Term 2 - Week 7 - Exercise (build up to World Cup)

This week we touched briefly on the World Cup by discussing some of the countries who will be taking part and we did a beautiful flag worksheet, the children matched and coloured in the flags appropriately, some were able to write the countries names and others were able to match and paste the names of the countries under each flag. This exercise was extended by some of the older children who took it upon themselves to make their own flags and glue them onto straws for flagpoles(well done, yeladim - I think you are all very clever!!!)
Our main focus was on exercise and a healthy lifestyle.......we discussed what we need to do to keep fit and build up our stamina.....we spoke about the soccer players and how long they have to play for and that in order to play for that length of time without getting tired, they need to do lots and lots of exercise to build up their endurance levels, and discussed ideas on what types of exercise we can do at home...they all seemed very eager and came up with some really good ideas (riding bikes, star jumps, monkey bars, running........to name but a few) We made a little obstacle course where the children got to play leap frog, jumping stars, running and throwing bean bags - they had loads of fun...and got to see how quickly we can get tired from doing exercise and how if we exercise everyday how much fitter we would all be (okay yes mostly myself and Morah Marina were the ones exhausted. I believe the children could have carried on for a lot longer!!!)
Our focus letter this week was 'g' - the children glued with glitter and put hair onto a large blow up of the letter g for...girl, and of course came up with great 'g' words!
We did a math worksheet where the children counted things from soccer balls, soccer boots, goal posts, soccer players...and got to draw their own soccer players.
In life skills we made our very own little soccer people...we coloured them in and used pegs for legs.
Thank you so much to those who have sent beautiful flags and decorations for our bulletin board of the World Cup. We will be continuing our World Cup theme next week so there is still time for you to send anything relating to the World Cup then.
We will be looking at the soccer pitch and the different shapes on it and expanding our knowledge of shapes...but more on that next week.
So watch this space....until we chat again....
With love Morah Mandy

Term 2 - Week 6 'Healthy/Unhealthy & Shavuot'

This week was very quick and short…..!!!
The children were all very creative………painting, drawing, cutting and glueing paper onto their boxes for Shavuot……we discussed a lot about the commandments and related them to our classroom agreements, which we are trying really hard to be a natural unforced energy in our every day at school.
Besides preparing for Shavuot, we discussed the differences between healthy and unhealthy. Why it is important to eat fruit and vegetables and to drink water. And all about what foods to eat to keep our bodies and minds fit and healthy and to keep ourselves active as we prepare to energise ourselves into little soccer stars for the upcoming 2010 soccer world cup!! We will be discussing this further next week....so watch this space......... until we chat again......
With love
Morah Mandy

Term 2 - Week 5 'Our Senses'

(Tune : Where Is Thumbkin)
five senses – five senses
we have them – we have them
seeing, hearing, touching,
tasting and smelling
we have five – we have five!!

You guessed it……this week we have been discussing our five senses…!!
A fun game we played was for the children to differentiate between different sounds (using bells, drums, tambourines, and lots of different sounds) – using our hearing solely.
Then using a blindfold on one child they had to touch the child in front of them and guess as to who it was, this was rather challenging so we added in that the child could use their voice to make it easier –and by combining our sense of hearing together with touch, it helped to make our decision as to who it was so much faster (the children absolutely loved every minute of this game)
We then explored feeling the difference of rough and smooth - (smooth : a bowl of water and mazeina) (rough : a bowl of water with sand and stones) they were so excited to squish and squeeze the two very opposite textures.
We had a tasting exercise – where we got to try out the four specific groups – being bitter(not a favourite), sour(some really love lemons), sweet(always a crowd pleaser), and salty(this was top of the pops).
In life skills we created a very gracious looking torah, using colourful lolly sticks, glitter and velvet and our own school amendments. With the upcoming festival of Shavuot we have been discussing all about the ten commandments - and as such have incorporated these into our agreements for our very own torahs - with our focus being on love, respect and gratitude)
Our focus letter this week was ‘n’ – in the spirit of the soccer world cup, we created a goal post with a net using throat depressor sticks which the children all decorated, they then glued these onto a net and added a soccer ball.
And even though I am sick in bed the fun at school will continue....our sense of smell is next with a vast array of different odours(from garlic to strawberry) to smell and match, but more on that next week.
So watch this space......until we chat again xxx
With love Morah Mandy

Term 2 - Week 4 Our Lungs

How nice it is to be back to normality with a full week!...this week we discussed our lungs. The children were all very eager to grasp around their rib cage and breathe in to feel their chest getting bigger and then feel it getting smaller as they breathed out. We spoke about how we breathe in air (oxygen) which travels down our windpipe and into our lungs and how when we exercise, we breathe heavier because we need more air in order for the oxygen to be sent into our bloodstream to pump the blood faster through our bodies.
We built onto ‘our body’ using 2 pieces of bubble wrap to depict our lungs and had lots of fun blowing objects of different weight along a measuring card to see how far we could blow – we tried our best to take in deep breaths and exhale really quickly…..some rather humorous results followed and fun was had by all.
In life skills we blew through straws into bowls of coloured water and created beautiful bubble patterns.
Another experiment we tried was to transfer tiny balls of paper from one bowl to another – again using a straw, and our very powerful lungs – this was a little challenging and frustrating for some but all were very eager and intent on getting the job done!
Our focus letter this week was ‘o’, using paint, glitter, and feathers, we created a very proud ostrich!
Our outing to the stadium was met with mixed emotions but I am happy to say that most of the children loved every minute, just being there was an amazing experience, but the highlight for them definitely seemed to be the electronic safes in the locker room….thank you to all the moms for helping out.
Our ‘breathing’ experiment continues, this time with balloons…..but you will have to wait till next week for the conclusion…!
So watch this space......until we chat again.....!!
Please feel free to leave your comments, we love hearing from you all!
With love Morah Mandy