Interview with Twins!

After learning about the birth of Yaakov and Eisav in this week's Parasha, Gan Gimmel was intrigued by the differences between Yaakov and Eisav. One of the reasons was because we have two sets of twins  in our class. Gavriella has a twin brother Eitan in Gan Bet and Jakob has a twin brother Ezra in Gan Bet. We decided to interview them and see if they had similar interests or if they were also different. We thought of a list of questions and we asked each twin alone so we could make sure that they gave their own original answer. We asked them questions such as What is your favorite color, food, shape, toy. We learned that Gavriella and Eitan had very different interests. They have different color hair and different color eyes! Jakob and Ezra shared two similarities, they share a favorite shape, a triangle and they both have hazel eyes. They do not have the same color hair and do not look alike! We discovered that even though they all share a birthday, each one of them is different and special in their own way!

Ganon Aleph Inspects the Pipes

After learning in this week's Parashat Chayei Sarah that Rivka got water from a well for the camels and for Eliezer, we talked about how getting water from a well differs from the way we get water today.  We took a walk around the school and checked the pipes under the sinks, water fountains, and toilets.  We even checked out the big pipes down in the boiler room.  You'll be relieved to know that Yavneh passed Ganon Aleph's inspection!

Challah Baking in Ganon Aleph with Esti's Mom

The children learned in this week's Parashat Chayei Sarah that when when Sarah Emainu passed away, the candles which always stayed lit from one Shabbat to the next were extinguished, and that the challah dough which always rose stopped rising.  When Yitzchak brought his new wife Rivka to his mother's tent, the candles  burned and the dough rose once again.  To acknowledge this significant part of the parasha, Esti's mom came in to help the children make challah.  She then read them the book, "Way Too Much Challah Dough" by Goldie Shulman.

We love when parents, grandparents, and other family members come to work or play with the children in Ganon Aleph!

A Visit from our Local Firefighters

In honor of Fire Prevention Month, the children in Ganon Aleph were excited to meet some representatives from the Paramus Fire Department who came to Yavneh this week.

 Firefighter Joe explained some fire safety rules to the children.  He showed them Mr. Nose, the smoke detector that every home should have to smell smoke.  He told them what to do in case of a real fire, and reminded them to dial 9-1-1 only in case of an emergency.





 Firefighter Kevin dressed up in his fire gear and explained how it keeps him safe.  Afterwards, the children thanked our firefighters for keeping us safe!

We Love Morah Rina!

Ganon Aleph looks forward to our daily visits from Morah Rina.  She teaches new Ivrit vocabulary in fun and exciting ways.  This week the children have been learning the Hebrew names for different vegetables.

As a culminating activity, after each child correctly identified the Hebrew word for their vegetable of choice, they made a bracha and ate it!  What a delicious and healthy way to learn Hebrew!

Ganon Bet Weighs in at the Well

  















                        Ganon Bet's parsha discussion led us to the
                    well where we all got to be Rivka.  We carried the pitchers of water so we can feel how heavy it was for Rivka!!!
We even acted like camels and traveled through the desert and carried heavy things just like Eliezer did. We ended up at the well where Rivka gave us water to drink. How refreshing!!

ONE POTATO, TWO POTATOES

While preparing our section of the Early Childhood Garden for the coming winter, the children unearthed a small treasure: several tiny sweet potatoes. These little potatoes are off shoots of a large sweet potato that was planted last winter.

The original sweet potato was placed in a container of water in the classroom to grow its roots. The potato and its roots were planted last spring and yielded the little sweet potatoes we found. We baked them and they were sweet and delicious!. Gan Daled also planted tulip bulbs and can't wait to see the beautiful colors in the spring.

Ganon Aleph Travels Like Avraham

After learning in Parashat Lech Lecha that Hashem told Avraham to pack up his belongings and move to a new place, the children in Ganon Aleph cut out their own little suitcases, decorated them, and then "packed" them full of items which they found and cut out of various magazines and circulars.  They then took a walk all around Yavneh with their suitcases, and just like Avraham and Sarah, they had no idea where they would end up.  And just like Avraham and Sarah, they ended up in a great place!
Please enjoy the attached video of Ganon Aleph singing "Going to Canaan Land" together with Morah Sorah Shaffren's third grade class.

Ganon Aleph Has Fun With Parashat Vayera

The children in Ganon Aleph have been acting out this week's Parashat Vayera in our classroom tent, complete with floor pillows to sit on, a small table with pretend food, and a water pitcher for washing the feet of Avraham's guests!

They also enjoyed snack and singing in the large outdoor tent which was put up outside for all the early childhood classes to use.

We put into practice Avraham's favorite mitzvah of "hachnasat orchim" when we invited Ganon Bet to our classroom for Shabbat party!

Ohel Avraham

On Thursday we went into Avraham’s tent. We learned that it had four doors so that he could let people in from all directions to do the Mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim. We practiced the Hebrew words for east, west, north, and south; Mizrach, Maarav, Tzafon, & Darom.

We did Tefila in the tent and our Hebrew Morning Message. We then created the letters to spell Avraham’s name with our bodies. We had a great time!

                We made a Gimmel too because we are Gan Gimmel!

Alef

Vet

Reish

Hey

Mem Sofit!

What does that Spell???

Avraham!

Ganon Bet sings to before Avraham's Ohel

Ganon Bet sings a Bikur Cholim song outside of Avraham's ohel!
Please enjoy the link below.

Bikur Cholim

Ganon Bet Visits Avraham's Ohel

 Ganon Bet enjoying their own ohel in the classroom!

In the afternoon we went out to Avraham's ohel in the garden. We spoke about how welcoming he was to his guests . We learned that Avraham had three Malachim visit him in his ohel.

 This morning we were lucky enough to daven inside the ohel!

We talked about how Avrahams ohel had four doors representing the four different directions, north,south,east and west

Adventures in Exploring the Teivah

 After trying our own abilities at designing floating structures,

the children in Gan Bet used the knowledge of Noach's teivah-building instructions

in their own building challenges...

We used our fine-motor skills to grasp items of food, animals,

 people and garbage and placed them in their assigned spots on a three-tiered teivah.

Then we experimented with designing our own teivot incorporating the aspects of material, construct, and design which Noach had to follow....

See how we used wood just like Noach...

...incorporated three levels into our building...

...and made sure to add a window just like Noach!

Of course, everybody had their own variation despite the boundaries of the building...

Then we applied the ideas of teamwork and planning 

which Noach may have used when building the teivah with his family...

 

 

 

 The experience was such an amazing way for us to appreciate 

how we can all arrive at such varied conclusions, 

even with the same instructions!