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

Shalom and shalom green room families,

Best of blessings to you all and your loving children. It has been my honor and privilege to serve, know and love your child. I believe the CJP leadership follows the intent of what is best for the children everyday and into 2019. I appreciate all that you do, who you are and your willingness to entrust your child to myself and morah Devora. I love your child and have experienced the love from your child in return. Thank you, they are each unique and beautiful and every one of them occupy a space in my heart. Many thanks and much appreciation to Morah Devora. She will remain the constant  in the green room. It has been my pleasure to meet and get acquainted with you and your family members. Sincere gratitude to all of you and the parents you are, involved in your children's lives and futures and for your generous support and contributions. 

Today will be Sarah's last day. We wish her and her family well. 

We have been exploring the 5 senses. The children enjoyed seeking outdoors what they sensed around them, multiple days of sensory identification: sights, sounds,smells, textures and tastes, etc. Thanks to all for sending in items to share and sense. Alice, Bubby and Shannon for cups and plates, Ava's family for bird sounds and miniatures, temperature changing color items, a doll and grapes.  Tzippi shared her doll. Thanks Rachel. 

We spoke about taking care of ourselves, others and things. Gentleness towards children and baby dolls and pets. Levi brought in pine cones and silly putty, thanks Skye. Ari and Jenna brought in sea shells and colored craft sticks. Morah Ora and the peach room, thanks for allowing your bird to be our guest. Mason, Ally and Eric sent the recipes and ingredients for the class to make slime and fluffy slime. It was the highlight of Thursdays activities. Thank you all. 

Many have learned to slice a banana and juice an orange during the last few weeks, also "tag to the tummy" putting on their own jackets and sweaters. They were surprised and delighted to flip their coats over there heads, slipping their arms into their sleeves, in victory. Each week there are more of them opening and closing their own lunch containers...they did it ALL BY MYSELF! 

The sensory journey was a lot of fun seeing those little feet and and people figure out what they were walking on blindfolded and later taking such joy in seeing it and repeating it after the reveal. 

The green room will have a new morah when they return from break. Thank you for welcoming me this year. I will miss the community and especially the children. 

Con mucho amor,

Morah Cindy and morah Devora

Shalom Parents and Families,

The cool weather has arrived! We have been and will continue exploring our 5 Senses and Emotions for the next two weeks until break. 

Seeing and hearing the children is a wonder to behold, such small humans with such BIG emotions. They are learning the skills of self calming and I see incredible progress each day. Under the loft they may take time to find their peace. With part of our 5 Senses each child selected an essential oil and applied it to a cotton ball which they may request to smell and help soothe themselves. 

They continue to identify their names and their classmates names written in Hebrew and English along with exposure to sight words: I, see, a, the. Next week we will add: my, like, and, end. They have enjoyed choosing rhyming words in books and verbally as pre-literacy skills to reading. Brand and letter recognition games and sound games are a fun way parents can encourage these skills while traveling in the car. Do you emember playing license plate/travel alphabet?

We've added the Spanish version of our "Hello Friend Song".

Hello friends!

How are you?

I'm very happy to see you

Greet your neighbor.

Boogie on down!

Give a bump 

And turn around,

Hola amigos!

Como esta usted?

Estoy muy feliz de verlo a usted.

Salude a su vecino.

Boogie para abajo.

Dese un tope

y de la vuelta.

Language is such a wonderful gift to share with your child at these tender ages and stages.I encourage you and your extended families to share and expose your children to rich vocabulary conversations and foreign languages. Their minds take in all in. Their brain has the capacity to absorb it and store it. 

The Sensory Journey was a big hit! First the children were led with a barefoot and blindfold over many textiles and natural materials. Later they felt the same items with 2 bare feet, eyes open. They got a kick out of it! Ava's family brought in grapes to share: they looked at them, smelled them, listened and later tasted them. It was like a new discovery taking time to slow down a recognize the  fruit fully in the present moment.  

Many children readily identified water, the towel and sand, the other things.  Each day they have been touching something inside the "Mystery Box" and challenged to identify it by touch. The peace and blue rooms shared their sensory tables with us. The water beads Hailey and Hammond's family shared were a huge highlight among all ages!

The older children wrote their names out with Wickie Sticks. 

Thank you for all you do and how much you love and care for your children and contribute to our class. Thank you to Alice and her Bubby for supplying us with cups and plates for our food preparation works, and  Hammond, Erin and family for allowing the children to experience wooden foods and Jemma, and the Goldman's for bringing babies into our dramatic play area and enriching all of our lives. We appreciate all that you are and contribute to our school family

. 

Shalom,

Morahs Cindy and Devora

Shalom Parents and Happy Chanukah!

Thank you for allowing us to serve your children. They have remained busy, worker bees: making latkes, menorahs, cards, polishing gelt and more. It is fascinating to see their brains, bodies and hands at work refining their skills. 

The children are learning the spelling of their Hebrew names and letter names. We have all enjoyed The Chanukah Story and activities. They are adapting to socially interact and demonstrating:

1. They take care of themselves. 

     It is sweet seeing them all play together and run across the playground or gather in the sandbox  or mud kitchen, taking turns and beginning to work things out among themselves. 

2. They take care of others. They offer hugs to those that are sad.

3. Take care of things. They each have a job or two in our classroom and most take it seriously, some are moving into seeing a need and taking care of it without direction.  

We continue word exposure: I, see, and a. We practice phonics skills verbally using rhymes discussing picture cards. Many of the children have been self appointed guest teachers and are able to present Ants on an Apple to the other children. It's adorable to observe their imitation of the morahs and the expectations for the students. 

The menorahs are beautiful and I hope they enjoy a long and happy life. Fine motor skills, fragility, pouring, quantity are all skills they are working with. All the festivities have been wonderful, a special thanks to Masha and the Deitsches for the Touch a Truck and our community volunteers supporting CJP,

We continue with lessons on Grace and Courtesy such as how to Welcome Guests and How to Blow Our Nose, before the real season hits. They are practicing  how to ask for a turn and what to say when someone says they can't come to their house or they would like to join into play. 

We made cards and gave Gavi a birthday call in North Carolina. We miss having him in our class!  It was also Morah Devorahs birthday! The children helped make and eat Morah Devora's birthday cake this week! 

Devora introduced Chanukah items and the concept of small, medium and large and taught the children to play dreidels as well as paint with them! 

We read the big book called If Candles Could Speak The Chanukah Story The children request it over and over again and enjoyed using felt board stories to portray the story of Chanukah.  

Happy Chanukah!

Morahs Cindy and Devora

PS: Thanks to all the parents and care givers supporting the children's independence and transition time by doing door drop off and knocking to wait for your child's pick up and departing hugs to their classmates so the rest of the children may stay at circle. The water cart will be placed in the hallway for pick up time. Please remember your child's water bottle each day so they have water to drink and stay hydrated.  Thank you!

Shalom Parents,

The Green Room has been very busy! Thanksgiving and now Chanukah preparations. 

Thank you for including the gratitude note on the back of the Mitzvah the entire month of November. The family lunch was wonderful! Cakes in cups, gratitude, a Kindergarten performance, food, fun and creations from the children, we are thankful for you and the support you and your extended families are to the CJP students. The Green Room children enjoyed preparing the Cranberry Kugel that was served. 

The children explored pumpkins and squash, learned the parts, sang the song and most of them even tried eating different varieties of squash, with many asking for a second helping!

The songs can be found on the Green Room bulletin board.  We have focused on the square and numbers through nine. They know the parts of a book and this week our sight word focus is on: I, see and a. We also sang Squashes Around to the tune of Neil Diamond's, Sweet Caroline.

Tune: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

PARTS OF A PUMPKIN

Stem, Rind, Pulp and Seeds...Fibrous Strands

Stem, Rind, Pulp and Seeds...Fibrous Strands  

Leaves and Tendrils and Ridges too

Stem, Rind, Pulp and Seeds...Fibrous Strands  

The children are refining their movements, both gross and fine motor indoors and outside, learning new vocabulary and songs, and are working on self control at circle and table time for snacks or table works. Of course we continue with Conscious Discipline and the children understand when they need some thinking time or their own space. As morahs, we model controlling our emotions and reactions supporting our little humans to develop a tool box of how to survive and thrive. 

Chanunkah will keep them BUSY! Many of our centers are Chanukah based activities and the children have loved hearing the story. Thanks for turning up for the Lowe's event.

Morah Devora is teaching the Hebrew names for body parts and the letter names of their Hebrew names. 

Along with practicing Hebrew, Morah Cindy has introduced some Spanish vocabulary and songs. 

Listed below are a few of our English/Spanish songs introduced that the children sing.

Fila, fila          line up, line up 

fila por favor   line up please

Red is rojo

Green is verde

Purple morado

Brown cafe

Yellow amarillo

Blue azul

Pink in rosado

Orange anaranjado

White is blanco

Black is negro

Colors colores

Colors colores 

and Gray is gris! (Jazz hands!) 

Enjoy a wonderful week! We love your child.

Morah Cindy and Morah Devora