New Beginnings

Shabbat Shalom!

I would like to thank all of the families for such a warm welcome to Chandler Jewish Preschool.

During this week, the Green Room friends and I took some time to get to know each other a little better.

Our first full day together was Thursday. We spent it establishing routines and getting to know our new environment. I look forward to a full week next week.

Morah Maya

Dear Parents,

 This week in the Green Room we wrapped up our 7 days of creation unit and jumped right into Parsha Noah. Along with our Judaic learning, the Green Room friends worked on math skills and created another beautiful self portrait. Here are some highlights of the week:

Day 4

 Hashem created the sun, moon, and stars. Our friends were invited to create a starry night and a sunny day painting. First we used white crayons to design our moon and stars and sun. Then we we took black and orange watercolor paints and painted over the our drawing. Our friends were surprised when the paint touched the paper and the their drawings with the crayon were revealed!  Finally, while the paint was still wet, our friends added salt to the top of their papers creating a reaction and adding dimension to their work.

 

Day 5

Birds and fish were created. Our friends were invited to build their own bird nest with sticks, leaves and clay that we gathered outside during our time in the outdoor environment.  

Day 6

Hashem created animals and people.

Our friends were invited to create their own habitats for people and animals while we discussed the sixth day of creation. The class enjoyed getting messy and discussing which animals lived where. 

Day 7

After all those days of work, Hashem need rest so he created Shabbat! On Fridays, we always have Shabbat parties. 

    After finishing the Days of Creation, Morah Felicia also explained the Parsha Noach in our morning Daven circle. With props and puppets, she created an interactive experience that made the story come alive to our friends. We learned long ago when Hashem created the world he wanted everyone to make good choices and do the right thing. Not long after Hashem created the world, most people were making choices that were unsafe and could be hurtful. There was one man that wasn't like everyone else. He chose to do the safe, right choices and he taught his family to make good choices too. This made Hashem happy. He wanted all the people to be like Noach. Hashem told Noach to build a teiva, we learned this means a big boat, to hold 7 mommy and 7 daddy kosher animals, a pair of mommy and daddy non-kosher animals, and Noach's family because Hashem was going to bring a mabul, a flood, to wash away all the not-so-nice things in the world. Noach tried warning all the people of the flood that if anyone wanted to stay safe from the flood, there was room. No one listened to Noach. The day came when rain started to fall and didn't stop for 40 days! What a long time. After the rain, a rainbow appeared. Hashem promised Noach that he would never bring a flood again and the rainbow was a symbol of that promise and how important it is to always try your best to make good choices.

Self Portraits

This week our friends were invited to create a monthly self Portrait of themselves.

 

Math

Our friends work on one to one correspondence 1-10 with these counting works. 

We have had such a great week. We are very excited to welcome Morah Maya to the CJP team! She will be the the new Lead teacher in the Green Room and I will be returning to the Blue Room. I'm going to miss all my friends so much, but I know they will be in great hands with someone who will nurture and help them grow and learn to their best potential. 

As always, have a peaceful and restful Shabbos.  

Love,

 Morah Felicia

Days of Creation

Dear Parents, 

 

This week and next week our unit of interest is Parsha Bereishis, the story of creation.
We took the story and incorporated it into our centers. We focused on the first two days of creation this week and will continue with rest next week. 

Long ago in the very beginning there was NOTHING! Only Hashem, no world, people or animals, no trees or stars, no water or light. Hashem didn't want things to stay like this. He wanted to create a beautiful place where people could do only good and a place where he would be recognized. Since there was no such place, Hashem decided to create it.

On the first day he started by creating light. Hashem made the light shine part of time, called day and made dark for part of the day called night. Then on the second day he created water then he created space in the middle filled with air called sky. Next he made dry spots of sand, clay, and rock called land that divided the waters into oceans, lakes, and rivers. He created trees and plants that live on this land.  Then Hashem created two great lights to tell us when it was day and when it was night, the sun and the moon. Next he created creatures to swim in the seas, fly in the skies, and crawl on land. After this he created animals and finally created the first people. Hashem saw that he created such a beautiful place just like he planned and he gave the people the responsibility to keep it beautiful and good by showing kindness and practicing mitzvos.This would make Hashem recognized and comfortable. Now Hashem's work was complete so he rested and made Shabbos a time to rest. It would be a time to celebrate all of Hashem's beautiful work, his creation of life and world.

Light and Dark

Monday and Tuesday our sensory trays had white beans and black beans to represent light and dark.  We had some sun, moon, and star shapes in various sizes along with spoons and buckets. The Green Room Friends hid the shapes as well as scooped and poured into buckets, developing and strengthening their fine motor skills, self regulation, and vocabulary. Once the beans were mixed after playing, our Friends sorted the beans putting all the white beans in a pile representing "day" and the black beans in a pile representing "night". We took this opportunity to have a conversations about Hashem creating day and night. Then we asked questions like "What do you see in the sky in the dark time?" "What do you see in the sky during the light time?"  Hashem created all of it!

On Day 2, Hashem created the waters in the skys and land.

Our friends had fun splashing in the water in the sensory table.

On Day 3, Hashem created plants, trees, and flowers. We used sand and other loose parts to create our own trees and flowers. Loose parts are any materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. Loose parts can be used alone or combined with other materials. There is no set of specific directions for materials that are considered loose parts. The friends led the direction.  

Process Art

All of our friends had such a great time creating marbleized paintings with watercolors and oil this week. First, we invited our friends to add water colors and oil to a tray with eye droppers; then they put a piece of paper on top and lifted it to see what happened! We discovered that the oil and water don't mix no matter how hard we tried! Morah Felicia explained that water only likes water and oil is non-polar so it's afraid of water and only likes things that are non-polar like them. This was such a great opportunity to create something beautiful and explore a little science as well - and all friends led! 

Next week we will continue exploring the days of creation followed by Parsha Noah. 

Welcome back! 

It was great to everyone after our break. Wishing you a restful Shabbos!

Morah Felicia

Sukkot

Dear Parents, 

 Here are the weekly Highlights:

Fine Motor/Sensory
Sukkot provocation: We used small wooden sticks, tiles, and slime sand, to create photos of Sukkahs. Our Friends built their own Sukkah and we got some amazing results. The Green Room Friends really enjoyed working with the texture of the slime sand. We talked about how a Sukkah needs 3 walls and a roof made of Schach. We also talked about how the Sukkah is symbolic to hashem's love and he is always around us. We celebrate with friends and family. 

   

"Look, Morah Felicia, I made my Sukkah." - Yehonathan

Art

Our Friends made their own Sukkah decorations that were sent home for your family to enjoy. We used flowers and other loose parts to embellish a styrofoam ball, another great fine motor activity that everyone enjoyed.  

   

Literacy 

David and Shai practice writing their names. We practice always starting at the top when writing letters. As we traced the letters we also went over the phonetic sound of each letter.  

   

We hope you have a wonderful break. See you all soon. 

 Morah Felicia