January 6-10, 2020

Anafim:
We welcome Forest to our 'Anafim' classroom and quickly she's becoming acclimated to all our routines and activities.  
We're back on schedule with all our daily routines - though now so many things are taken care of without reminders!  The date and weather board is kept up, though often with a question about the day of the week in Hebrew.  A snack milk spill is taken care of almost immediately; even a dropped glass pitcher gets eagerly swept away with our dustpan and brush (though a teacher stands by with an extra swipe of wet cloth to make sure all is safe).  My delight is in not so much in the children being able to peel and slice a carrot, but in their walk around the classroom, gently tapping a friend on the shoulder and asking if they would like a slice of carrot - offering from the little serving tray.  
 
We are enjoying the snowfalls and reading stories about snowflakes, snow people, snow angels (and snow dog angels) and all the delights a winter wilderness brings.  The story The Luckiest Snowball, by Elliot Kreloff is about a little boy, Izzy, who brings a snowball inside and keeps it in his freezer.  Every few months Izzy takes the snowball outside to experience the wonders of each new season, until Larry the snowball begins to melt and gets returned to the freezer just in time! The children gathered snow from our playground and watched it change as the day went on, until Morah Haley wanted to know why there was a little blue tray on the shelf with nothing on it but water.  
We are singing (to the tune of 'twinkle, twinkle):
'Snowflakes snowflakes dance around,
Snowflakes, snowflakes touch the ground
Snowflakes, snowflakes in the air
Snowflakes, snowflakes everywhere.
Snowflakes, snowflakes dance around
Snowflakes, snowflakes touch the ground.
 
We are trying out various colors and textures at the easel, and once dry, using the metal inset shape frames to trace and cut out circles, triangles, quatrefoils... for use in a later project.
 
On Tuesday we enjoyed Red Light, Green Light in the gym with Coach Oren.  The children tried out running, hopping like a frog and galloping from one side of the gym to the other.  They understood to return to the starting point each time they moved when the red 'light' was held up.  
 
Wednesday we enjoyed Snow Yoga in the Youth Lounge.  Ask your child to show you sled pose, mountain pose, baby, child pose, skiing and bear.  We move quickly and carefully as the story is told, moving into the poses accordingly.  
 
Thursday is music class with Morah Dawn and today the children practiced rhythm and 'keeping the beat' with their feet, hands and voices. 
 
You may have noticed a new red line (large oval) on our classroom floor which is for the activity, Walking on the Line.  We practice inner controls, walking slowly and purposely on the line, heel to toe in time to the classical music softly playing. This week we handed each child a cup to hold as they walked, which increases concentration and control.  Next time may be a cup filled with water...
 
Garinim:
We would like to welcome a new friend to our school! The children were very excited to introduce Emily to all of the activities within our classroom and have been very good hosts. They have been very concerned about Emily learning our songs at circle time, and have been diligent about singing. We are all very happy to have her in our class!

This week our theme was winter and snow. It was perfect timing because we experienced two snowfalls this week while we were in school and enjoyed being outside on the playground in the snow, and watching it fall from the window. We read “The Mitten”, and acted it out with the children. We had the prop of a giant felt mitten and the children pretended to be the animals in the story and took turns climbing into it. We created giant mitten paintings at the easel and smaller mittens with finger paint. We also made fingerprint snowmen and abstract snowmen. The children were also hard at work with their beaded snowflakes, which are now hanging on the bulletin board.

We also have many snow themed activities in the classroom, including snowflake matching, snowflake sorting, “snow play dough”,  and cotton ball snowflakes. We were very excited to do a “snow experiment” on Wednesday where we brought in snow from outside to see what would happen. Some friends thought it would stay as it was, and other friends felt it would melt. Ask your child what they thought would happen!

Books we read: “Snowball Fight”, First Snow, “The Mitten”, “Oh Snow”, and “White Snow, Bright Snow”.

We made soup! Sweet potato and carrot soup was on the menu for Thursday and we thank all of the parents that donated supplies for our cooking activity. The children very much enjoy it when we can cook or bake, and our goal is to get them to try new things.

Parashat 
For this week’s parashat Joseph and Jacob are reunited. Its an emotional and happy occasion. Jacob lives in Egypt for 17 years and is blessed to meet Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob blesses them though switches hands at the last minute and elevates Ephraim over Manasseh. Jacob continues to assign blessings to each son before he sleeps for the last time at the age of 147.  The introduction of the twelve tribes of Israel is revealed in this parashat. We spent some time reviewing the names of the 12 tribes. 
 
Reminders: 
Monday, January 20 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, no school
Monday, February 17 and Tuesday, February 18 - no school, February break
Wednesday, February 19 - no school, Faculty Professional Development Day
 
Please see this week’s photo’s here photos.app.goo.gl/es5wvvrhRG7a93ht9
 
Morah Lana, Morah Sheryl, Morah Nicole, Morah Marisol and Morah Haley

0Comments

Add Comment