B”H

Dear Parents,

This week’s parsha (Torah portion) of Chayei Sarah held the children spellbound as they learned about the marriage of Yitzchok and Rivkah, two of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish Nation. They learned of the sad news that Sarah, Avraham’s wife, passed away and how Avraham found a good place to bury her, in Me’oras Hamachpeilah (lit. the cave of doubles) and how, at the end of the parsha, Avraham, too, passes away and is buried there next to her.  

Parsha + Alef Beis Recognition + Art

When Sarah passed away, three special signs left her tent but when her son Yitzchok married Rivkah, they returned: the cloud of Hashem hovered over the tent, her challah/bread stayed fresh an entire week and her Shabbos candles stayed lit an entire week. The Purple Room children made Shabbos candle lighting trays for their moms. They identified the Alef Beis letters and attached the words of the bracha to the trays. They incorporated George Seurat’s revolutionary style of Pointillism art to beautify the trays.

Parsha + Math + Fine Motor

Avraham entrusted his servant Eliezer to find the right wife for Yitzchok. Eliezer trusted in Hashem to help him find the right one and so he found a kind girl, Rivkah, who fed him and his 10 camels water after they had journeyed over the desert. This was no small feat since typically one camel drinks 53 gallons of water. She gave water to 10! But being kind and compassionate, Rivkah gave water for all 10 camels in addition to thirsty Eliezer. When Eliezer realized she would be a good wife for Yitzchok, he asked her if she would marry Yitzchok. Knowing of the caliber of person Yitzchok was, Rivkah joyfully accepted and Eliezer gave her much beautiful jewelry. The Purple Room friends used their fine motor skills to create beautiful and original jewelry for their moms to wear. They also explored patterning, a math skill, to complete  jewelry pattern math problems. 

Song: 

10 camels needed water (3x)

And Rivkah gave one a drink

9 camels needed water (3x)

And Rivkah gave one a drink

All the camels got water (3x)

Now Rivkah can relax!

While singing the song, the Purple Room children subtracted utilizing Cuisenaire rods.

They used one to one correspondence to match up the correct amount of camels to the numbered trough.

Middos (Character Traits)

Learning from Rivkah, the Purple Room is focusing on being kind to each other and using kind words to express themselves. They refer back to the large class sign in the Shatiach (Mat) Area which reminds them to have Ahavas Yisroel (Loving one another) for each other.

Giving Thanks

The thanksgiving project has been well under way in the Purple Room and the Purple Room children have been creating something special which will hold only a few of their many sentiments of thanksgiving to Hashem.

Homework

The Pre K Purple Room children will begin to receive their eagerly awaited (!!) homework every Monday. The assigned homework may be reviewed every day or as many days as the parent’s schedule permits. The Pre K homework folders are to be returned every Monday to be changed.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 5th Birthday to Roni Van Horn whose birthday was celebrated in class this week. Her Purple Room friends created a most loving birthday card for her. Much continued nachas to her parents and grandparents!

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Morah Perline & Morah Chaya

Dear Parents,

The Parsha this week mentions a Mitzva the Purple Room is rather expert in: Hachnosas Orchim – Welcoming Guests. Avraham and Sarah, our Patriarch and Matriarch, set the bar for welcoming guests which they did with so much joy and enthusiasm. The Purple Room children surely follow in their footsteps as they welcome the many guests that tour our school. But this week they positively outshone themselves as they stirred and squeezed refreshing drinks for their parents. Showing their parents/grandparents to rest their weary feet and sitting in a [comfortable] chair, they then offered them a choice of freshly squeezed orange juice and/or chilled ice tea.

Song:

https://www.chabad.org/519428

From North to South, from East to West
Avrohom’s tent was open to guests
Three malochim were sent
Each to do something different

A son you will have, Sarah was told
She laughed and said, "I’m too old,"
The next malach (angel) came to destroy S’dom
The third came to heal Avrohom

Chorus:

Avrohom ran to the malochim
To be machnis orchim (welcome guests)

Song:

Hachnosas Orchim – it means inviting guests

Hachnosas Orchim – It’s friendship at its best

Hachnosas Orchim – Invite a friend or two

Hachnosas Orchim – It the thing to do.

Discussion:

Have you ever had guests? What were some of the ways you can be helpful and welcoming to a guest?

Alice: Ask if they want a hug when they come in and out of the house. Also show them where the toys are and where the upstairs is and where the bathroom is. 

Ari: we could show them the bathroom if they need to go potty. We can also invite them to play with us. 

Mason: We had guests when I was four. So I don’t remember who it was. Run up to them and ask them if they want food. Like Avraham and Sarah did!

Roni: We had a lot of guests and I ask them if they want a hug from one of the kids. When my cousins came I asked them if they want to see upstairs. 

Zoe: I give them a blanket and sit next to them and also give them snacks and water. 

Hammond: If I see my Nana in my house I run over to her and give her a huge hug.

Literacy

The Pre K group is practicing the following sight words, a few at a time. The Kindergarten group is practicing all of them. 

the, to, and, a, I, you, it, in, said, go, my, we, up

The Pre K class is concentrating on recognizing the starting sounds of words phonetically. For ex: eh – eh – eh – elephant

The Kindergarten group is spelling words with the moveable alphabet followed by writing the words. 

Math

The class measured the trays they used for serving drinks to their parents using the Cuisenaire rods.

The children prepared playdo ‘food’ for guests and counted the items, focusing on naming a number at the same time that they pointed to the item.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Morah Perline

Morah Chaya

Dear Parents,

MATH

Counting was featured very often this week. The Purple Room Friends tried to count the stars projected onto the wall but found it an impossible task. They learned that the bracha Avraham was given by Hashem was that he would have descendants numbering as many as the stars in the sky and the sand by the sea. That’s a lot! They collected scattered ‘stars’ from all over the classroom. After collecting them, they counted them into piles of 10 and then counted in tens to see how many they had collected. While on the topic of stars the children read about planets and other wonders of our universe.

The Cuisenaire math rods were used to create pictures and then identify the numbers associated with the rods they used.

ART

The Art discussion this week centered on Georges Seurat, an important French artist who originated the Pointillist method, using little dots to create a picture. The Purple Room children will be utilizing this method in the month of November.

While learning about the Parsha the children heard that Avram was told by Hashem to leave his birthplace and go to the land Hashem would show him. This would be the land that Hashem would give to Avraham and his descendants: Eretz Yisrael. The children explored different ways of traveling, some by foot, by camel, by car, by plane etc.  and created ‘car art’ with car tires and created their own paper airplanes.

LITERACY

Utilizing the Waseca Literacy program the Kindergarten children are able to independently spell CVC (Consonant Vowel Consonant) words and check their own work too. They then practice writing the words. The Pre K children are sounding out the letters and finding the matching letters. Pre K has been focusing on ‘a’ words such as bat, fan. The Kindergarten children have been focusing on ‘a’, ‘i’ and ‘u’ words.

Parsha Song:

https://www.chabad.org/528140

When Avrom was a small boy of three
He looked at the stars and the sea
He thought the Creator was in the sky
The sun or the moon so high

But after each one in its time did set
He knew there was someone greater yet
Then he understood, and was filled with love
He knew Hashem Echad was above

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

Morah Chaya

Dear Parents,

The Purple Room Pre K and Kindergarten children were so excited for all the Jewish holidays and are settling well into the new routine with outdoor play in the later part of the morning and an earlier snack time.

Last week they learned about the creation of the world and the children asked such insightful questions. They learned what Hashem created on each of the 6 days of creation and made a Creation Wheel which they took home so they can remember on which days Hashem made what.

Jemma: Why did Hashem make this world? 

That is such a deep question and it deserved a deep answer: Hashem created this world to make a home for Himself in this world. The rest of the class volunteered that when we do Mitzvos (good deeds), it makes this world into a home for Hashem.

One of the points of discussion was responsibility. When Hashem asked Adam and Chava (Eve) why they ate from the tree that they were told not to [in the Garden of Eden], each blamed someone else. A discussion grew from this regarding ‘responsibility’. It became a hot topic to the point that when two Purple Room children had a disagreement they actually applied this lesson and didn’t pass on blame to others. Instead each took responsibility for their actions, apologized and made friends.

The Purple Room friends had fun seeing if they could find light in darkness. They colored a page in yellow, then painted it over in black. After it was dried they etched letters out of the black paint. Voila! The word  בראשית (Bereishis – lit. in the beginning) appeared in light letters out of the ‘darkness’! Combining art with Hebrew literacy and Parsha (the Torah portion of the week) was a fun exploration. 

This week the Purple Room learned about Noach and the people who lived in his time. Unfortunately, they made the wrong choices and chose to be mean to each other. Hashem warned them through Noach to mend their ways but they refused to listen. Noach repeatedly warned the people over the 20 year span of time it took him to build a ‘teiva’ (ark/ship) but they didn’t care. 

This was an ideal opportunity to play Sink or Float activities and create a three level ‘teiva’ out of sticks and pegs. The children created ‘rain’ with paint. Ask them to show you how they made the rain ‘appear’.

Parsha Song:

https://www.chabad.org/519239

The people watched Noach while he hammered away
He worked on the teiva (ark/ship) night and day
Hashem told him to do it, so people would ask
"What are you building? It’s a hard task."

Noach explained that teshuvah you must do
There are many not good things around us, it’s true
Hashem wants to destroy the world in which we live
Only through teshuvah, will Hashem forgive

The people didn’t listen, they did not understand
Then down came the rain throughout the land
Forty days and nights the flood came down
But Noach and his family did not drown!

ART

This week the Purple Room explored the art of Piet Mondrian, a Dutch artist. His art was distinctive in that he would create boxes on a canvas and only use the primary colors, red, blue and yellow, to fill in the boxes or shapes. The Purple Room Whizzes integrated literacy into their own Piet Mondrian art by incorporating their favorite Sight words into their work. Check the Bulletin Board and be wowed. 

MATH

The children are utilizing the Cuisenaire rods. Some groups have been working on activities that help them remember the number definition of the rods from 1 – 10 while other groups were searching for the rods to represent numbers between 10 and 20.

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbat! See you next week! Morah Perline & Morah Chaya