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