Shabbat Dinner Preparation

It was so nice to see so many of the preschool families at our Shabbat dinner. We would like to give you a glimpse into how our class prepared for this special event.

Every Friday we have a Shabbat celebration with the children in our class. This time it was going to be different. We talked to the children about the dinner coming up, and who will be attending. Our mommies, daddies, brothers, sisters, friends and their mommies and daddies…..
To help the children process this information we worked on a Shabbat picture. The children glued the Shabbat items we use every week on to a table. “The chairs are empty. Who is going to sit there?” The children decided who should sit in each chair in the picture, some they named for their family members, and some for their friends and their families.

Now, usually when we go to the playroom we go in the house, on the slide and bikes or in the cars. A CHANGE was going to happen and so we needed to PREPARE the children for it. IMAGINE what it feels like for a young toddler to enter their school playroom and see lots and lots of people! By taking the child's emotions into consideration we can create a safe environment where the child knows what s/he can expect and is not met with surprises. Therefore, the day before the event we spoke to the children about how our playroom was going to look different - there was going to be lots of table, chairs, and people - lots of mommies and daddies and kids! After the room was set up we took the children there to see all the tables and chairs, and prepare them for what was coming.


These are pictures of us playing together in our dramatic play center. There are many skills we gain as we play.
As you look at the photos think about the dialogue the children were having with each other. Think about the sharing and cooperation skills they are gaining as they work together in a group. Think about the different imaginary roles each one is acting.

There were different Shabbat games for us to play with in our classroom. These helped us to learn new vocabulary words, become familiar with Shabbat objects, practice classifying big and small and visual orientation.

The children were very excited to make their own candle holder. The gems we used to decorate the candleholder are shiny, colorful and in a variety of shapes. Some children were specifically looking for certain color or shaped gems to use, searching through the variety and picking out the ones they wanted.
We enhanced our fine motor skills by pushing the gems as far into the clay as we could, and spread the glitter glue all around. The candle holders were used to set the Shabbat dinner table.

All the preschool classes helped prepare the yummy food for the Shabbat Dinner. Thank you Debbie, Amanda's mommy, for helping us bake the delicious snickerdoodles!

More News from the Young Toddlers Class

*We are very happy to welcome our new classmates, Meir Blesofsky and Mia Vasquez, to our class.

*This week we will begin our Purim Holiday unit with the children, exploring the story of long ago and the lessons it has for us today.
We will keep you posted as this plays out in the classroom.

See you tomorrow,
Morah Chaya G, Morah Chaya K and Morah Batsheva