Pesach Wishes

Dear Parents,

We would like to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Pesach. We hope you are all doing fine and enjoying this holiday.

Heres for some Pesach humor:

A Jew took his Passover lunch to eat outside in the park. He sat down on a bench and began eating. Shortly thereafter a blind man came by and sat down next to him.

Feeling neighborly, the Jew offered a piece of matzoh to the blind man.

The blind man ran his fingers over the matzoh for a minute, and exclaimed, "Who wrote this? This is a wonderful story."

Pesach What's, How To's, and Extras

                              

Cleaning our cubbies for Pesach and making them crumb free.

When the Yom Tov of Pesach comes around it becomes a bread free zone.

Anything made of any kinds of wheat or grains such as barley, rye, oats, and wheat gets thrown out or closed up in an off limits closet... until the 8 days of Pesach is over. 

Throwing the 10 peices of bread plus chometz crumbs into the "fire"

The friends hard at work rolling and baking their mazta quickly so it whould be ready within 18 minutes; kosher for Pesach.

Matza is a hard "cracker" that we eat on Pesach to remember what the Jewish people carried out with them from Mitzrayim. Yes, they carried dough on their shoulders being that they didn't have enough time for the dough to rise and bake before their mass exodus from Egypt. Instead, they rolled the dough into flat round crackers and baked on their way under the hot desert sun.

When we eat matza, we also think of how we can better our selves in being humble. Matza is flat and it reminds us to be humble, unlike bread that puffs up and rises like haughtiness.

Getting ready for the seder, washing and checking the lettuce.

Grating the bitter Maror for the Seder.

Wow! Sam and some other friends really showed their braveness at this time!!

Friends practicing the 14 steps of the Seder at our Model Seder.

Ethan and Eli leaning while drinking the one of the four cups of grape juice symbolizing we are free people.

Gabriel holding up the seder plate while Benny gets the middle matza from underneath and  ready to break it in two.

 

Eli munching on the Korach sandwich made up of matza, lettuce, marror, and charoses.

Happy Pesach!

Pesach Story II

Pharoah did not let the Jewish people leave Mitzrayim to serve Hashem, instead he wanted them to serve him. But, Hashem had other plans. He wanted the Jewish people to serve Him and do so outside of Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim was full of idols and idol worshippers and it wasn't a good place to serve Hashem there. Now, Pharoah did not allow it to happen. He wouldnt let the Jewish people leave. Hashem told Moshe to warn Phaoroah that if he wont let the Jews go, Hashem will bring upon him and all the mitzriyim 10 harsh makos/plagues. No fun!!

Blood. 

Frogs. 

Lice. 

Wild animals. Cattle disease. Boils. Hail. Grasshoppers. Darkness. (Dead) Sick Firstborn Children.

Hashem gave Pharoah and all the  Mitzriyim a chance to do teshuva in between every makka and let the Jews go. But they didn't take Hashem up on His kindness, instead they kept making the Jewish people work harder than before. So Hashem kept bringing more makos until the 10th one (death of the firstborn) where King Pharoah finally felt its fear nipping at him.He was afraid of (dying) getting sick because he was actually the first born child in his family. Boy oh boy! He was so afraid, he jumped out of bed in middle of the night running around town looking for Moshe in his Pajamas. Finally, when he found Moshe, he begged him to leave Mitzrayim immediately with all the Jewish people and everything they owned. Moshe was pleased to hear this, but he told Pharoah that the Jewish people will be leaving the  next day. Moshe wanted to leave in broad daylight when everyone could see that Hashem was watching over them and that the Jews were finally leaving a place almost impossible to leave.

The Jewish People leaving Mitzrayim

After three days of the Jewish people traveling out of Mitzrayim in the desert, King Pharoah started to get nervous. He could not believe he allowed such good workers such as the Jews to leave.They were honest and hardworking people and did as Pharoah said. He got his army together and ran after the Jews to bring them back. When the Jewish people saw they were being chased, they  feared this would be the end of what they believed to be the beginning of a good life.They tried to come up with a plan but there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. To their right and left were mountains which they couldn't easily get up with children and baggage.Behind them were the Mitzryim and in front of them was a big blue sea, the Yam Suf.

Moshe comforted them saying they had nothing to worry about, Hashem will not abandon them. They trusted Moshe and Hashem and kept walking. When they got to the Yam Suf, Nachshon the son of Aminodov, jumped in first, when the water was up to his neck, Moshe held up his walking stick and raised his hands to the heavens  Hashem created the most incredible miracle of all time. He did something special for the Jewish people that could not usually happen. He split the sea into two halves so the Jews were able to walk through on dry land. And so, that is exactly what they did until they got to safety at the other side of the sea. When the Mitzriyim  tried to walk into the water behind the Jews , Hashem closed the pathways and they got stuck in the water and never made it to the other side.

The Jewish people danced, sang, and praised Hashem for all the wonderful things He has done for them. :)

Thank You Katz Family

Thank you to the Katz Family for generously giving $15 to our class to buy books for our Pre-K library.

We happily bought a book on Pesach titled, "On This Night," which we enjoyed very much. 

Rochelle's Birthday

We would like to wish Rochelle lots of good wishes on her birthday that we celebrated together.

You should continue to be the happy, friendly, and smart girl that you are and may you continue to make your parents proud of you.

With love,

Your Morahs and Friends

Letter Fay

Etelle brought us Letter Fay that we would be learning during the week. 

Fay has a big line on top, big line coming down, big line on the bottom,then you jump back up and make a little line coming down, and a little line in the middle. The fay gets no dot. Also, dont forget the peel-elephant ate the peanut he's been looking for when he was letter Pay. :)

Etelle holding letter Fay

There is no Hebrew word beginning with the letter Fay. 

We cut up milafafonim- cucumbers that we love a lot for our Shabbos Party.

For moreinfoon the Parsha click below:

http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/vayikra/vayikra2.htm

For a beautiful song on the Parsha that we are learning in Pre-K click below:

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/573741/jewish/Parshah-Song.htm

Mazel Tov Sammy!

Sammy became the big brother to a beautiful baby girl.
We wish the Shafir family a warm Mazel Tov from the Pre-K Friends and Morahs.
We are so happy for you!
May you always have lots of nachas and happiness from you children.

Ethan is congratulating Sammy and wishing him well on his new job as big brother. Take it from the pros. :)

Good luck Sammy. :)

Leora's Birthday

We would like to wish Leora and her family Mazel Tov on the occasion of her 5th birthday.

May you continue to be as kind, warm, and happy as you are and keep loving to learn and wonder about the world around you.

With love, 

From your Morah's and Friends

Pre-K Exploration

Hot air balloon, a high bridge and a child pose... there are so much we can do with our bodies. 

As a reward for hard work, friends get chance to be rolled into "sushi" roll or

folded into layers of "sandwich".As our thank you to you , dear parents, we invite you to a free yoga session with Pre-K friends any day you will.

Exploring the properties of paint, led friends to creation of master pieces and a gallery.

This week we learned

Pre-K friends learned the letter K.  To everyone's interest, friends learned that Dylan's, Sam's and Leora's last names start with the letter K, Rochelle's grandmother name starts with the letter K as well- Kira.

 To make the letter, one needs one big line and two little lines. A big line goes down, a little line "hit" the wall and goes all the way to the floor. Friends practiced to write letter K using KETCHUP:) Yum!
To review the letter K sound and preview the letter A sound, please visit www.starfall.com 

Pre-K friends are learning what is Rhyming. They learned that rhyming words are words that have the same ending sounds. Examples of rhyming words are cat, hat, bat, mat, fat and rat. Friends played the Rhyming game and used their rhyming words to make up stories. We are going to continue practicing rhyming. 

Mazel Tov! Friends finished their Math Books- Numbers and Shapes! We will never stop reviewing numbers and shapes. It is in our daily routine! 

Pesach Story I

When the Jewish people moved to Mitzrayim (Eygpt) from Israel, they got along well with the Eygptians and were well respected. At the same time, Hashem gave the Jews a most wonderful and incredible gift of giving birth to 6 babies simultaneously.  

Suddenly, King Pharaoh, his ministers, and advisers were afraid that the Jewish population would get so large to the point that they will create their very own army and eventually take over all of Mitzrayim. As a result, they planned to make the Jewish people work super hard which would  stop them from having more children by weakening them.

One day King Pharaoh's stargazer announced that a baby boy would be born who would free all the Jews from Mitzrayim when he would  grow up. Pharaoh was scared that would come true so he decreed that all baby boys, regardless if Jew or Mitzri, must not be kept by his parents, but rather be put into the Nile River.

A woman named Yocheved and her husband Amram realized she would soon have a baby as day by day, they watched her stomach get bigger. Seven months later, Yocheved gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who lit up the entire house when he was born. Their home was filled with so much brightness and Yocheved didn't even to turn on a light. Yocheved realized her  newborn baby son was very special and promised him that she would take care of him and make sure he would be safe.

Yocheved knew that at any time the Mitzriyim would come to her house looking for her baby which they knew she was expecting. Being the smart and caring mother that she was, Yocheved took a wooden basket, covered the outside with tar to keep water from seeping in, bundled her baby in a blanket, and placed her baby boy into the basket in the Nile River. Her daughter Miriam came along as well and stayed behind tall grass to make sure her baby brother would be okay.

A short while later, Princess Basya, King Pharaoh's daughter,  went to bathe in the river. At the water's edge, she heard a baby crying while floating along in a basket. She asked her servants to get the baby but they were too afraid of King Pharoah. They were afraid of King Pharoah if they saved a baby boy and let him live. So the Princess decided she would save the baby on her own and stretched out her arm to reach the baby. Hashem made an amazing miracle and Princess Basya's arm grew so long until she was able to reach the child. When Basya brought the baby close to her, she decided to name him Moshe. Basya raised the baby as her own in the palace. Surprisingly enough King Pharaoh allowed Basya to keep baby Moshe and even liked him too.

When Moshe grew up, Hashem told him to speak with Pharaoh to let the Jewish people leave Mitzrayim. He was making them suffer and work too hard. Moshe did go speak with Pharaoh but he refused to listen. Hashem then told Moshe to tell Pharaoh to let the Jews go otherwise Hashem would bring 10 makos (plagues) onto all the Mitzriyim which would be painful and unpleasant. But Pharaoh didn't believe Moshe and refused to let the Jews go. Instead, he  made the Jews work harder than before.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story...

Parshas Vayakhel and Pekudei

For more info on the Pasrha click link below
-Vayakhel- http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/shmos/vayakel2.htm

- Pikudei- http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/shmos/pekudei2.htm

Letter Pay

Our friend Leora Pesha brought in for us letter Pay. Pay may not look super simple to make but follow these rules and you'll be on your way to forming letter Pay. Here we go, form letter Chof, make one big line on top, one big line coming down, one big line on the bottom. Now, jump back up and make a "nose", make one little line coming down, and one little line in the middle, and lastly, make a dot and you're done.

How do you say elephant in Hebrew?

Peel. 

This peel is looking for a peanut to eat. When he will find it and bring it up to his mouth, his trunk will look like the letter he begins with; letter Pay.

Our Mail Carrier this week has a Pay at the beginning of her second name- Pesha



Perachim- flowers begins with letter Pay.
We made perachim out of egg cartons for our Shabbos Party to decorate our table.

Letter Ayin

This past week we learned the letter Ayin. Ayin has one big line coming down, one big line on the bottom, and jump back up to make another big line coming down.

Our little hint to remember the form of letter Ayin: Ayin has two aynayim - eyes coming down and a mouth on the bottom.

Our dear friend Etelle begins with the letter Ayin

Letter Samach

Sam delivered us the Letter Samach. It has one big curve going down and one big curve coming up. As a hint to remember its form we call it, "Simple Circle Samach".

Samach looks like a round seder plate we use on Pesach

Sam our Mailman 

Ariella is studiously forming letter Samach

Winter Happy Birthdays!

Once again we would like to say Happy Birthday to all our Winter friends-
Sammy, Dylan, Etelle, Eli, Leora and Ethan! May you be healthy and happy!
We love you,
Morahs and Pre-K friends
P.S. Now it is time for Spring friends.

Literacy Month

Thank you to all our Parents who made Pre-K Literacy Month a big hit!

Dear Parents, you are doing a great job! Don't stop reading:)