Dear Kindergarten Parents of the Purple Room,

Happy Birthday to Jonah!!

Kindergarten celebrated the 5th birthday of Jonah this week with a special CJP Birthday program party. The Kindergarten class is such a caring group of children: they were so happy to share this wonderful occasion with Jonah. Jonah, may Hashem bless you with much happiness and continued joy in learning. May your parents continue to have much nachas from you!

Kriyah -  Hebrew Reading

Kindergarten concentrated on Tzeireh (vowel sound ‘ay’) combined with Alef Beis letters this week. Every week there are words posted around the room that relate to the Parsha. This week, the children helped Morah spell the words. Even though they are not yet expert with all of the nekudos (vowel sounds), the children figured out how to tell Morah which nekudos should go under which letters.

Parsha

Some words Kindergarten learned this week were Vayechi (and he lived),  chai (alive), and bracha (blessing).

Parsha Song:

https://www.chabad.org/519469

To Ephraim and Menasheh, this bracha, Yaakov gave
"May the malach (angel) watch over you, for me he did save
In the name of my fathers, Avrohom and Yitzchak, too
May Hashem’s bracha, forever be with you

Hamalach hagoel osi mikol ra
Y’vorech es han’orim, vikorei bahem sh’mee
V’sheim avosai, Avrohom v’Yitzchok
V’yidgu larov b’kerev haaretz

The children learned that when Yaakov blessed his grandsons he crossed his hands so that his right hand lay on Efraim’s head and his left hand on Menashe’s head, even though Menashe was the elder and seemingly should have received the blessing for an elder son. The Kindergarten created a craft, tracing their right and left hand that they can move onto the pictures they drew of either Efraim or Menashe.

In honor of this week’s Parsha, the Kindergarten created their own ‘Sons of Yaakov’ box. Inside the box the children wrote each of the 12 sons’ names accompanied with a tile picture depicting the bracha they received from their father Yaakov. The children figured out the spelling of all the names.

Parsha Song:

Sons of Yaakov

(TTTO: One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians)

Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda

Yissachar, Zevulun, Dan, Naftoli

Gad, Asher, Yosef, Binyamin

These are the sons of Yaakov.

Parsha Discussions:

In this week’s Parsha, Yaakov blesses his 12 sons before he passes away. Do you know someone whose father blessed them? What does it mean 'to bless' someone?

Nosson: My Tatty gives me a bracha on Yom Kippur but he doesn’t do on Fridays. He puts his hands on my head. It’s oldest to youngest so I’m always the last. Then he says something. He does it in Hebrew.

Shimmy: My Mommy and Poppa give me a bracha. It’s first my Mommy and then my Poppa but sometimes it’s both at the same time. Then she says words in Hebrew. I feel good.

Ben: But she only does it on Shabbos.

Yosef didn't invite his brothers to palace because he felt uncomfortable sitting at the head of the table. Imagine you became royalty. How would you behave if you were king or queen?

Shimmy: I would act good.

Ben: I would let everyone into my house, my palace. They can eat cookies. They could eat what they want.

Nosson: I would be nice to people. I would invite them for a meal. I would invite my brothers and sisters and people I know.

Vella: I would invite people over. I would give them only food. (What if they want something else?) I would throw them out.

Nosson: Or you could ask your servants to throw them out.

Please see the CJP Facebook page for pictures of the above and more!

Have a wonderful break. We can’t wait to see the children back at CJP on Wednesday, January 2, 2019.

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

We continued with our winter theme this week.

Our math this week focused on reviewing place value. We are working to understand how to deconstruct a double-digit number into tens place and ones place. I think we are starting to get the hang of it! We also practiced adding using our ten frames.

We reviewed nouns, verbs and adjectives. Our new lesson in reading was sequencing. We practiced sequencing this week by writing and illustrating building a snowman.  This week we were creating words from the word “ice skating”. The kids are getting really good at this! We started a new task that the kids loved where they have to identify absurdities. I make statements and they have to decide if it is true or absurd.

I’m so sorry I missed conferences. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. I hope everyone enjoys the break!

Good Shabbos!

Morah Kristina

B”H

Dear Kindergarten Parents of the Purple Room,

Kriyah -  Hebrew Reading

Kindergarten got to meet all of the Nekudos (vowel sounds) this week. They are hanging proudly in the classroom. They learned their names and the sounds they make when they are under or beside the Alef Beis letters. They learned the deeper reason of the Nekudos. For example they know that the Segol which has three dots stands for Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov because they are the Patriarchs of the Am Segula, the Chosen Nation that Hashem chose.

Kriyah was fun using gems or marbles to create Nekudos in slime that the children made.

Another highlight was the planting of many vegetables and herbs with the help of Nina the Planting Expert. The Kindergarten wrote out the labels for every item, tilled the soil, planted the seeds and watered the new plants. They eagerly await the sprouting which should begin this Monday.

Parsha

Some words Kindergarten learned this week were kinor (harp) and chai (alive).

Parsha Song:
https://www.chabad.org/608047

Yehudah said to Yosef, "I’m stronger it is so.
Please take me for a slave, and let Benyamin go."
The brothers knew what they had done to Yosef was wrong
Yosef sent his servants out, and in a voice so strong, said:

Chorus: "I am Yosef, is my father still alive?
Ani Yosef, haod avi chai?"

"Don’t be afraid," the brothers were told
"It was Hashem’s will that I was sold
Go and tell our father, to Hashem I am true
Take food and wagons, but bring Yaakov back with you."

Chorus:

Serach played on her kinor (harp), ‘Yosef is alive’
Yaakov was so happy when the wagons did arrive
When Yaakov saw Yosef after so many years
They hugged one another and cried happy tears
Chorus: ‘‘I am Yosef, my father is alive."
‘‘I am Yosef, my father is alive."

Parsha Discussions:

Yaakov had waited so long to see his son, but he was saying Shema and did not stop to hug him. What are your thoughts on this?

Nosson: He should finish Shema because Hashem is much much specialer than Yosef. When Moshiach comes we can ask Yaakov why he did that. Maybe he won’t remember because it was a long time ago.

Yosef was separated from his family for 22 years. How do you feel when you are separated from your family? Have you ever been separated from a loved one for a long time? How does it feel to see them again?

Vella: I would miss my family a lot. My Gigi. I saw her when I was a baby. She’s in Memphis. She lives there.

Nosson: Both of my Bubbys live in New York. One of them lives in Monsey somewhere. That’s my Grand Bubby. I never even saw my Bubby Edelman’s house.

Jonah: My grandpa died. But my dad is alive.

Shimmy: My Babushka and Dadushka, they live in a traffic place.

Please see the CJP Facebook page for pictures of the above and more!

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Perline

This week our winter theme was hot chocolate. We used the letters in the words “hot chocolate” to practice forming our own words. We started with 3 words and by the end of the week we were making 8 words. It was a challenge, but everyone did a great job! We continued focusing on adjectives and poems.

We also started two new daily practices. One is our word of the day. We are introduced to a new vocabulary word and try to figure out what it means, if it is an adjective, noun or verb and how to use it in a sentence. The second is our math word problem of the day. We listen to a short paragraph and try to solve the math problem without any paper. We are doing amazing at this task!

Our math focused on adding plus 1 and making ten. We used cotton balls as marshmallows to practice our one to one correspondence and counting when adding.

Our new lesson in reading was sequencing. We practiced sequencing by talking about how to make hot chocolate.  We also learned how words like first, next, last and finally can help when writing about sequencing.

I’m looking forward to seeing you at conferences!

Morah Kristina

B”H

Dear Kindergarten Parents of the Purple Room,

Chanukah rocked in Kindergarten this week. The children were greeted each morning with lively music many felt the urge to dance to. There were spinning dreidel kids, hopping Menorah kids, all kinds of dancing expressing their joy in Chanukah. The joyous music followed them into the playground for Chanukah Outdoor Play!

The Kindergarten learned a lesson from the Hebrew word ‘Chanukah’ and how there is a hint therein as to the date of Chanukah. The Hebrew word Chanukah consists of two words: ‘chonu’ – they rested, followed by the Alef Beis letters ‘chof’ and ‘hey’ which have the Gematria (numerical value) of 25. The Jewish people rested from the oppression of the Greeks on the 25th of Kislev, which is the first day of Chanukah!  Kindergarten participated in many Gematria activities this week, learning the Gematria of all the Alef Beis letters. They integrated addition, too, utilizing Alef Beis letters and numbers.

Some Hebrew words Kindergarten learned this week were Nissim (miracles), neiros (candles)  and Maccabee.

Lots of cooking and following recipes occurred this week. The Kindergarten made their own donuts and enjoyed putting on toppings of their choice and enjoying them for morning snack. The Kindergarten also made the challah dough for the entire CJP. They are becoming quite adept at following recipes and counting, measuring, collaborating and taking turns.

Remembering their families, the Kindergarten created dreidel signs for their homes and presented it with Chanukah dreidel pop up cards to their families for Shabbat.

Song: Antiochus the Wicked King

(TTTO: Adon Olam)

Antiochus the wicked king

Did to the Jews a terrible thing

He made the holy Beis Hamikdosh unclean

And besides, he was so mean!

“That’s not fair” the Maccabees did say

And with Hashem’s help they chased Antiochus away

They found some shemen, it was a sight

Hashem made it burn for 8 days and nights.

Parsha

Even though there are so many exciting Jewish Holiday activities, the Kindergarten is keeping up to date with the Parsha of the week, this week being Parshat Mikeitz. They are presently in suspense as they wait for next week’s Parsha (Vayigash) to see if Yosef will disclose his true identity to his brothers.

Parsha Song:

https://www.chabad.org/608044

One night Paraoh had a dream
"What can it be," he did scream.
He saw seven cows all well fed
‘Then seven thin ones’, Paraoh said.

The fat cows were eaten by the lean
Paraoh thought ‘what can this mean?’
Later that night, another dream he had
He dreamed of grain, some good and bad

Yosef was taken out of jail
To explain the dreams he didn’t fail
Now Paraoh knew the meaning
Of what he was dreaming

For seven years, food you must store
Hunger will be for seven years more
Paraoh listened to everything
Then he gave Yosef his ring

Please see the CJP Facebook page for pictures of the above and more!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah!

Morah Perline

Our week started by making paintings with oil and watercolors. They turned out beautiful! This is one of my favorite art projects. We practiced making drops, not puddles and used this an opportunity to practice one to one correspondence.

This week we focused on adjectives and poems. We reviewed nouns and verbs before adding adjectives to the mix.  We practiced describing different types of nouns, like pizza and dogs. We worked hard to make books with our own poems to practice using adjectives. The drawing part of the books may seem like the fun part of literacy, but these pictures are an important part in helping the students understand that pictures help tell the story.  

We read poems together (you may have seen these come home in the backpack) and identified our sight words in the poems.

I hope your family continues to enjoy a Happy Chanukah!

Good Shabbos!

Morah Kristina

B”H

Dear Kindergarten Parents of the Purple Room,

Kindergarten geared up for Chanukah this week in a serious way. They created their own menorah, first selecting a tile base of their choice, decorating with stickers and then creating the ‘branches’ for the eight candles with a higher ‘branch’ for the Shamash with tiles. They know the Shamash candle must be lit first and it lights the other candles. They practiced putting in the candles into their menorah from right to left and ‘lighting’ the candles from left to right.

The read many Hebrew words and learned their meanings this week in preparation for Chanukah, some of the them being neis (miracle), ner (candle) and godol (big). Kindergarten practiced numbering the candles in Ivrit (Hebrew) with this song:

Menorah Song – Ner Rishon:

(link to song: https://www.chabad.org/454341)

Ner (candle) Rishon 
Ner Sheni 
Ner Shelishi 
Ner Revii 
Ner Chamishi 
Ner Shishi 
Ner Shevii 
Ner Shemini

We put them in starting from the right 
we add one more on every night 
But don't forget when you start to light 
To do it from the left to right

The Shamash is highest it's the ner
That lights every wick from here to there 
No other candle can compare 
to the Shamash the highest ner.

They topped off their Menorah creations with creating original Chanukah wrapping paper which will go home on Friday in time for the first Chanukah lighting, this Sunday evening.

Kindergarten found ways to integrate art with reading. They combined Kriyah (Hebrew Literacy) with Chanukah by spinning the CD dreidel over their kesiva (Hebrew writing) of two letter words with a twirl of the CD dreidel, reinforcing kriyah of two letter words.

Parsha

A lesson the Kindergarten learned this week from the Parsha is to try to approach the person they may be upset with directly, to try to verbalize what they are feeling. In the Parsha, they learned how the brothers were upset when Yosef went to his father, Yaakov, to let him know about things he saw his brothers doing that appeared wrong. Instead, it might have been better to approach the brothers directly. If that hadn’t worked the second option could have been to then go to their father, Yaakov, to discuss with him.

Parsha Song:

Link: https://www.chabad.org/608041

Yosef and his brothers took care of Yaakov’s sheep
Yosef had two dreams while he was asleep
The brothers saw Yosef, in the coat Yaakov made
They remembered his dreams and they were afraid
That Hashem’s bracha would go only to him
The brothers knew there must be Twelve Sh’vatim

So they took Yosef and threw him in a pit
There were many snakes, but no water in it
They saw a wagon coming and Yehudah said
"Do not kill him, let’s sell him instead."
So down to Mitzrayim, Yosef did go
He was sold to Potiphar, a captain of Paraoh.

Please see the CJP Facebook page for pictures of the above and more!

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

I did our first assessments of the year this week. We will repeat these assessments again in February and May. We do most of our work together as a group, so these assessments provide me the opportunity to see where I need to focus and what skills we have mastered individually. I will be discussing these assessments are parent teacher conferences with you all!

We are so excited for Chanukah! We used menorah making as a way to practice skills new and old. We were able to practice visual perception as we worked to make candles that would fit in the space given. We learned to use a ruler and measure to make candles that were a given length.

With the weather so delightful we will move some of our lessons outside. This week we did our first outside nature scavenger hunt. This gave the children an opportunity to practice the letter sounds and spelling words.

I hope your family has a Happy Chanukah!

Good Shabbos!

Morah Kristina

Dear Kindergarten Parents of the Purple Room,

Parsha + Art + Literacy + Math + Sensory

Because stones are featured in this week’s Parsha, they were utilized in many learning areas this week. The Kindergarten children used the Pointillism technique to paint stones in Art. They used stones to write Alef Beis letters in combination with the Nekudos (vowels) Komatz and Patach. In Math, the Kindergarten Math Whizzes practiced counting in 2’s till 12. In the Parsha Yaakov set 12 stones around his head before going to sleep. The Kindergarten knows how many sons Yaakov eventually had. Yes, 12! They are so proud that two of the Kindergarten children carry the names of two of Yaakov’s children – Shimon and Binyomin!

Morah Perline has a rock collection that came all the way from Lake Ontario to Arizona which she shared this week with the class. The Kindergarten explored the rocks noting the colors, textures and shapes of the rocks. One felt smoother than the next.

Vella: This is red and white and black.

Shimmy: (putting the stones on his cheeks) ‘These feel so smooooooth!”

Nosson: (weighing two smaller stones in one hand and one large stone in the other) These two feel the same as this one.

The ladder in Yaakov’s dream was a stepping stone (forgive the pun) to fun math one to one correspondence games such as Climb the Ladder and a game/craft activity, the Ladder Hunt, which integrated Alef Beis Literacy as well. The children created a ladder with the overhead projector and then modeled the creations with blocks in the Block Center. They had Malachim (Angels) going up and down their ladders!

Parsha Songs:

Three Times a Day

(TTTO: Three Blind Mice)

Three times a day 2x

To Hashem we pray 2x

(Avraham) Shacharis is the morning tune

(Yitzchok) Mincha in the afternoon

(Yaakov) Ma’ariv by the light of the moon

Three times a day.

Parsha Song: (link to tune: https://www.chabad.org/608035)

As Yaakov traveled the sun went down,
He fell asleep on the ground.
In his dream was a ladder so high,
With malochim (angels) climbing to the sky.

Yaakov heard Hashem’s voice,
“For My bracha, you are the choice.”
Yaakov traveled to Charan
He asked the shepherds, "Where is Lavan?"

Rochel said, "Lavan is my father
I’ll take you to him, it is no bother.”
Yaakov stayed for twenty years
For Lavan’s sheep, Yaakov cared.

Yaakov married Leah and Rochel
Their children became the B’nei Yisroel.
Lavan tricked Yaakov, he didn’t pay,
Hashem told Yaakov, "Go away!"

Parsha Discussions:

Rachel really wanted to marry Yaakov, but he was given to her sister. Rachel did not think she would have any chance of marrying him. What would you do if something you were hoping for was given to another?

Ben: I really want a Pinny Galley motorcycle.

Be sad. A Pinny Galley is white and red and black.

Jonah: Maybe they could share with him.

Nosson: Be sad. I would get a different toy. But I really want a scooter. Do you know why? Because one time someone was playing with my blue scooter and it broke. I really want it for Chanukah.

Shimmy: I really want a motorcycle that drives on the sidewalk.

Be sad. I would get something else.

Chanukah Countdown!

The Chanukah Countdown has begun and the children are counting down the days every day till Chanukah! Preparations have begun in class. The children attempted to paint Alef Beis and nekudos combinations with oil this week and observed how the oil seeped through to the other side of the paper. They observed how oil spreads: by the next day, the oil had spread over the entire page!

Please see the CJP Facebook page for pictures of the above and more!

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

This week was a review week for us as we went back over information we have already learned. We reviewed nouns and verbs. We play a game where the children sit when I say a noun, but act it out when I say a verb. We used a toy catalog to make our own noun and verb book.

We started learning about “L” blends and worked on the blends sl, fl, bl, cl. We learned a new game called “I have, who has” to practice reading our blends. This means that we are also learning to read who and have.  This new game was also used in our math work as we practiced understanding the tens and the ones place in numbers.

We were a little slow on getting our books sent home this week. The book will come home in a bag with a small note to you. My note will let you know any new sight words for your child and the sounds they are working on in the book. We do a lot of reading together, but this will let your child practice at their ability and proceed at rate of progression suited to them. Your child should read the book until they feel comfortable with it and are ready for a new book.

Good Shabbos!

Morah Kristina