Preparing for the CJP Shabbos Store!

Documentation for the week of January 17-20, 2017

Shabbos Store Conversations and Preperation

During morning meeting on Tuesday, we discussed everything that we need to do to prepare for our CJP Shabbos Store. We imagined that we were walking through a grocery store, and talked about all the things that we saw. We realized that food isn't just out to be picked up. It is in packaging. The packages have labels on them. The labels sometimes tell a story about where food comes from, shows the food ingredients, and shows the price of the food. We also talked about how stores have signs and check out counters. 

We used the concepts we discussed during morning meeting to create activities that prepare our store. Hillel asked if we could paint on Wednesday morning, so we painted signs for our store. Morah Tara outlined the letters for the CJP Shabbos Store and the food items with prices for the children to paint. All of our friends worked together (so nicely!) to create all the signs that we needed. They also made a few signs just for decoration. Painting signs eventually turned into a sensory experience where the children chose to paint with their fingers on the table and on their arms. They explored the different feelings of the paint and the different colors that they could create. Oree painted the table pink, and then used her fingers to create a heart by erasing some of the paint.

The children were not very interested in creating labels, so we chose to stick with the signs that we created.

On Thursday, it was our class's task to make challahs for the store. In the morning we made the dough. Then we let it rise. Then we braided it and baked it. Finally, we placed the challahs in bags so that they would stay clean at our store.

There was also a math activity available for the children to explore. There were photos of the items that will be available at the CJP Shabbos Store with prices on them. (All items will cost $5.00). The children were able to choose how many of each item they wanted to buy, and then used a calculator to find out how much money they owed.

Shabbos Store Dramatic Play

Another way that we prepared for the CJP Shabbos Store was by practicing in our dramatic play area. Our friends took turns being at the cash register and shopping for Shabbos food.

Math Exploration and Character Building

The Team Rainbow Class Challenges have been a huge boost to morale in our classroom and has helped to create an inclusive and helpful environment for all of the children. This week, we chose to explore character building in a different way. We put out two empty jars, one tray of gems, and one tray of rocks. When children made helpful choices throughout the day, they were given the opportunity to put a gem in the helpful jar. When children made hurtful choices throughout the day, they were asked to put a rock in the hurtful jar in addition to recommitting to being safe. On Tuesday, the children weren't quite sure about the whole activity. They weren't thinking much about it until afternoon meeting. When we all sat down together, we counted all the gems and all the rocks. After that, we made a graph to represent how many helpful choices and hurtful choices we had made that day. On Tuesday, the children made 54 helpful choices and 29 hurtful choices. We set a goal together for Wednesday. The children voted to set their goal at 70 helpful choices and 0 hurtful choices. 

On Wednesday, the children were much more aware of the activity, and actively chose to make more helpful choices and less hurtful choices. They played nicely together and stopped themselves from doing things that might hurt their friends. At afternoon meeting on Wednesday we returned to our counting and graph work. The children made 62 helpful choices and 25 hurtful choices. We spoke about how important and wonderful it is to make progress towards your goals even if you don't reach them right away! They chose to keep the same goal for Thursday.

Happy Birthday, Hillel!

Happy 5th birthday to Hillel! It is always so much fun to celebrate birthdays in our class and hear about all the mitzvahs each friend has done in the past and plans to do in the future!

Finally! Time for the CJP Shabbos Store!

We prepared all week for our store, and we finally get to put it together! Thank you to everyone who is buying food prepared by the children! It makes Shabbos even more special when the children play such a crucial role in its preparation!