March 19-23-16, 2018
Room 8 had a busy week celebrating Passover. On Monday morning, we prepped for the Passover Seder by making charoset. Ayla, Mason, Skyler, Owen, Kayden, Wynter, and Ella put their fine motor skills to the test to cut Granny Smith apples and Red Delicious apples into small pieces. They combined their small apple cubes into one bowl. Then, each child counted 20 raisins each to add to the apples. We topped off the recipe with 1 cup of purple grape juice, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and a large drizzle of honey. Each child used their muscles to stir the ingredients until they were fully combined. Then, we put a little bit of charoset on a bite size piece of matzah so that each child could have a taster. The children loved this Passover item and kept asking for more, but we had to save it for the class Seder! We reminded the children that charoset represents the mortar, or paste, that the Israelites used to stick bricks together when they were slaves in Egypt. In addition to our cooking project, the children practiced their weaving skills to create an Afikoman holder. They chose two colors of felt and weaved black yarn through the holes on the edges to connect the two pieces of material. Some liked to weave using a motion of over-and-under, and others laced the yarn through the bottom of each hole, which created a more diagonal pattern. This activity emphasized hand-eye coordination and the ability to focus. The children used patience and concentration to make sure they weaved their yarn in the proper pattern to resemble the previous hole. We were excited to see the excitement in the children as they created their very own pouches to hold the Afikoman at their Passover Seders. Tuesday was an incredible day filled with songs, prayers, Moses, Pharaoh and frogs! We want to give a huge thanks to all of the parents for providing everything we needed to have a successful and thoughtful class Seder. From the paper plates designed as a Seder plate to the beautiful flowering plants for table decoration to the perfectly moist macaroons, we could not have imagined a more perfect Seder. Thank you to all of the mommies and daddies who joined us on Tuesday and for participating in our Pre-K style Seder. We loved having everyone read their individual parts from the Hagadah and singing the songs together as a class. We hope that all of your Passover Seders are filled with as much love and warmth as we had this week in Room 8! Since the children saw quite a bit of rain this week, we had to get a little creative to find new in-class activities! We introduced new board games including Kerplunk and Operation. Kerplunk is a tricky game requiring concentration, puzzlement, and a little bit of luck. Similar to Jenga, this game challenges the children to give each move a great amount of thought to prevent the marbles from falling. There is no room for impulsive moves since if one continues to pull the wrong colored stick and marbles continue to slip through, then this person will lose. This is a tricky game that requires a little more practice. The old-school board game, Operation, proved to be just as challenging as Kerplunk! This game continues to test our fine motor skills and attention to detail. Using a very steady hand, the children have to remove Spiderman’s organ that appears on the card that they chose. If the tweezer touches the side of the area that the organ is in, the game buzzes and the light blares red. Then, the next friend takes a turn. The children had a great time playing surgeon and removing Spiderman’s webbed knee, heart, and spider feet. We want to thank Kora’s family for joining us for Shabbat this Friday. In addition, we wish you all a Chag Samaech and Happy Passover. Have a wonderful break filled with family and friends! Shabbat Shalom and Chag Samaech! Mari & Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 4/13- Elliot 4/20- Wynter 4/27- Mason 5/4- Paisley 5/11- Benjamin Reminders:
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March 12-16, 2018
We had a quick week filled with Passover activities. From the telling of the story, to learning about the Seder plate, to making our own Elijah’s cup, the children were quite busy. We began the week with our first Passover art project. We asked the children, “Do you know who Elijah is?” Carter quickly questioned, “Isn’t that Owen’s brother, Elijah?” While the other children agreed with Carter’s question, Elliot made sure to explain that we are not talking about the real Elijah. He stated, “This is the pretend Elijah!” Benjamin, then, asked, “What does he look like?” We were excited to see the curiosity flow from the children as we explained the concept of Elijah as a part of the Passover story. The children had the opportunity to decorate their own Elijah’s cup using tissue paper and glue. They used a variety of bright colors to create a festive glass to leave out for Elijah. As we continued to delve deeper into the story of Passover, the children expressed interest in the reason that Pharaoh would not let the Jewish people go. They could not understand why Pharaoh continued to suffer through the plagues, instead of letting the Jews go. We explained that the Jewish people were finally set free by Pharaoh, and in order to get out as fast as they could, they did not have time to let the bread rise. This is how matzah was created. The children enjoyed tasting matzah for snack and expressed interest in trying to make various snack creations out of matzah like pizza. While eating snack, Benjamin exclaimed, “Look! I made a matzah/cheese sandwich!” We continued to tell the story, and Michael showed excitement when Moses finally put his staff in the Red Sea! Michael exclaimed, “Then, Pharaoh and the others were washed away and could not get the Jews anymore.” Mason could not believe that the Jews entered a new continent, when he said, “But, they aren’t in Africa anymore?” We explained that we sing the song “Dayenu” at the end of the story to show our gratitude towards God for taking the Jewish people out of slavery. The children loved this song so much we heard them singing the chorus over and over again while cleaning up the Magna Tiles after hearing the story. We went on to discuss the symbolism of each item on the Seder plate. Since Benjamin loved the matzah/cheese sandwich, we explained that on Passover, some make a different type of Matzah sandwich using charoset. The charoset represents the mortar used to make bricks, which the Israelites used as slaves. During the Seder, we use the paste to stick together two pieces of matzah. Skyler said, “What is in charoset?” Since she asked, we had to make it into a cooking project! On Thursday, the children put their fine motor skills to work to cut up red and green apples into tiny pieces. Then, they exercised their number recognition and measuring abilities to combine sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and grape juice to make our very own charoset. Ask your children if they liked it! After discussing the Seder plate, we decided to make our very own Seder plates to use as decoration during our class and family Seders. First, the children chose two paint colors to dip a marble in and roll on a large clear plastic plate. After creating an interesting design and texture, we let the paint dry and glued plastic cups with labels to complete the Seder plate. We can’t wait for you all to see their great designs at the class Seder next week. We will continue to go over the Passover story next week and begin a new art project surrounding the Afikoman. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and Shabbat Shalom! Mari & Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 3/23- Kora After Passover Break: 4/13- Elliot 4/20- Wynter 4/27- Mason 5/4- Paisley 5/11- Benjamin Reminders:
March 5-9, 2018
Room 8 began our week by finishing up our Purim discussions. Last week, the children had the opportunity to draw and decorate their character of choice from the story of Purim. We culminated the holiday by asking the children why they chose each character. Hearing the thought process of each child gives meaning and context to the project. Their incredible art and creative thoughts are displayed in our classroom, and they would love for you all to take a look next time you are in Room 8. We introduced the next holiday by relating the storybook of Purim to the literature used for the upcoming holiday. What book do we read on Purim? What book do we read on Passover? How are the two books similar? And how are they different? On Purim, we read the Megillah, which Paisley described as a ‘scroll’. This book is different than other books because we roll it open, similar to the Torah. On Passover, we use a different book called the Hagaddah, which sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. Passover is a complicated story filled with lessons on history, symbolism, and ethics. While we will only scratch the surface of this important holiday, we opened up conversation by reading Sammy Spider’s First Haggadah. This book describes the story of Passover to the children. They learned where the story took place, the key characters, and the main plot. After reading the book, Neda recalled that the story took place in Egypt, and Owen quickly stated, "It is in the continent of Africa." Skyler enjoyed the part about how the Jewish people had to leave Egypt and had to walk for a long time to a new place. Kayden liked how Moses used the staff to open the Red Sea. Over the next two weeks, we will continue to discuss the story of Passover and delve deeper into the symbolism of the holiday and the prayers used during the Seder. We can’t wait for you to see the incredible Passover themed art projects that the children will begin next week, which will incorporate the new skill of sewing that we used to make gragers. We have seen an immense amount of improvement in the Room 8 Number Challenge since last week! The children continue to perfect their number recognition skills, and their ability to concentrate and sustain attention. In addition, this activity encourages the children to work cooperatively and collaboratively to master a goal. Each round, the children become more efficient at retrieving 2-3 number cards to begin the challenge, and they have greatly decreased the amount of time it takes to put them in order on the carpet. We can’ wait to see them do it in 3 minutes – they are so close! We want to thank Ella’s mom for joining us for Library this week. The children loved the two P.J. Library books that Ella brought to share with the class. They even claimed that the first book was too short and wanted to hear more! Also, we want to give Owen’s family a great big thank you for celebrating Shabbat with Room 8 this week. Owen enjoyed having his family visit the classroom to sing Shabbat songs, say the prayers, and join us in Temple. We also had the opportunity to celebrate Owen’s 5th birthday, which is coming up next week! We hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and Shabbat Shalom! Mari & Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 3/16- Ayla 3/23- Kora After Passover Break: 4/13- Elliot 4/20- Wynter 4/27- Mason 5/4- Paisley 5/11- Benjamin Reminders:
February 26- March 2, 2018
Room 8 had a Purim filled week! The children loved acting out the story of Purim and singing the songs of Purim. They especially loved singing “Hit the Road Vashti, and Don’t cha come back no more no more!” We heard that the kids humming the tune to that all week. From the start of the week, the children have been participating in many Purim themed activities. First thing Monday morning, the kids had the opportunity to make hamantaschen. They did a fabulous job rolling out the dough, pressing the cup down to make a perfect circle, and carefully, peeling up the edges of the dough to make 3 corners. We were so impressed by their abilities to manipulate the dough into perfect triangles. Each child made 2 cookies and chose between 3 types of jam filling including apricot, raspberry or strawberry. The most popular choice was strawberry, but some children decided to try something new. Wynter asked if she could taste test all three before making this tough decision, and Owen decided on going out of box to try apricot. The children did such a fabulous job we made them 1 batch of chocolate filled hamantaschen, which they received as an end of the day treat. The children also participated in another Purim art project, aside from the gragers we made last week. In light of our recent discussions on Mat Man, the children have been drawing mat men and women any second they get. We decided to incorporate their love for drawing people into the Purim project. Since the story of Purim has a common theme of kings and queens, the children all drew their favorite character on a white piece of paper. Then, they were given various textured and colored fabrics and sequins to use to create clothes for their character. The creativity and imagination the children used for this project is unbelievable. Kora decided to have her queen wear a sequined shirt, while Ella made a stylish queen wearing a black strapless top with a pink mini skirt. Ayla was not afraid to be unique and make Haman with long legs sporting black lace pants. Mason was the only one to give King Achashverosh a crown, which he made out of large green jewels. He made sure that we could see the King’s spikey hair under the crown. Next time you are in Room 8, please take a look at the fabulous creations that are hanging on the wall! Aside from Purim, this week Room 8 had an emphasis on number recognition and counting. Recently, the children have shown a great interest in counting. After a circle time discussion where we asked the children to count to 20 and they took it to 100, we knew we had to integrate some more numerical activities and games into our curriculum. We introduce “The Number Challenge.” Each child receives 2-3 cards that have one number on it ranging from 1-31. Then, we ask the children if they need help identifying the numbers they received. Once everyone knows their number, the children move as fast as they can to put them in numerical order beginning with 1 and ending with 31. For instance, if Kayden has number 1, he goes up first and places his card in the middle of the carpet and whoever has the number 2 card follows after him. This activity does not only emphasize number recognition, but it also promotes concentration, listening and staying alert. This also promotes the skill of asking for helping and assisting others. For instance, if a child does not know that they possess the card that comes next, one of their friends will give them a little hint or nudge. The children are determined to complete the challenge in less than 3 minutes, but they are still practicing to become masters! We loved seeing all of the incredible costumes on Friday for our Purim Shabbat. The children had a fabulous time showing off their costumes and shaking their gragers when they heard Haman’s name in Shabbat Services. Thank you to Skyler’s family for joining us to celebrate Shabbat and Skyler’s birthday! We hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and Shabbat Shalom! Mari & Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 3/9- Owen 3/16- Ayla 3/23- Kora Reminders:
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Pre-K Room 8Mari Greifer Archives
March 2020
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