Ganon Bet, Ganon Bet What Do You See?

Did you know that we have a three sided easel in Ganon Bet? Do you know what happens when you put an object in the middle of the easel? We can see it through the plexiglass, how cool! Chanukah is going to be here before we know it and we decided to paint our own version of chanukiot, which are proudly displayed in our classroom! Using our fine motor skills and our spatial skills we had to think of how we wanted to create our chanukiot and use our paintbrush to bring it to life!  Come take a look for yourselves!

Ganon Bet Does Yoga!

This week Ganon Bet was lucky to host a bunch of guests including Mommies and Grandma's! On Wednesday morning, Zachary's Mom who is a Physical Therapist helped us stretch our muscles and learn various poses from yoga. We became volcanoes and threw out lava, ice cream, and monkeys! We loved listening to the calming nature music and seeing how hard we could push ourselves!

Busy Little Maccabees in Ganon Aleph

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, Ganon Aleph has shifted into high gear with our Chanukah preparations.  The children are becoming very familiar with the story of the Maccabees and their fight against Antiochus and his soldiers.  They enjoy spending time around our Chanukah discovery table where they do a lot of counting, classifying, problem-solving and socializing.

 They have been busy working on Chanukah projects which will go home in time for the holiday.  Here you can see them sanding down the wood for their chanukiyot, decorating cans to hold the candles, painting their 3-D dreidels, and designing their 4-sided dreidel hangings.

  We have many exciting activities planned for the days leading up to Chanukah as well as for Chanukah week!

Thanksgiving Wrap-up!

Enjoy this slideshow of some of what we did to prepare for and celebrate Thanksgiving! Today, we continued the theme of being thankful by writing thank you notes to those who help us at home and all around! (Look for those in this week's Friday folder. )  We hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and are looking forward to Chanukah!

Waste Not Want Not

Husking corn

Gan Daled was enthralled to learn that Native Americans did not waste anything and found multiple ways to use things




Painting with corn cobs

Following this Native American practice, we used corn cobs dipped in paint to make corn prints on our Thanksgiving placemats.

We also used corn cobs to play a Native American game where children threw the corn cobs into a basket.

Gan Daled used the husks from the corn cobs as paint brushes to make a colorful mural.


Painting with corn husks

 

Gan Daled Has A Vested Interest In Thanksgiving

At our Math Center, the children exhibited their keen
understanding of patterning. Using manipulatives, they made patterns which they were able to describe. Following this exciting activity, Gan Daled observed Native American decorations and put their skill of patterning to use in creating beautiful beaded necklaces. Thanks to Flora's mom, Bassie Lewis, for  using her beading talents to help us. The children also used their patterning skills  to decorate Native American  vests. They were very excited to wear their vests and necklaces at our Thanksgiving feast.


Flora and her Mom showing her beaded necklace

Shapes in Ganon Bet

We created shapes with our bodies in Ganon Bet!!! Guess which shape we are?

Sailing with the Mayflower in Ganon Bet

In Ganon Bet we discussed different sizes. We brought that discussion to the sails on the Mayflower. Which size sail helped the boat more quickly. The children became the wind by blowing through straws. Ask us who won the race.

Cooking Lentil Soup in Ganon Aleph

In this week's Parashat Toldot the children learned about Eisav returning from a hunting trip so famished that he trades his first-born rights for a bowl of lentil soup.  We cooked our own delicious lentil soup today, and the children chopped all the vegetables themselves - even the onions!  We're happy to share the recipe if you want it!!

Hachnasat Orchim

Tasty Torah Treats

After learning about the  mitzvah of  Hachnasat Orchim that Avraham Avinu loved to do, Gan Daled was invited to Gan Bet's classroom. Since we (Gan Daled) were the guests, we thought it would be nice to bring something to our hosts. We  brought along a terrific book called, I Go Visiting, by Rikki Benenfeld. The yeladim noticed the ryming pattern in the book and they enjoyed joining in to complete the sentences.

Following the story, Gan Bet shared a delicious snack. Each child made their own tent cookies using chocolate chip cookies, yummy vanilla frosting and brown ice tea crystals to remind us of the desert and a chocolate kiss to resemble a tent. The children not only enjoyed making the scrumptious cookies but enjoyed eating the cookies alongside their friends too!

Todah rabah to Gan Bet for being amazing hosts!

Be Our Guests!



Bruchim HaBaim LeGan Bet! We excitedly welcomed our friends from Gan Daled, while practicing the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim, just like Avraham Avinu!

Our gracious guests brought a story to share with us.....

And Gan Bet served up a snack in turn, as we made Avraham's Tent Cookies!

 



We spread some frosting.....

 

Sprinkled some "sand".......

 

And placed the "tents" on our "desert" cookies.....

 

We enjoyed time with our friends from Gan Daled all the while!

 

 

 

 



Ganon Aleph Inspects Yavneh's Pipes

In this week's Parashat Chayei Sarah, the children learned that Rivka got water for Eliezer and the camels from a well.  We talked abut how getting water from a well differs from the way we get water today.  First, we learned about how the water goes from the reservoir where the rain collects, to a filtering system which cleans the water, to the pipes in our homes, schools, shuls, etc.  Then, we took a walk around the school and checked the pipes under the sinks, water fountains, and toilets.  We even went down to the boiler room and checked out the big pipes down there!

How Do We Get Water?

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In this week's Parsha, we learned how Rivka had to go to  the well to get water for her family. We concluded that long ago there was no indoor plumbing, so they got their water from a  well. This led to a discussion of how we get our water today. One of the children suggested that water comes from pipes! We had a hands – on demonstration and searched the “pipes of Yavneh”. We examined the plumbing system in our classroom and then went down to the “bowels” of the school and saw all of the pipes twisting and turning that carry the water and waste throughout the building. We created our own pipe system with pvc pipes and watched sand flow through the pipes.

Challah Baking In Ganon Bet

 In this weeks Parsha, Chayei Sarah we met Sarah Emeinu. Sarah’s table in her tent always had fresh challah while she was alive, and when she died, it disappeared. When Rivka and Yitzchak got married, the challah reappeared. We learned that there is a special Bracha to say when we make 5 pounds of challah . We baked our very own challot this week with Howie’s mom.  Before we baked them we took off a piece and said the bracha of Hafrashat Challah. We measured, poured, mixed, kneaded, and then braided our challot. We even made one big one to eat at our Shabbat party! Boy, were they yummy.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

 

 

After learning about wild and domesticated animals, Gan Daled listened to "Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saens. Saint-Saens is a French composer who lived about 150 years ago. Although he was a serious composer, Saint-Saens wrote a musical joke with the writing of "Carnival of the Animals" using animals instead of people. The children had a wonderful time dramatizing different animals to the  music. Some of the students can identify the animals represented by the music. For more information about "Carnival of the Animals' please visit http://www.thumper.net/tlkmag/archive/mm/cofa.htm