B”H

 

Dear Parents,

Searching for hidden things was this week’s exploration in the Yellow Room. The Parsha Learning began with the first word of the Parsha: Vayikra. With the help of Rabbi Deitsch the Kindergarten children inspected a Sefer Torah. After Rabbi Deitsch opened the Torah on the bima, the Yellow Room Wise Ones noticed that the letters of each word were written carefully and  there were scored lines in the parchment so that the Sofer (Scribe) would make sure to size each letter evenly. But they noticed a very strange thing: the Alef from the very first word of this Parsha, also the very first word of this third Chumash (the third book of the Five Books of the Torah), was much smaller than the rest of the letters. The children know that ‘vayikra’ means ‘and He called’ – and Hashem called to Moshe. They wondered why the Alef was so much smaller. Didn’t every letter have to be the same size? Rabbi Deitsch explained that small Alef teaches us that Moshe was so humble. We, too, should recognize our strengths but be like Moshe and be humble and not boastful.

Thank you, Rabbi Deitsch, for allowing the Kindergarten to explore the Torah.

The children also noticed that many letters in the Torah seem to have ‘crowns’ on them. Rabbi Deitsch kindly loaned his Megila to the Kindergarten which they explored with the light table. The Kindergarten Kriyah Experts noticed that the parchment of the Megila was also scored so that the words could be written neatly and carefully. The Kriyah Experts know that one of the names of Hashem is spelled with a Yud, then a Hey, then a Vov and then a Hey. They searched for a long time in the Megila but could not find Hashem’s Name anywhere. They discovered the hidden code: Hashem’s Name is hidden in the Megila! Wherever it says ‘Hamelech’ (the King) in the Megila it is not referring to Achashverosh but to Hashem!

The Kindergarten children created their own puppets with the characters of Purim and then made puppet shows for each other. They know that Esther means ‘hidden’ in Hebrew: Esther was Hadassah but became Esther when she became Queen and hid the fact that she was a Jew in order to help save her people.

The children enjoyed the new sensory Alef Beis letters that joined the classroom this week: 3D Alef Beis letters made out of resin filled with delicate flowers, glass jem Alef Beis letters and stone Nekudos (Hebrew vowels).

 

Song:

Chag Purim

 

Chag Purim, Chag Purim
Chag gadol la-yehudim
Masechot, ra’ashanim
Shir verikudim.
Hava narish’a
Ra’ash ra’ash ra’ash
Ba-ra’ashanim.

 

This Purim I will dress up as…

Leah: … a unicorn. Because unicorns are cute.

Ronan: …a firefighter. I have a real chief suit.

Angie: …Ariel. She’s a mermaid underwater. She belongs in the ocean. She has a pet fishy. His name is Flounder.

Jacob: … a police officer.

Shyli:  …Ariel. I have a Ariel dress.

Naveed: …Spiderman. Because guess what? He saved the country.

Mae: … butterfly.

Leanna: …it’s something very funny. It’s a hot dog.

 

Happy Birthday Leah!

Happy 6^th Birthday, Leah! May you continue to give your parents and family joyful nachas!

 

Farewell Angie!

We wish a very sad farewell to our dear friend and classmate, Angie. We will miss her a lot and wish her happiness, good friends and success in her new school. We love you, Angie!

 

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

Getting Ready for Purim!

    As Purim approaches the children think about the many things they do and the masks people wear during Purim. They have discussed and thought  about the Purim characters and the disguises “worn” by the characters of the Purim story.  Haman disguised as a concerned part of the King’s circle of advisors.  Esther, though also not physically wearing a disguise, initially disguised herself by not speaking of her wish roots and connection to Mordechai. This week we began making  masks in class for Purim.  The children worked on making paper mache masks and stiff paper masks.  They each expressed their strengths in the processes whether tearing paper, cutting paper, attaching glued paper to the paper mache covered balloon,  Watch next week to see their amazing creations.

 

Saying good-bye to our dear friend Angie.  We will miss her!

Jacob- I will really miss you, but I will still love you!

Leah- I will miss you Angie.  And, I am going to cry when you leave.

Leanna- I am gonna miss you and I love you.  When you are gonna miss you  and I love you.  When you are gone you will always be in my heart. I will love you forever.  Even if you are not there you will still be in my heart.

Mae- I really want you to come back.

Ronan- Good-bye Angie.  I will invite you for play dates.

Naveed- I really miss you Angie.

Shyli- I love you.

 

Movement continued from a different perspective.

    The children are continuing their interest in movement.  This week we explored hula hoops and the movement that can be created with them.  Some children decided to roll them on the floor, others decided to jump from one to another, and some attempted hula hooping on different parts of their bodies.  The children realized we all have strengths and those strengths may be different for each one of us.  Many children looked to Leanna to help them learn how to hula hoop as they saw her successfully Hula Hooping.  Children teach us a great lesson in the appreciation of each individual’s strengths.

    Our exploration continued by looking at how we get from one place to another and don’t get lost.  We discussed maps and how we can make a map showing how we get from our classroom to the play yard outside.  The children noted the many things that they see as landmarks between the two areas.  Next it was time to draw our interpretations of a map.  

Other things we have been doing to continue our learning and explorations:  The children added with Penguins, created stories, they drew their monthly self portraits (they are truly amazing.).

Jacob played Harold and the Purple Crayon with Morah Devora as they created their own story using the pictures as guides.

Mae and Leah explored the bris and taking care of the new baby.

 

 B”H

 

Dear Parents,

In this week’s Parsha the Yellow Room learned how Moshe took the parts of the Mishkan that were fashioned by Betzalel and his team and created the Mishkan, a dwelling place for Hashem, and a place where the Jewish People could feel even closer to Hashem.

Have you ever built something from many smaller parts? I built…

Jacob: …a road with Naveed. We used blue magna tiles for a river and the rocking board for the bridge.

Ronan: When Morah Devorah was here, we were doing an art project. She gave us little beads and sticks. I made some hockey sticks.

Mae: …train tracks. At home. They’re wood.

Naveed: You know where the river was? It was under the ramp (the rocking board.) We flipped it over.

 

The Kindergarten Mitzvah Kids explored items in the classroom with which to do a mitzva.
What are some simple objects in the classroom you can use for a mitzva?

Jacob: (box) Make a Mishkan with the box.

Leanna: (sheep) Be kind to baby sheeps.

Shyli: (sheep) We can treat it nicely. It’s a sheep.

Angie: (baby doll) A baby. I help her walk. And I feed her.

Ronan: (shopping cart) A cart. Usually teenagers can only do this Mitzvah. They go shopping for your mom. Usually they can drive. Maybe when I’m 13 or 14.

Mae: (baby doll) Baby. Be kind to it. Feed it when it’s hungry.

Naveed: (duck) I can take care of it and pretend to feed it.

 

If you were going to be traveling through the midbar (desert) often, which of your things would you be sure to take with you?

Mae: Pink blanket. My favorite blanket. It’s small.

Jacob: My blankie. Unless I go camping. And my teddy.

Leah: I would like to pack my dog that is very big. It’s just a stuffed animal. And some snacks and a blanket and a tent.

Angie: I want to take my unicorn that I got from Walgreens and I want to take my blankie and my pillow.

Shyli: Three of my pretty Barbie dolls and my unicorn and my pop up that comes with my tent and my soccer ball.

Naveed: All my Legendary.

Leanna: It’s something very important I would bring. My unicorn. And also I would bring my pillow, some water and food, and I’ll bring some books for entertainment. I’ll bring my laptop and my phone but I don’t have a phone yet so I’m just going to wait for that.

Leah: Also a fridge. A whole entire fridge.

Leanna: She should bring a cooler instead.

 

Homework
Please read daily with your child and sign the blue Kriyah homework folder.

 

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

 

      Math your Way-Edible Math

     The Yellow Room is exploring math in many ways. Whether counting, adding, one to one correspondence, subitizing, playing with teen numbers, the Yellow Room is excited to play.  This week in math the children played with counting cereal and one to one correspondence before eating the cereal.  As Bev Boss, a guru in early childhood learning, states, “If it hasn’t been in the hand and body, it can’t be in the brain.”  We all can remember times growing up when we actively participated in an activity and we, to this day, remember what we learned.  The children in the Yellow Room thrive from active involvement in their work.

 

   

Shabbat Roundup: As mentioned last week in the newsletter the children reflected on their Shabbat learning and discussed and wrote about what a special Shabbat was to them.  This is what they responded:

Leanna: I would go to my friend’s house for Shabbat.  I go to fun places.

Shyli: I rest for Shabbat.  I lie down for Shabbat.

Naveed: I rest. I lie down. I get Oreo Ice Cream after dinner.

Jacob: I sing Shabbat songs with my family.

Mae: May expressed that she would have Challah for Shabbat and a meal with her family.

Other lessons in the Yellow Room

     We continue to practice our beginning word sounds and ending word sounds. This week we focused on rhyming.  Rhyming helps children notice and work with sounds within words and helps children learn about word families.  This week we played games with rhyming words and we identified words that rhymed.  “The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed the……..” series are some of the children’s favorite books in class, and are based on rhyming.  The repetition involved in these rhyming stories supports children’s memory development which also supports reading.

    Alongside the academic lessons the children continue to explore and understand social emotional lessons.  Children play and act out experiences to help them figure out how the world works and mimic what they see adults and others do.  The children recently have been attempting to understand personal space.  During play time they explored the concept and during circle time we discussed their understanding, and what we can do to respect our friends’ personal space.  

Think about what you do when someone gets too close to you. Children get uncomfortable when peers get too close to them as well.  Both the child getting too close and the child whose space has been infringed upon get uncomfortable.  They both look for support to understand.  Often one child wants to be close looking for the comfort of closeness and the other child wants the security of space.  The children discussed what to do if someone gets too close to them and they don’t like it.  After much discussion they determined that they should tell their friend to give them space or move back.  They also determined if they want alone time, moving to the primary activity areas of the room is probably not the best idea.    

Children that feel a need to be close to others are trying to fulfill a need when they get too close.  The children discussed what to do when they want to be close to a peer.  Again that magic power of words came up.  They determined they can ask to be close, or ask for a hug.  The main point that the children realized was that both the child needing closeness and the child needing space require the sense that they are being heard by their peers.  As the children continue to explore this topic, they will be encouraged to continue verbally expressing their needs to their peers and, when they don’t feel heard, to ask for help from a morah.

 

  

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Devora