myGanBlog

Friday, January 24, 2014

Konnichiwa!(Hello!)

As in Israel, we learned a few important phrases to help us while visiting Japan:

Ohayo goziamasu- good morning

Domo arigato gozaimasu- thank you (very polite form)

Onegaishimasu- please/give it a try/ please favor me

Sayonara- Good bye

This week we heard:

Ella: Onegaishimasu more oranges.

Efraim: Konnichwa!

Scout: Domo arigato Anton.

Gracie: Morah Katie sensei (teacher)

The children heard the affectionate term of chan added to their names.

For example:

Archie became Archie-chan.

Zimmora became Zimmora-chan

Isaac became Isaac-chan

We began our visit to Japan by creating the flag.

Zimmora: It is a pretty simple flag, just a red circle.

When at home, Japanese will take off their outside shoes and put slippers on.

Children also change shoes at school.

The outside shoes are left by the entrance and slippers are worn in the classroom.

We wore kimonos.
Kimono means clothing. It is the traditional garment of the Japanese.

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding.

To create origami, you take a flat sheet of paper and create a sculpture by folding.

We made decorative paper lanterns like ones used in many Japanese festivals.

Japan is an island. Japan has a lot of volcanoes.
Gracie: 200 volcanoes!
Morah Katie: How many can still erupt? Are still active?
Efraim: 60.
Morah Katie: Who can tell me the name of the tallest volcano in Japan? It has clouds around the top? It is a sleeping, dormant volcano.
Natan: Mount Fuji.
Morah Katie: What is the name of the largest active volcano?
Sroli: Naka.

We pretended to be small volcanoes who kept erupting until we were tall volcanoes.

We created our own Mt. Nake-dake with vinegar and baking soda.

We practiced using chopsticks with pompoms.

Japanese writing is called kana/kanji.

It is read right to left, and from top to bottom.

We completed our trip to Japan with the making of sushi.

Ingredients:

Nori (seaweed wrapper)

sticky rice

sliced cucumber.

We:

Ella: Put down the seaweed.

Gracie: Rough side up.

Abigail: Smash the rice on.

Efraim: Little water on seaweed and roll.

Natan: Squeeze.

Isaac: Sushi!

Ella and Gracie decided to try making hand rolls.

Natan: I like it.

Sroli: I ate the cucumber!

We discovered we all liked sushi!

While visiting Japan we celebrated Amelia's 4th birthday!

Tanjoubi omedetou Amelia-chan!

Sayonara Japan!

Next stop is the continent of Africa!

52 different countries to choose from!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Big Jet Airplane, Big Jet Airplane

in the sky, in the sky,

I can see you soaring, I can see you soaring

way up high, way up high.

Shalom Israel!

We learned some important words in Hebrew which made our trip more pleasant :

Morah Katie: How do we say Good Morning in Hebrew?
Efraim: Boker Tov.
Morah Katie: What does bevakasha mean?
Jack: Please.
Morah Katie: How can we say thank you?
Zim: Toda.

We stamped our passports and made a flag for a souvenir.

We began our tour of the country.

We "arrived" in Israel Monday morning. We quickly realized that when it is the morning and cold in Vancouver, it is the night and warm in Israel.

In Tel Aviv, we discovered that there are tall buildings just like in Portland.

Natan: They have bus stops
Gracie: There is a boat in the ocean.
In Haifa, we discovered:

Judah: I see cars on the street and there are buildings.
Efraim: Boats, cars, buses like Vancouver.
We traveled to Jerusalem where we saw an ancient looking wall.

Morah Katie: What is this a picture off?
Natan: The Bet Hamikdash!
Sroli: PART OF IT IS STILL THERE!!!

Efraim: I daven (pray) at Kotel (Western Wall).

We noticed that children in Israel wear:
Anton: Pants
Jack: Shirts.
Morah Katie: Stand up if you are wearing a shirt?
Stand up if you are wearing pants?
The children in Israel wear shirts and pants and You wear shirts and pants!

Efraim: They have short hair.
Morah Katie: The boys do have short hair.
Sroli: Girls have braids.
Ella: I AM wearing braids!
Scout: The girls are wearing skirts.
Morah Katie: Stand up if you are wearing a skirt or dress?

We wondered if we would see sharks if we went to visit the Coral Waters Undersea Observatory in Eilat.

We pretended we went into the underwater observatory to enjoy the beautiful fish.

During some "down time" we played 3 sticks, a game children play in Israel.

We enjoyed some pita with hummus.

Efraim: More pita bevaksha. Toda.

Gracie: Bevaksha more hummus.

Isaac: Bevaksha more hummus.

Ella: Please more pita and hummus bevaksha.

Abigail: I like hummus!

Sroli: I like pita.

We traveled to the Dead Sea.

It is so salty we FLOATED in the water!

We tried to create mini Dead Seas in cups, but we couldn't get the right combination of salt to water.

We realized the Dead Sea must be a pretty spectacular place!

We have the good fortune of "being in" Israel for Tu B'Shvat! (The New Year for Trees, celebrated on the Jewish calendar)
We talked about how important trees are:
Jack: They give us wood for houses.
Scout: Bees pollinate the flowers.
Efraim: We eat fruit.
We reminded ourselves that in addition to celebrating and being thankful for the sweet fruit the trees give us, Tu B'Shvat can remind us to do mitzvahs (sweet, kind acts).
Just like the sweet fruit on the tree benefit all of us, the mitzvahs we do benefit others.
We are going to form a "mitzvah" tree in our classroom. A sheet of fruit images will come home with your child. Please fill the fruit with a note about a mitzvah your child did to hang on our mitzvah tree.
Anton: I can share toys.
Scout: I can help with the dishes.
Jack: I can take out the trash.
Abigail: I can share books.
Efraim: I can share toys.
Sroli: I can give my tzedakah from my home.
We ate sweet fruit from Israel for snack.

There were a lot of requests:
Scout: Bevaksha more dates.
Abigail: Can I have more figs?
Anton: I would like more please.
Isaac: More figs please.