Brachot Unit

Instead of posting about each component of the food brachot unit like I started to here, I will summarize the whole unit and you can use what suits you.

Because it it about food, there is lots of cooking/food prep involved.

I already showed you about fruit picking for borei pri ha'etz.

For borei pri ha'adama the children made vegetable soup. The parents brought in an impressive variety of root vegetables. I put the veggies in the micro to soften them, chopped them into large pieces and then gave the children plastic knives to cut small pieces. The children love this opportunity to help make food in a way they are usually not allowed at home. But when it comes to eating, they all still prefer croutons to soup. :)
Gabi's class also pasted pictures of various vegetables on a pot shaped paper. Gabi loved this and every night for weeks after she would pull it off the fridge during dinner and offer everyone some vegetable soup.

Mezonot was celebrated with stringing Cheerio necklaces. Stringing (or threading as it is called here) is a great activity for fine motor development. With plastic based thread, the children sat and made jewelry and ate the cereal (after making a bracha).

This year I did not do the shehakol project. In years past we have made ice cream in a bag. This is heaps of fun, a cool science experiment, and a gross motor skills strengthener. But there wasn't time and it was really too cold. Maybe we will do it in the summer.

The brachot unit culminated in a sandwich making party. The parents each brought in a different type of bread and various spreads. The children all had a turn making different sandwiches. Lunch was lots of fun.

For a non-edible project during brachot unit, each child makes a place mat. One of the children told me their brother, who was in my class two years ago, still has his. And parents have told me that their children are more mindful of making brachot when they use it. It is a great way to sort the brachot when making it, and a fantastic visual reminder, when it is all done.

The place mat image is printed on 11 X14. The food images are all cut out and the children select which foods they want. With some guidance from an adult or older child, the children paste the pictures in the right section.

And then laminate. My images were based on the local kosher products, most recognizable to my student body. They could be easily modified with a search through google images. And I forgot some good ones, like cheese sticks and yogurts.

Isn't the final product beautiful?