You're Invited! Gan Aleph's Writing Journey Begins...

Have you ever received a piece of mail that says "You're Invited!" on the top? Were you excited? Were you curious about what you were invited to?










This week the children of Gan Aleph received an invitation to become authors! The morah displayed the invitation on the white board projector and read the invitation aloud to the children.

Their eyes beamed with excitement and were eager to accept this special invitation. They took turns writing their names below as an R.S.V.P and understood that by writing their names they were accepting this opportunity to learn and grow as writers.

We then discussed what does it mean to be an author? What does an author write about? We decided that authors write about things and stories that are meaningful to them. The children received a paper with a heart shape on it that was divided into 5 sections. They each drew 5 different things in their heart that were meaningful to them or things that they loved.

 We sat together and shared some of our hearts with each other. This interactive brainstorming activity with be placed in their writing folders for them to refer to as we begin our writing journey in Gan Aleph. The children can't wait to get started!

Ganon Bet eats in the Lunchroom

 News Flash!! Ganon Bet is now eating lunch in the lunchroom everyday! We feel very grown-up and  we are enjoying eating with the Kindergartens.
After we eat lunch we clean-up our spots. If we are done early, we switch tables and color in pictures.

Preparing for Simchat Torah in Ganon Aleph

In preparation for Simchat Torah, the children practiced doing "hakafot" in the Beit Midrash with the little Torahs they made.  While we were there, we looked at the Torahs in the Aron Kodesh, as well as the yad and the choshen on each Torah.

We then came back to our classroom and each child had a chance to roll and unroll at either end of a long sheet, just like a real Torah!!

Ganon Bet Prepares For Sukkot

 Thank you Rabbi Penn for coming to our class and reviewing what we learned about Sukkot.
We knew all about the lulav, aravot and hadasim.
We practiced making the bracha over the lulav and etrog.

 Ganon Bet built a Sukkah City out various blocks made from cardboard, and wood.
We used large, medium and small blocks.

Rabbi Knapp came to visit our Sukkah City!!

Yummy Applesauce in Ganon Aleph

After peeling and chopping the apples all by themselves, the children added cinnamon and a little water and watched as the apples cooked down into some delicious applesauce.  Yum!!

I built myself a succah......

Do you know what happens when you put plastic cups in the oven? We do!!!

   We made a mobile to hang in our succah that had many different steps.

First we each decorated seven plastic cups.

                                 

  

 After all our cups were colored, Morah Alana put them in the oven. We watched as they melted and went from a tall cup to a flat circle! 
             

We then attached pipe cleaners to our circles which we carefully beaded. 

    

                                                   
Next we attached our pipe cleaners to a hanger. 

                                               

After which we colored our lulav and etrog and glued on our picture. We finished it by adding the sheva minim which are special crops that grow in Eretz Yisrael! 

Building a Sukkah in Ganon Aleph

The children in Ganon Aleph created a "life-size" sukkah out of a large appliance box for our classroom. 

After painting it and decorating it with Bruchim Ha-baim signs and paper chains they made themselves, we went outdoors to collect some s'chach. 

They have been having lots of fun entertaining guests in their very own sukkah!

Scientists from the Start

We armed the children of Gan Bet with tweezers, magnifying glasses, mirrors, and a couple of those traditional Rosh Hashanah items, and look at what ensued....

 

               



 

   

....EXPLORATION! 



Old Macdonald had a farm

We were so surprised to go outside on Tuesday and see a Farmer with a sheep, goat, turkey , & ducks to name a few. We loved petting them but our favorite part was feeding them!
When we got back to class, Gan Gimmel had a blast playing a rhyming game with the different farm animals that visited us at Yavneh this week!

Enjoy this video with our pictures from the farm!
(Please click the link)


http://animoto.com/play/4ixY4EDVdA1mjSnMJZ41wA

AN APPLE A DAY . . .

What's red, green and yellow and eaten in Gan Daled?           Apples!

Gan Daled had an apple tasting party. After tasting different colored apples, the children compiled a list of adjectives such as: sour, sweet, juicy, healthy, round and crunchy to describe them.

The class has been graphing the weather daily in a bar graph format. This time they learned to use a tally graph. Each child made a tally mark for their favorite apple.

The winner: green apples.