Letter Daled

Our Mailman this week was our dear friend, Sam. He brought us the letter Daled. It has one big line on top, and one big line coming down on the right. Dont forget to leave a little tiny line on the top when making your big line coming down. 

A little hint to remember that Daled has a little line on top is that Delet (Hebrew for door) begins with a daled and we need space for a mezuzah by the delet. 

Dylan Dovid begins with letter Daled

At our Shabbos Party we ate Dag (Hebrew for fish) that we made ourselves.

See the fish by the arrow pointing to it.

The friends are playing a game in which they are the fishermen catching dagim- fish.
Once they catch a dag, they turn the fish around to find a Hebrew letter on it which they identify and read.

Shabbos Party

Morah Rivky doing movements with the friends to the tune of Mozart's music. :)

Click video, watch, and enjoy :)

***

One of the special foods we eat on Shabbos is fish.

Here is one of the many directions and ingredients for Gefillta Fish:

Pour water in pot with fish

Add some sugar

And some salt

Then cook on fire for about 45 minutes or in oven for about 1 1/2 hours.

It is now ready for consumption

Sammy and many other friends being brave and trying a new food; dag-fish with some horseradish on the side

Davening Party

After filling up our entire marble jar with mitzva marbles we got to choose an idea from the idea jar. The idea was to have a Davening Party. Wahoo! :) The boys dressed up with hats, ties, and jackets, while the girls fancied up with tichels- scarves, and earings and went up the Shul to daven. When we go to Shul to daven, we try to look respectful and well dressed.

We used real Siddurim- prayer books to daven with.

It was very special. :)

(Video)

Great daveners! :)

Parshas Lech Licha

                 

For more info on the Parsha click link below:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/629071/jewish/Lech-Lecha-Roundup.htm

For a nice song on the Parsha click link below:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/603243/jewish/Lech-Lecha-II.htm

The letter of the week

The letter of the week was the letter T. A big line and little line on the top makes the letter T.

Look whose names start with the letter T-

Nicole's brother - Tima

Eli's sister- Toma

Leora's aunt- Tali

 and morah Inna's friends- Morah Tammy

In honor of the letter T, friends made TOASTS

AND different flavor TEA:)

All About Me - Peaceful Friendship

Pre-K friends continue learning about themselves and their friends. In the class we discussed what does it mean to be a friend and what does it mean to be a peaceful friend. Everyone agreed that we need peaceful friends that use GENTLE HANDS. Hands are part of our body. They do not do things without us. We tell them what to do. It takes a lot of practice to get our hands to be PEACEFUL.

Nicole and Rochelle, Ethan and Gabriel use their gentle hands playing together.

Etelle uses gentle hands taking care of Dylan.

Gabriel uses gentle hand to hug his friend Sammy.

Friends learned that WORDS ARE FOR MITZVAH.  Mitzvah words make everyone feel good, happy and peaceful. What are MITZVAH WORDS? Polite words like excuse me, please, thank you, good morning and etc. can make us feel better. Leora uses her mitzvah words to complement Nicole.  

Mitzvah words make us feel better and put a smile on our faces.

Number and Shape of the week

Pre-K friends learned about the number 3 and the shape oval this week. On a number line, three stands right after the number 2. It is more than 0, 1 and 2. It is one less than 4. To make number three we need two little curves.

Opal Oval is my name.
The circle and I are not the same.
The circle is round, as round can be.
I am stretched as you can see.

Mazel Tov! It is a boy!

Mazel Tov to our dear friend Dylan, his mom and dad on the birth of a baby boy!

Pre-K friends and Morahs wish the whole family to enjoy the sweet addition!

Pre-K Big Brothers Club gave Dylan a warm welcome and shared some ideas about Big Brother's Job. There is what they say...

Ethan said that a big brother can change baby's diaper. Eli said that a big brother cleans up toys. Dylan said that his job will be to give the baby a bottle. 

Even though Etelle is not in a BB Club, she had an important addition-  Big Brother can also help to push a carriage.

Letter of the week - Letter H

The letter of the week was the letter H. To make the letter, friends need two big lines and one little line.
It happened that we could not find anyone whose name starts with the letter H. Ethan found a solution. He made a happy face for our closet. Happy starts with the letter H, said Ethan.

To review the letter H please visit  http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-h/load.htm?f
To preteach the letter T please visit  http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-t/load.htm?f
In the class we practice to build, to write the letter H. We even made it into the cookies.

On Thursday, friends made something that start with the letter H- Hummus! To tell you the truth, friends enjoyed making it more than eathing it:) But it is ok.. at least four friends enjoyed both!

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan

Rosh Chodesh means the head or the beginning of the new Hebrew month which we celebrate at the start of the new lunar month which may have 29 or 30 days.

Click link below for more info about Rosh Chodesh.

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1928828/jewish/Rosh-Chodesh.htm

Whenever Rosh Chodesh falls out on a school day, the school gets together for a rally where we sing songs and learn fun facts about the new month.

Friends singing a song while the rest of preschool repeated it after us.

Nicole playing out a story with Morah Chani at the rally

All About Me- My Friends

There lived one small neshama in Shamaim (heaven). It was never alone, it happily lived with Hashem. Did Hashem need a little neshama? Very much! He loved to be surrounded by bright colored light and kind neshamas. Did neshama need Hashem? Yes, very much because Hashem was a part of it. One day, Hashem heard a prayer of mommy and tatty who asked for a little baby. "Hashem, they asked, please send us a baby. We will love him and take care of him. We will make sure he learns Torah and do mitzvahs." Hashem saw that mommy and tatty have a big need for a baby. He sent a little neshama to them. When a little neshama was born, he was not alone because he was surronded with Hashem's love and love of his parents.Little neshama needed his parents very much. After few Happy Birthdays, a little neshama went to school and met other neshamas who needed him very much- his morahs. Little neshama needed his morahs too. “They will teach me a lot of things”, said he to his parents. They will teach me Alef Beis and Torah, and other things”. Little neshama met other little neshamas that looked almost like him. They were the same age, there were almost the same height, they almost liked the same things… Did little neshama need other little neshamas? You bet! He had fun with them, he read with them, he build most creative buildings with them. Who are they these little neshamas? FRIENDS.

Pre-K Friends discussed who they call friends.

Friends are children who play together. (Leora)

Friends use polite words. (Etelle)
Friends share, play fair and kind to each other. (Ethan)
Friends give each other toys or presents. (Dylan)
Friends cheer each other up when one of them feel sad.
Friends call to with Refua Sheleyma when one is sick.
Friends lend each other whatever they need.
Friends help each other.
Friends happy to see each other.

Why do we need friends?
We need friends to play with. (Eli)
We need friends so we can share with them toys and food.(Nicole and Etelle)
We need friends because they have neshamas and we need meet new friends. (Ethan)
We need friends because they can meet my cousins. (Leora)
We need friends to have fun and play together. ( Rochelle, Sam and Gabriel)
We need friends to be happy. (Ariella)
We need friends  to share snack. (Benny)
We need friends so we can learn from each other. (Morahs)

What can I teach my friend?
Leora said, she can teach Rochelle how to do a cartwheel.
Sam said, he can teach Ethan how to build a house.
Nicole said, she can teach Ariella hoe to share.
Dylan said, he can teach Ethan how to be kind.
Etelle said, she can teach Leora how to be quiet when a baby sleeps.
Rochell said, she can teach Dylan how to play volleyball.
Gabriel said, he can teach Rochelle how to play catch.
Eathan said, he can teach Benny how to build a house.
Eli said, he can teach Sam about tractors.
Benny said, he can teach Gabriel how to build house.

All About Me- My Birthday

This week, Pre-K friends discussed a very special topic - a special day in everyone's life- Happy Birthday! It is the time when we become one year older, more responsible and bigger. 

This time is special because we are getting a lot of attention and presents.  We eat a special cake and everyone tries to make us feel special! Our parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts, friends... call, congratulate, and gather together to celebrate this occasion.

In the class we read a book "Happy Birthday!" that taught us that there are many mitzvahs we can do on this day! Do you know which one? You are right! To be happy is a mitzvah! To eat yummmy cake and make a brocha is a mitzvah!

What else?

We can give extra tzedakah and decide to do something new or something better in honor of our birthday.

In class we made a special Pre-K School Year Book. This book is about friends and their Birthday wishes, and Happy Birthday cakes. We will try to make friends wishes come true and make the cakes they dream about. This book is not like any other because it has one empty page. It happened that for all season of fall, there are no Birthdays in Pre-K.... But it is ok. We just need to patiently wait till winter... and then... you just wait to see.
Friends learned a small Happy Birthday Rhyme.

Apples, Peaches, Pears and Plums,

Tell me when your Birthday comes

January, February, March, April,

May, June, July, August,September,

October, November, December? 

Pre-K Last Weekend News

The Weekend is a special time for families. Everyone is at home, we spend time together doing different things. On Monday, when friends came back to school, they were eager to share their weekend news! Here is for your attention the Last Weekend Pre-K News.
"This weekend, I became a Big Brother."( Dylan)
"This weekend, I cleaned up my room. My mom gave my sister a chip." (Benny)
"This weekend, my grandparents and my little brother were in my house. My parents went on a party. I wrote something nice to my parents." Ethan
"This weekend, I saw lots of houses and went to my house, and cleaned my toys, and helped my mom to bake mushrooms, and change my brother, and I got milk for him all by myself." (Etelle)
"This weekend, I went to jungle and played on the vine." (Rochelle)
"This weekend, I cleaned my room." (Gabriel)
"This weekend, I went apple picking." ( Leora)
"This weekend, I slept on a bunk bed, and I went to the deep water and I swam there, and I went on a snake that had a rope that held me up and I was floating." (Sam)
"This weekend, I went with my family to my mom's sister house to celebrate her Happy Birthday. We slept there." (Eli)

Letter Gimmel

This week our Mailman was our dear friend Eli. He brought the letter Gimmel. Gimmel has a little line on top,  a big line coming down, and a little slanted line coming down. 

Gomel chessed (doing kind deeds) begins with the letter gimmel too. Something interesting is that gimmel looks like its walking, so we decided it looks like it is going to do kind things for others.

Eli our Mailman

Sammy doing body yoga making letter Gimmel.

Giraffe in Hebrew is giraffa and begins with a gimmel.It also looks like the gimmel.

Parshas Noach

Topic: Hashem brings Mabul/flood.

Click here for more info on the Parsha:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/629070/jewish/Noach-Roundup.htm

Click here for a nice song on the Parsha:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/603210/jewish/Noach.htm

Parshas Beraishis

Topic: The creation of the world

For more info about the Parsha click link below:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/629069/jewish/Bereishit-Roundup.htm

For a nice song on the Parsha click link below:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/603206/jewish/Bereishit.htm

Parsha Introduction

ABOUT THE“PARSHA”

What is Parsha?

Learning the weekly Parsha is a time-honored Jewish tradition for thousands of years. What is Parsha?  Throughout the year, a new Parsha (portion) from the Torah is read and learned each week, so that over the course of a year, the entire Torah is studied. These portions record the lives of our forefathers in Israel, Egypt and while traveling through the desert. Learning about these events, we better understand the Mitzvot (Torah traditions), while instilling valuable lessons in our daily lives with morals, ethics and principles.

Every Friday, I will be introducing and teaching the weekly Parsha to our Pre-K “friends”, through props, storytelling and providing opportunities for the students to play some of the roles.

In addition, your child will receive homework on the Parsha at the end of each week. At the bottom of the homework sheet will be a brief summary as well as a few questions and fun multiple choice answers to be answered.

Remember, reviewing the Parsha information is a good way to spend quality time with your child. This homework is not intended as a test but rather as a way for your child to review and retain the information and lessons learned.

Options for reviewing the Parsha:

- At the Shabbos table

- On the couch with your child on your lap

- In bed before your child goes to sleep

For those parents who prefer to review the Parsha sheet at the Shabbos table, please refrain from filling in the questionnaire until after Shabbos.

By educating our children with Torah knowledge from a young age, we can be assured of the continuation of the Jewish Nation, since the children are our guarantors.

Enjoy!

Simchas Torah

The Jewish people traveled in the desert being protected by the clouds Hashem provided them with. He wanted to give them a gift- the Torah. The Jewish people graciously accepted this gift from Hashem. They were excited to learn from it and felt lucky to have it. 

The Torah was told to Moshe by Hashem and was later written down for us to have and remember for eternity. It is written down on parchment from a cow by a sofer/ scribe using ink and a feather. After is it finished,  a belt is put on holding it closed and then a coat is put on for respect for being so holy. It is then placed in an Aron Kodesh/ ark waiting to be taken out on the Torah days to be read from. :)

Every Monday, Thursday, and Shabbos we read the Parsha from the Torah in Shul. At the end of the year, the reading of the entire Torah is complete. We celebrate that by being joyous and happy while Daddys and older men dance with the Torah and children wave flags as they go around the bima/ podium in Shul on the Yom Tov/ holiday of Simchas Torah. Some children even get to go on their daddys shoulders as they dance around the bima. :)

It is a very happy, fun, and memorable yom tov. :)

 

  

Free Kosher Day on Sunday

For a free day out with your kids, come join the fun in Crown Heights.

If youll be coming in from Brighton Beach by train, hop on the B to Atlantic Station. Then catch the 3 train to Kingston Ave. Station. When you come up the stairs youll be standing in front of the Jewish Childrens Museum where all the action will be.

Click on the link below for more details of the event.

Free Kosher Day on Sunday

Have fun!! :)

PJ Party

Yes, Yes, a PJ Party in our classroom took place on Thursday. To tell you the truth...it was very very quiet party... at least we thought so... Friends could not believe it was so quiet. They were asking "when is actually party is going to start". Morah explained that there are different kinds of parties:) but only by one of them friends could wear PJs and do things that are relaxing. It was Pre-K PJ Party. Friends  put PJs on, special lights were on and friends listened to a story. 

All About Me- Neshama and Name

This week Pre-K friends started a very exciting unit "All About Me". The big idea of the unit is to help children to learn about their identify and pride.

Every Jewish child when he is born gets a very special gift from Hashem. When Morah asked friends what is it, they had different opinions...

Benny said, "It is a carriage."Nicole said, "It is milk." Eli said, " It is our body." Gabriel said, "It is a Torah" Etelle said, "It is swings." Ethan said, "It is a very special toy." Ethan was right saying that it is very special. That special thing is called Neshama. 

When Morah asked friends what is a Neshama, Rochelle said "that it is life", Eli said "it is our brain", Gabriel said "it is our heart." Friends were right saying that it is a part of us. Morah said that Neshama is a part of Hashem that is inside of each of us. It helps us to do right things. Our Neshama has a very special name- a Jewish Name. We usually get our names when we a little baby. Boys get their Jewish names by their bris when they are 8 days old. Girls get their names by Torah day- Monday, Thursday, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh or Yom Tov. Friends love their names and everyone wanted to know who they are named after.

 

This week we talked about Sammy, Dylan and Etelle. They were named after amazing people who were smart, kind and did a lot of mitzvas, they were loved by their families very much.  

E is for EMPANADAS

What is surprise friends had when they saw pictures of friends whose names start with the letter E. What a surprise! Eli, Etelle and Ethan names start with the letter of the week. These friends know the best how to write the letter. They said that is not the easiest one. To build it one needs one big line and THREE little lines. The letter E says /e/ like in words elephant, exit, elbow, elevator, eggs....

Friends practiced to write the letter E.

To celebrate the letter friends made EMPANADAS that are stuffed bread pastries found in Latin America or Spanish Cuisine. They can have different fillings: fruits, veggies. 

There is how to do them.

 

Make the dough.

We mixed 4 tbspoons of olive oil, 1 tbspoon of white vinegar, 1/2 cups of water, and 1/2 tspoon of salt together and mix it into 2 cups of flour ( for healthier option you can mix 1 cup white flour with 1 cup of whole wheat flour) Mix the dought until  soft and flexible, but not sticky. Put dough in fridge until it has cooled.

Once dough is cooled, roll out into circles or squares.

 

Fill with filling. Friends had three filling choices: chicken, cabbage, or pears.

We folded them over and creased with fork leaving nice rime on EMPANADAS.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until dough gets nice golden color.  

 

It was Excellent Emanadas!  

To review the letter E sound please go to http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-e/load.htm?f

To preteach the letter H sound please visit http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-h/load.htm?f