B”H

Dear Parents,

Welcome to a fantastic fun year of learning in the Purple Room! This week the Purple Room Friends have been learning about their new schedule as Purple Room friends: how to start the day, how to care for the classroom materials, how to care for the paints and brushes and many other procedures. It is plain to see they are so very happy to be back at school and have missed it so these very long months. They are already a cohesive and caring group.

They have very quickly acclimated to a Morah who wears a mask all day. I was concerned that it may bother them but it doesn’t seem to at all. It is amazing how children adapt so quickly. Some children are wearing masks and some not. Please let me know if you have a preference. 

The Purple Room Friends have been starting the day with Outdoor Water Play so that they can take advantage of the cooler temperatures before the day becomes too hot.  They really enjoy running and playing in the water and getting some fresh air.

Literacy

The Purple Room has begun reviewing the Alphabet phonetically (sounds of the letters) with Letter Sound cards. They been practicing signing in in the morning utilizing the correct pincer grip and writing from top to bottom.

Math

The Purple Room has been working with Morah Perline on number recognition and one to one correspondence.

Art

See what you see and paint it! The children have been peering in the mirrors and deciding which colors to use and which shapes to paint to get as close as they can to an accurate depiction of their faces. It is so interesting to see how the painting skill evolves over the year as they paint their self portraits every month. In the next few weeks we will be exploring the art of Claude Monet.

Indoor/Outdoor

The Purple Room know the importance of keeping their outdoor shoes out while they wear their indoor shoes in. They collaborated with their friends and traced each other’s feet, then cut and decorated the shapes which are now proudly displayed in the hallway outside the classroom door. Their shoes stay on their footprints when not in use.

Parsha

A Parsha binder will be sent home every Friday for your child to share with his/her family over Shabbos. The Parsha information sheets are to remain in the binder. Please make sure to return the binder every Monday.

This week the children learned how a Jewish king always carried around a Sefer Torah with him all the time. Even though he may be the king, he would always remember there is a King above him watching him as he rules. This King is Hashem. This would help him be a good example to his subjects as he kept the Mitzvos (commandments/good deeds) of the Torah.

They also learned that Hashem wants us to have judges and we discussed how people go to a judge to help them decide what is right when they can’t figure it out themselves.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Morah Perline

Dear Parents,

The Purple Room was thinking Purim and Pesach, all in the one week! The Purple Room enjoyed a Purim Fun Activity Day with the other classes on the day before Purim. They fished for coins in the water tray to remember the Mitzvah of Purim of giving Tzedoka, matched Alef Beis letters in a Megilla, created noisy graggers with metal jars and sand and filled Mishloach Manos (food gifts) and gave them to a friend. Finally, all the classes enjoyed a Purim Puppet Show superbly acted by the Purim Puppets, ably supported by Morah Perline and Rabbi Tzvi. The grand finale was the Masquerade Parade where each child paraded by so all could see their adorable Purim costumes. Then, midweek, the classroom changed and became full of Pesach learning activities. The Shushan Palace (aka Home Corner) is soon to become a Matza Bakery.

Math

Ordering numbers: in relation to giving money to poor people on Purim, the Purple Room explored pennies. They discerned the year on the penny and then placed it in chronological order on the penny timeline. 

Odds and Evens: After recognizing the number on the pushke, the children lined up the required pennies near the tzedokah box in pairs. Every two pennies made a pair. If the pennies were all paired up the number is called an even number. If they were left with a single penny, the number is called an odd number.

Literacy

The children have been gravitating to the Word Wall enjoying creating sentences on their own. Many Kindergarten children are up to Orange in the Waseca program which focuses on endings as in lamp, or tent (CVCC).

Pesach

The children have already started learning the Ma Nishtana in preparation for the Pesach Seder. They are learning about the story of Pesach and are up to the part where the Jewish People were tricked into slavery. The Purple Room children know that Hashem is going to save the Jewish People and eagerly await to hear the next installment. 

Happy Birthday, Alice!

Happy birthday, Alice! Alice’s 6th birthday was celebrated this week in school. May she continue to be a nachas to her parents, grandparents and family.

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline and Morah Chaya

Dear Parents,

Conscious Discipline – a social-emotional curriculum

As much love as there already is in our classroom, we always want to add more. With the I Love You Rituals that Morah Perline brought back from the Conscious Discipline seminar there is even more love in the air!

Here’s one I Love You Ritual the children already know well. It helps build relationships and creates a deeper appreciation for one another and of themselves:

(TTTO Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)

Twinkle, twinkle, you’re a star,

What a wonderful child you are.

With bright eyes and nice round cheeks

A talented person from head to feet

Twinkle, twinkle, you’re a star,

What a wonderful child you are.

As we introduce more Conscious Discipline components into the program, parents can also incorporate these elements at home as we venture together in this exciting journey to social and emotional health for our children.

Also from Conscious Discipline, the Purple Room begins each day with a poem called the “Safekeeper Promise” which describes the various ways class members keep themselves and their classroom safe. They know it is the Morah’s job to keep the classroom safe and the children’s job to help keep it safe. 

Purim

In preparation for Purim the Purple Room Artists are creating all kinds of fun things. Making masks was one of them. Making masks meant utilizing cutting skills before adding their own artistic touches. Check out the Purple Room Bulletin board and see how long it takes for you recognize your child.

The projected picture of a palace onto the classroom wall inspired the Purple Room Architects to plan and build a palace of their own. (See CJP Facebook) They used their collaborative skills to work together and listen to their friends’ suggestions. They then put their creative talents to work and changed the Home Corner into an impressive and beautiful palace complete with two thrones, one for a king and one for a queen.

The Purple Room Whizzes know all the characters of the Purim story and fingerprint painted the characters which will become their very own Purim puppets. You will be thoroughly entertained when you ask your child to make a puppet show for you of the story of Purim.

Fine Motor skills were reinforced when the Purple Room Royal Jewelers beaded bracelets for the Queens of their homes – Mommy!

The Purple Room Artists created their own Megilla utilizing paint in different ways for each page. They adored using glitter. But only for Esther and Mordechai!  Marble painting, watercolor painting, sponge painting and symmetry painting were only some of the styles they enjoyed. The children also created a ‘Find It’ Gragger which has ‘Purim charms’ that they hid in the gragger filling (rice). 

The children will bring home a Purim Song sheet to share with their families.

Sounds

The Purple Room explored sounds: quiet whispers, indoor voices and outdoor voices. When they whisper, the sound is very quiet. The Discovery Table has metal vials for the children to shake and match to the sound of the correct matching vial. The Purple Room Whizzes know that the story of Purim had many secrets so that the Jewish People could be saved from the wicked Haman. Esther had to keep it a secret that she was Jewish so that she could help save the Jewish People. The Purple Room Whizzes know that even Hashem is hidden in the Megilla as Hashem’s name is not mentioned there; Hashem is only referred to in code, as ‘Hamelech’ which means ‘THE King’. 

Math

The Purple Room Math Whizzes have been sampling their Math trays over the last week. The math trays have an array of math activities which the children choose daily. Once they have completed a tray they choose a new one so that they experience different math operations.

Davening

The children enjoyed a Davening Party this week with hot cocoa, hot apple cider, (both were passionately requested), popcorn and apple sauce. 

Thank You

Thank you to Rabbi Deitsch who kindly visited the Purple Room to show them a real Megilla and a very old Megilla, too. They have been exploring it on the light table. The children have noticed that many of the Alef Beis letters look a little different than the letters on their chart. Rabbi Deitsch explained that many Alef Beis letters have ‘crowns’.

Farewell

The Purple Room is so sad that Mason is no longer a member of the class as he has moved to a new school. They are happy for him that he will make new friends but they will miss him. The Purple Room is preparing a Goodbye Video for Mason and they hope he will be back soon when they will wish him farewell personally.

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline and Morah Chaya

Dear Parents,

This coming Shabbos is called Shabbos Shira, the Shabbat of song. The Purple Room children know that when the Jewish People crossed the sea after Hashem split it, they sang thanks to Hashem and the birds joined in too. To say thanks to the birds and to care about animals too, the Purple Room friends created bird feeders which they will put in their yards before this Shabbos so the wild birds can come and eat. 

The Purple Room Artists created tambourines to remember how the Jewish People sang thanks to Hashem for saving them from the cruel slavery and rulership of Mitzrayim (Egypt). 

Song:

(TTTO: Sing a Song of Sixpence)

Sing a song with Moshe

Walking through the sea

The Jews went through the dry land

Then they all were free.

When the Jews were singing

The birds began to tweet

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp

Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep

Twitter to the beat!

Hashem protected the Jewish People from all harm and sustained them in the Midbar (desert) with Mon which could taste like anything they wanted it to taste like.

Discussion:

What flavor would you have chosen for your Mon?

Roni: Tomatoes and chocolate yogurt.

Jemma: Cake.

Mason: Pizza.

Alice: Lots and lots of candy and teeny bit of sour.

Ari: Strawberry and blueberry cake.

Zoe: A cupcake.

Song:

(TTTO: London Bridge is Falling Down)

Lots of Mon is falling down

From the sky, all around

Lots of Mon is falling down

Oh, so delicious

Math + Parsha

Hashem split the sea into 12 paths for each of the 12 tribes. The Purple Room used this opportunity to explore the concept of division and played division games using Cuisenaire rods, fruit and numbers.

The Purple Room Gymnasts utilized this opportunity to play ‘Cross the Yam Suf (Sea)’ which required them to follow maze around the classroom while lunging, hopping, jumping, or whatever the activity the card they chose demanded. 

Tu B’Shvat

The Purple Room is having so much fun preparing for Tu B’Shvat. They created a masterpiece of art, first collecting leaves, twigs, branches and other tree elements, then sorting their collection and finally utilizing the elements to create original tree art. 

Getting into gross motor the Purple Room Gymnasts have been exercising to a fun tree song, jumping like a tree trunk, stretching wide and high like branches, swaying like leaves and reaching up and chomping down on an apple.

The Purple Room artwork will be proudly displayed at the Grandparents and Special Person Day on Tu B’Shvat, Monday, February 10th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday to Zoe Luedy who celebrated her fifth birthday this week! May you continue to give your parents and family much nachas. Thank you for donating the book Llama Llama Red Pajama in honor of your birthday.

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline and Morah Chaya

Dear Parents,

Art + Shabbos

What a wonderful week we had last week culminating in a delightful Shabbat program at CJP! The children created most original Shabbos boards, Kiddush cups and, for the Havdala ceremony at the end of Shabbos, a B’somim ball. The B’somim ball smelled so nice and pushing each clove into the Styrofoam helped strengthen little fingers. The Shabbos board was created in several sessions as the children added layer upon layer to create texture. 

Parsha + Science

In last week’s and this week’s Parsha the Purple Room were so happy to hear that the enslaved Jewish People were finally to be set free. They marveled how HaShem rescued them from the cruelty of the Mitzriyim (Egyptians). The Purple Room explored the 10 Makos (Plagues) that the Mitzriyim were punished with. Based on the first Makah (plague) where the water turned to blood, the Purple Room explored water density. They each offered their own hypothesis as to which is more dense and therefore heavier: cold water or hot water? After this was recorded they watched as two jars were filled with cold (colored blue) and hot water (colored red), placed one on top of the other and observed the results. They observed that the cold water flowed down into the hot and the water turned purple but when the hot was placed on top of the cold water, it did not mix. After recording their observation, they then noted, or drew ,their conclusions: cold water is more dense, heavier, than hot water.

This week, drawing from the eighth plague, Choshech(Darkness), the Purple explored light and dark, and shadows. 

Discussions:

How do we get a shadow?

Chana: The sun goes around your whole body and makes a shadow. 

Jemma: You stand in the sun and it brings your body powers to the sun and on the floor so it can be a shadow.

Roni: When it’s a sunny day it gets a shadow. The sun reflects the darkness onto the ground when you’re walking.

The Purple Room went outside to observe their shadows. They traced their friends shadow with chalk, then colored in and drew in all the details of their own shadow. They found it amusing to see how much bigger than they were their shadows.

In this week’s Parsha the children learned that as the Jewish People were preparing to leave Mitzrayim they received the first mitzvah the Jewish People from Hashem: Rosh Chodesh – determining the first day of the Jewish month by observing a new moon. When a new moon appears, sdvvxcit is the beginning of the new Jewish month. The children each created My Moon Book, a flip book with all the sizes of the moon over a 28 day lapse. They also experimented with the sun (a lamp), the earth (themselves) and the moon (a Styrofoam ball). As the ‘moon’ orbited the ‘earth’ they observed the ‘sun’ illuminating more and more of the ‘moon’.

If you were leaving Mitzrayim (Egypt) what would you ask the Mitzryim (Egyptians) for?

Roni: A golden medal. It would have a picture of a heart.

Chana: Lots of jewels and lots of metal gold.

Mason: Gold and dollars.

Zoe: Gold, some gems and nice clothes with gems on it.

Tzivia: Since we’ll be in the dessert – water.

Hammond: Some nice clay and some glitter in the clay.

Jemma: Glitter and some clay.

Ari: A shirt with gems and glitter and a heart on the shirt.

When you leave Mitzrayim (Egypt) what would you pack?

Chana: Lots and lots of water, all kinds of jewelry with glitter on it.

Zoe: A Torah, some jewelry, some water, and some Matzah.

Tzivia: Water, a Torah, jewelry and gold, Gatorade, whip cream and marshmallows.

Matan: Water, money and gold.

Hammond: Some water, animals - I can’t pack them in a suitcase, dough to make Matzah in the sun, some food, some challah, some Kiddush, a Kiddush cup and a Challah board. And wood so I can make stuff.

Roni: A hundred million gold, food, a picture of your kids, the phone, a bow, dolls, the Torah and the Siddur and the ring and all their makeup.

Jemma: Water, pajamas, underwear, makeup, Torah and a ring. 

Ari: Pyjamas and clothes and also I will take a camel so I can put all my stuff on the camel, a phone, a camera.

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline and Morah Chaya

Dear Parents,

Being that Picasso is the artist study for the month of January, the Purple Room children created self portraits utilizing his artistic style with distinctive shapes and bold colors. His abstract art has amused the children as they try to decipher what they can see in his works.

Shabbos

The theme for this week is Shabbos and the Purple Room children have been busy creating stunning napkin rings to enhance the Shabbos tables for the upcoming CJP Shabbos event. They are creating more Shabbos items which are sure to surprise and impress! They hope to see everyone at this exciting event.

Gematria – Numerical Value of Hebrew Letters

Shabbos is the seventh day of the week. The Purple Room children explored the Gematria, numerical value, of the Hebrew letters, Alef being 1, Beis 2 and so on. They found many words that pertain to Shabbos that equal 7. Working out the Gematria of the Hebrew letters for the word wine, yayin, they found that the Hebrew letters equaled 10 + 10 + 50 which totaled to 70. Then, when they added the digits together, 7 + 0, it amounted to 7! The same thing happened with the word Challah. 8 + 30 + 5 = 43. 4 + 3 = 7. Funnily enough, the Hebrew word for ice cream, glida, also added up to 7! 

The Purple Room experienced how wine was made long ago. People stamped on the grapes till all the juice came out. This was exactly the experience of the Purple Room children as they removed their shoes and stamped on the grapes to squeeze out all the juice. 

Parsha

The Purple Room children were shocked to hear how the next King Pharaoh was so mean to the Jewish People. They were glad Hashem had a plan how to free the Jewish People from under the tyranny of such a mean king so they wouldn’t be slaves anymore. They are following the story of Moshe and waiting curiously to see how he will take the Jewish People out of Mitzrayim, Egypt. They see how caring Moshe was of sheep as well as of the Jewish People. 

Song

(Link:   https://www.chabad.org/549140)

B’nei Yisroel suffered bitterly

Moshe was seen killing a Mitzri

From Mitzrayim, Moshe fled

Yisro’s daughter then he wed

As Moshe watched the sheep one day

A baby lamb ran away

He followed the lamb and saw

A bush burning more and more

Moshe heard Hashem tell him

To lead the Jews from Mitzrayim

Moshe and Aharon told Paraoh

To let the Jews go

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline and Morah Chaya

Dear Parents,

Getting back into learning fun was easy this week and so exciting to see their friends again. The Purple Room children enjoyed painting in water color about the things they enjoyed doing over the Chanukah and Winter break. Later, they explained their art to their friends. Come take a look at their art on the bulletin board.

PARSHA

The Purple Room children learned in this week’s Parsha about the bracha (blessing) Yaakov gave to his grandsons, Efraim and Menashe. When it was time to receive the bracha Yosef, the father of Efraim and Menashe, put Menashe at his father Yaakov’s right hand and Efraim at his father’s left hand. Even though Menashe was the elder son Yaakov did a funny thing and he crossed over his heads, setting his right hand on Efraim’s head and his left on Menashe’s. This was a good opportunity for the Purple Room to reinforce right and left. They played games reinforcing this concept and made their own ‘bracha hands’ in collaboration with their friends. They learned the Hebrew words for right (y’min) and left (smol).

Song:

This Tefilah from Yaakov, at night is said
By Jewish children before going to bed
To Efraim and Menashe this bracha Yaakov gave

"May the malach (angel) watch over you, for me he did save
In the name of my fathers, Avrohom and Yitzchok, 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

LITERACY

Almost all the children are using the Waseca program in literacy. Sounding out words and then using the moveable alphabet, most children are working on the red set which supports them in spelling CVC words with all the vowels. (CVC = Consonant Vowel Consonant) This is a program individualized for each student. Some students have begun the Orange set which focuses on blends such as s blends like the st blend in step and stop.

The children had fun reviewing their Alef Beis knowledge searching for Alef Beis seashells in shaving cream. Some children who are able to combine the Hebrew letters with the Nekudos (vowels) searched for seashells with Alef Beis and nekudos.

ART

The Purple Room friends have begun learning about a new artist with an interesting style: Pablo Picasso. They saw that Picasso used shapes in his abstract art and they learned what abstract art looks like. They will be thinking about Picasso’s style when they paint their self portraits next week. 

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Morah Perline and Morah Chaya