Israel's Birthday!

Happy 63rd to Israel.

Havdallah with Eli

Salt turned our sensory table into the Dead Sea.

Eating falafel

Squeezing orange juice (great for muscle development) as we talked about the delicious oranges grown in  Israel.

Everyone gets in on the bead stringing action.

A giant Israeli flag puzzle meant we all had to work together.

Back in the room, Evie and Norah created a patterned birthday cake.

The city of Jerusalem in blocks.  We learned a new word...dome.

Zach's using the shaped sponges to paint the city.  Each child had the   opportunity to add golden domes on the top of their   painted buildings.  You can see the finished pictures on the board across from our room.

Celebrations! Jack and Zac turn 5!

Two birthdays in one week...how lucky are we!  And even luckier when we get to celebrate with sisters, moms and grandmoms.
We have sung our special birthday song with almost everyone....those with summer birthdays get their chance very soon.

Butterflies and Zach's Birthday!

As Part of our Earth Day Celebration, Shelly gave each class a butterfly kit and caterpillars to hatch.  We had been observing and watching the life cycle of our butterflies for about 10 days.  They weren't ready for Earth Day, so we had  a special celebration on Wednesday.  On Tuesday, we were very fortunate because one of the butterflies hatched during lunch.  It was very exciting to see the changes with our magnifying glasses!

On Wednesday all of the pre-school went to the Gan for the ceremony to bless our butterflies  and set them free.  Since we had celebrated Passover and Earth Day, the children were thrilled about setting the butterflies free.  Prior to setting the butterflies free, we revisited the concepts of freedom and new life for the slaves who left Egypt.

Rabbi Ross joined us in the Gan as we said two blessings  before opening the kit and watching everyone's butterflies fly free.

On Wednesday, we had another reason to celebrate! Zach had his fifth birthday.  Zach's grandmother brought the family birthday crown. Zach was very proud of the brownies we had made for his birthday. His mom brought the number five candle and  we sang to Zach as he made his wish .  Happy Birthday Zach!