Dear Parents,
We know many of you have been able to participate virtually in your classroom-specific activity and your circle times, and I have received some wonderful feedback about all the links and activities in this newsletter, which have been created by your teachers on an ongoing basis. They are working so hard to provide you with content, and we know that content at home for a young child still requires your participation, which can be challenging with everything else you have to accomplish. Do what you can, and save some of these things for the weekend, if need be.
I want to thank our teachers for jumping into our online learning with grace and commitment. We have essentially asked them to teach in a way they have never done before, teach in a style that is antithetical to what we do on a daily basis in the classroom, and yes, they had to learn all the technological pieces to go with this. We appreciate your understanding of this over these first days as we figure out what works best for everyone.
Looking ahead to next week–you will find my newsletter activities also embedded into your Classroom emails, with choices of activities rolled out for specific ages. For those of you who are comfortable adapting an activity, you now have twice the amount of curriculum! For those who prefer direction, you will see my email, specific choices listed for the age of your child. While I sent out a sample schedule to you earlier in the week, I am now putting all of this into a sample schedule that you can adjust as you go. Today, see the way it will look moving forward. You WILL need to make adjustments, based on your child, what is going on in the environment, what support they need and based on the classroom activities of the day. We hope this helps to more cleanly define what could be your day with your child.
And without any further adieu…TODAY’S SHABBAT SCHEDULE!!!
Friday, March 20
9:00 a.m. Blessing and Bim Bam with Ditza and Parenting Center and Stepping
Stones Teachers. Get your voices ready for Shabbat!
Yoga With Teacher Cheryl Get your bodies ready for Shabbat! 5 Videos in total. And remember, children need repetition! How often do you do the same workout?
Feel Connected with this video and song from Rabbi Yoshi
9:15 a.m. Challah Baking Part I- Make the Dough – Guide your child through this process, but really let them do the measuring, pouring, cracking of eggs, mixing. Cooking and baking opportunities are so important for a young child—they get science, math, sensory, gross motor and skills of independence, all in one place. Give into the mess and know there is so much greater good that will come out of this!
Shabbat Cards
Finish early? Make each other Shabbat-o-Grams (cards)! Any kind of paper will do, get stickers, markers, crayons. You make one too, and write your child a message. This is a great tradition to start, too! Give them out when you celebrate Shabbat in the evening.
9:45 a.m. Snack and Bathroom Break
10 a.m. Free Play
10:15 a.m. Shabbat with Wise School EC—Facebook Live
10:45 a.m. Challah Baking Part 2, braid the dough! Before you get started on your Science, do the next step of your Challah making—see the recipe. It’s all about braiding!
10:45 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
Science
Calming Sensory Bottles: This activity has been done in our two year old classes in years past, it is a wonderful activity for any age, but best for 2-3 year-olds (Stepping Stones, First Steps, Discoverers)
Sink or Float– Just like it sounds…Will it sink or float? (Activity and hypothesizing and charting! (Explorers, Investigators, PreK, TK)
11:15 a.m.-11:45 a.m. Classroom Activity (in your email from your classroom teachers)
11:45 a.m. Challah Baking, Part 3! Before you go outside, as long as someone is in the
house, bake your challah! OR, you can place it gently in the fridge and then lets it sit out a bit before you bake it RIGHT before Shabbat.
11:45 a.m. Outside Time
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1 p.m. Nap for Some, Calming Beach Sounds
Sensory and Art/Science for Others!
Oobleck– This is more of a sensory activity for your child once the two of you have made the oobleck. Suitable for 2-3 year olds.
Bean and Seed Mandala– Planting, art and science all rolled into one! Suitable for 4-5 year olds.
1:30 p.m. Literacy
Snuggle up and read some Shabbat Books
Go for an alphabet scavenger hunt around your neighborhood
Pre-K/TK Go through your Jolly Phonics Links from this week
2:00 p.m. Shabbat Shalom!