Saying bye to Purim and getting our palate's wet for Passover

The Yeladim looked for all the Purim items from around the classroom and we collected them to put them 'away' until next year. Shmuli commented, "no more Haman." Zev was a little sad to say bye and he said, "well when I want to play dress up I still can." I've observed how the Yeladim really soaked up all the concepts intellectually, emotionally and physically of Purim and saying bye was a little sad. It was important to put a closure to Purim since bringing in a new king, place and 'story' can get confusing for children. This activity helped establish a 'clear mind' only to build on the new values but not to get confused.

 Taking purim characters off the blocks.

 Show and Tell helped the Yeladim do some research as well as bring to mind the ideas, props, and practices that they may be familiar with from previous exposure of Passover.

 When Zev saw the Hagaddah that Shmuli brought in he said, "is he playing Shabbat?"

 Shmuli is pointing and listing all the things he sees set on the Passover table: a cup and wine, Matzah, candle.

Shmuli held up his cracker to the book Zev was looking at and exclaimed, "it looks like Matzah!"

And so the story began about the Jewish people working as slaves for Pharoah. Slaves have no choice. It was very hard work but even if they wanted to rest they did not have a choice to do that. Pharaoh made them build pyramids. The Yeladim dipped 'bricks' into a mixture of paint and sand (a similar feel to cement) to try to understand in a tactile way what the Jewish people had to do. 

When it dried the next day we hung them up on the wall and designated a 'work' area.

The Yeladim like to touch the texture of it and it  brought out great discussion about cement and building.