Matzah- What's up with it?

B"H

Matzah is a big staple in this special holiday. There is so much to learn about the process, why we eat it and working on being fast to get it done in 18 min. We enjoyed exploring wheat kernels, making matzah dough and rolling holes in it.

 Separating wheat kernels

 Examining them under microscope to make sure there's no water

Our little explorers

B"H

Here at Gan Chaya, we cherish our outdoor space and try to make the most of it. There is so much learning and discovering that goes on while the kids play outside, especially when left to figure things out on their own. When we as teachers/parents take a step back and just be an observer, we will notice that our children can achieve far more than we expected and we can clearly watch their minds solve problems and figure out situations.  

Being that we are lucky enough to have half our classroom outdoors, in the past few weeks we decided to let the children explore on their own. Closely followed by their teachers, the kids tried out one thing after another and worked as a team with their boundless creativity to come up with so many new inventions and discoveries! 

Here is just a peak :)

Enjoy!

Building with tree bark!

Wooden blocks that we made, painted and are now using

Concentration, determination

Mendy decided that safety goggles would be a good idea for his digging.

Team work!

Painting the blocks

Look at those joyful faces!

I did it!

Hey there!

Found giggling behind the trees :)

Fall Nature hike

B"H

This week we began learning about fall. After discussing what happens in this season- the leaves change colors and fall off the trees- we took a nature walk to find and collect som eof these fall leaves.

We collected leaves of many different colors all into our wooden crate.

We were so proud of the many leaves we collected of all different colors.

After collecting the leaves, we go to go all the way to the shul to see the pomegranate tree that turned yellow!

Caution: Mud work ahead :)

B"H

The friends in our classroom have been showing a strong interest in exploring mud and rocks. When learning about the third day of creation, we thought what better way can we experience it other than through mud! 

On the third day Hashem created land and all vegetation. We had lots of fun experiencing that!

After learning about Day 3 of creation in focus time, we went outside to fill our sensory bin with mud and rocks. All of our friends worked together to fill the bin!

We put the bin out on our sensory table to explore with during center time

Our friends worked together to make a nice big mud pie! :) They found spoons to mix their batter with!

Check out our hands!

We also put out mud paint at our art table to make beautiful pictures with!

Itta chose to paint her paper pink

Sweet or sour?

B"H

We set up a taste test to see what our friends like better: Green or red apples?

After tasting, our friends voted and then we looked at the results to see which apple won.

Our friends tasting our apples and getting ready to make their vote

Green gets a vote!

 And... the winner is... 

It was the red!