Getting Ready for Pesach

The children in Ganon Aleph have been so busy with their Pesach projects: sponge-painting and sewing their afikomen bags, decorating their Eliyahu cups, illustrating their "maggid" books, as well as working on assorted other creations to bring home in time for Pesach. Are you as busy at home getting ready for Pesach as they are in school??

BREAKING BREAD WITH GAN DALED

Gan Daled read the book Bread, Bread, Bread by Ann Morris. The children were eager to learn about various types of bread from around the world. We continued to develop our geography skills by locating the countries represented in the book on a world map. After examining different shapes, colors and sizes of bread, came the best part - tasting the bread.

We left samples of the bread on our Discovery Table. The class predicted what would happen to them. We anxiously check the bread every day for any changes.

What is your favorite type of bread?

Ganon Bet's Bowling League

What happens when you hand a box of bowling pins to children? In Ganon Bet, the children decided to create a bowling alley. They proceeded to delegate jobs: 1 child was the machine that picked up the pins; 1 child was the score keeper; 1 created a sign; and another kept the bowlers in an orderly line! They had a wonderful time, and we kvelled at their ingenuity and team work!

Pesach Story Builders

During Activity Time, the children spontaneously began to retell the Pesach story. All on their own, they created a scenic backdrop and puppet characters. They crafted several scenes, working together to put the story in sequence. We overheard them organizing and assigning different jobs to their friends. Their conversations included: "I made a mitzri with a whip," Did you make pharoah?"; "I made baby Moshe floating in the river". The most frequently heard question was "Can I help you?".

The created pyramids, palm trees , reeds and many other details to retell the story of Pesach. They are continuing their work and hope to produce a major show for their friends.

Ganon Aleph Authors

The children in Ganon Aleph combined their love of stories and their love of drawing into a project of creating their own books. Each child illustrates the pages of a book and then dictates his or her words to the morah. After their books are completed, they take turns sitting in our "Author Chair" and "reading" their original stories to the class.

Grape Juice Tasting

Gan Gimmel has begun Pesach preparations which means we have started making our own Hagaddot. In conjunction with KADESH, our first page, we had a grape juice tasting in our classroom. We tasted peach, white and purple grape juices and graphed the one we liked the best. Perhaps we will request that kind to have at our sederim! Which kind do you like best? We even practiced ORCHATZ with 3 different types of washing cups!

Bar and Bat Mitzvah Readers

Rabbi Aron Srulovitz' Bar and Bat Mitzvah students are engaged in a reading project this month. As part of the program, they prepared stories to read to our kindergarteners. The children were divided into groups, and paid rapt attention as the "big kids" read some popular children's books to them. The middle schoolers felt proud of their ability to lead a group of young children. The kindergarteners, who truly look up to the middle schoolers, learned through their modeling the value of reading. A fun and meaningul activity for all involved!

Pre Pesach Preparations

As Pesach approaches, the children engage in many hands on experiences. They tried squeezing grapes in a cup to make juice, and then tasted the fruits of their labor. They were so excited they asked to make juice again! They all commented that it was delicious.

We also experimented with yeast and then made challah! Independently the children braided their challot and then we baked them. The best part was eating the challah!

Getting Ready for Pesach

In anticipation of Pesach the children started decorating our classroom for the Festival. They painted, colored and glued, using their artistic talent and imagination to make a mural depicting the story of Pesach.

Blasting Off to Outer Space!

As a culmination of our unit on the solar system, the astronauts of Ganon Aleph blasted off into space this week! In our walk around the building we visited the sun, the moon, and several planets. The teacher in Mercury, Mrs. Gans, was kind enough to display the planet on her smartboard so the children could see the hot side, the cold side, and the craters. After counting backwards from ten, we blasted off for our safe return to Earth.

Flowers In The Snow.

The long awaited spring is finally here. But, instead of soft wind and gentle white clouds, it surprised us with snow on its second day. Looking at their garden as the snow melted, the children were treated to a sight that warmed their hearts. They were excitetd and delighted to discover little green sprouts.The Daffodils and Hyacinths which they planted are growing. They quickly set to work to clean their garden and get ready for future planting. Smiling, working hard and looking forward to spring and its gifts.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS FLAT STANLEY?

He has been sighted at the Kotel in Yerushalayim, at Disneyland in California with Mickey and Minnie, in front of the houses of Parliament in London, in the snows of Minnesota, as well as in an ice castle in Winnepeg, Canada.

Gan Daled enjoyed reading Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. This book is about a young boy named Stanley who is accidentally squished "as flat as a pancake" when a bulletin board falls on him. Stanley is very, very flat but otherwise fine. He can slide under doors, go down into sidewalk grates, and even fold himself up small enough to fit into an envelope and be mailed to California for an exciting vacation.

Each child created his/her own Flat Stanley and included him in the letters we sent to relatives and friends all over the world asking about weather and living conditions at their locations. Flat Stanley may be a paper doll but he is no couch potato! He has visited many parts of the globe and our class has been posting the results on a bulletin board with a map of the world. Flat Stanley has helped us learn geography and how weather affects our lives.

We can't wait to read the other installments of Flat Stanley's adventures!

MARCH MADNESS

On Shushan Purim, Mrs. Cohen visited us in our classroom. She was dressed as Max, the main character in the book Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

We could tell that this is Mrs. Cohen's favorite book by the animated way that she dramatized the story. The children were mesmerized by her presentation. We can't wait to read the book ourselves.

Shushan Purim Fun

We had a fun day on Shushan Purim. The children arrived in costume and enjoyed seeing all of their friends and Morot in costumes as well. We were treated to a Purim puppet show with ventriloquist Jonathan Geffner and his puppet pals. After the show we were invited to a Purim Chagiga where we danced and sang with all of the Early Children children and Morot. We had a grand time!

Fun on Shushan Purim

We had loads of fun on Shushan Purim! The children loved seeing each other in costume, as well as all of the morot and the other children in school. We all enjoyed a very entertaining puppet show performed by ventriloquist Jonathan Geffner and his puppet friends Shmendrick, Ezra, Chippy, and Mr. Monster. We then danced in the gym to the festive music of BaRock Orchestra.

Building Shushan, One Block at a Time

Gan Gimmel brought Shushan to life in our block corner today! Working cooperatively is a valuable learning experience and can be challenging at the same time. With many "good ideas", the children constructed Achashverosh's palace, including his bed (with the king who couldn't sleep), a table and chairs for Esther's party for the king and Haman and a throne all made out of Lego.

Show Time!

Every year, Morah Lauren and Morah Aviva's kindergarten classes learn about Purim with an amazing, interactive puppet show. They typically invite other classes just before Purim to join the fun and reinforce all they've learned. This morning, Ganon Bet attended the puppet show, and came away raving about it. They sang and laughed and demonstrated just how well they know the story. Good times, great memories, and a stellar education!

Lights, Camera, Action!!

The actors and actresses of Ganon Bet put on a Purim play. Each child's name was entered in a lottery and parts were given out. Everybody put their costumes on and we transformed the room into Shushan. Through song, action and words the children brought the story of Purim to life. Take a peek for yourself....