Posted in Jewish Studies

סלט (Salad), לג בּעומר (Lag B’Omer) & ים ירושׁלים (Yom Yerushalayim)

Spring is here and with it comes a new influx of Jewish Holidays.

In the Gan, we learned about Lag B’Omer and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) who hid in a cave with his son for 12 years studying Torah. When he emerged, he was so holy that fire came out of his eyes. He learned not to judge people and to ask questions when he didn’t understand why they did things a certain way. We looked at pictures of the actual cave in Israel (Morah Shira visited it) and Mount Meron where people gather to honor him on Lag B’Omer (she was there too).

You can see the cave for yourself at this website: The Historic Cave Of Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai – creative jewish mom
https://images.app.goo.gl/AhmCkjx8pvtJrjJW7

Then we spoke about how different people celebrate Lag B’Omer in Israel, and created bonfires with popsicle sticks and paint that we blew with a straw.

We also learned about Israeli salad and all of the Hebrew words for the ingredients. We played games with the vocabulary and learned a fun song to help us remember.

These videos were taken by our documenters Aviv and Emma (Miriam).

For Yom Yerushalaim, we painted a picture of the Kotel, learned to say my wish is in Hebrew and wrote wishes for the Kotel.

The Shinshinim also came to read us

האריה שׁאהב תות (The Lion Who Loved Strawberries) We are now learning the food vocabulary from the story and reinforcing the learning through games like zikaron (memory match) and ma haser? (What is missing?).

We’ve also been counting the Omer in anticipation for Shavuot. Thank you to Ariella (Livia) for bringing in a wonderful book about the holiday! We can’t wait for next week!

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Shira

Posted in General Studies

Library Update

Quick Note… The Kindergarten classes were unable to use the library yesterday and were therefore unable to take out a book. I have rescheduled a time tomorrow (Friday) to have the children take out a book. If you have not returned your library book and would like your child to take another one, Please do so. Tomorrow will be the last day we will be taking out books from the library.

Posted in General Studies

Out of Africa….Off to Japan!

Lots to tell! The Kindergarten class has returned from Africa and boarded a plane for Japan. While we were in Kenya, we made African Necklaces, cooked Fried Bananas- a popular dish in Africa, learned about children in Africa, how they get to school and what their day  looks like. We headed back to Ottawa, and while in Ottawa  we worked on composing numbers using a Ten Frame to help us. Our Reading Buddies visited us this week, and together we wrote and illustrated our  own book.  Enjoy the pics from many of these activities plus a few more! We look forward to our Maccabiah games on Tuesday, then off to the Agricultural farm on Wednesday followed in the afternoon by a magic show .

Posted in Uncategorized

Kosher Food Bank Drive

Every Shavuot our school has donated food to the Kosher Food Bank. This year we are asking all the staff and children to help by donating any non perishables as well as toiletries such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and shampoo. Items such as canned vegetables, pasta, rice, tuna,pasta sauce, or anything else you may have are other ideas. Please send your food in with your children and we will help get it to the right place. Please check for the Kosher symbol on the items that you send. Thanks for your support! 

Posted in Jewish Studies

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Celebration

This post is making its appearance a little late, but better late than never…

Our Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration was so much fun, from the flag raising ceremony, to the assembly, carnival and stations with our beloved Shinshinim.

Here are the yeladim in action, singing Eretz Israel She’li Yaffa v’gam Porachat:

Posted in Uncategorized

Field Trip

The Kindergarten class will be going to the Museum of Agriculture to have a workshop on Planting. Today you will find a Permission Slip to be filled out and sent back to school by May 31rst. Our trip is planned for Wednesday, June 5th. You will also find a little book called People Say Hello. The class is quite proud of the way they can read the book and say Hello in many different languages. Enjoy!

We look forward to travelling tomorrow to Kenya, Africa! Our passports are ready and we look forward to special foods, crafts, music and dancing.

Posted in Uncategorized

Our trip to China

  1. Lots of fun as we boarded our flight to China. After we discovered how long and how much it costs to go to China, we boarded the plane with our passports in hand . We ate with chopsticks a delicious Chinese Cucumber salad which we made in class, wrote Chinese letters, made lanterns, and built The Great Wall of China in our block centre . Thanks to Ruchama ( Freddy and Adina’s Mom)for donating chopsticks to all the children .

With each country we visit we learn the different traditions of the country, as well as the music and language. The children all came home today with a red envelope with a lucky coin and candy , a Chinese custom . Enjoy the pics to follow .

If you have any spare plastic grocery bags please send them in to help carry our Chinese lanterns home .

 

Posted in General Studies

Around the World

The Kindergarten class is travelling to different countries and experiencing a taste of culture and learning about diversity and tolerance . Our first stop was Mexico where we had a chance to make Maracas, eat tortilla chips and salsa, listen to Mexican music and  Spanish. By using Google Earth we can travel down the streets of Mexico and will do this as we visit more places.  Thursday being Yom Hatzmaut, we spent the day in Israel. Our food of choice was Krembo.. a delicious Israeli snack . Stay tuned yo see where we go next .  We are very excited to welcome all our Grandparents  and Special Friends into our classroom tomorrow! 

Posted in Jewish Studies

Chodesh Iyar

Rosh Chodesh Iyar is tomorrow and in the Gan, we we closed Nissan with a very special Kabbalat Shabbat.

Thank you to Ari’s mom for ordering and Adina and Freddy’s mom for baking us a very special Challah, a Schlissel or Key Challah. This is a Challah baked with a key inside or in the shape of a key. It is a tradition for some families to eat this Challah on the first Shabbat after Passover.

 

We listened very carefully while slicing the Challah to hear when we would find the key. We also discussed the meaning of this Challah. This is the Shabbat when G-d stopped giving Manna to the B’nai Israel and they had to begin to become more independent. Why did G-d do that? What happens when someone does everything for you? What things do you do for yourself? These were some of the questions we pondered together.

Now we are busy preparing for Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s birthday!

This is the Map we made collaboratively and will use for our song, ארץ ישראל שלי.

To practice at home, here is the link:

Don’t forget to wear a white uniform shirt on Thursday for our school-wide celebration.

Shavuah Tov,

Morah Shira