It's time for a party!

We have been creating our very own Shabbat boxes to share with our families.

Each box contains handmade items needed at every Shabbat dinner.

Shabbat dinner is not a regular dinner, it is a fancy special dinner.

What will we find in our Shabbat boxes?

 

Efraim: We find candlesticks.

Zim: We have a cup.

Abigail: For grape juice.

Gracie: We have a challah cover.

Zim: To cover the challah.

Morah Flip: I am pretty excited to see the Shabbat boxes. Will there be chicken in the boxes?

Sroli: NO! Candlesticks!

Morah Flip: What about matzah ball soup? Will that be in the boxes?

Abigail: NO Challah! 

Morah Flip: Will there be songs or friends in the boxes?

Scout: No, a kiddush cup!

Sroli: Family is coming!

The exciting night arrived.  

We gathered our boxes and joined our families.

 

 

We shared our special items; lit the candles; made the Kiddush and shared challah.

A joyful Shabbat was had by all.

Butterfly Butterfly

Butterfly butterfly what lovely wings

Butterfly butterfly how my heart sings

Butterfly butterfly I'd like to know

when it rains, when it rains

where do you go?

Mimi: Behind a bush

Gracie: In a tree

Jack: To it's chrysalis

Ari: Home

Egg

Caterpillar  

  Chrysalis

Butterfly

We used our feet to create butterflies for our bug wall.

Morah Katie: We need to learn a new word when we talk about butterflies.  

 If we look at their wings, what to we see?

Gracie: They are the same.

Morah Katie: The wings are symmetrical, one side is the same as the other. If we paint one set of toes purple, what will we have to paint the other set?

Gracie: Purple!

By attaching vocabulary and new ideas to art, the children reinforce what is discussed at morning meetings.

Art also helps to refine small motor skills which increases a child's ability to accomplish tasks on their own. 

As the year progresses and my friends' attention spans develop,  more projects will contain multi-step instructions.  This approach utilizes skills and knowledge learned, and increases attention to detail and ability to focus on a task.

We put together a puzzle that had over 47 different butterflies and moths.

We discovered what butterflies eat.
Butterflies eat nectar from flowers, sap from trees and juice from fruits.
Jack: I think they eat pollen.
Morah Katie: When a butterfly lands on a flower it collects pollen on it's legs, and takes it to another flower. Like bees, butterflies help pollination.  
Morah Katie: How do you think a butterfly can drink the fruit from a fruit?
Efraim: Drink it.
Morah Katie: Butterflies have a feeding tube that helps them break the skin on fruit and get to juice to SSSSLLLLLUUUURRRRPPP it up. The tube is called a proboscis. Be a butterfly and show me your proboscis.

At lunch we discussed:
Sroli: I have juice.
Morah Katie: Can you drink your juice like a butterfly?
Sroli: (holding his juice box in hands) I just drink it butterflies just drink it.
Morah Katie: How? Do they hold a juice box in their hands and drink it through a straw?
Abigail: Butterflies  have hands!
Sroli: They drink it.
Morah Katie: Do you have a proboscis?
Sroli: No I just drink it SLUUUUUUUP 

Abigail: They use proboscis.  Why do butterflies drink all the apple juice?
Morah Katie: Do you like apple juice?
Abigail: I like apple juice. 

We used pretzels to make symmetrical wings next to our pear slices for snack.

Fireflies in the sky

Connections are being made as our entomologists observe and learn about more insects.

It was discovered that the large cricket book makes a louder cricket chirp then the small cricket book, even though they are the same story.
We wondered what type of butterfly our new caterpillar will transform into. Or will it be a moth? Do all caterpillars transform?

We spent this week learning about an exciting insect: The Firefly

Morah Katie: What makes fireflies so interesting? 

Efraim: Fireflies come out with stars.

Morah Katie: They do. They are a nocturnal insect, they are active at night.

Judah: They have lanterns that light up.

Morah Katie: Where is the lantern?

Sroli: Abdomen!

Gracie: If frogs eat too many fireflies their bellies begin to GLOW!

Morah Katie: Where do fireflies live? 

Jack: KANSAS! 

Efraim: Not Washington.

Zim: They live by water.

We turned off the class lights

        and played "find the firefly".

Fireflies lit up our playground.

As Morah Tzivie mentioned in an email, the children have been creating and decorating Shabbat boxes.
They are very excited as we add each new special element to the box.

We talked this week at group time about why we give tzedakah (charity) each day.
Tzedakah is a mitzvah we can do each day.  When we do this kind mitzvah we ...
Zim: Help people get food and clothes.
When our classroom tzedakah can is full, we transfer it to a plastic bag so the children can see how much money they collected.
It is always an exciting morning when we give Rabbi Greenburg the bag of coins.
The morah's have be making sure that each child has had some coins to share at morning group, please encourage your child to bring some coins from home to share as well.