The Kindergarten Writers have been working on their Machzor for Rosh Hashana this week. They are taking this time in the Jewish month of Elul to reflect on their year and make resolutions for the new year. They entered their personal thoughts on this in their machzor and ask Hashem to help them achieve success. Jonah resolved to help his friends clean.

Mr. Guitar (aka Mrs. Perline’s guitar) has taken up permanent residence in the classroom and now makes a regular appearance with the Kindergarten Singers. This week, Mr. Guitar was led in song by Nosson when he brought in an old favorite, ‘Darkecho’. The Singers have been learning many Rosh Hashana songs and, with the help of Mr. Guitar,  been practicing differentiating between the different blasts the Shofar makes.

Thank you to Mrs. Lvov, Ben’s and Shimmy’s mother, for bringing in a different type of shofar for the children to explore. Mrs. Lvov explained that this very long shofar is a Yemenite shofar and it comes from Israel. The children felt the heaviness of the shofar and were amazed that the ram could carry two such heavy ‘horns’ on its head. After exploring the shofar the Kindergarteners noticed a few differences between the shofars:

Vella: soft and hard, Jonah: different,

Nosson: tough and smooth,

Ben: smooth and hard,

Shimmy: more soft and bumpy.

The children were very impressed when Mrs. Lvov actually, and expertly, blew the shofar!

Hygiene: The children know to scrub their hands with soap and count out the required 20 seconds. Shimmy would rather sing one of his favorite songs, ‘Hashem gave us a present’, instead of counting and, after timing the song, found that it takes exactly 20 seconds to sing it!

It was exciting for the Kindergarteners to learn in this week’s Parsha about the 7 Kinds Israel is famous for. They had fun searching the classroom for the 7 Kinds and then leading a ‘procession’ to ‘Yerushalayim’ to bring their first fruits (Bikurim) to Hashem. Vella was the first to notice all the red strings around the room and wondered why they were there. Ask your Kindergartener for the explanation.

Please refer to the CJP Facebook group for a pictorial display of some of this week’s learning.

Wishing you and your family a Ketiva V’chatima Tova, L’shana Tova U’metuka – may you be written and sealed for a sweet new year!

Morah Perline

In preparation for Rosh Hashana , the Kindergarten Kids have been reflecting on this past year. They are thinking about all the mitzvos they have already done and are making resolutions for the new year. Creating self-portraits (see Purple Room’s bulletin board in the hallway) was one step in reflection. Painting self-portraits can be tricky. Getting the right size canvas was challenging for some: Ben was only able to paint his right eye; that’s all he had space for.

This week’s parsha was chockfull of mitzvos and the Kindergarten Kids learned a few. Ask him/her!
Hashovas Aveida (returning lost things)
Shiluach hakan (sending away the mother bird)
Building a ma’akeh (a fence)

Please look in your child's backpack for his/her parsha sheet!

The Kindergarten Kids integrated Alef Beis Literacy, Outdoor Play and Parsha to explore the mitzva of Hashovas Aveida. Morah Perline ‘somehow’ lost a whole bunch of Alef Beis letters in the playground at Outdoor Play but the Purple Kindergarten Friends did the mitzvah of returning lost things and returned all the lettes to Morah. Jonah was ace at finding all the lost letter ‘Hey’s’.

The Kindergarten Kids played ‘Baby Bird, Baby Bird, Mother!’ (variation of Duck, Duck, Goose) to better understand how to be kind to animals and chase away the mother bird if, for some reason, you may need to get the baby birds. They know not to make the mother bird feel sad. Nosson was a super fast runner and was able to run to his spot without being caught!

Safety is so important and the Wise Kindergarten Parsha Experts know what is and isn’t safe. Vella is able to explain to you what makes a swimming pool safe: build a ‘ma’akeh’ (fence) around it. Shimmy can show you how to make a roof on a house safe and all the children know that medicines must be kept safely out of reach of children.

In relation to safety, the children learned about hygiene, too. They know the proper procedure for washing hands. They know to scrub their hands while they count to 20, reinforcing counting all those ‘teen’ numbers without missing one! Ben was very helpful and acted out each step in pictures which are affixed to the wall near the sink. Come see.

The Kindergarten Bakers made the challa dough again for the entire Preschool. Let them know how the challa comes out this Shabbat! Enjoy!

Please see the CJP Facebook page for comprehensive pictures of this week’s Kindergarten learning activities.

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Perline

The first week for Kindergarten in the Purple Room at CPJ was exciting. The children are happy and excited and collaborate together in learning and play.

Taking advantage of the cooler weather in the morning for Water Play, the children naturally gravitated to the muddiest area and gleefully sat in the mud, reveling in the cool, smooth feel of the wet soil. At first, Jonah didn’t want to sit in the mud and get ‘dirty’ but he was so brave and tried it anyway. He sat in it, swished his legs in the mud and explored the feeling. Jonah shows courage in trying new things. The children have been excavating and digging in the soil as the water trickles down the hill into their area. Their construction area has turned into an ocean, according to Nosson, or a summer rain area, according to Ben, depending on who you ask. Vella dished out the mud into a tray while Jonah brought her fresh water from up the hill. “It’s from the sprinkler,” he said. Shimmy dug a very deep hole using his excavation tool, a spade. It is wonderful to see the children embracing this fantastic sensory experience.

Kindergarten explored the Parsha of the week, Shoftim (Judges), which teaches about the responsibility of the Jewish People to create courts of law, have a Jewish King and not wasting things. The children learned about the different levels of courts: one with 3 judges, the higher court with 23 judges and the highest court, Sanhedrin, with 70 judges and one Nasi (president). Each court has an odd number of judges in case they need to make a ‘majority’ vote. The children learned what this means by experimenting with different scenarios and voting to see what the ‘majority’ voted on. Counting the votes, they determined which option had more and which votes had less.

The Kindergarten Friends created their own crowns and know that a Jewish King always carried a Sefer Torah with him wherever he went. (Not a smartphone! ☺) He also kept a second Torah in his treasury. Some children decided to cut triangles and some chose to cut semicircles for the crown. They decided how to decorate their crowns and later sized them for their friends.

Reviewing their knowledge of Alef Beis, the Kindergarten Whizzes tested their memory through touch while blindfolded. It was a fun experience to ‘see’ the Alef through touch as well as seeing it later when the blindfold was off.

The Kindergarten, being the highest grade in the land, nay, the Preschool, made dough so that all the classes could make challah for Shabbos. Thank you, Kindergarten!

Being responsible is a serious business in the Purple Room and the children happily fulfill their tasks eagerly. This week Ben was the Bus Boy, Jonah the Custodian, Nosson the Room Inspector, Shimmy was the Light Switch Helper and Vella the Door Holder. Each child had an additional job as well and they carried them out very responsibly. What ‘Mentchen’!

Please see the private CJP Family Facebook Group for more pictures of our week!

Have a wonderful Shabbos!
Morah (Shternie) Perline