The Maccabees Vs. The Yivanim

Chanukah came to life today in Ganon Bet as the children constructed the Beit Hamikdash with big hollow blocks as well as small blocks. They added a menorah in the middle and proceeded to act out the Chanukah story with the various characters: King Antiochus; the Yivani soldiers; the Maccabees and the Jewish people. Teamwork, problem solving skills, and dramatization helped the children internalize the Chanukah story .

Busy with Puzzles in Ganon Aleph

The children in Ganon Aleph are especially talented at putting together large floor puzzles. It is exciting to watch them work cooperatively to complete each one. This morning our floor was covered with puzzles!

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8! Addition is a piece of cake!

How many ways can you make the number 8!? In honor of the 8 days of chanukah, Gan Aleph put their addition skills to the test! We sat as a group and experimented with 8 candles. The children worked together to take 1 candle and figure out how many more candles they need to make the number 8. We used numbers and math signs to help us create different math sentences to go with our candle equations. When we finished all 9 ways to make the number 8, we read The Eight Nights: A Chanukah Counting Book, by Jane Bearman. During center time, we reinforced this lesson with an individual addition chart.

Experimenting With Oil In Ganon Bet

Being the curious bunch that we are, we could not pass up the opportunity to experiment with oil and various other liquids such as glue, pineapple juice, honey, water and Karo syrup. We combined oil with water. Ask us what happened! We predicted which liquids were heavy and which were light; which combinations would blend and which would remain separate.

Yosef's Colorful Coat

Last week's parasha tells the story of Yosef and his brothers. After hearing the story of Yosef, the children used their fine motor skills to cut out Yosef's coat. Then, by coloring the coat with crayons on a warming tray, they made beautiful, colorful designs. It was fascinating for the children to watch the heat turn the solid crayon into a liquid as they colored. What a great way to combine science, parasha, and Chanukah!

Thanksgiving Fun With Gan Bet!

Gan Bet has been hard at work preparing for Thanksgiving. Today was our Thanksgiving feast and parade! The children were excited to put on their Native American clothes and join the parade around Yavneh! The Pilgrims also joined the celebration. We paraded with instruments and sang our thanksgiving songs. Our parade ended in the cafeteria where we shared a yummy feast! We had pumpkin bread, squash bread, blondies, corn, popcorn and rice krispie treats. All of the food was prepared by the children.After feasting the children shared their favorite thanksgiving songs. We had a great time!

Pre-Thanksgiving Fun

We paraded around the school with Ganon Bet in our Pilgrim costumes yesterday, singing Thanksgiving songs and visiting some of the older classes along the way. We ended our parade in the cafeteria where we met all the Kindergarteners, dressed as Native Americans, for our giant feast! Each class contributed a traditional Thanksgiving food which they made themselves. What a fun pre-Thanksgiving celebration we had!

Chanukah Art

Following our Election Day conference on process art, we purchased some 3 sided acrylic easels. Morah Alana and Miss Judy stood a chanukiah inside their new easel, and the children were able to carefully observe as they painted. Today, the Pre-K children had "play dates" between classes, and Amira got a chance to use bright colors to paint the chanukiah. When the children are done, the teachers capture the work by placing a large sheet of paper over it, and having the children press. Beautiful!

Celebrating Thanksgiving

The "first" Thanksgiving was celebrated in the Yavneh cafeteria. Each early childhood class made a special treat that was shared by all. Our class made applesauce and cranberries. Mm Mm good! The Kindergarten classes were Native American Indians and the Pre K classes were the Pilgrims sharing the feast together.
We also listened to a story about a girl who came to America and wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving, but her mother was not sure a Jewish family should. After speaking to her Rav, they agreed that Thanksgiving is a day for everyone to be thankful to Hashem. Our friend, Mr. Boris, the security man at Yavneh, shared his story with us on why he came to America from Russia with his family 9 years ago. He showed us Russia on a map, and said he is thankful to be here because it is much easier to be Jewish here. Zachary explained, "My family is also from Russia. They came so they could daven here."

Gan Aleph Celebrates Thanksgiving!

Gan Aleph has been hard at work preparing for Thanksgiving. The children burst through the doors with excitement today as they knew...today was the day! Our THANKSGIVING PARADE/FEAST!The children paraded through the halls of Yavneh with instruments while singing all of the Thanksgiving songs we have learned.
The parade culminated in the lunchroom with a celebratory feast filled with yummy food and good company! We had corn, rice krispies treats, pumpkin bread and even our own popcorn which the children were able to watch pop! All the foods were prepared by the various classes in early childhood. We are so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate with such wonderful children! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Waste Not Want Not

Gan Daled was enthralled to learn that Native Americans did not waste anything and found multiple ways to use things. Following this Native American practice, we used corn cobs dipped in paint to make corn prints on our Thanksgiving place mats. We also used corn cobs to play a Native American game where children threw the cobs into a basket. The class husked corn and used the husks as paint brushes to make a colorful mural. We also made a few corn husk dolls for our Discovery Table. Some children extended this beyond the assigned task and designed their own jewelry from the husks.

Go Go Go Joseph!

Parashat HaShavuah is exciting and vibrant in Gan Aleph. In the midst of great excitement for the approaching holidays, Gan Aleph continued learning about the parasha. Gan Aleph is learning the story of Parashat Vayeshev. The children learned how Yaakov gave his son Yosef a multicolored coat. This made Yosef's brothers feel very jealous. Gan Aleph also learned all about the dreams that Yosef had and his ability to explain what dreams meant. Gan Aleph tie dyed their own Yosef's multicolored coats to wear while dramatizing the parsha this week. The children were so excited to model these masterpieces for each other. We have been listening to the music from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The children have been dancing and singing along to every word! Can you spot the real Joseph/Joey in our class?

Basketball

These kindergarten boys organized their own basketball game, naturally including anyone who was interested. They are developing some amazing skills. Look at the body strength that they're using, the agility, and eye-hand and spatial reasoning. What you can't see is the wonderful sense of sportsmanship, teamwork, and the absolute joy of play.

Roll-A-Turkey!

Gan Aleph took turns engaging in a game called "Roll-A-Turkey." The children were provided with one die, a blank sheet of paper, markers and an instruction guide. They each took turns rolling the die and counting the number it landed on.
They then turned their attention to the instructions guide to see which part of the turkey that number represented and drew that turkey part onto their own sheet of paper. The goal was to be the first one to draw an entire turkey! This activity helped promote the children's eye-hand coordination skills and reinforced their counting skills...all the while having a blast!

Husking Corn for the Feast

The children in Ganon Aleph used their strong muscles to husk corn this morning! We then delivered the corn to Terri and the kitchen staff to cook for Tuesday's early childhood Thanksgiving feast. Each class prepared a dish to contribute to the "communal" feast.

Thanksgiving

We re-enacted the Thanksgiving story and had a great time parading around the school in our Pilgrim costumes. We baked to contribute to the feast we enjoyed with the Kindergartens who were dressed up as Native Americans.

Got Milk?

What can you learn from a mud puddle? Kira and Hannah discovered that leaves can float on water, that a breeze or a stir from a stick will move them around,that adding more dirt makes the water thicker. Mostly, they used their imaginations to turn the mud into soup, and later chocolate milk, and understood that everything is more fun when shared with a friend!

Gan Aleph Turns the Beat Around!

Gan Aleph discussed the patterns that Native Americans used in regard to music. We used a big drum to practice different rhythms and beats and listened to how the drum sounds can repeat themselves to create a pattern. We used the drums to listen to the different beats in the children's names and discussed how words have a rhythm: syllables!

We brainstormed Thanksgiving words (Mayflower, pie, turkey etc.) and sorted them onto a chart based on the amount of syllables that were in each word. We even found a 5 syllable word...cornucopia! The children were presented with a syllable suitcase in which they had to unpack different items into the correct syllable drawer. After working collaboratively to complete this task, the children worked independently to sort pictures onto a "clap and chart" paper. This activity truly helped Gan Aleph feel the rhythm of Thanksgiving!

Creating Chanukiyot in Ganon Aleph

The children in Ganon Aleph utilized so many different skills to create their chanukiyot. They used their fine motor skills to sand down the wood and make it smooth. Spatial skills came into play when they placed the cans and decided where the shammash should go. Their creative skills were used when they painted and designed them. Finally, they used their math skills when they counted out the pennies and bolts to glue on top. As you can see, it was a multi-step project into which the children put a lot of effort and had a lot of fun, too!

Creating Chanukiot

What do you get when you give kindergartners hundreds of wooden blocks of various shapes and sizes and ask them to construct a real chanukiah? MASTERPIECES!!!!!!

The children in Gan Gimmel learned that a kosher chanukiah has to have 8 candles in a straight row and of the same height and one for the shamash. They used visual perception skills, cooperation, planning and collaborating to find the "perfect" pieces for their chanukiot! "Will it fit?" "Try this piece,"
"How many do you have?" "How many do you need?" were just some of the questions coming from inquisitive children having loads of fun creating amazing chanukiot which they can use for Chanukah.

Thanksgiving Designers

The children have been exploring the Thanksgiving theme. They have been busy creating their Native American costumes. We began by changing our names to Native American names and using our new names to create Native American headbands. We added patterns and pictorial symbols to our headbands. In the math center the children designed and created bead necklaces using original patterns.

Using spices the children helped create special paints for their vests. They designed and created their vests using our spice paint.