B”H

Dear Families,

The past weeks have been so busy with Chanukah exploration that the Yellow Room hardly had time to find out what happened in the weekly Parsha with Yaakov and his 12 sons. But this week the Yellow Room excitedly discovered that Yosef had become a ruler in Mitzrayim (Egypt) and the brothers had to go to Mitzrayim to purchase food when their food ran out. The brothers did not realize that Yosef was the ruler and when Yosef insisted that Binyomin, the youngest brother, remain in Mitzrayim Yehuda spoke up and protested. The Yellow Room discussed what they would do if they saw someone who bothered someone else. What would they do?

What if your friend got to a swing before you? What would you do?
Mae: I would say, “Can I have a turn when you’re done?”
Jacob: I would get on another swing.
Angie: I would say, “Please can I have a turn. If he says no, I would play somewhere else.”

Song:
https://www.chabad.org/519467

Yehudah said to Yosef, "I’m stronger it is so
Please take me for a slave, and let Binyamin go."
The brothers knew what they had done to Yosef was wrong
Yosef sent his servants out, and in a voice so strong, said

Chorus: "I am Yosef, is my father still alive?
Ani Yosef, haod avi chai?"

"Don’t be afraid," the brothers were told
"It was Hashem’s will that I was sold
Go and tell our father, to Hashem I am true
Take food and wagons, but bring Yaakov back with you."

Chorus:

Serach played on her kinor, Yosef is alive
Yaakov was so happy when the wagons did arrive
When Yaakov saw Yosef after so many years
They hugged one another and cried happy tears
Chorus: ‘‘I am Yosef, my father is alive."
‘‘I am Yosef, my father is alive."


In a very dramatic move Yosef reveals to his brothers his true identity. He then discovers that his father Yaakov is still alive. After 22 years the news of Yosef’s whereabouts could be too shocking since Yaakov was much older by then. With great sensitivity, the news of Yosef was broken gently to Yaakov through song: Serach, Yaakov’s granddaughter, sang a song delivering this wonderful news. The Yellow Room discussed how we may want to be careful how we deliver news to our grandparents.

How do you speak to your grandparents?
Jacob: My grandparents live very far. I talk to them about Washington. My grandfather is 100.
Mae: I speak to them gently because they are old. You know how old my grandfather is? 69.
Leah: My grandfather is the same as what Mae says.
Angie: I speak very gently because my grandpa is very old.

Later, Yaakov and his sons and their families move to Goshen in Mitzrayim. They bring all their belongings with them.

Yaakov and his family used wagons and donkeys to move their belongings to Mitzrayim. Which do you think is better?
Naveed: Wagons because everything fits except for a giant.
Leanna: Donkeys are better because they’re nice and fluffy and I love animals.

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Perline

 

Dear Families,

We made our grocery list for the strawberry shortcake recipe.

    The children have continued their interest in cooking a strawberry shortcake. After sending the initial request, to Morah Tara for the children to be able to take a field trip to the store to purchase the ingredients, the children received a letter back from Morah Tara saying they could go.  She stated they must do four things: 1. Get a permission slip signed by parents (watch for them they will be sent out when we get back from break), 2.  Make a grocery list 3. Collect money to pay 4. Walk to the store and shop.  

 The children worked together to make their shopping list.  All children helped to determine the ingredient list, write the words, and work together sounding out the words to determine the spelling.  They helped one another when they were stuck.  When the children had their shopping list complete, we had to determine the next part of Morah Tara’s list.  We needed money.  We asked the children how they thought we might get money to shop with and this is what they said:  

Mae: You can get money from the bank. (I asked her if we go to the bank and ask them to give us money to go shopping, will the bank just give us the money.  She said “no”.  

Leah: from a piggy bank. 

Naveed: I can bring my wallet in with me, but I ran out of dollars. I also have a credit card.  

Leanna: I have a piggy bank at home and I have two $5 bills that I got from the tooth fairy that I can give you guys.   

We decided to continue thinking of more ideas.  We also figured out we needed to determine how much money the items cost so we know how much money we need.  All the children will look for two items each (the list will go home Friday) from our list when they go to the store with Moms and Dads.  They will write down the cost for those items so we can determine how much items cost, and how much money we need. 

Leanna writes sugar with support from Leah. Leah writes butter with the support of her peers.  The children help one another determine how to spell the ingredients using their phonetic sounds. Jacob also writes down items.

  Our exploration of shopping and cooking did not end there.  We needed to explore shopping so the children set up a store in the classroom (and a bank to get money from their bank accounts).  The children asked Morah Ora to borrow her shopping cart.  She kindly agreed so the store was ready for business.  Each child shared the shopping cart and had an opportunity to shop.  Mae bought soooo many groceries.  When asked why she was buying so many groceries she stated she was shopping for Shabbat.  She continued and stated she had 100 people coming over!  The children shopped from the many fruits, meats, vegetables, and flowers we have in the classroom.  The children expanded the grocery play into cooking for Shabbos and setting the table for guests.   

We also focused on what we needed in order to understand how to read a recipe ingredient list. The children continued their fraction work, which they started before Thanksgiving.  They learned about fractions so that when they cook they can read, and understand, how much of an ingredient they will need.  After playing with the fractions we looked at the measuring cups to determine which cup was which size.  The children are enjoying their play with fractions.

         We will continue our shopping, recipe reading, and cooking play so we are ready for shopping and cooking in January.

 Naveed  (and all the children) measures how many  gems fit in  ⅓, ¼, and ½ cup measuring cups.  He then counts the gems to see which size cup has the most gems.

 

                      

        

The Yellow Room’s exploration of cooking strawberry shortcake extended to a review of the food groups. As we discussed the different food groups and how they help/support our bodies the children showed the strong muscles they gain from eating protein.      

 

    Expanding on Early Literacy

Besides working on math and literacy related to reading recipes and shopping, the children explored rhyming and predicting what a book or page in a book is about based on the pictures.  We explored the book “Do you know which ones will grow?”  The value of rhyming is that it is fun, it supports children's phonemic awareness and fluency development.  

The children discussed and patiently waited for their turn to share their ideas of what the book was about and then what they thought the book was going to say something grew into.  It took some children a few moments to figure out the hidden object.  The children learned that the object had to rhyme with the last item on the previous page. As the children learned the pattern (a kitten grows and becomes a cat and a cap grows and becomes a -rhymes with cat) they became better at predicting the second word of the pair. Playing rhyming games with your child is a fun way to bring preschool lessons home.    

Good Shabbos!

Morah Devora