Today we celebrated Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees. Why do we celebrate this holiday? It is to remind us of our connection to the earth and our responsibility to take care of the environment.
We have many reasons to thank the trees. Here are the yeladim sharing a few in Hebrew:
We also celebrated in several different ways:
We painted pots and planted seeds.
We learned the names of the parts of a tree in Hebrew:
And we even had a Tu B’Shevat Seder.
Chag Sameach,
The Kindergarten team
Time is flying by! This week we celebrated Rosh Chodesh Shevat.
In the Gan we began learning about a special holiday that takes place this month…Tu B’Shevat…the birthday of the trees. Trees are important to us for so many reasons. Here are a few that the yeladim listed:
They make air!
They give us shade!
They give us fruit to eat!
They give us wood to build houses!
They give us paper towels and paper!
So many important things come from trees and that is why we recognize how important they are during this holiday.
In Israel, the trees are starting to bloom and people plant trees in honour of the holiday. Here the ground is frozen and the trees are sleeping but we will still celebrate with a planting activity… details coming soon.
For now, we are learning a special song which you will also find featured in the Shabbat 7:
Hashkediya Porachat
Hashkediya Porachat
V’shemesh paz zorachat
Tziporim m’rosh kol gag
Mevasrot et bo ha chag
Tu B’Shevat higiya, Chag ha ilanot
Tu B’Shevat higiya, Chag ha ilanot
הַשְּׁקֵדִיָּה פּוֹרַחַת
וְשֶׁמֶשׁ פָּז זוֹרַחַת
צִפֳּרִים מֵרֹאשׁ כָּל גַּג
מְבַשְּׂרוֹת אֶת בּוֹא הֶחָג
ט”וּ בִּשְׁבָט הִגִּיעַ – חַג הָאִילָנוֹת
ט”וּ בִּשְׁבָט הִגִּיעַ – חַג הָאִילָנוֹת
Shabbat Shalom
This week we began a new unit in Hebrew centered around winter (choref). The yeladim are learning new vocabulary such as:
שֶׁלֶג – sheleg (snow)
פְּתִית שֶׁלֶג – ptitei sheleg (snowflake)
כַּדוּר שֶׁלֶג- cadur sheleg (snowball)
אִישׁ שֶׁלֶג- eesh sheleg (snowman)
We are alo learning about the types of clothes we wear in the winter and naming the body parts that they go on:
חוּלצָה – chultzah (shirt)
מִכְנָסַיִים – michnasaim (pants)
גַרבַּיִם – garbaim (socks)
שִׂמלָה- simlah (dress)
מְעִיל – me’il (coat)
כְּפָפוֹת – kfafot (mittens)
מִכְנְסֵי שֶׁלֶג – michnasi sheleg (snow pants)
סְוֶדֶר – sveder (sweater)
כּוֹבַע – covah (hat)
צָעִיף – tzayif (scarf)
מַגָּפַיִם – magafayim (boots)
Here they are in action singing one of our new songs:
We also finished the book of Bereshit (Hazak, Hazak! Venit–Hazek!), complete with the story of Joseph and how the Jewish people ended up in Egypt. This week in the Shabbat, 7 you will find a beautiful lullaby based on the blessing that Jacob gave to Menashe and Efraim (his grandsons from Joseph).
Here is the version that we listened to in class:
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom!
Dear Kindergarten families,
This week, we began learning the story of Joseph in Parashat Vayeshev. The song in the Shabbat 7 is an excerpt from a Hebrew musical. You can find the whole play here:
We would like to wish you all a wonderful Chanukah break. We will miss those sweet faces and look forward to many new learning adventures in 2020!
Thank you so much for your generous and thoughtful gifts.
Stay warm!!!
The Kindergarten Team
The Kinders have been getting ready for our school Chanukah Celebration on Tuesday evening. We are asking that the children wear a white shirt and blue bottoms. We can’t wait to celebrate with all of our families.
As well on Thursday morning, the Ganon children will be joining us for a joint Chanukah Celebration We will be decorating cookies and having a Chanukah Sing-a-long lead by Mr. G,(Mr. Goddard) our music teacher.
Next Friday our Dress Down Day money will be going to the Ottawa Mission!
Shabbat Shalom!
Chanukah is coming and in the Gan we are having tons of fun! Spinning dreidels, singing songs, making clay latkes, the list goes on!
Here are some vocabulary words that we are learning in Hebrew:
נֵס – Ness (miracle)
גָדוֹל – Gadol (big)
היה – Hiyah (happened)
שָׁם – Sham (there)
נֵר – Ner (candle)
שֶׁמֶן – Shemen (oil)
אוֹר – Or (light)
חֲנוּכָּה – Chanukah
חֲנוּכּייה – Chanukiah
מְנֹורָה – Menorah
שְׁמֹנֶה – Shmoneh (eight)
שַׁמָשׁ – Shamash (helper)
סְבִיבוֹן – Sevivon (dreidel)
סוּפגָנִיָה – Sufganiyah (donut)
שֶׁלֶג – Sheleg (snow)
מַטָנָה – Matanah (present)
We also enjoyed learning this week’s parashat haShavua – Vayetze
You can see a cute reenactment by Saba Tuvia featuring the song from the Shabbat 7 here:
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Shira
Shabbat Shalom!
Today we learned the Parashat hashavua Chayei Sarah. The yeladim were eager to learn the whole story of Avraham and enjoyed this final chapter where Yitzchak meets his wife Rivkah. It is lovely to see how interested they are and how they are making connections with previous stories (such as the theme – you can’t hide from G-d and names that come from the Torah).
In the Shabbat 7, our Kinder Korner has Hebrew songs that relate to the Parashiot. Last week was about Lot’s wife (Eshet Lot) and how she was turned into a pillar of salt.
This week’s is about Gili ha’gamal (Gili the Camel) since Rivkah was chosen as a wife for Yitzhak because she offered water to Avraham’s servant and all 10 of his camels.
This week we also finished floating our Noah’s Arks and counting the amount of animals they hold in Hebrew before they sink.
We are also making great progress with learning the Hebrew aleph bet, writing our Hebrew names and increasing our vocabulary. Recent themes have focused on animals, colours, and currently Chanukah. More details coming soon.
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom!
It has been so wonderful to begin studying the Parashiot. Excitement is high in the Gan as we speak about the stories and learn new Hebrew vocabulary associated with them. Today the yeladim will be bringing home their beautiful Bereshit mobiles. Not only does this long range craft teach them about the Creation story, it gives context to the names of the days of the week.
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Shira
Shabbat Shalom,
Today was a very exciting day in the Gan. We had an amazing peula with our Shinshinit Hila. First we learned about life on the Kibbutz and practiced our directions in Hebrew (yamina, smola, kadima, ahora, arzor) with a game. Then we acted out the story Tiras Cham (The Corn is Hot) by Miriam Ruth.
We also began learning Torah, starting with the very first Parashat HaShavua… Parashat Bereshit.
In their notetotes you will find the Shabbat Sheva Newsletter. Please read it together with your child. Each grade in the school has contributed to a section. Ours is a new song about Bereshit that we learned this week. You can hear the tune here:
Chodesh Tishrei is such a busy time of year. We hope that you have all been enjoying the celebrations at home!
The yeladim ילדים have been enjoying learning about the Chagim. For Yom Kippur, we read the story of Jonah and the Whale using an interactive storyboard where the yeladim added pictures as the story progressed. After, we spoke about how Jonah couldn’t hide from G-d, because G-d is everywhere. We also created a beautiful craft with a whale that could swallow and spit Jonah back out again.
We discussed the importance of selichot סליחות, the term lashon ha’ra לשון הרע and how words can be hurtful. Then we practiced using our words to make people feel good by saying kind things to each other.
Now we are learning about Sukkot, building and eating in a Sukkah סוכה and the ארבּעת המינים (lulav and etrog). We learned a new Hebrew song and hammered with musical sticks to the music.
Patish, masmer פטיש, מסמר
Nikach maher ניקח מהר.
Sukkah livnot סוכה לבנות,
Banim ou banot בנים ובנות.
La la la la la la la la…
Krasim, nikah קרשים ניקח
V’anafim l’schach וענפים לסכך
Caset h’gag קשט הגג
Lichvod ha’chag לכבוד החג.
La, la, la, la, la…..
Kaneh, kaneh, קנה, קנה,
Sukah nivneh סוכה נבנה.
Krashim nikah קרשים ניקח,
Knei’suf l’schach קני סוף לסכך.
Maher, maher מהר, מהר,
Pan n’aher פן נאחר,
Ayin faiyni chachot אין פנאי חכות,
Maher sukkot מחר סוכות
Tach, tach, tach….
You can practice with the Hop version here:
We also created cute leaf creatures and beaded Indian corn to hang in the Sukkah as decorations. It was a great way to practice our Hebrew counting as each strand of the corn needed 10 beads.
Chag Sukkot Sameach! חג סוכות שׂמח