We experience a large range of emotions.
At different times of the day, or based on situations we express a different feeling.
At times we feel happy, relaxed or calm. At other times we might feel sad, upset or angry. These emotions have an impact on our body.
How do these different emotions make our bodies feel?
Let's try to take a moment when we are in the middle of an emotion and express how are bodies are reacting.
As two and three year olds we are learning how to be in control of our actions and learn how to act in appropriate ways. Of course, it is natural that when we get mad our bodies get tense and want to act in an intense or outward way. Therefore it is important to learn at a young age to be aware of our emotions and how this makes our bodies feel. When we realize how tense we become or how the emotion is overtaking ourselves that realization can help us see ourselves in the moment. Then we can learn ways to help ourselves relax and be in a better state to act appropriately.
One such technique we used today was through yoga movements and breathing. Being in touch with our emotions and helping our selves be in control of our actions will be a continuous journey for us over the year.

Today we shared a new experience.
Today Mrs. Daniella Wrubel, a certified yoga instructor and mother of Nati and Ashi in the 3 year old class, came to our class to do some yoga movements with us.

We learnt how to make our bellies like balloons so we can feel our breathing. We felt our bellies going in and out and up and down. We took deep breathes and felt how that impacted our bodies.
We learnt how to put our bodies into different positions like different animals and objects. This helped us stretch the different muscles in our bodies. We stretched to be cats, cows and butterflies. We stretched to be seeds in the ground and then grew into tall flowers. We tried to balance on one foot as we pretended to be trees.
Then to end off Daniella told us a relaxing story as we lay flat on our mats. We pretended to go to the beach and listen to the sound of the waves as we breathed in and out. Before we left the beach the children each collected sea shells and put them in our pockets to take home. Ask your child to show you their sea shell and describe it to you.
Here are some photos of our yoga experience.








































































With more news to come,
Morah Batsheva

Come join us in our classroom...

We have been singing a winter song asking the question:
What warms me up on a cold, cold day?
A sweater warms me up in a cozy way.

What warms me up on a cold, cold day?
A blanket warms me up in a snuggly way.

What warms me up on a cold, cold day?
Hot chocolate warms me up in a sweet, sweet way.

What warms me up on a cold, cold day?
A hug warms me up in a friendly way.

We continue the song adding in other stanzas of things that help us warm up on a cold winter day.
We have this song on the wall in our library.


To warm us up on a cold day...
We made hot chocolate to drink after playing outdoors. We were cold but the hot drink made us feel so warm. Mmmm the taste, the setting, the atmosphere was so peaceful, so relaxing, so delicious.
In order to drink something hot you need to slow down. Take small sips, blow on the hot drink, patiently wait to drink it up. We are getting into the habit of finding moments to slow down and find happiness in the quietness. It was a very special experience especially for us to enjoy this moment with our friends.


We build on our vocabulary to help us be expressive and descriptive. We use the words like hot or cold to describe different things of different temperature.

We played a game of sorting through various foods that we like to eat, some foods that are hot and some that are cold.





Literature has the power to excite and teach us about so many interesting things.
We have been reading many winter themed books and learning about this cold and quiet season.
Each book shares with us winter ideas either through beautiful illustrations or eloquent words.
There are many things we can take away after reading a good book. Maybe we might even be inspired to write our own story book!
After reading, Snowballs, by Louis Ehlert we were excited to use our creativity to make a snowman or snowlady of our own.
Take a look at the details in each of the children’s work.




Moussia:

“It is a snowlady.

Her mouth is from corns.

Her nose is red.

She has a pink and yellow eyes.

She is wearing a pink dress.”

Elisheva:

“I put eyes and nose. I put a scarf on his neck.

He has buttons down on his feet.

He is wearing boots in the snow.”

Jasmin:

"It is my snowman.
He has hair on his head
and he has two hands."

Elana:

“My snowman has a hat on his head.

He has a button nose.”

Delia:

“It is a Snowgirl. I put six buttons on her.

She has two arms. She has hair on her head.

I used beans for her eyes.”

Carly:

“I put buttons and some beads on the scarf.

The snowman has a belly.

He has a red mouth and pink arms.

I used little ballies and squeezy things for his eyes.

He has colorful hair. He has a blanket because

He is cold. I like my snowman.”

Kristina:

“He has eyes.

I put corn for his mouth.

He has buttons.

And he has boots on.”

Olivia:

“My snowman has a green nose and eyes.

He has hair on the top of his head.

It has two arms.

He has a scarf for the snow because

it is cold. He has two boots and buttons.”

David:

“I made a snowman

He has eyes.

Snowman’s nose is blue.”

Shalom:

“I put hair all over his head.

He has brown boots on his feet.

He has eyes and nose and cheeks.

He has an ear on his head. I need to

give him another ear so he can have

two ears. He has buttons that are for

his hands.”

Winter time is a quiet time, winter time is a relaxing time. During winter the plants and trees stop growing, now is the time where they just relax. They do not use their energy to grow leaves or flowers, they rest. Many animals are resting during this time as well.
We have been personalizing this message of the importance of the need to relax. Our bodies too need to slow down sometimes. We do this when we let our bodies rest and take a nap. Some people enjoy relaxing and reading a book others might enjoy the softness of quiet music. These and other methods help us relax and allow our bodies this time that it needs.
This idea of 'relaxness' also translates that if something happen that we do not like we can learn how to help our bodies not get so worked up but handle it in a relaxed manner.

Enjoy your weekend, hope it is a relaxing one.
Shabbat Shalom
Morah Batsheva

Welcome back to school everyone.
We hope you had an enjoyable, relaxing winter break with your family.
Now that we have settled back into school come in and find all the interesting and fun things we have been doing in class.

The winter spirit evokes a calmness a relaxing energy.
The outdoors is in a mode of rest, a mode of quietness.
The trees are resting; not growing leaves, flowers or produce.
The ground is resting. The animals are quietly resting in their homes or trying to stay warm through the season.

We learnt a quiet winter poem that we say together as a class. As we say the poem we use our quiet soft voices to evoke inside of us this feeling of quietness.
''Snowflakes on my shoulders,
Snowflakes on the ground,
Snowflakes all around me,
But they never make a sound."

This is a great opportunity to explore the topic of peacefulness and quietness and see how it relates to ourselves.
We have been learning over the year that we need to take care of ourselves to help us grow healthy and strong.
There are times when our bodies need energy and so we take care of ourselves as we eat and drink.
There are times when we need something, so we learn how to be independent and do it, or ask others for help.
There are times when we need to listen to our bodies and stop what we are doing to go to the bathroom.
There are also times when we need to let ourselves just be. Be relaxed, take a break and have quietness. So together in class we will learn this value of being relaxed. We will explore different ways we can give ourselves this experience that it needs.
Please share with us what you might do with your family to enjoy the quiet moments,
or help yourself relax.

Experiencing the peacefulness of winter by taking a walk down to the river.

We are very happy to welcome two new families to the Zimmer Preschool community and to our class, the Kominsky and Lapetina families. We will soon be handing out an updated class list so everyone can be in contact with each other outside of school.

Olivia Lapetina Elana Kominsky

Have an enjoyable, relaxing weekend,
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Batsheva