Grandparents and Latkes

Last Friday was such a pleasant morning shared with eleven of our grandparents.  I know the children were excited to share a bit of their Becker world with their beloved Nonnies and Papas and all.  I thought you'd enjoy hearing that we really just had a regular morning.
We start most everyday with free play, and grandparents arrived during this time.  They were greeted (some exuberant hugs, others with shy smiles) and the kids continued to play with their classmates and their favorite toys (the kitchen, blocks, cars and trucks, baby dolls, etc.)
It was fun to see the grandparents greet each other too.  Imagine my surprise as the first grandmother arrived and I saw that she is an old friend of mine through Hadassah!  Houston can be such a small world! 

Some grandparents were on double duty, with older grandchildren in classes upstairs, so they popped in to say hello and then rejoined us later for Shabbat.
Some children in class had no grandparents coming that day, but they were happy to play with their friends and did not mind the many visitors.

After a quick toy-clean-up, we had our Circle time with our grandparents clustered around their little ones.  We sang our usual "Good Morning" songs then, due to a time crunch, we jumped to our mini-snack and Shabbat in the classroom.  First we wash hands, then sit at the table, and once all are there, we light the candles and sing the blessing.  It was so cute when Ethan directed his grandfather to cover his eyes!  Charlie wanted to sit with his grandmothers rather than at the table.  Neeva kept smiling at her grandmother, who was amazed that Neeva was so quiet.  Kids do have different personalities in the classroom than they do at home - but it's strange when you really first see it for yourself.  We blessed the wine and the challah and then shared challah with our visitors.

Next, we walked to the Chapel where the older children were just being dismissed.  Anil's grandparents, Hazel's grandmother and Eden's grandparents joined us for our Kabbalat Shabbat.  Our class was sprinkled about the Chapel as many grandparents sat in the chairs and the grandkids sat with them.  Dancing was great fun (even if it was only one dance).  Sam and Akhil enjoyed dancing together, Serena joined her Mom, a fellow Toddler teacher, and Ruby danced with me!  Back in our classroom we said good-bye to our grandparents (no tears!  yea!  sometimes the good-byes can be hard on the little ones) and after a quick bathroom break, we went to run outside.  All in all it was a lovely morning!

This past Monday morning, we made latkes in class!  Elena had a funky potato peeler that the children could twirl the sweet potatoes on.  After the peek was off, they kept turning the wheel and 'shredded the potato' which we stirred into our latke recipe.  We had an early Music class with Roxanne and Lauren (Ms. Julie was leaving soon for a PreK singing field trip) and returned to the class to enjoy Charlie's birthday cupcakes!  Everyone sat at the table by a cupcake and (can you believe this?) they all waited until AFTER we sang "Happy Birthday" to Charlie before munching on the sweet treats.  Meanwhile, I was waiting for the oil to heat up to cook our latkes..... and waited .... and waited ....it seems that I found the one electric skillet at Becker with a very, very slow heat element.  I had about decided to cook in the kitchen during nap when I began to smell the oil!  YEA!  Our potato-sweet potato latkes were a big hit!  especially for Ruby, Reese, Anil, Sam.  Others enjoyed a few crumbles (Ethan, Akhil, Serena and Charlie).  Neeva may has tasted one crispy crumble (think- one fat, fried potato shred) as did Hazel while Eden insisted that she did not like latkes. 

Levi, we missed you for both of these fun days, but hope you're having a blast with Mickie & Minnie and that we will see you Wednesday!

I'll see everyone tomorrow (either at drop off or at the Chanukah Happening).  Please note: the Chanukah skit starts at 9:30 so we will be heading to the Chapel a bit before then.

until then,  stay warm and have some hot chocolate!

truy, Cathy