Ganon Aleph Celebrates Lag B'Omer

We had beautiful weather for our Lag B'Omer celebration on Monday.  All of the early childhood classes participated in some friendly competitive relay races organized by Heela and Atara, Yavneh's B'not Sherut Leumi.  We then had an outdoor picnic lunch, after which we played on the giant moon bouncers which were set up on the lawn.  We returned to our classroom where we invited Ganon Bet to join us for storytelling, songs, and s'mores around our "bonfire."  What a fun and busy day we had!!

Fun Bus Comes to Yavneh

The children in Ganon Aleph had a great time when the Fun Bus came to Yavneh last Friday as a pre-Purim treat.  Daniel and Bernice guided them through some floor exercises, an obstacle course, a swinging tube, and finally out of the bus down a long slide.  What a great way to get some "indoor" exercise when the weather is below freezing!

Ganon Aleph Celebrates Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet

We celebrated Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet on Monday with a fun and festive Purim chagiga in the gym where we sang and danced to the music of BaRock Orchestra along with Ganon Bet, after which some middle school students came to our classroom to do some face painting.  We are all excitedly awaiting the arrival of Purim!!

Ganon Aleph Helps Out at ECD Bake Sale

The 4th annual ECD Bake Sale took place this week to raise money for i-Shine.  Each early childhood class baked items to sell to older children and staff during lunchtime in the cafeteria.  Ganon Aleph enjoyed "manning" the tables and collecting the money from older siblings and friends.

As a reward for all their hard work, the children were treated to yummy ice pops after the sale was over.  Altogether, over $900 was raised for i-Shine, an after-school program for children living with illness or loss in their homes.  What a great way to put our good middot into practice!

Officer Sal Teaches ECD Children About Safety

Officer Sal, a retired Paramus police officer who works in Yavneh security, visited all the early childhood classes this week to talk about safety.  He covered many topics including:  wearing a helmet when you're on a bike or scooter, crossing the street in the crosswalk, stranger safety, what to do if you get lost, from whom it is safe to ask for help, and opening the door only with a parent's permission.
We are so lucky to have Officer Sal at Yavneh!

Pat Rose Visits Yavneh

Ganon Aleph enjoyed our annual visit from Pat Rose and her furry (and some not so furry) friends!  She talked about what the different animals do in the winter time: some hibernate, some migrate, and some adapt to the winter weather conditions.  The children had a chance to see and pet a furry white bunny, a slithery red-tailed boa constrictor, a cute wallaby  from Australia named Dixie who hopped around the gym for us, a bright blue macaw who flew over our heads, a Texas raccoon named Millie, and Charlotte, a colorful parrot who did some funny tricks for us.
What a fun, "hands-on" activity for all of the early childhood classes!

Drum Tales

Another exciting Chanukah program which came to Yavneh this week was Drum Tales:  a unique, interactive presentation with the performers and the children telling the Chanukah story using drums.

 The children learned about rhythm and tempo while having fun banging out the Chanukah story!

Ganon Aleph Enjoys ECD Chanukah Chagiga

Ganon Aleph had so much fun singing and dancing to the music of BaRock Orchestra at our chagiga on Monday morning.  What a great way to celebrate our week of Chanukah in Yavneh!

Ganon Aleph Celebrates Thanksgiving With All of ECD

In preparation for our Thanksgiving feast, the children husked ears of corn which the kitchen ladies cooked up for us.  We then donned our Pilgrim costumes and marched around the entire school along with the Native American kindergarteners.  We sang songs as we passed all the classes who were standing on the sidelines.  The children in Ganon Aleph were excited to see their older siblings and friends.  We then marched to the cafeteria where we enjoyed traditional Thanksgiving foods cooked and prepared by all the early childhood classes.  Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

 

Fun With Parashat Noach

Morah Shani was inspired by Parashat Noach to pull out the ECD spin art machine and set it up in the hallway where each child had a chance to create a beautiful rainbow design on a frisbee!  The children also enjoyed experimenting with objects of different size, shape, and weight to see if they would sink or float.  There was a lot of comparing, predicting, and experimenting going on with these budding scientists in ECD!

ECD Bereishit Fair

The children learned all about the seven days of creation through songs, books, felt board stories, pictures, and midrashim.  As a culminating activity they enjoyed our Bereishit Fair in which all of the early childhood classes participated.  Each ECD classroom became a different day of creation which the children visited to work on different projects relating to that day.  These included shadow puppet play for Day One, sensory activities with water and shaving cream for Day Two, planting seeds for Day Three, creating edible sun, moon and stars for Day Four, decorating birds and fish for Day Five, doing animal exercises and creating self-portraits for Day Six, and making challah for Day Seven.  What a wonderful, hands-on way to learn about the creation of the world!

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!