Weather fun

Evelyn: I am lighting the candles. They are SO pretty. I just LOVE  them!

We all enjoyed our last day of Chanukah this week.

Judah: I miss Chanukah, it was so much fun.

Evan: I liked playing dreidel.

Ari:  I liked the menorahs.

Matan: Clara what is this?
Matan: Those are trees.
Matan: Apples?
Clara: No they are pomegranates. Matan, the temple broke and I need to  fix it now.
Matan: Oh like the Maccabees?
Clara: Yes.

We spent the rest of our week discussing weather.

Ari: It, the marble, spins up top like a tornado spins round and round.

We played with sensory weather bottles.

We made it rain with cotton balls.

Morah Katie: What has to happen to clouds before it rains?

Evan: They have to get so full of water they are too full and it rains.

We attempted to make a tornado.

Ari: I think the tornado wind picks up dirt and that’s why we can see it.  It is spinning fast.

There was a tornado by Grandma's house and it made everything messy.

Ari helped Abram try to create the tornado.

Abram: It is kinda tricky, it doesn't always want to spin.

Ari: We just need to keep spinning it.

Eventually...

We made shaving cream rain clouds.

Clara: The shaving cream is the cloud. It is fluffy.

Nora: It looks like whip cream.

Clara: It's not, look the blue food coloring is dripping down!

Abram: It's thick like fog.  Fog makes it so thick you can’t see anything.

Evan: It’s a cloud too though.

Matan: It is rainy but it's not cold enough yet for SNOW.

While looking at cartoon storm cloud, Matan noticed that it had an upset face, a mad face.
Matan: The storm doesn’t want to fight, it just wants to go back to its castle.
Ari: Clouds don’t live in castles. They live in the sky.
Matan: But it is cloudy and the sun is gone.
Ari: You can’t see the Sun but it didn’t go down it’s above the clouds. Not away.

We created windows and drew the weather we wanted.

Clara: I am going to make a sunny day. 

It will be sunny outside my window.

Nora: I MADE A SPIDER SUN!

Despite it raining outside,
it was still fun to decorate our classroom with rain clouds.

We made a rain collector.  

We didn't catch many raindrops thursday,

 so we decided to leave it out over night and check back friday. 

(check FB for final measurements)

Abram: This is the rain cloud 

but now it is becoming the storm cloud

 and now it's the big rain storm cloud.

We made our own weather wheels to take home.

We wish you a fun winter break with great weather. 

Our Chanukah week

As we celebrate Chanukah, the children reveal to us all they have learned.  

They immersed themselves in all aspects of the holiday.

Clara: We can build the Holy Temple.

Nora: Yeah we can.

Clara: And if it gets knocked down we can be like the Maccabees and fix it back up.

Ari: Hey, this triangle makes it look pretty extra cool. We are getting more oil for the menorah.

Evan: Yeah but it will take a long time to get new oil.

Ari: 8 days long.

Nora: But the oil will still burn. 

Clara: We need to fix the big menorah, it got knocked over.

 Morah Tzivie read  a few Chanukah stories. While Morah Tzivie read Pini the Pitcher,

Matan: Morah Tzivie the oil jar is crying.

Morah Tzivie: It is, can you guess why?

Clara: The Greek soldiers are smashing everything.

Ari: But the Maccabees are coming.

Another story Morah Tzivie read told a different part of the Chanukah story.

Morah Tzivie: What are the Jewish people doing? These are some things we do.

Abram: Lighting candles.

August: Sharing Tzedakah.

Morah Tzivie: But then the Greeks came with a very bossy king.

Matan: The Maccabees are coming.

August: They chase the Greeks away.

Our puppet friend Sally had a problem.

Sally: Kids! There is this guy in my bookshelf, and he is so bossy. He tells me I can't ready books and he wants me to follow all his rules. He says his name is King Anti somebody. WHO is this guy?
Abram: He was a rude king back in the day.
Clara: He bossed people around and was mean. You don't want him to come for dinner.  But I'd invite a Maccabee.
August: The Greeks made a mess in the Holy Temple. 
Evan: The Beit Hamikdash, I can say that big word.
Sally: Well what happened to this bossy king? / King Antiochus: Hey! Don't listen to them listen to me!
Clara: The Jewish people prayed to Hashem. 
Ari: Judah Maccabbe! He came!
Clara: He chased the Greeks away.
August: Hooray for the Maccabbes!
Judah Maccabee: Did someone say my name?

Sally: The Gan preschoolers did, they told me all about you. King Antiochus is here messing up my books and play area.
Judah Maccabbe: I will chase him away.
Abram: Just like in Israel!

The children took turns telling the story.

Abram: I'm King Antiochus, I am mean and bossy.

Abram/Judah Maccabbe: The other Maccabees and I will chase you away!

August: (to Maya) Judah Maccabbe how did you get rid of the Greek Soldiers?

Maya/Judah Maccabee: I chased them away!

Judah/Judah Maccabee: The Greeks chased me away, but I hid and then I went back to Jerusalem and chased them out!

The children shared their knowledge of Chanukah throughout the classroom.

Ari: I want to create a menorah to take home for my mom but I don't know how to draw one.

Morah Katie: Maybe you can use one of ours to inspire you.

Ari: I will trace this one and I want it to be a paper clip menorah so I will need tape to stick them and I'll use yellow tape like the flame.

Evan: I am learning my letters on the dreidel, but I don't always remember them.

Ari: So we can just play and spin.

Judah: I'll teach Sadie and Maya how to play dreidel.  I'll pass out our pretend gelt. Then we will spin our dreidels.

Maya: Like smart Jewish kids.

Evan: Hey the invite is a dreidel, why is it a dreidel?

Morah Breanna: Can you guess why? 

Evan: Because it is Chanukah.

August: The Jewish kids would hide the torahs and spin the dreidels!

Judah: Last night was the 2nd night of Chanukah.

August: Look there are four candles but Judah's menorah is almost full.

Judah: Maybe they are extras. Because that means it would 13 Nights of Chanukah when there are only 8.

Matan: There is jelly in my donut.
Clara: We eat donuts because they cook in oil. And I like them.

Abram: I am Judah Maccabee.

August: I am King Antiochus and I am leaving where I live to go mess up your temple!

Olivia: We are the Maccabee and we will chase you away!

 Maya and Sadie enjoyed playing a latke game, and Neil made a play dough menorah and dreidel.

Sadie: Judah Maccabee!