Friday, September 9, 2011

Tzedakah

During the month of Elul we focus on Teshuva (returning to Hashem), Tefilla (prayer) and Tzedakah (charity).

Here are a few things we did in connection to Tzedakah:

Firstly, we learned that Tzedakah is not just giving MONEY to people who need it. It's giving clothes, a job, even a kind word. Its helping people in as many ways as we are able.

This is a sweet craft of friends helping friends:

Decorating a Pushkah (Tzedakah Box)- you can use any container with a lid:

Shining pennies with Q-tips and lemon juice- it took a while, and they really needed to shine the coins but the kids eventually saw results:

Counting 100 pennies to make one dollar- this is a Montessori 100's board, you can easily make one with paper/cardboard and markers. It really gives the kids a visual idea of what 100 pennies look like and that 100 pennies make one dollar:


On the 25th day of Elul, Hashem started to create the World. On the 6th day of Creation, Hashem created man. The 6th day falls out on Rosh Hashanah.

Here is a "Day's of Creation Activity Pack" I out together for my kiddo's-

You can download it HERE

You can use it together with the Shabbat Activity Pack which you can find HERE

Hope this is helpful!
~Shabbat Shalom to all~

Friday, September 2, 2011

~~Happy Elul~~

Here is the calendar we use- its a regular classroom calendar but I made Hebrew letters for the Hebrew dates with Shofars for Elul


We also mark down what the moon looks like at the different times of the month- very easy to make, I used sticky foam to make ours
A friend sent us some foam shapes for Rosh Hashanah, so we made a Shofar collage and used the 3 primary colors and ultimately mixed them to make other colors, it came out really cute
Once the color mixing began, we were on a role- heres a super easy yet awesome color mixing activity. You just need a drop of food coloring with water and leave it to your little Einstein to create their own colors!
Just a little snack the munchkins prepared themselves. They were so proud of themselves that they made their own orange juice. Make sure to get sweet juicy oranges. These were so juicy, each orange filled an entire glass with juice.

We have some great activities planned for Elul, stay tuned~

Chodesh Tov,

Monday, August 15, 2011

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Activities and Printables

I am really excited to be getting my Montessori teachers certification through NAMC. It is so enjoyable, I actually look forward to studying:)

Here are a bunch of Montessori activities I have put together for my munchkins for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. At the end of the post is a link to all the printables you see in the photos. Feel free to download and print any of them you wish for your sweeties.

Apple sorting by color, red, green and yellow

Apple fraction magnets puzzles- red, green and yellow, whole, half and quarters

Creating hexagons with popcycle sticks to create a beehive (done on the floor)
using a picture of an actual beehive with bee's as a frame of reference

Sifting yellow sand and black rice into a glass jar, pouring the sand into empty bowl once all the yellow sand is sifted
(yellow and black, color of a bee)

Simple cutting exercise, either solid paper or squares with lines and various Jewish pictures

Dress and create people for Yom Kippur in white

Simple coloring pages, printed from www.torahtots.com

Thumb tacks on a picture, great for fine motor

Hebrew movable alphabet, using just the beginning sound of different miniature objects pertaining to RH and YK

Hebrew movable alphabet, spelling out the names of different miniature objects pertaining to RH and YK

Rosh Hashanah word and picture matching cards

Hebrew word and picture match

Simple hole punching on squares with various Jewish pictures on each pertaining to RH or YK

Pouring Yellow and Black rice through a funnel, alternating to create a bee in in a glass jar

Beginning Hebrew sound match with magnets on a cookie sheet

Number match with small pegs (good for sensory as well as counting)

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur sensory bin
contains:
a bee making 'honey'
apples, shofar
wine for kiddish
a fish in 'water' for tashlich
2 rams with horns for the kids to see clearly where a shofar is from
chicken and rooster for tashlich
gold coins for tzedaka
a lady with a siddur davening
shiny hearts scattered around indicating Ahavas Yisroel
and its all on a bed of clear glass stones

Create your own crown ('The King is in the field' and we crown Hashem King)

Pomegranate seed match- each match has a dot of the same color on the back for the child to use as control of error
(to make sure they did it correctly)

apple sorting using tongs

Using the tongs, dip a sponge in any color water, let it soak,
place in the garlic crusher and squeeze out water into any section of the empty round tray.
Can mix colors to create other colors

Here is the Link to all the Printables.
It is ONE pdf file, but you can pick and choose what you wish to print.



Hope this comes in useful and is helpful!




LIKE us on Facebook!

I just started a Facebook page, Jewish Montessori Activities---

Trying to figure out how to get a LIKE button on this blog, but until then,

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Good Morning/Good Night Checklists

Having a morning and bedtime routine is very important to me in running a somewhat smooth household-

I made these 2 checklists for my munchkins, its a list of the important things to do in the morning upon waking up and at night before going to sleep.

I printed and laminated them and attached a dry erase marker to each chart. In the morning, they wake up and as they complete each task, check it off with the dry erase marker, same thing at night. I then erase it at the end of each day once they are all sleeping so they can start again the next day.

Like this, they wake up by themselves and get into a routine of doing certain things which will hopefully start to come naturally to them (like making their beds!!!)

Feel free to print them if they suite your needs~ and hope you're having a fabulous summer!

Good Morning Checklist:

Good Night Checklist:

Have a great week,

Monday, June 6, 2011

Happy Shavuot!

Some projects we've been busy with~

The mountains fighting over who will get to be the mountain where the Torah is received... a Tall one, Wide one and little Har Sinai with flowers on:)


A flower collage by my 3 year old... just cut out some flowers from tissue paper and gave her glue- those are the luchos in red... a red card with Alef Bet stickers...


Jello Torahs... pour jello on a cookie sheet, leave it for a bit in the fridge and using Torah cookie cutters and a spatula, make little Torahs!


Torah lacing- Using construction paper, put a rectangle, sticks and a crown and use a hole puncher to make holes. Attach a piece of string for lacing~


Torah collages: I had a Jewish toys catalogue, cut out all the Torahs I could find and gave them glue and paper to make their own designs~






We have these dye cut Torahs in all colors, divide the color erasers amongst the colored Torahs~




Happy Shavuot to everyone!
Mommzy~