Makkot Mania!

Early Childhood children learn best by active learning. In Ganon Bet, to bring the 10 Makkot to life , stations were set up every day to represent the different Makkot. Starting with Dam, we took a spray bottle and mixed food coloring with water. Then we had a chance to spray coffee filters. Sefardea was next. At this station we made frog puppets. Kinim could be found in our rice table. Animal print papers were made into collages to represent Arov. Many wild animals must have escaped Mitzrayim and made their way into Ganon Bet's puppet theater for Dever. The children played with these puppets and use them to dramatize this Makka.

Shecin was a lot of fun, jumping on bubble wrap and pretending they were boils. For Barad we played with frozen ice that had red pom poms in it to represent the fire! For Arbeh we had an insect hunt outside.

Finally, we climbed through a dark tunnel to represent choshech.

Getting Ready for Pesach in Ganon Aleph

The children have been so busy working on their various Pesach projects. They will be able to use all of these to enhance their participation at the seders. They decorated Eliyahu's cup, "al netilat yadayim bowls and towels, bedikat chametz kits, sponge painted and sewed their afikomen bags, tie-dyed and colored their pillowcases, collaged their salt water bowls, made frog puppets to hop around the seder table, water-colored matzah boxes, created "magid" books to help tell the story, photo songbooks to help with the songs, and Ma Nishtana booklets to remind them of all the verses! All this hard work reminded them of how hard the slaves

worked in Mitzrayim!!

Spring is in the Air

To mark the first day of spring on Tuesday,.. Gan Bet went on a nature walk. The children were encouraged to use all of their senses in identifying signs of the new season. They used clipboards with checklists to record what they saw, heard or touched. The children were amazed to see buds blossoming on the trees and flowers. They heard bees buzzing and birds chirping. They felt the grass, leaves and trees. Then the children wrote about these experiences, and drew beautiful pictures depicting their outside adventures.

Free Play in Ganon Aleph

As busy as the children have been working on their various Pesach projects, they still have time to relax and have fun with their friends. Please enjoy these photos we took of them during our free play one morning this week.

Ganon Bet Learns About The Wind

We have become real wind observers. We discovered that wind carries pollen and seeds through the air. We can’t see the wind but we can see what it does and we can feel its force. We see the wind move the clouds and leaves and flowers. We can hear the wind rustle the leaves and feel the cool breeze on our skin. We blew feathers, pompoms and crayons just with our mouths, and then we blew them with a straw. Ask us what happened. We also played with scarves and watched them float in the air. We also flew paper airplanes and kites and watched them float on the air currents.

Shushan Purim

We had so much fun on Shushan Purim! The children were excited to come to school and see each other and their morot in costumes. We paraded around the school, and enjoyed seeing older siblings and friends in costume as well. Magician Joe Fischer came to perform a magic show, performing lots of funny tricks for the children. What a fun way to end a festive Purim week!