Dear Room 13 Families, Wow, another week has flown by! As always, we began our week by gathering together with our Explorer/Investigator community to celebrate Havdalah. As we smelled the spices and watched the candle burn and finally be extinguished into the Kiddush cup, we said good bye to Shabbat and welcomed in the new week. Before we left Havdalah, we realized that this was actually our last week in the Jewish year of 5779 and that when we gathered together again, it would be in our Jewish new year! We then wished each other a Shanah tovah and returned to our classroom. One morning, as the children entered the room, at the Art Center, they noticed 2 of the same giant red fruit sitting in the middle of the table. A few asked what it was and why it was there, when another friend yelled out that it was a pomegranate. After having a bit of time to study this foreign piece of fruit, we brought it to circle time with us. Right away, the children were curious about what was inside this fruit, and they had a number of hypotheses about what could be hiding in there. Before opening it up, we learned that this fruit is called a pomegranate, a Rimon, and that they are very important at this time of year, as they are often incorporated into ones’ Rosh HaShanah meal. We also learned that the bells on the top of the Torah are also called Rimonim, connecting the two. Finally it was time to see what was inside. The children were so excited and to a big drum roll, Hannah cut open the pomegranate. The children were thrilled to see just how many seeds were inside! We learned that scholars tell us that there are 613 seeds inside, just like the 613 commandments/rules in the Torah! The children had a wonderful time opening up, peeling, scooping out the seeds and tasting the delicious seeds. Over the next few days, the children painted and created their own pomegranate. During our week, each child had the opportunity to create a piece of Square Art, a fundraiser that will be available to you later in the year. The children had a wonderful time deciding the sizes of the marbles they wanted to paint with, which colors were their favorite to use and finally rolling the marbles around in the paint. Throughout the rest of our week, we enjoyed our time with each of our specialists. On Monday, we continued our exploration of clay with Joanne in the Atelier. The children used the tools and loved soaking the clay using the spray bottle. When visiting the Yoga Studio, we had Bubbe as our Adventure Guide, and she took us on a Rosh HaShanah Yoga Adventure. We posed like apples, honey and even a shofar. On Wednesday, we joined together with Rabbi Sari and the friends from Room 12 to hear a wonderful story about creating the specialness of Shabbat. We also had the joy of singing with Marcos, our Music teacher. We continued singing Rosh HaShanah songs, this time keeping the beat with wooden dowels. We ended our week with by celebrating a beautiful Shabbat together. The children made a special honey challah, extra sweet for the new year! We then celebrated together as a class community, enjoying our grape juice and challah. And finally we gathered with our whole school community for a wonderful Rosh HaShanah Shabbat celebration! It was a wonderful way to end our week as well as our Jewish year. We want to wish you all a very Shana tova, Happy New Year! Shabbat Shalom and Shana tova, Hannah and Chen Reminders: *If you have not yet already signed up for a Shabbat and/or Library time, please come in and do so. *Please make sure to sign in and out each and every day, with a legible signature. *Monday & Tuesday, September 30 – October 1 – No School - Rosh HaShanah *Tuesday, October 8 – Early Dismissal – Erev Yom Kippur *Wednesday, October 9 – No School – Yom Kippur
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