B”H

 

Dear Parents,

 

The Purple Room children are excitedly preparing items to include in their Shabbos boxes for the upcoming Shabbos Party with their parents. Swirling nail polish in water, they created original designs for Kiddush cups and plates. It was interesting how the nail polish didn’t combine with the water and how it rose to the top after they finished using it. The Purple Room Artists are working on stencil painting lacy Challah covers with roller brushes. 

 

This week’s Parsha (Torah portion) discusses the idea of ‘Kadosh’ – holy. Hashem gave us many mitzvos with which to act in a holy way. For example, they know there is a ‘holy’/special way to eat: make a bracha before eating. The Purple Room Friends know that Shabbos is the holiest, most special, day of the week.

 

What can we do on Shabbos to show it is a holy day?

 

Davis: Be kind.

Angie: Get dressed in shorts and a dress.

Leanna: Drink wine.

Geffen: Put on special clothes and make a bracha on your food.

Gilad: Drink grape juice for Shabbos Kodesh.

Rivka’le: Be kind.

Bracha: Go to Shul.

Jemma: Eat Challa.

Leah: Eat pancakes.

Naveed: Eat Challa.

 

Song:

https://youtu.be/gxRkI3l1BaY

 

The Shabbos angels  are peeking through my window

As Ima lights the candles and we all go to Shul

 

Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat Shalom to every one of you (2x)

 

For the Havdala ceremony after Shabbos they mod podged B’somim boxes with stars to remind them that Shabbos is over after 3 stars appear in the sky:

 

Song:

https://youtu.be/WX6b8sV8APY

 

Shabbos is going away

The sky’s getting dark

It’s the end of the day

Oh ,Shabbos, you really should know

We’re sorry to see you go.

 

But you will come back next week, we know

You will come back ‘cuz we love you so

So let us thank Hashem, who will bring Shabbos back again.

 

The Purple Room children are continuing to work, each at their own pace, in Waseca (Montessori Literacy) and Montessori Math.

 

 

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

Morah Shayna

 

B”H

 

Dear Parents,

 

Math and Sefira

Counting, creating patterns and fine motor skills were utilized by the Purple Room Mathematicians when they explored groups of 7. They created their own Sefira counters with 7 pipe cleaners threading the pipe cleaners with 7 beads, creating patterns. The 7 pipe cleaners reflect the 7 weeks between Pesach and Shovuos, when we receive the Torah anew. They are counting each day until they reach 49, sliding the beads to the correct number place each day. The Kindergarteners wrote all the numbers from 1 – 49 while the Pre-K Friends painted their 1- 49 number charts. After water color painting the Torah, they attached the pipe cleaners, twisting them and securing them. Some found this fine motor work challenging but they all felt so accomplished when they could do it themselves.

 

Song:

Hashem gave us a present

Do you know what it was?

He gave us a present

And we must keep its laws.

 

He asked some other people,

“Do you want this gift of mine?”

But they said, “No, thank you,

For Torah we’ve no time.”

 

2x

Then to the Jewish People

Hashem did go.

We said, “Na’aseh v’nishma” (We will do/obey, then we will hear/try to understand)

‘Cuz we love Hashem so.

 

Kindness

This week’s Parsha teaches us to use kind words. In fact, speaking kindly and not hurting people’s feelings with hurtful words is so important that two Parshios, Torah Portions, are dedicated to this. The Purple Room discussed ways to change a message into a kind or helpful message. When this doesn’t work, they decided it’s best not to say anything at all. The Friends used a special telephone to rephrase into kind speech.

 

 

Show and Tell

Show and Tell is an opportunity for your child to practice public speaking. The child stands in front of the Purple Room Friends, introduces the item they have brought and tells the Friends all about it, after which the Friends can ask questions. The Friends learn to show respect for each other as they wait their turn to ask a question and listen for the answer. Please help your child choose one item to bring in for his/her Show and Tell Day:

 

Monday: Geffen, Leanna, Naveed

Tuesday: Leah, Rivka’le, Ronan, Zoe

Wednesday: Bracha, Gilad, Jemma

Thursday: Alisa, Angie, Davis

 

 

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

Morah Shayna

                                                                                                                                                            B”H

 

Dear Parents,

Welcome

Welcome to the new people who joined Purple Room this week: Rivka’le Rimler, Gavin Wach, Leanna Weinberger and to Morah Shayna. The Purple Room is so excited to have more friends to play and learn with.

The Purple Room Friends enjoyed sensory activities with their new friends: bubble art and play do were just some.

Math + Sefira

Counting in groups of 7 helped the children understand the concept of counting the Sefira since there are 7 weeks of Sefira and 7 days in each week. They know during Sefira we count the days from Pesach (when the Jewish People left Mitzrayim) till Shavuos when we will receive the Torah. The children are creating Sefira counters.

Parsha

This week the Purple Room learned what makes animals, fish and birds kosher. They know that animals and fish have 2 signs. The animals must chew their cud and have split hooves. Fish must have fins and scales. They know that chickens, ducks and turkeys are kosher. Only one type of grasshopper is kosher and since we don’t know what it is, we don’t eat them.

Song

TTTO: Michael Finnegan

All the animals that I eat

Must chew their cud and have split feet.

Kosher food just can’t be beat

I love eating kosher!

Shabbat Shalom!

 Morah Perline & Morah Shayna

 

 

Dear Parents,

 

WELCOME DAVIS!

The Purple Room is so excited to welcome Davis Hartman to the Purple Room!

 

Pesach

The Purple Room Whizzes have been practicing and practicing the Mah Nishtana. (Naveed: Oh, this again??)

 

The children were so excited to sing the Mah Nishtana to their grandparents on Zoom this week. They used their Mah Nishtana puppets (found in their Haggada behind Step 5 of the Seder) to illustrate each question.

 

They had a lot of fun singing the Afikoman song to their Grandparents.

 

Song

Afikoman

(TTTO: Macarena)

 

You take the middle Matzah and you break it in the middle

You take the bigger piece and put back the little

The kids try to take it from behind the Abba’s pillow

Ooooh Afikoman!

 

Afikoman etc. (with actions) (palms out down, palms out up, cross arms across chest to shoulde , then other arm, hand behind ear or on head, then other hand, hand crossed over lap, then other hand, hand on hip, then other hand, then hands up in question)

 

Where’s the afikoman?!

 

The children are very proud of the Haggada they made and worked so hard on for the last few weeks.

 

The Purple Room Artists created stunning K’ora Seder Plates using copper sheets. It was a very different art experience because they used a wooden stylus to etch out the design into the copper with a stencil and weren’t able to see the result until the stencil was removed.

 

The children played all sorts of matching, math and literacy games this week based on Pesach.

 

Wishing you and your family a Happy and Kosher Pesach!

Morah Perline

B”H 

Dear Parents,

Pesach Science

The Purple Room children explored the difference between Chometz and Matza. They experimented with two bottles: both had flour and water with a balloon attached to the tops.  But one bottle had the addition of yeast and sugar. After 18 minutes, they observed that the bottle with the yeast rose and blew up the balloon while the bottle that simply had only flour and water didn’t rise at all. They learned that for to make Matza the Matza must be completed with the mixing, kneading and baking process by 18 minutes. Chometz (bread, Challah, bagels, etc.) rises higher and higher the longer it takes for the process.

 

Hebrew Literacy

The Purple Room also discovered that both words in Hebrew, Chometz  חמץ  and Matza מצה  ,   have two common letters: the Mem מ  and the Tzaddik  צ . The only difference is Chametz has a Ches ח  and Matzah has a Hey  ה . If you look at the letters you can see that they look very similar too, only the Hey has a little space to let air (and people) in and the Ches does not. When a person is humble they don’t feel the need to show off and boast; they feel able to let the other person in and express their thoughts and feelings.

 

Sensory

The Purple Room Winemakers used their fine motor skills to remove the seeds from grapes. Then they strengthened their hand muscles as they squeezed the juice out and made grape juice. They thought the grape juice tasted quite fine. The Purple Room children used the seeds the next day to count and attach to the four cups of wine for the Haggada they are creating.

 

Art and Science

Another experiment which was incorporated into a page of the Haggada was to explore what would happen when they mixed paint with salt. What effect would the salt have on the paint? The result pleasantly surprised them and will delight you when your child shows you his/her Haggada.

 

Pesach Seder

The Purple Room Wise Ones know that the Pesach Seder is the l-o-n-g-e-s-t Yom Tov meal of the year! They know it has 15 steps:

 

Song:

Kadesh we take a sip of wine to our lip

Urchatz we wash our hands for the Karpas which we dip

Yachatz  we now divide and put a half aside

Of the middle Matza, the Afikomen which we’ll hide.

Maggid  tell the story and once more we tell our children the story we repeat

Wash your hands Rachtza demands

For Motzei Matza the Matza which we eat

 

Maror is bitter greens

Korech sandwich between

Shulchan Orech the Yom Tov meal. We lick our soup bowls clean …Mmmm

Tzafun’s not far behind

Afikomen we find?

Berach – We’re bentchin’

Hallel – mention Hashem who is kind

Nirtza – we sing to Hashem, our mighty King,

Thanking Him for taking us out of Mitzrayim

Now we have sung the Seder Simanim

L’shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim!

 

 

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Dear Parents,

 

Conscious Discipline

The Purple Room was introduced to a new Brain Break this week: Boom Snap Clap. Brain Breaks, a Conscious Discipline technique, are short mental breaks taken throughout a lesson or academic activity. They help children remain calm, focused and engaged, and they have been shown to reduce stress. Ask your child to show you Boom Snap Clap.

 

Pesach

The Purple Room is learning how the Jewish People got to live in Mitzrayim (Egypt) in the first place and how the Paroah that lived in Yosef’s time was a different Paroah who lived later. The later Paroah enslaved the Jewish People. Fortunately, the Jewish People were freed from Mitzrayim by Hashem who heard the cries of the suffering people.

 

What’s the difference between a worker and a slave? What do you think a slave does all day? How do you think a slave feels?

 

Bracha:

My dad works on a computer. My dad and mom have a lot of meetings.

 

A slave is when you work for someone to make sure you have a roof on your house. My mom says if you don’t work then the house on the roof would not be on.

 

Geffen:

My Mom does something different than a work. She makes cakes for people. My Dad works on a computer.

 

A slave does hard work you don’t like.

 

Jemma:

A slave has to work very hard for people. A worker does easy work.

 

Ronan:

My mom gives smart people bosses. My dad’s home job is a builder. He builds stuff only at home.

 

You don’t pay slaves and you pay workers.

 

Songs:

We Were Slaves

 עבדים היינו היינו                

לפרעה במצרים במצרים                

(Avadim hayinu, hayinu

L’Paroah b’Mitzrayim, b’Mitzrayim)

 

We were slaves

We were slaves

To Paraoh in Mitzrayim (Egypt)

In Mitzrayim

3X

 

Bang, Bang, Bang
Bang, bang, bang

Hold your hammers low.

Bang, bang, bang

Give a heavy blow.

 

For it’s work, work, work

Every day and every night

For it’s work, work, work

When it’s dark and when it’s light

 

Dig, dig, dig

Dig your shovels deep

Dig, dig, dig

There’s no time to sleep

 

For it’s work, work, work

Every day and every night

For it’s work, work, work

When it’s dark and when it’s light

 

 

A hand-eye coordination activity the Purple Room Friends really enjoyed this week was peeling back a layer of cardboard from a box to reveal the bumpy layer underneath. They used that as a base for a crayon rubbing of the cover page to their Haggada.

 

Another sensory activity the children enjoyed was creating their own play dough. The Purple Room Friends created their own matzahs!

 

The Purple Room Friends have begun learning the Mah Nishtana so they can be ready for the Pesach Seder.

 

The Purple Room Friends are continuing to utilize the Waseca Literacy program and Montessori Math, each at their own pace.

 

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

 B”H

Dear Parents,

 The Purple Room Friends created the most original graggers. They collected stones to put in the gragger. Then they used permanent markers to decorate the holder. They used the amazing scissors to cut interesting shapes which were glued to the gragger. Afterwards they beaded the pipe cleaners to enhance it further. It was truly a remarkable gragger and is sure to be effective in drowning out Haman’s name when mentioned in the reading of the Megilla. Surely there are none like it. ☺

Each Purple Room Friend completed their own personalized Megilla using unusual forms of painting: foam stamping, Alef Beis stamping, straw blowing painting and fork painting. They observed the constant paint but the different effects using different tools.

The children had so much fun with Crazy Hair Day, Funny Sock Day and dressing like royalty. All week they talked about what they would dress up in for the Purim Fun Day. That was seriously the major topic of all discussions.

Who Am I?

The Purple Room Friends explored masks and what lies behind the masks. They discussed how a person can have many different facets. Everyone has strengths in different areas. It isn’t always easy to recognize every aspect in another person but we can try. The children played Who Am I? matching up the names of their friends to their eyes. It wasn’t so easy to recognize when they didn’t see the entire face.

The Purple Room Friends painted and stickered Mishloach Manos boxes. After the children filled them, a gorol (lottery) was made and they shared the Mishloach Manos they made with their friend.

The children enjoyed playing with their puppets. Here’s a song which was used with Purim Puppets:

Purim Story  Song  (Tune: London Bridge)

 

In a castle lived a king, 

Lived a king, lived a king

In a castle lived a king, 

King Achash-ve-rosh.

 

He had a very lovely queen, 

Lovely queen, lovely queen

He had a very lovely queen, 

Queen Esther

 

She had an Uncle Mordechai, 

Moredechai, Mordechai

She had an Uncle Mordechai, 

The leader of the Jews

 

Haman wanted to hurt the Jews, 

Hurt the Jews, hurt the Jews

Haman wanted to hurt the Jews, 

The Jews of Shushan

 

Mordechai and Esther saved the day, 

Saved the day, saved the day

Mordechai and Esther saved the day 

For the Jews of Shushan

 

The people wanted a holiday,

Holiday, holiday

The people wanted a holiday,

They called it Purim.

Happy PuRiM and Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline