Dear Room 13 Families,
Wow, it is hard to believe that another week of school has flown by! We began our week, as we will each week, by joining our Explorer and Investigator community for our Havdalah service. We came together to say good bye to Shabbat and welcomed in our new week together. The children watched closely as the Havdalah candle flickered and the wax dripped down and ended by wishing one another a Shavua tov, a good week. With the holiday of Rosh HaShanah quickly approaching, we began discussing the meaning of this special holiday, as well as some of the special symbols we might see at this time of year. On Monday, we began by playing a detective game. Using clues about each objects, the children tried to figure out what was hiding under the blanket. With great excitement, they discovered a round challah, an apple, a shofar and a dish of honey. Throughout our next few discussions, we learned why each of these objects were hiding and why they are each important to our upcoming holiday. We discussed how Rosh HaShanah is a new beginning; a beginning to our Jewish year. We tied in our conversations from last week on being a class community and all that entails all throughout our Rosh Hashanah discussions; new year, new class, new community, new friends and teachers, etc. After learning the importance of apples to our upcoming holiday, the children were excited to see a variety of them within our room. We discovered that there are numerous varieties of apples in all different colors and shapes. We then had the opportunity to try the green Granny Smith, red Red Delicious and yellow Golden Delicious. They children loved tasting all the different kinds, even noticing and expressing which ones they felt were sweeter, tarter and blander. After tasting all 3 kinds, the children shared with one another which kind of apple was their favorite. Throughout the rest of the week, we viewed, charted and graphed our apple favorites. The children even created a pine cone dipped in the color of their favorite kind of apple, so we could have a visual representation of the types of apples enjoyed by our class as a whole and the individuals. We ended our week by reading a story about an apple wishing and asking God for a star, to then learn that she already had one hiding inside her. As we read the story, Chen sliced into an apple and to the children’s surprise there was the star hiding right inside! This week also proved to be a week of new beginnings in the form of our Specialists. We began our week by joining Joanne in the Studio, exploring clay for our first time. We did so with our hands, sponges and tools. On Tuesday, we had the joy of having our first Yoga class together this year. We headed over to the Yoga Studio where we went on a Yoga adventure around the “Neighborhood,” meeting community workers and doing their Yoga poses. It was a wonderful, relaxing experience. Then on Wednesday, we had the pleasure of having our first “Storah Time” with Rabbi Sari. We joined together with Room 12 to hear a wonderful story about the creation of our world and how God helped the sun and moon compromise and be kind to one another. And finally on Thursday, we, once again, were joined by Marcos, our Music teacher, where we enjoyed singing Rosh Hashanah songs, playing instruments and dancing around the room. We will have the joy of experiencing all of these special activities on a weekly basis! We had the joy of celebrating Joelle's birthday with her and her mom. It was so wonderful to celebrate our first birthday together as a community. We ended our week by celebrating a wonderful Shabbat together as a community. We baked challah (specially with apple chunks), sang the blessings and joined the rest of our Explorer and Investigator community in the Sanctuary for Shabbat services with the Rabbi and Ditza. We want to wish you all a wonderful and relaxing Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom, 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.
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