How do you spell Sukkah?

Today's lesson was to write the words Sukkah and Sukkot, showing the difference between the "oh" vav and the "ooh" vav in the two words. M was more interested in drawing alot of cool pictures:

Eventually, he wanted to go out to the Sukkah, so he sat down and wrote it:

And here he is holding it up in front of the Sukkah itself:

R was no slouch today either, he did a fair amount of scribbling, and wanted me to write his name on it so he could scribble over the letters:

And he looooooves reading:

More Sukkot prep

Today we put the strips of paper we made yesterday into paper chains for decorating the Sukkah:

First I put the paper through the last loop....

....staple the ends together....

....Looks pretty good!

Misparim v'Misparayim

....or, Numbers and Scissors, but that doesn't sound as cool in English...

With the Sukkah up in the back yard, we are getting started on making decorations -- paper chains! What a great opportunity for M to practice his cutting skills:

Then he wrote numbers in order on pre-cut strips, to be made into paper chains tomorrow:

Outside time -- more numbers, this time with hopscotch!

New directions

M was all ready for his lesson after morning exercises, and wanted "Shiur shel midbakot" -- a sticker lesson.  So I pulled out some workbooks that my aunt sent him from Israel, with different shapes and objects to be sorted, counted, etc.:

Then we had a different sort of lesson -- kinesthetic learning.  First, we moved back to the rug, and I showed him how to sing/dance "Yemina, yemina, smola, smol, lefanim, akhora" (Right, right, left, left, forward, back).  Ran through that twice, then he had enough.  So back to the table, where I showed him the compass points on the world map placemat:

We talked about North and South America, and reviewed the names of the other continents as well. 

I look forward to following this lesson up next week, when we shake the Lulav in all directions!

Getting ready for Sukkot

For Art today, we built 2 Sukkot out of construction paper and cardboard. On the second one, M wrote "Chag Sameah", though he ran out of space and asked me to write the last 2 letters....

A new friend!

Today Lemalah had its first new member!  Little "I" joined us, and had a great time in spite of not knowing a word of Hebrew coming in.  After a while, she said her first Hebrew word -- "Mayim" = water.  M was very eager to show her around and explain stuff to her, and occasionally switched to English. "I" and her mom joined us for  "Yadayim Lemalah" and "Ooga Ooga", and learned to count to 3 with us.  M practiced counting up and down.  He built a Lego staircase and had the little Lego people walk up and down while counting. "I" joined in the game, too. 

All 3 children did some coloring at the table:

and then went out to play:

I think they like each other!

 

Shanah Tovah!

A bit late, but finally M made his Jewish New year picture.  He picked a sheet of black construction paper and used his rubber stamps and inkpad to make this:

...Wishing a Happy New Year to Mommy, Daddy and 2 of his siblings!