Welcome Morah Anna!

It’s been an amazing week at CJP! Maddie did great transitioning to a new morah. Here are some snapshots of what we’ve done in the Yellow Room:
I
n “Maddie’s words” :

The theme this week was Chanukah. I listened to a variety of Chanukah songs. I very much enjoy “clapping” to the different tunes! Picking up from where Morah Jac left off, we continued to work on the vocabulary words: ma ma, da da. I love to feel the movement of the lips as the words are spoken. The sign  language: this week is: “more”

Auditory:
During daily activities, morah tells me about what we’re doing and waits for my response. Usually in the form of smiles or sounds. Morah Anna says: “Part of language skill development is to imitate sounds and gestures we see and hear. Maddie is vocal and loves to hear me imitate her sounds! It encourages her efforts to communicate.”

Songs Morah sang to me this week:
Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel. I love seeing the big Dreidel spin!

Visual:
We saw various pictures in books, pointing to and talking about each picture .
I was mesmerized by the bright blue lights morah brought to the classroom. I was intrigued by this new exciting item and decided to crawl over and see for myself what it was that was shining so beautifully and bright! I touched , pulled and tried to taste but morah stopped me from tasting it.
Oh how I love to see faces! I love to see and feel as well. This week morah showed me the “nose” as she touched mine. Then she let me climb on her lap to touch her nose! She also taught me about the mouth. Mmmm-mouth
The book she read me made more sense after that!  

Motor skills:
Some skills we worked on this week included: exploratory cruising. Morah says that the best way to learn about our environment is to crawl and explore by touching, feeling, sucking (on safe , clean things, of course) and pulling/ pushing. Dropping the block tower was interesting . I loved to see morah stack them back up only so I would drop it all over again! Also, I made an attempt to climb on the slide this week. I moved my way around it. With morah’s help, I was able to do it!
Waving and clapping was also part of our activities. We love to clap to the song: Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel as well as other Chanukah tunes.
Turning the pages on books is a favorite while morah is reading.
Books we read this week included:
1. My First Chanukah
2. Chanukah
3. Baby Faces

Social/Language skills:
As mentioned above, we’re working on the words: Ma ma, da da. I love to see the lip movement as those words are spoken. I also love to feel the movement with my own hands!
Peekaboo brings tons of smiles to my face. I love this game. It’s best when said with tons of enthusiasm! Morah is teaching me to blow kisses. Very soon I will be blowing kisses to mama and dada when I say good-bye!

It is such a pleasure to be part of baby Maddie’s learning adventures. I’m super excited and looking forward to spending the next couple months learning with Maddie❤️.

P.s. I always appreciate suggestions and/or advice as to better serve Maddie’s needs.

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Anna

Chanukah is coming!

L'hitraot/להתראות Yellow Room . With sorrow I bid farewell to my beautiful Yellow classroom and one of the most wonderful students I have had the pleasure to work with. Thank you Elikan Family for entrusting me with your precious daughter. 

 This week was eventful and fun filled. 

On Tuesday Madison and I began getting ready for Chanukah!  We hung decorations and made fun sensory decor as well to bring a hands on joy of Chanukah into the classroom. Madison enjoyed the tape menorah (thanks to Morah Masha for the idea) when 1st putting the tape on the floor Madison had no interest. However she discovered that she could also pull and pick the take up as well as lay it down. 

 We also began integrating Chanukah themed books into morning davening and afternoon circle time. Madison's attention and interest in these books are so impressive. She enjoys stories and books so much. 

  We also explored different dreidels! A wooden one and two different plastic types; one that is clear and one is blue. We even took the clear one outside to play!

  On Wednesday morning we joined the Peach Room . Madison had so much fun playing with friends and on her own in the classroom. There were many new toys to discover. We also ate snack at the table with our friends. Then we davened; this was interesting to watch how differently Madison adjusted to the room and a routine she was unfamiliar with. She did strikingly well. Every so often she would check in with me either just by looking up at me, babbling to me or coming over for a moment. This was a great step for her and a joy to watch her interacting with children closer to her age. 

 Thursday morning once again we joined the Peach Room.  Madison and Leah played so nicely together. Leah helped Madison and shared with her. At davening time Madison was very involved. She showed us her hand motions at the correct times for songs like twinkle twinkle and our brachas for washing hands. 

 

There was also many musical instruments and singing which Maddie enjoyed  emensly. She also shows a great connection with Morah Ora.

I will be missing her bright smiling face.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Jac

Growing and Learning!

Dear Parents,

Its been another busy week filled with fun! The Yellow Room enjoyed tons of new and renewed activities and toys.

On Tuesday, our morning activity brought the abacus out.  Moving the beads around was entertaining, and difficult at first. This gave Morah Jac a great opportunity to reference the bead colors; as well as counting 1-4.

During free play Madison has begun to explore more naturally, and with more independence from Morah. She chose the balls in the morning. Dumping them on the floor then crawling around after them when they rolled away.

On Wednesday Madison showed how adventurous she is becoming. She attempted climbing up the steps to the slide. She pulls herself up on everything she can, and even tries to walk along things like the table.

At circle time we began including our basic copy cat sounds, like Ma-ma, Da-da, Ba-ba, Ga-ga, La-la and even ssssssss. These are usually sounds Morah walks around the class making as background noise during free play. It is wonderful to now incorporate them into our daily circle time. A video on Facebook shows a little clip of our fun making sounds.

Later in the afternoon we explored the empty boxes again. We added in a new cardboard tube as well that was found in our classroom. We explored how they feel, look, and sounds we can make using these items.

Thursday brought our clay back. Madison was enthralled with the texture. She enjoyed smearing and wiping.

We continue our morning davening where Madison is showing increased interest in all songs and Bruchas, but more so when we do our ABC song at the end. We have done our ABC and Alef-Bet since the beginning or the school year. Her interest peaked when sign language (ASL) was introduced. We have only just begun sign language for Alef-Bet however the ABC are very familiar to her, and brings great excitement, and joy. If the opportunity arises try this at home. She loves it!
We have also begun using "thank you" in ASL as well in the classroom. Next week we will add in "you're welcome".

Bag art with clay in the afternoon was a quick task to begin a wonderful project for our thanksgiving family party coming up.

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Jac

Sun, Moon, Stars, and Cheerios!

Another wonderful week in the Yellow Room!

 On Tuesday we were so excited to add Cheerios to our snack time routine. This food allows Madison to work on the fine motor skill by using her pincer grasp. It also helps her work on releasing the item. She already has the chewing motion down pat which is a great development. 

They are also very yummy!

  We enjoyed more light and dark play using our stick puppets. Madison still favors the Moon photo, and even points to the Moon in our Shabbos book.

 Wednesday we used a mess free paint project to mix colors. Madison liked feeling the squishy paint in the bag. She carried it with her as she crawled around the classroom.

 We have continued our Davening each day, Tzeddakah is still Madison's favorite part. She expresses so much joy when the pushka comes out. 

 Our Books this week have been about Shabbat. We have also continued in our Torah numbers book. Morah points to the numbers and  counts saying them in both English and Hebrew. Currently we have been working on numbers 1-4. Madison loves this book and shows interest in reading it over and over again.

 On Thursday Morah Jac took the stick puppets back out to play; adding the Sun. We incorporated songs and nursery rhymes to relate to each puppet.

The Sun: "Mr. Sun", and "You Are My Sunshine".

The Moon: "Hay Diddle Diddle"

The Rainbow: "Say Say oh Playmate"  (only the 1st paragraph)

And

The Star: "Twinkle Twinkle"

Madison Loves singing songs!

 Around 10am Madison crawled over to her highchair and was trying to climb in. On most days between 10am-1020am is snack time. However only since Tuesday have we been using the highchair for snack. Madison's natural internal clock seemed to be telling her she was hungry, so she went to the highchair all on her own. What a wonderful step. After only 2 days using the item around that time she has already been able to relate the chair to her natural hunger.

 We also enjoyed outdoor play Thursday. Madison held leaves in her hands, sometimes they would crumble or break. When this would happen Madison would work to try and put them back together.

Wishing you a peaceful, and joyous Shabbat!

Morah Jac

New textures, boxes, and fun!

Welcom to another sunny week with the Yellow Room 

 This week has been filled with friends, learning, and fun.

On Tuesday we played with a new sensory item: cotton stuffing, pompoms, and cotton balls. This showed us the different textures of similar items. Madison liked holding the pompom in one hand and tipping the bin over with the other. Morah took the bin and shook it to make new sounds like popcorn. Madison was fascinated by the items flying out of the bin as Morah Jac bounced them around for her.

We also once again joined our friends in the Purple Room  Davening is so exciring when we do it together.
We also read more about Parsha Noah. After nap time Madison continued to work on our Ark by adding rainbow colored yarn, ribbon, and string. Maddie enjoyed the ribbons; pulling them off and placing them back onto the picture.

Tuesday also brought our highchair just in time for lunch! Although Madison was much more interested in the boxed our new chair brought with it. We played the boxes like drums; exploring them inside and out.

 We would like to thank Morah Sydney for visiting on Wednesday while Morah Jac was away.

 Wednesday night brought curriculum night for all parents of our CJP community. Wonderful fun thanks to Morah Masha!

 Thursday was a busy morning davening with the Purple Room. Madison enjoyed hearing all the songs so loud and clear watching her friends with a huge smile on her face!

 After nap we played with stick puppets Morah Jac made, and used a flash light to see the light and dark. Maddie enjoyed the puppets and lights very much and even pointed to it in one of our Shabbos books.

 We have begun reading and looking at Shabbat books during afternoon circle time. Even though we are not here on Fridays it is a great opportunity to show and talk about our wonderful Shabbat customs. It will be a continued focus to bring more familiarity and recognition to the holiday each week.

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Jac

Animals!

A joyful Welcome back!

We are so excited to have gotten back into a full week!  I hope everyone had a happy and beautiful Yom Tov.

This week the Yellow Room was full of social interactions, getting comfortable in our routine again, and lots of learning together.

On Tuesday Madison and I took a trip down the hall to visit our school library. Madison enjoyed looking at picture books. We brought some books about animals back to our classroom so we could learn about the Parsha of Noah this week! 

We also joined our big kid friends in the Purple room to read last week's parsha. Madison loves being read to, and shows great focus and interest.

We also started an art project. Morah Jac made an ark out of construction paper and added some animals. With a few loose parts items given one at a time Madison tried to stick the fur/wool, stripes and feathers to the animals on the page. We will continue this project next week.

On Wednesday after davening we enjoyed reading our animal books. Madison has begun to point to the animals on the page. Morah says the name of the animal and the sound it makes; this makes Madison smile.

We also enjoyed some outdoor play. 

Thursday was a fun filled day! To go along with the Parsha of Noach, Farmer Sean brought some animals to visit with us. Madison liked to watch the animals but was not ready to touch them at first. She was more interested in her hat strings until we found the sheep. Madison touched the sheep's soft wool. She also pointed to the animals especially the Llama. We followed the Llama a couple of times.

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Jac

Yom Kippur Explorations

Welcome back to the Yellow Room.

 שנה טובה ומתוקה

 Wishing you a sweet new year, and an inscription in the book of life.

May you also have an easy, healthy fast in the upcoming Yom Kippur Holiday.

The past week we have continued with our schedule that Madison has naturally created for our classroom. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a picture schedule to be posted in our classroom.

 We played with many different balls that were a great sensory experience. They were different sizes, colors, and textures. Madison really liked the blue bumpy ball.

Wednesday was a busy day loaded with lots of fun.

During davening/tzeddakah time Madison took the quarter from my hand and attempted to put it in the pushka herself, and with a little assistance she got it in on her 5th try! This was a wonderful step in her development. From pinching the coin to independently attempting to put the coin in the pushka.

After Davening we played with clay. Using animals as an accessory. I stuck the animals in the clay, and Madison took her time concentrating on how to pull the animals out from the clay. 

Later in the afternoon when circle time was finished we worked on an art/sensory project in line with Yom Kippur and Kapporos. We used feathers to decorate print outs of chickens. Contact Paper helped hold the feathers on to the page.  Madison was fond of taking all the feathers from the bin and feeling them in her hands. She spread them out all around her then would grab bunches moving them from one side to another, and placing them on the contact paper.

Thursday brought a new sensory experience: Natural paint (using spices Cinnamon, Turmeric, and Paprika) brought in a new aspect of sensory: smell! 

Madison enjoyed playing with the paint in the cups and with the assortment of brushes. She began to dump the paint onto the page.  This was fun until she touched the paint with her hands- she did not like the texture! It felt gritty and rough, we will try again in a few weeks!

Shabbat Shalom,

See you next week

Morah Jac