Happy Chanukah!

This is a very exciting and celebratory time of the year for our community.  Although your kiddos have most likely experienced Chanukah before on some level, it’s highly likely that this will be the first time that they are able to participate and create their own memories of Chanukah. Below are a few images:  some of the many things that we have been working on this past week.

Light table with Menorah and a visual aid how to sequentially light the candles. 

Big brother showing little sister how to climb to the top of the structure. 

Beginning stages of decorating their menorahs . Painting the base was the first step in the process. 

Early literacy with loose parts

More menorah painting

The children celebrating Shabbat dinner.

“Look I can spin a dreidel” 

The children's amazing finished menorahs that were sent home yesterday for the first night of  Chanukah.

Exploration with loose parts used to decorate their menorahs: The items in the tray are sorted by specific categories. This is an early math tool that will help the children later when doing grouping with numbers for concepts like multiplication and fractions.

In addition to preparing for Chanukah we are continuing to work on Kavod in our classroom . We’re focusing on treating one another and our classroom environment with respect and kindness.  One of the activities that we did this week to reinforce kavod was make up a list of safety rules for our classroom. This is what we came up with in our group time:

1. No fighting with shovels - Jonny

2. No throwing shovels - Mila

3. No toys in our mouth - Morah Maya

4. Walking feet - Yehonathan

5. Being kind not mad or fighting or hitting- David

6. No shooting - Jonny

7. No hurting and no pushing- Ella

8. Don’t color or paint pictures on the wall - Shai

9. Give them space to work on their computer - Yehonathan

We will continue to add to our list of how to treat each other with kindness and respect. I wish all of your families a wonderful Chanukah. I am very much looking forward to hearing from the children about their experiences over the weekend. Looking forward, next week we will continue to celebrate Chanukah! Stay tuned to hear about all of our exploration and fun. 

Shabbat shalom

Morah Maya