We entered into our new week at school by saying goodbye to Shabbat and hello to the new week, with a school-wide Havdalah. The children remembered that Havdalah means separation. During Havdalah, we mark the separation between the holy and the profane, the separation between Shabbat and the rest of the week. The children loved learning new Hebrew words this week during the service. “Shavua Tov” means “Good Week”. The children continued to sing the song they had just learned the entire way back to the classroom. This then led to conversations about why we have to say goodbye to Shabbat. It was so great to hear the children tell each other that if we didn’t say goodbye to Shabbat, then we could not say hello to Shabbat again for the next week, and that it wouldn’t be as special. We are lucky to be able to have these services to bring out these amazing questions in our kids.
As the week moved on, we went from learning about the elections, to moving forward to the ideas of gratitude and saying our thank you’s for Thanksgiving. We began to discuss the holiday of giving thanks. Why do we say thank you? What do we say thank you for? Who do we say thank you to? These were all questions the kids had. They started up a conversation answering these questions to one another. “We can say thank you to anyone that did something nice.” “We say thank you for food.” “It is nice to say thank you to people, it makes them feel good.” It is so wonderful to see that they not only can ask these questions, but they can answer them thoughtfully as well. The story of Thanksgiving is a fascinating one where the Pilgrims left England to seek religious and personal freedom and found the new world. But they were not the first inhabitants of this “new world,” for it was already inhabited by the Native American people. What an amazing culture and way of life they had! We will explore all about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans in the weeks to come. The looks on the children’s faces when they walked in the morning it was all set up, was priceless. The space was transformed into artifacts, books, teepee, dream catchers and much more. They were enthralled and question after question arose. We can’t wait to see where the learning takes the children in the weeks leading up to this holiday (which happens to be both of the teacher’s favorite holidays)! Shabbat Shalom, Rachel and Linda Reminders: -Next week we will focus on the letter “B”. Friday is share day. Please bring something that starts with the letter “B.” -Wednesday, November 16th Library helpers are Jaclyn and Ali. -Shabbat Child on Friday, November 18th, is Brennen. -Class Hanukkah party is Tuesday, December 13th. Parents are welcome to this party. -Please NO nut products in our lunches. We are a NUT SAFE school. Thank you. Shabbat Shalom, Rachel and Linda
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Pre-K Room 9Linda Gafni Archives
March 2020
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