Parshas Lech Lecha- Stars and Transportation

Here are a few things we have been doing in connection to Parshas Lech Lecha:

Aside for My First Parshah Reader, we are reading A Little Boy Named Avram by Dina Rosenveld.

We printed some coloring pages from Chinuch.org and Munchkin colored them and stuck on star stickers while we were talking about how Hashem promised Avraham that his children would be as many as the stars in the sky.

Then, using Star cut-outs which I got at Walmart for $1, I cut them up to make little puzzles and stuck a magnet sticker on the back of each piece. We took all the pieces, mixed them up in a basket and the kids used a magnetic cookie pan to put the stars back together again. The nice thing about using the magnets is that the puzzle pieces stay in place once put down.

Here is a math activity using the Montessori beads. Pretty straight forward. You can make your own beads using pipe-cleaners and colored beads.

A great counting activity, stick the correct amount of Star stickers as the number written on each star. My Munchkin (3.5) LOVES stickers, so anything with stickers is an instant winner with her.

Creating a night sky with different types of star stickers, some foam, some glittery and all different sizes. She actually made a pretty awesome sky, overlapping stars, mixing colors. It was very cool:)

Simple beading with star beads.

After working with stars, we moved on to Transportation- "Lech Lecha", Avram and his wife "traveled" to Canaan. So we are learning about all things connected to modes of travel.

Cutting activity with cars using the Kumon Cutting Workbook.

Transportation Sensory Tub, using black rice we picked up from the local Health Food store in bulk. We put in some Lego street signs and Toob Cars. This was SUCH a hit with my 2 year old, he sat there for quite a while burying all the cars then trying to find them.

Then what started as a simple sorting activity, turned into this:

Taking the idea from my little one, we used the sensory box to hide all the cars, planes and boats and the older kids would search for them and once found, place them in the correct section.

Then using big blocks, cars, street signs and little people, they each designed there own roads.

Using chalk, they drew streets on black construction paper and used these transportation stickers to create a whole scene.

This was a kit we got and they made boats, trains, cars and planes.

Here is where you can get some of the products we are working with this week:

A great week to all~

Noach Activity Pack and some more activities...

I like incorporating the weekly Parshah/Holiday into our regular secular subjects. Below you will find a few math activities, reading and science activities that we have done. I have also included a Noach Activity Pack which includes some of the papers we used for the activities. Feel free to print some or all of the printables.

Click Here to download My Noach Activity Pack

Counting Doves (in connection to the Dove that brought back the Olive Branch). We made these doves out of white felt glued on to card stock then cut each one out:

Matching the upper case letter to the lower case letter- each letter is the beginning letter of each animal:

Counting animals using clothes pegs:

This was a cute science experiment we did. We discussed the difference between fresh water and salt water. We then made 2 identical cups of water, one with A LOT of salt, the other, just water. We then took 2 eggs (boiled or raw, both work) and dropped them into the cups:

Check out what happened- the egg sunk in the fresh water and floated in the salt water.

Well, that's about it for now on Parshas Noach- have a great week!

Torah, Torah, I Love You...

"Little Torah, Little Torah, Let me hold you tight!

Teach me, Teach me, all your mitzvot so I can do them right!

The Torah teaches every Jew, Torah, Torah, I Love You!"

Simchat Torah is such a fabulous Holiday- the reading of the Torah goes on portion by portion throughout the year, throughout the ages, in everlasting cycles. The Torah is concluded on Simchat Torah, but it is also immediately started again from the beginning. This shows that there is no end to the Torah and that it must be read and studied constantly, over and over again.

And so here are a few things we have been doing~ preparing for the great celebration!

We spoke about how a Torah is written on Parchment using a Quill and ink... then we used a feather and paint to create our own "quill and ink" experience:

Then, what started out as this project which I got from Chabad.org to make your own stuffed Torah from felt...

...turned into the most adorable Torah puppets- thanks to my 2 year old who found the Torahs drying on the table with the bottom part not yet sealed... he stuck his chubby little hands in and before we knew it, everyone had their own Torah puppet! It was such a hit- they made a whole puppet show singing all the Torah songs they know. So much for the little stuffed Torahs, but I guess there's always next year:)

Of course, we made Simchat Torah flags... and being the Montessori inspired mom that I am, I gave each munchkin a piece of white card-stock with a glue stick and put a box filled with all types of goodies in the middle of the table giving them the freedom to make their very own original creations...

Once completed, they went outside and each found a strong branch to use as the stick for the flag. We taped it on with strong packing tape and are keeping it on the wall until Simchat Torah.

Here's a little game that the munchkins actually made themselves. We used a paper plate and cut it into a smaller circle. Using a marker and a ruler (my big guy LOVES using rulers), we divided the circle into 6 sections. My big guy stuck little Torah Stickers in each section numbering 1-6. We then took paper clips and stuck the numbers 1-6 onto each one:

He then gave it to his little sister and explained to her how to clip the correct number on the paper clip to the correct amount of Torah's on the chart:

Good job kiddo!

Here are a few other toys and books we have been using in connection to Simchat Torah:

This is also a great link to adorable songs on each Parshah- and since we are starting at the very beginning next week, I thought some of you might enjoy using it as you teach each weeks Parshah to your little ones.

So hope you have a wonderful and happy Holiday,

Always,

Some fun activites

Some fun activites that have been keeping the kiddos busy...

Alef Bet wheel, you can add different vowels as well as use pegs to match up the letters. Great for beginners in letter recognition.

Same idea, just with colors:
Used an ice tray and rubber erasers, color sorting. I had tongs but my munchkin got impatient and just used her fingers to place the erasers in each correct hole:)
Beading with pipe cleaners- they can match the beads to the same colored pipe cleaner or make their own design...

Now this was a HUGE hit: Made 2 felt boards using a picture frame and felt (got this amazing idea here), then cut out different shaped eyes, noses, mouths, hair and hair accessories and the little ones created all types of faces, over and over again-
The felt boards:

Self portrait of the little guy:)

Classic Cheerios book with Cheerios... we didn't do this in a long time, so it was fun.

Movable Hebrew Alphabet with board- another great hit, the little guy made tons of words, it was fantastic...
and lastly, Counting Chocolate Chips- you can use anything, really. This is more for number recognition and counting for little ones- you can make lady bugs with spots, bees with stripes, get creative:)
And thats what we were up to today...

Hope to create and post more soon, wishing all a wonderful week,

Jewish Preschool Activity Worksheets

While I truly believe that Preschoolers learn the best through play, there are some preschoolers out there who take the more academic route (my Little Einstein:) and actually LOVE doing worksheets- not all the time, but there are so many activity books out there for preschoolers but I couldn't find any Jewish Preschool Activity books so decided to make a few worksheets of my own- which worked out GREAT-and i based them all on the activities from the regular activity books, just used Alef Bet, Jewish concepts and Jewish pictures...

I printed them and put them in a binder and my Little Einstein loves his own little Jewish Activity Book!

So here they are, hope they are helpful to you-

Alef Bet WorkSheets

Balloon Match

Match the Picture to the Hebrew Letter

2 pages- match the Hebrew Letter to the Picture

Similar Letters- Match the letters to each other

Space Themed Alef Bet Worksheets (a a few others, custom made for my Little Einstein who loves anything Rockets, Astronauts etc!):

Match the Hebrew letter to the correct one in the Rocket

Match the Hebrew letter to the correct one in the Rocket Page 2

Match the Alef Bet stars to each other

Match the Alef Bet stars to each other Page 2

A Jewish Boys Uniform

Rocket Maze

More Advanced Alef Bet Worksheets- Circle the word that begins with:

Alef-Hey

Vav-Yud

Kaf- Samech

Ayin-Reish

Shin-Final Mem

Brachot worksheets:

Bracha: Hamotzi

Bracha: Mezonot

Bracha: HaEitz

Bracha: Adama

Circle the Kosher Animals

Circle the Kosher Animals #2

Cut out and stick all the KOSHER animals in the barn

Meat and Milk: Take a blue piece of paper and red piece of paper- cut out the meat products and stick them on the red paper, cut out the dairy products and stick them on the blue

Preschool Math with Jewish Pictures Worksheets:

Cut out the pictures and put them in size order - laminate the little cards to make them last longer!

Some more size order pictures

Number recognition: match the number to the correct amount of objects #1-6

Number recognition: match the number to the correct amount of objects #7-12

Circle the number of objects in each picture

Draw an X on the largest object, Circle the SAME objects

Draw an X on the largest object, Circle the SAME objects Page 2

I hope this is helpful to any Jewish Homeschooling Mama's out there for their preschoolers!