Hachnasat Orchim

We have two preK classes. One of the classes invited the other class to a Shabbat Party. They made cookies and set the tables and served Challah, Grape juice, cheese, veggies and cookies. They had the Shabbat Seder, enjoyed the snack and sang songs together. The following Monday the other prek class sent a Thank you picture for the fun party. This is such a wonderful way to teach children about welcoming guests and taking care of your guests. The children enjoyed their time together.

In the two three year old classes the children drew names and had "play buddies" who they took care of to learn about being a good host/guest. The host kids served snack to the guest kids and everyone had a great time!

Dibuk Chaverim

Pre-K Friendship Quilt

Teachers have been so focused on Dibuk Chaverim (cleaving to friends) I am realizing that between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that is one of the most appropriate Jewish Value we can teach. We do not focus on saying you are sorry, we focus on being the best kid you can be. The best daughter/son, sister or brother you can be as well as emotions and what makes people happy and sad.

Pictured below is a project one of the prek classes did. The kids were asked what makes a you a good friend. I loved their answers.

The kids also made a friendship quilt by each child making a square and the teacher put all the squares together.

Young children are developmentally very self centered. They need to be taught to appreciate and be thankful

for what they have. The PreK kids were learning about Modeh Ani and thanking God for waking up each day as well as the blessings in our lives. We asked the kids to think about what they were thankful for. We got everything from puppies, kittens, princesses, power rangers and mommies and daddies! Each Shabbat during Shabbat singing we sing a song called Baruch Atah Adonai thank you God and after we thank God for candles, challah, wine, mommies and daddies then we let the kids say what they are thankful for. We get many of the above answers and also some kids are thankful for different animals, butterflies and many other things. It is our responsibility as teachers to help kids as well as all of us think about how fortunate we are and remember to always be thankful!

School is up and running! The teachers of the 3 year olds made the bulletin board pictured above. As the kids each behave in ways that show kindness to friends as well as being good friends we have taken pictures with their explanation of what is going on and then posted it. The kids love making and having good friends and this is the perfect value to start the school year off with!

Camp ends with some wonderful values in action!

A few continuations of wonderful events! Several weeks ago we noticed a mama bird sitting on a makeshift nest in our chopped rubber on the toddler playground. The bird got very nervous when the kids got too close so we closed off that playground, because it is our job to respect and protect animals, as we know from our study of the Jewish value, tza'ar ba'alay chayim.
Miss Susie's 3 year olds made the project above after watching the egg hatch. The kids loved seeing the baby bird.

I have already told you about our wonderful garden. After we planted, watered and then harvested pickling cucumbers the kids made pickles with the cukes. It was such a wonderful all camp experience! The smallest kids put the cucumbers in the jar, the oldest kids put in all of the spices and the middle kids put in all the liquid. Everyone loved making the pickles and we cannot wait to taste them! Please see the pictures of a few of the steps and the finished product!

Kindness to animals, Tza'ar Ba'alei Chayim is one of my favorite Jewish Values for kids because most kids love animals! We enjoyed learning about lady bugs and we put them in our garden so they could help us take care of our garden! The kids also took ladybugs home for their gardens.
They made a duck pond with fish and learned about our responsibility to help keep lakes and ponds clean.
They brought a favorite animal (stuffed) to share their Shabbat Party incorporating inviting guests for Shabbat.
We have had a great summer!

The third session of camp was so much fun. Our theme was Tekun olam, Repairing our world and Bal Tash Chit preserving and taking care of our world.
All of our art projects revolved around recycled materials.
The kids made friends out of toilet paper rolls and other recycled materials. Most cities have teacher recycling centers where they can buy everything from cardboard and yarn to fun foil papers. Check out where your local recycle center is if you have not already been to it. For you lucky people in the North East and close to Boston they have a fabulous place!
We have an organic garden where the kids planted a pumpkin patch, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, radishes and a variety of other vegies. The children love watering the plants and picking ripe vegetables. They then eat them for snack. Gardening is so fabulous for little kids as well as for our world!
Tikun Olam and Bal Tash Chit are fabulous themes for camp as well as school!