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!

A Chanukiyah Out of Potatoes???

After reading the book "A Hanukkiyah for Dina" by Floreva Cohen, the children were asked whether they thought the story was fiction or non-fiction. They decided it must be fiction because you could never make a chanukiyah out of potatoes! We then proceeded to cut four potatoes in half, scoop out the middle, put a whole potato in the center as the shamash, pour in some olive oil, place some wicks inside, and light our potato chanukiyah, just like Dina did in the story!! (The children then decided that the story was non-fiction!)

Bright Lights Shine In River Vale

Chanukah is finally here and Gan Gimmel is celebrating the Festival of Lights with joy and gladness.

On the first day of Chanukah Gan Gimmel visited the Jewish Home For Assisted Living in River Vale. Under the direction of Morah Roberta Seltzer, the Early Childhood music teacher, Gan Gimmel and Gan Aleph entertained a group of senior citizens.

The children sang, danced and lit a chanukiah for the residents. The performers had an opportunity to interact with the seniors who enjoyed their company. Before returning to Yavneh the children presented the residents with a gift that they had made - a beautiful chanukiah and a drip mat.

The children returned to school happy that they had brightened the day for the seniors.

Bringing a Story to Life in Ganon Aleph

After reading the book "A Hanukkiyah for Dina" by Floreva Cohen, we made our own chanukiyah out of potatoes, added olive oil and wicks, and lit it, just like Dina did in the story!

The Last Day

We read the book "A Chanukiya for Dina" , by Floreva Cohen, and decided to make a potato chanukiah just like the little girl in the story. The children helped cut four potatoes in half, and left one potato for a shamash. Then they scooped the centers out and filled them with oil.

After adding wicks and arranging the potatoes on a tray, they lit their chanukiah and sang the brachot for the last time this year. This was a wonderful way to extend literacy into a genuine, relevant science experience, and bring closure to all the fun we've had during Chanukah.

Now You See It, Now You Don't!

Gan Daled made beautiful chanukiyot to enhance the celebration of Chanukah. The chanukiyot are styled after the artwork of Yaacov Agam. Agam is an Israeli artist, the son of a rabbi in Rishon Le Zion, and is known for his kinetic art. In kinetic or "op" art, the specially arranged patterns of line and color seem almost to move.
When looking at the chanukiyot from a certain angle, we see our Hebrew names. When shifting our gaze just a bit, we are treated to a view of Yerushalayim.

For more information on Yaacov Agam please go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaacov_Agam





Happy Chanukah!

Chanukah Is Coming.

Lots of work! Lots of fun!

Gan Daled is busy with numerous activities preparing for the Festival of Lights. Using their imagination, creative abilities, and fine motor skills they are busy making beautiful objects to enhance this joyous holiday while learning about their Jewish roots and traditions.

It is said that one picture is worth a thousand words. Here are some pictures showing your children at work creating their beautiful chanukiyot, wrapping papers , drip mats and and cards.

Chanukah Art

Following our Election Day conference on process art, we purchased some 3 sided acrylic easels. Morah Alana and Miss Judy stood a chanukiah inside their new easel, and the children were able to carefully observe as they painted. Today, the Pre-K children had "play dates" between classes, and Amira got a chance to use bright colors to paint the chanukiah. When the children are done, the teachers capture the work by placing a large sheet of paper over it, and having the children press. Beautiful!

Creating Chanukiyot in Ganon Aleph

The children in Ganon Aleph utilized so many different skills to create their chanukiyot. They used their fine motor skills to sand down the wood and make it smooth. Spatial skills came into play when they placed the cans and decided where the shammash should go. Their creative skills were used when they painted and designed them. Finally, they used their math skills when they counted out the pennies and bolts to glue on top. As you can see, it was a multi-step project into which the children put a lot of effort and had a lot of fun, too!

Creating Chanukiot

What do you get when you give kindergartners hundreds of wooden blocks of various shapes and sizes and ask them to construct a real chanukiah? MASTERPIECES!!!!!!

The children in Gan Gimmel learned that a kosher chanukiah has to have 8 candles in a straight row and of the same height and one for the shamash. They used visual perception skills, cooperation, planning and collaborating to find the "perfect" pieces for their chanukiot! "Will it fit?" "Try this piece,"
"How many do you have?" "How many do you need?" were just some of the questions coming from inquisitive children having loads of fun creating amazing chanukiot which they can use for Chanukah.