January 10-14, 2022

Alim

This week we talked about the Birthday of the Trees (Tu B’Shevat).  We enjoyed many stories related to this subject.  There was a Tree puzzle taken out for the children to explore.  We had picture matching cards for Parts of a Tree.  Also,  there were booklets available for the children to make.  The Binomial cube was presented to the children this week.  This is part of the sensorial curriculum.  The material is composed of 8 wooden blocks, when put together correctly creates a cube.  The Sound of the Week was “Qq”.  The Alphatale Book The Quiet Quail was read.  Also, we had a letter formation sheet and sound sheet available for the children to practice in the classroom.

 

Alim Judaics -  This week we enjoyed learning about Tu B’shevat - the 15th day of Shevat.  We learned about the 7 species - Barley, wheat, olives, dates, figs, grapes & pomegranates.  I showed the children a picture of a pomegranate and the inside of it which is filled with hundreds of little juicy seeds that we actually eat, whereas we don’t eat the seeds of other fruits.  We enjoyed creating a Pomegranate Tree craft.  We learned about ‘Tikkun Olam’ - another Jewish value - to repair and care for our world, which includes our Earth and Trees. I mentioned how much of Israel is a dry desert.  It is a mitzvah to send money to Israel to support planting more trees in their forests. We talked about what the Trees give us- such as: shelter for many animals, shade on a hot, sunny day, paper, fire wood, fresh fruit, etc….

Dancing activity to the song - “If I were a Tree, what a Tree I’d be” by Jason Mesches. (Check this out on Youtube-  it’s way too much fun for the whole family!!)

We learned how to say some of the Trees’ parts in Hebrew- such as: ‘Alim’, which is our class name and means Leaves.   Branches are ‘Anafim’ and the Trunk of the Tree is ‘gezah’.

Shabbat Celebration on Friday - Singing and dancing & saying our prayers to Shabbat tunes by Andi Joseph.  We played ‘ Put a chicken in the pot’ making our Chicken soup for Shabbat and enjoyed reading the book, This is the Challah by Sue Hepker.

 

Keshet

We are celebrating both TuB’Shevat (a celebration of trees) with Hashkediah Porachat v’shemesh pas sorachat…The Almond tree is Blooming - ask your Keshet student to sing it for you! We learned about deciduous trees and evergreens, classifying pictures accordingly. We explored the ‘seven species’ grown in Israel, including olives, pomegranate, fig, dates, grapes, wheat and barley. 

With Martin Luther King, Jr. day on Monday, we introduced concepts of character, with artwork collages of character traits we strive for. We spent time exploring the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. with examples of situations that children may have found themselves in. The children thought the separation of schools , bus seating and movie theatre seating were ‘silly’ and ‘ridiculous'.  

There was discussion and interpretation of what we see and what we experience, how getting to know a person /  learning about  their character is more meaningful than deciding what a person is like by just looking at them. 

The children are doing cross stitch on embroidery hoops, impressively and patiently stitching their initial. In continuation of our study of American currency; penny, nickel and dime - what they represent, what they are made of, and which president is on the back, the children love playing ‘store’ -counting  pennies, nickels and dimes, and exchanging coins as they ‘buy’ objects from the store.  

 

In Keshet PE, the students placed a game called 'The Dice Race.' They were split into two teams and were asked to roll giant dice. Their goal was to collect as many objects as they could by rolling either a one or two, and then running to the middle to collect the corresponding amount of balls from the bin. If they rolled a three, four, five, or six, they had to keep rolling until they landed on a one or a two.

 

Keshet Yoga - Our class focused on Martin Luther King and the ‘Peaceful Warrior’ that he was- standing up for justice and for what is right.  He spoke his truth which is what we do in Yoga.  Our mantra is ‘Saat nam’ - Truth is my name, I am truth.   I played a song called ‘ Ahimsa’ which is non-harming in the yoga language-  We practiced the KAY ‘Peace begins with me’ meditation and added  ‘ Kindness begins with me’.  We practiced a Yoga march’ activity and remembered the ‘sit - ins’ for Peace.  We acted out a short story through Yoga- all about the life of MLK and his many accomplishments and enjoyed a yoga activity called ‘This little light of mine’ - shining our lights from our heart out to the world. 

 

See this week’s photos here https://photos.app.goo.gl/NN2j7TPAeZv5KsDD8



 

0Comments

Add Comment