questions, probing for answers, conducting investigations and collecting data. Our job as Morahs is to give children the opportunity to construct their own ideas.

During circle time, Morah Felicia introduced a special prayer book used on Rosh Hashanah called the Machzor. Our friends took some time to explore, flipping through the pages, discovering most of it was in Hebrew and also how the book opened wasn't like what they were used to.  

Looking forward to another great week. Wishing you a restful Shabbos,

Morah Felicia

Dear Parents, 

    We've had great week of exploring and discovering.  Here are some highlights: 

 Rosh Hashana

With Rosh Hashana around the corner, this week we introduced some concepts about the Holiday through our centers and morning circle times.   In morning circles we discussed how Rosh Hashana is the new year, a new beginning.  Just like we had a first day of school we have a first day of a new year. We ask Hashem for help to become our best self and for a sweet new year. We do this by blowing the shofar, eating sweet foods like apples dipped in honey, or sending cards to our family and friends, saying Shana Tova to wish them a sweet a new year too.  The Morahs explained the shofar comes from a Ram and when we blow the shofar we can think of a mitzvah that we can do to be a better friend and more helpful.  Rabbi T has made visits to our classroom to blow the shofar.  All of our friends giggled at the sound it makes.  They all agreed it sounds funny.   Our friends investigated the shofar in our classroom.  Some friends take turns trying so hard to blow and others feel the rough bumpy texture. 

Discovery table

We set up a discovery table with all things Rosh Hashana related such as apples, honey, shofars, and a variety of pictures.  Our friends were invited to explore the materials. The discovery table is one of the first things the children see when they come in in the morning.  Through exploring and investigating these authentic objects, our friends begin to build their own experiences with them.  Our friends also explored through sensory play this week pouring, scooping, and smelling oats and apples.

Shana Tova Cards

 We started off by painting with honey on apple shaped cardstock.  We encouraged our friends to dip their paintbrushes into honey and then use it to paint the paper. The Morahs pointed out how the paintbrush and honey stuck to the paper.  We discovered the honey was so thick and not so easy to work with but very yummy to lick! Another group project this week was apple stamping.  Our friends created apple prints while following a two step direction and using eye/hand coordination.  Moving their hand from the paint plate onto their paper requires focus and coordinating their hand movement with their eye movement.  Lastly, this activity teaches cause and effect.  Demonstrating to our friends the plain apple and what happens after dipping it into paint to create a print on their paper.  The end product will be Shana Tova cards for our family and friends.  We are learning to say Shana Tova which is wishing someone a sweet new year in Hebrew.

Outdoor Environment 

Our friends did a sink and float experience in the puddles they found with natural materials found outside we discovered that rocks sink to the bottom of the water and wood chips,stick, and leaves float on top of the water. We've enjoyed spending the morning exploring the outdoors and hope to continue to spend more time outside as the weather gets cooler.

Along with introducing Rosh Hashana our friends worked on recognizing and writing some letters of the alphabet and alef bet, as well as some math with number recognition and one to one correspondence. Next week we will continue to explore more concepts of Rosh Hashana. Thank you all for being so responsive and getting any extra materials we have requested for activities we do in the classroom.

We are looking forward to another great week of learning and growing. Wishing you a peaceful Shabbos.

Morah Felicia