This week our class began by learning about transportation. Morah brought in different pictures of all different forms of transportation. We spoke about each in depth and we had to tell her what the picture was and what it travels on (ie sky, tracks, water, road). Our class read so many books about all different types over the week.

Morah taught us about some safety precautions we should take while riding on some of these. We spoke about wearing a seat belt while riding in the car and wearing a helmet while riding our bikes.
Nursery friends had so much fun sponge painting with sponges that were shaped like different transportation forms such as trains, airplanes, boats, helicopters, cars, and trucks. We also took trains and cars a different day and painted at our easel using them. This enabled the children to use different motor skills and work them out.

 We got to play red light green light freeze dance and it was so much fun! the kids had a blast!
Our class learned all about the letter 'T' this week since we learned about transportation.
Morah bought tangerines, tomatoes, and also tea. We had a picnic on the carpet and enjoyed a book while we ate. We can't wait to see what Morah has in store next!

 

Our Nursery class has been so busy learning so many different things since we last posted. Once we came back from Hurricane Sandy we took time to talk to the children about everything that happened from the weather outside, to the damage it did to their homes and what the were feeling, and even the damage it did to our own school. Addressing these things and validating their feelings was extremely important. We wanted them to feel like they can express whatever was on their mind and that we could talk about it and make them feel better in some way. Believe it or not, but the children all had so much to say. Some told of the weather and how windy it was. Others told about the trees that fell. And there were even those who told about how sad/ angry they were that the water was in their homes. We already had learned about feelings and the children were able to use things we learned to help express themselves.

We began learning about our homes right after the hurricane. Morah Inna let us borrow a book that she wrote and illustrated when she was in college. The title is The Little Lonely Bunny. In this book there was a bunny ho lived alone and was lonely and sad. Once he heard that his familys home was destrayed in a hurricane, he invited them to come and stay with him so he could share his things with them. In the end he wasn't lonely and he was able to help them out too. This book came at a perfect time given the circumstances that we all just went through with Hurricane Sandy. After reading this, our class spoke about each room that we can find in a house and what we find in that particular room and also what we can do in each room. The children came up with some pretty clever ideas. We hung up a poster that talks about some of these things in our classroom that you may have seen at curriculum night.

The next thing we went on to learn about was our senses and our body. We learned about these things at the same time since they go hand in hand. Morah brought in a cd for us to listen to with our ears. We heard the song head shoulders knees and toes and Morah gave us a chance to practice touching each part while we sang the songs together. It was a lot of fun and the children really enjoyed doing it.
While learning about the sense of hearing we played another game called sound tracks where Morah puts a tape into the casette player and we all had to listen with our ears very carefully for the sounds being played and put a piece onto our cards (like bingo) when we heard the sound of the pictures on the cards. It was a great time had by all. They did a wonderful job trying to guess the sounds.

Morah brought in some blocks that have different colored see through pieces when we learned about the sense of sight which we use our eyes to do this. It gave us a chance to also review colors which we do all the time. While looking through these see through blocks that were all different colors, we got to see the changes in color that things were looked at turned as we took a different color block to look through. Playing eye spy with my little eye is another way we reviewed both lessons.

For the sense of smell Morah brought in lots of different things for us to smell. We closed our eyes so we would not see what it was and we had to tell if we thought it smelled good or bad (tummy or yuchy) without even knowing what it was before. Some of the answers that the children concluded were very funny. They all enjoyed the 'mystery' of this activity.
With the sense of touch our friends made a collage using all different textured materials and they had to say what each item felt like (smooth, rough, sticky, etc). We also made our own scented playdough.

When it came to taste we made it a part of our shabbat party.
Since the number of body parts we use for these senses are either 1 or 2, we took time and reviewed these numbers and being able to tell their value and put up the correct amount of fingers and count things with those numbers and recognize the number itself too. (this is something that is a part of our daily lessons too)

Thanksgiving came and we spent the week learning all about being thankful for all the different things we have. We taught the children how important it is to say thank you for things and that it is the right thing to do. Our Nursery friends listened to Morah read many different books about the Thanksgiving story and about being thankful. We made a project with our hand print and had to come up with 5 things that we are thankful for. The children really came up with some really amazing things. It goes to show you that they really are absorbing the importance of the lesson and they really gave it thought. Morah even let us make a silly turkey hat to wear. It was fun to make!

Nursery friends went on to learn about the letter M. We spoke about the sound, what it looks like, and came up with a lot of different things that start with the letter on our 'M' chart. Morah told us that the Maccabees had great Mitzvah behavior and that they start with the letter M. The children came up with lots of Mitzvot they like to do because Mitzvot starts with M. Our class made 'Mugs' for our Mommy's and Daddy's to use when they came to visit our class.

Chanukah has quickly approached and our class spent a lot of time this past week learning all about it. Morah taught us all about the story of how King Antiochus was a mean king and didn't want the Jewish people to learn the torah, do mitzvot, keep shabbat, or not to love hashem. This made the Jewish people sad. The maccabees were very brave and tried to protect the Jewish people and went to the king and his men and told them to leave and stop breaking the things in the beit hamikdas- hashems special house. But before that the Jewish people played dreidal when the mean men were watching when they were really learning torah but they didn't want to get in trouble. Once the mean king antiochus and his men left, they Jewish people went into the beit hamidash and tried to clean it. They wanted to light the Menorah but only found 1 small jug of oil but hashem made something special happen and instead of the oil only lasting for one day, it lasted for eight. We spoke about the number eight and counted it and spoke of its value too.Our friends made their very own chanukah menorahs and worked hard on them- we hope you like them. They also made a very beautiful sheet with the brachot- blessings on them to say while lighting the menorah at home. Morah has also been teaching us so many chanukah songs and we can't wait to sing them when you all come to celebrate chanukah with us. We can't wait to see you! It will be so much fun!

 

Last week our friends were so excite to begin our new topic- All About Me. We are trying to get the message across to all of the children that they are each special, important, and unique. And most of all, that they are loved. Morah taught our class that each of us looks different than our friends. We looked around the room and gave the kids a chance to see what similarities and differences there were between them and their friends. In the end we discovered that even though we may have similar hair, or eye color, or maybe even clothes we are all still different and special than everyone else.


For one of our projects last week we got to make paper plate faces. The children are learning how to glue , cut, color properly and use their fine motor skill. The children all knew where they eyes, hair, nose and mouth went. They all came out so cute. Our friends all made sure to make their hair the same color as their real hair.

Morah taught the class that we are so special and different from our friends. Our friends made a project with their hand prints and we found out that everyones hand prints are different and no one has the same one. We also know that we are loved so much. Morah asked all of her freinds what makes them special and they came up with some really great answers. We wrote them inside our handprints.

We began learning our letters by starting with the letter 'D'. We will not be going in the order of the Alphabet or even be learning all of the ltters. We feel it is important for the children to learn the first letter of each of their friends names. This gives them something close to hom so to speak to associate it with. We discovered that D is the first letter in our friend David's name. We chose this letter now because we are all Different than our friends. The children helped Morah make a poster with the leter D on it and we came up with so many things that begine with the letter D. Morah also took out so many things that begin with the letter D to show us like a dog, duck, doll and a D from our letter puzzle. As we go about our day we have all been on the lookout for things that begine with the letter D.

This past week was Rosh Codesh- the head of a new Jewish month. We celebrated by havinbg a rally with Morah Chani and the rest of the preschool. We spoke about the old month and what we did and day goodbye to it. We welcomed the new month of Chesvan. Our friends were told that even though there aren't any holidays in this month we will all be concentrating on doing chesed- mitzvot (kind things). We even got to have pizza for lunch to celebrate the new month! It was so yummy!

We read many books last week to help teach the the different topics they were 'I like myself', 'Hands are not for hiting', Fall leaves fall', and also 'I know it's Autumn.  Morah likes to read us books all the time and connect them to what we are learning at the time. Reading is so important and a lot of fun too. We try to encourage parents to read at home as well.

Challah, Shabbat party, and Music were a highlight of our week as always.

 

Our Nursery class went on a nature walk looking for leaves, pine cones, acorns and such on our way to the park. The children had so much fun! We continued our discussion about the fall and the chages that happen during this time. Our friends made a picure dipicting what they like to do in the fall.

 

We spent some time talking about getting bigger beause it was Michelle's birthday. The children mades cards for her and we even mad cupcakes! Her mother and father came in for a birthday party and it was lots of fun. We want to thank them for the present that they bought from our wish list for the children to use in our classroom. They already started using it and like it a lot.

Another thing we have been spending a great deal of time in our class is talking about using our words. The children are at an age where it can be diffucult to express themselves especially in a hard and frustrating situatiosn. We encourage them to use their words and not hurt their friends. We have read many books, acted different situations out, and even sang songs about this. It is something we feel is extrememly important and would like the help of those at home to constantly go over this with your child. We want them to see that we are all on the same page and are working together to get this accomplished.

Today we started our new topic called 'All about me'. We are starting off by letting each chid know that they are each a unique and special individual and they are very important. We read a book about twins and how they might be similair in some ways, they are still different and special as individuals. We even got to use our own friends Rebecca and Rachel as examples because they are twins. The children saw some similairities but also got to talk about the differences too. Our clas made a project to go along with our topic today.

Our friends in Nursery have been having a blast and very busy too. Sukkot came and went but we did so much to prepare for it. The children learned a few songs to sing (I hope you heard some of them), learned about the customs we have as well as the different things we do on this Yom Tov. We spoke about the colors that the lulav and etrog are, how they are different, what they represent, and also what we do with them. On Sukkot we eat in the sukkah- which we all had the chance to do and they all had so much fun doing it! The childrend all helped to make our salt dough etrogs and our mini lulav. We hope you like their sukkah decorations too.

Learning all about Simchat Torah and how much we love the Torah was amazing. The children all got to hug/ kiss the torah and take a picture with it that we used for our flag project that they got to take home. Painting our Torh that we hope to dance with on Simchat Torah! Our class spoke about the many mitzvot that Hashem gives us to do all the time and that they are all inside the Torah.

We have been busy working on our letters by having the children use some fine motor skills to do so. The have been using two types of play dough to 'shape' the letter to help them recognize and become more familair with them. They all love working with this and sometimes its even hard to pull them away from it :) Morah sings a song during circl time to help familairze us with our letters and the letters of our frinds and we dance to our own letter- this is so much fun!

Nursery friends noticed a big change in the weather and we have been speaking about this and how the seasons are changing. We know that there are four in all and we know their names. It is now the fall season and we know that we wear different things in the fall than we do in the summer time. We made a chart displaying the different things we do and wear in these seasons and compared them. The children came up with so much! They did great! Our class has also spoken about the different changes taking place with the trees and how the leaves change color and they begin to fall to the ground.

We are hoping to go for a nature walk to collect fall items such as leaves, pine cones, acorns and sticks. If you happen to find any while walking with your own children, please feel free to collect them and send them in as well. We would greatly appreciate it!

Boris and Eliana making a pretend picnic together

Look at the amazing things the children make during block center!

Reuven and Michelle pretend playing so nicely in te kitchen center

Eli wearing a talit just like a Daddy

Larry and Joshua kissing the Torah

More amazing things being built in the block center!

 

David and Michelle water color ainting

Music time with Morah Rivky

Michelle as shabbat Ima

Larry as shabbat Abba

The children all came in excited this week to tell me all about their Rosh Hashanah. Dipping apples in honey, eating round challah, hearing the shofar- it was so cute listening to them all.

We began this week by having the children work on their puzzle solving skills. They each worked on puzzles and will continue to do so throughout the course of the year. This helps them problem solve, think, share/ take turns with their friends as well as work together.

For Rosh Hashana we chose a new Mitzvah to work on for the year and that was to remember to use our words and not our hands. The children spent a great deal of time talking about this in preparation for Yom Kippur. The Morahs helped us make a list of things we are/ are not allowed to do with our hands and another list about what we are/ are not allowed to do with our mouths. Conflict resolution can be a difficult thing and we try very hard to work on it constantly and continue to use our key phrase that you can use at home as well, which is, 'Use your words (not your hands/ mouth)'. The children came up with some great ideas. Morah read us  the book called All About Us. It teaches children all about the body parts Hashem gave us and which mitzvah He intended us to do with that particular part.  We went a step further and spoke about what we should not do with each part mentioned in the book.

Our class learned about Yom Kippur and how the Mommy and Daddys are not allowed to eat/ drink on this day. They also daven to Hashem for a good new year. We spoke about how we love Hashem and that He loves us all. He takes good care of us and is everywhere. We sang a couple of songs about Hashem which the kids love to sing. Sometimes when they're playing we can hear them singing under their breath.

Taking a trip to the shul was so exciting and fun in the children's eyes. We learned about the talit and that the Daddy's wear it- the kids got to try it on too.  They all had a chance to kiss the torah and spoke about how Hashem gave us so many mitzvot inside to follow each day. Our friends even spoke about the book we daven from each day called a siddur. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur we use a Machzor instead.

Morah read us another book called Sammy Spiders First Shabbat. This taught the children about all the things we do on shabbat. In the book we read about how Sammy wants to bake challah and how he watched Josh's mother braid the challah, something we have a chance to do each Friday at school. The children loved how they too felt like they help to prepare for shabbat by doing thing mentioned in the book but particularly making challah. They had fun water color painting a picture for shabbat.

Having the music teacher Morah Rivky is a highlight of each week. Our Nursery class loves it! They all sit so nicely and sing along, dance, play instruments, and make a train with her. This leads right into our weekly shabbat party where the children get to sing songs for shabbat, light candles, make kiddush over grape juice, make the blessing over challah, and have a meal (lunch) together. Morah even picks a Shabbat Abba and Ima each week.

Stay tuned to see what's in store next week.

Working on fasteners

Fine motor skills

More fasteners

Bulletin board for Rosh Hashanah

Honey jar for bulletin board

Gluing apple for class project

Working together to build with blocks

Floor puzzles




The Nursery 2 class here at Mazel has been so busy since school began. The children have been adjusting very well and are learning the rules and catching on to the routine very quickly.

During the last couple of weeks your children have had opportunities to work with play dough, fasteners, glue, and paint brushes. We have done puzzels to reviews shapes, colors and numbers, read many books, and played outside to work on gross motor skills. 

Rosh Hashanah came so fast this year and the children learned so much about it. They know that it is the beginning of a the new year for Jews. We spoke about dipping the apple in the honey to ensure we have a sweet new year. Morah brought in 3 types of apples. We had a chance to practice counting, reviewing colors, and our class had the chance to dip apples into Hashems mitzvot and to also say sorry to our frirnds for anything we may have done wrong. Making our special honey dishes was so much fun. Getting a chance to work on fine motor skills is something we will impliment into the projects/ lessons over the year. The children also got to make a placemat for the honey dish. Our class had a chance to choose a mitzvah to work on. The children thought we should work on using our words and not hurt our friends. This is something we wil be working in during the course of the school year constantly.  Morah invited a friend into our class- Mr. Zeke. He brought in so many shofrot for us to see, touch, listen to, and learn about. Our class got to sing the shofar song for him to hear before he taught us even more about the shofar. The children had such a good time with him.

Enjoy the pictures and we hope it gives you a little insight to our daily activities.

Rebecca and Rachel playing with the trucks

Boris playing with the trucks

Joshua showing us his best smile

Binah, Eliyahu, Abigail, and Reuven playing in the kitchen together

Michelle playing with the animals

Larry and Abigail having fun climbing

Project time!

Project time!