We are Learning our Brachot in Ganon Bet

           What better way to learn the brachot than by tasting  the foods that are associated with it.        The yeladim tried different kinds of bread.



Meira liked matzah.

Charlie liked the challah roll.

Jack liked pita bread.

Gabie ate the challah roll.

Michal, Yonah, Nikki and Jack made pattern fruit loop necklaces or bracelets.

Regina baked yummy cupcakes(and cookies).

Willa, Grace, Emma and Lila  peeled and cut vegetables for our vegetable salad.

Michal made a vegetable  face.

Sammy made a vegetable person.

 

                                   

Gabby and Elissa cut fruit for our fruit salad.

                                              What is your favorite flavor of grape juice?

Eitan liked the red,  Gavi liked the white and Dovi liked the sparkling.

 

Tu B'Shvat Higiyah in Ganon Bet

When the children of Ganon Bet look outside they see bare trees.
How could it be spring when we just had snow here in New Jersey as Choref has just begun!

 It is hard to believe that it is already Tu B'Shvat in Eretz Yisrael. The trees have already started blooming. Since Tu B'Shvat falls during our vacation, we celebrated Tu B'Shvat with a seder in our class today.  We sang songs and heard two stories. One was about  Rina and Her Birthday Surprise. The story was about a girl whose birthday is on Tu B'Shvat and found a special surprise outside her home.  We also listened to a story  about a boy named Jonathan who wanted to plant a tree on Tu B'Shvat but was unable to because the ground was frozen.  As we heard the stories and sang songs, we had the oppurtunity to taste many of the Shivat Haminim. We had many brave tasters who were willing to try some new fruit! We made brachot and said a shehechiyanu too!


Dovi and Charlie eating yummy wheat crackers.



The Shivat Haminim are sampled by the children.

 

Regina is trying a new fruit-the T'Aina- fig



Jack  is getting ready to eat the juicy  Zayit- olive.

Ms. Terry Visits Ganon Bet

 In honor of Thanksgiving Ms. Terry visited Ganon Bet. We discussed how we get vitamins from fruits and vegetables.We know that vitamins help keep us healthy.



Ms. Terry brought a juicer to our classroom. We juiced pineapples, carrots, celery, strawberries, apples, cantaloupe and cucumbers.
The juices were delicious!!!
Thank you for visiting us.

Gan Aleph and Chag Habikurim

This week, Gan Aleph experienced bringing Bikurim to the Beit Hamikdash.  After learning how the farmers would bring their first crops to thank Hashem, we reenacted this very special Mitzvah.  The children took turns building the Beit Hamikdash using blocks, and created a wonderful holy structure.  Then they took their fruits, placed them in a Bikurim basket and traveled around the room saying "thank you" to Hashem until they reached their destination.  They each took turns placing fruit within our class Beit Hamikdash.  What a great culminating activity it was to make yummy Bikurim salad for us to enjoy!

Blessings from the Trees

Gan Bet has been investigating trees in many fun ways over the past few weeks. Today their studies bore "fruit" as they prepared for our departmental Bracha Party. Each class prepared a food with a different bracha, and Gan Bet chose to make fruit salad for "borei pri haetz"! The children worked independently to cut, chop, and stir up a big pan of fruits which they shared with all their early childhood schoolmates. Fun and yum!

Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

In honor of Tu B'Shvat, the children in Gan Gimmel brought in their favorite fruits to share with the class. We enjoyed eating the fruit for snack and of course, we learned that we say borei pri haeytz on those that grow on trees. We even learned that we say haeytz on grapes, which grow on a vine.

While enjoying the oranges, curious kindergartners noticed that they were very "juicy". "Look, orange juice," as one squeezed his orange into his cup. What a great scientific discovery!! This made us all want to make orange juice so we got some juicers and started squeezing. We loved drinking our orange juice and of course, changed our bracha to shehakol neeye bdvaro.

A Tree Grows in Ganon Aleph

As a follow-up to Tu B'Shevat, the children in Ganon Aleph did some planting! They collected seeds from different fruits and vegetables that they had eaten at home. We planted these seeds this week, along with seeds from flowers, grass, pumpkins, and beans. Our plants are on our windowsill, and we are patiently waiting to see what will come up first!

Gan Bet Explores

The children met "Auntie Apple" our latest alphabet puppet. They heard the story of Andy and his sister Ann and their adventures in the forest. They met Auntie Apple, who lives in an A shaped cave and has Magic Apples. We created Auntie Apple puppets for our Puppet World.
We have been tasting Fall fruits. this week the children tasdted apricots, plums, pears and pomegranites. They discoved that some fruits have seeds and others have a stone. The best part of the exploration was tasting the fruits.
The children continue to explore the art process. They were very busy painting a large tevah for the class. Their painting was very detailed. they loved painting on the floor on a very large canvas.