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

 

B”H

 

Dear Parents,

 

Sensory + Purim

PuRiM excitement is in the air in the Purple Room. The Purple Room Builders researched many different palaces and then, combining planning, eye hand coordination and imagination, the Purple Room Builders constructed palaces of their own with boards, hammers and nails.

 

The Purple Room children got into the Purim spirit wearing funny things on different days. One day they wore funny hats, on another funny glasses. Many children insisted on wearing the Purim garb the entire day.

 

Social Emotional + Purim

Learning about Purim led the children to explore moods. They created different expressions with their personal play do packets.

 

This week’s Conscious Discipline focus was on deep breathing. The Purple Room children practiced deep breathing for when they may feel sad, angry or worried. They practiced the deep breathing song ‘When you’re feeling really angry’.

 

The Purple Room explored the story of Purim to try to understand the lessons that can be learned. They know they would definitely try to copy the ways of Queen Esther and Mordechai. They would not want to copy the ways of Achashverosh, Vashti or Haman who consistently made not good choices.

 

I was brave like Esther when I:

Bracha: …when I came and I was brave to make new friends. Because I was afraid they won’t like me.

Jemma: … when I was going to the park and I saw older kids and my dad helped me and held my hand.

Naveed: … when I was riding my bike outside and the wheel bumped in the bigger rock and I fell. I didn’t even cry.

 

The Purple Room contrasted the two queens of Achashverosh: Esther and Vashti. Vashti was vain and not nice at all. All she cared about was how she looked. She didn’t care to be kind at all to anyone. In contrast, Esther was beautiful inside and out. She was kind and cared about people too.

 

Comment overheard:

Bracha: If you’re beautiful it means you’re part of fashion.

 

Math + Purim

The Purple Room learned about the Mitzvos of Purim and the relationship between the letter  מ   Mem and the names of the Mitzvos of Purim. The word    מצוות  (Mitzvos) begins with a Mem. Then they counted the Gematria (numerical value) of all the Alef Beis letters to figure out what the Mem equaled to and they discovered that it is equal to 40. When they added the digits of 40, 4 + 0, they saw it equaled to 4. And that’s exactly how many Mitzvos there are for Purim!

Megila

Mishloach Manos (aka Shalach Manos)

Matanos La’evyonim (tzedakah for the poor)

Mishteh-Feast

… and all the Mitzvos begin with a Mem!

 

Thank you to Rabbi Deitsch for sharing his REAL Megila with the Purple Room. The Megila was inspected on the light table and the children searched for Hashem’s name in it everywhere but couldn’t find it. That’s because Hashem’s name is written in ‘code’ in the Megila: When the Megila states “the King’’ it is referring to Hashem! Seeing the real Megila inspired the Purple Room children to create their own Megila featuring the Purim people we can learn from. They noticed that from some we can learn what to copy and from others we learn what not to copy. This also led to a discussion about using our own mind to decide what to do. If a friend tells us to do something, we have to decide whether to do it or not. But the decision is our responsibility.

 

The Purple Room Puppeteers created their own puppets and have been enjoying re-enacting the story of Purim for each other.

 

Song:

King Achashveirosh made a big feast,

he told his wife Vashti to come.

She had tzara’as rash, from her head to her feet,

she said, “I can’t join in your fun.”

The king was so angry he said to his guards, “Take her, I don’t want her!  She’s mean.”

           

From all of the maidens that Shushan had,

Esther became his new queen.

Haman told everyone, “Bow down to me.”

But Mordechai said, “That I’ll never do.

I bow only to Hashem – Hashem Elokim,

I’m proud, so proud, to be a Jew!”

 

Song:

If You Hear the Name of....

(TTTO: If You’re Happy and You Know It) 

If you hear the name of Esther clap your hands.  2X

If you hear the name of Esther, if you hear the name of Esther, if you 

hear the name of Esther clap your hands

If you hear the name of Vashti shake your head…

If you hear the name of Haman stomp your feet...

If you hear the name Ahasuerus turn around...

If you hear the name of Mordecai shout hooray...

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

 Dear Parents,

 

The Purple Room children created some rules for the class this week. This week’s Parsha – Parshas Mishpatim – discusses rules Hashem for us to live by. The children discussed why rules are necessary: because it keeps us safe!

 

What are some rules that can keep the Purple Room people safe:

 

Alisa: Do not push.

Ronan: Do not run inside.

Jemma: Do not light fires. Learn Torah.

Naveed: Do not kick or punch. Listen to Ima and Abba and Morah.

Bracha: Be kind and let friends play with you. Daven (pray) correctly.

Geffen: Eat healthy foods first.

Angie: Do not hit.

 

PuRiM

The children are very excited for the month of Adar to arrive (end of this week!). They know it means Purim will soon be here. A very big Thank you to Ronan’s mother who presented all the classes with hand painted peg Purim characters. The children are SO excited to play with them and re-enact the Purim story. The Purple Room Kids searched for gems in the shaving cream. What a fun sensory activity! Creating a crown for Queen Esther with gems in shaving cream was quite a challenge.

 

Ahavas Yisrael

This week a large emphasis was placed on finding ways to play calmly and peacefully. On some days the Purple Room did yoga and on others relaxing and breathing deeply to calming music.

 

During Free Play the children have been collaborating and creating boats and buildings together. Geffen: “We are building in a team.” Way to go! (see FB)

 

Meanwhile ,in the Home Corner, Morah Perline was asked to be the ‘babysitter Shnoozie’ by ‘Jack’ (aka Bracha) and ‘Goldie’ (aka Jemma). They needed Shnoozie to watch over their cats Christie (aka Angie) and ‘Melody’ (aka Alisa) and their babies (dolls). Jack and Goldie said they were going away for a few days but, not to worry, Jack wrote down a phone number in case Shnoozie had any trouble. Things got very busy when the big sister Leah came in with the doggie ‘Power Ranger’ (aka Geffen) and Leah the big sister helped feed the cats and the doggie so that was okay. It got to a point where the babies were crying and Shnoozie couldn’t manage and really needed help. Luckily, along came the guests, Ronan and ‘Megga Man’ (aka Naveed) who took care to put the babies in the cradle and rock them. Megga Man was in charge of rocking them and Ronan in charge of feeding them. When all was said and done, the babysitter asked Goldie if she could be paid but Goldie (aka Jemma) said they don’t pay babysitters!

 

Literacy

Some of the Kindergarten Purple Room people have been reading full sentences in the Waseca Red books. The sentences include one syllable words with the short a, e and i sounds and sight words. Mazal Tov to Jemma and Bracha!

 

The Purple Room will return to school on Tuesday, February 16, 2021.

 

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline

 B”H

 

Dear Parents,

 

Parsha + Math

Counting in 10’s was the big Math concept this week in the Purple Room. Being that this week’s Parsha teaches about the 10 commandments it was very appropriate to focus on groups of 10.

The Purple Room Mathematicians are becoming very proficient in showing the number for groups of tens as well as the actual Montessori beads in groups of tens. They say “This SAYS _____ (20, 30 etc.) (while displaying the digits) and this IS _____ (same number) (while displaying that amount of beads). This way the Purple Room Mathematicians have a concrete understanding of what the number means.

 

The Torah was given on Har Sinai (Mt. Sinai), the humblest of all mountains. He didn’t show off or boast. He was just the best mountain he could be without making any other mountains feel bad about it. That’s why Hashem chose Har Sinai to give the Torah on.

 

It took the Jewish People 49 days to work on themselves to be ready to receive the Torah. The Purple Room children were given a choice of Har Sinai sheets to have math fun with: invisible numbers or stamping.

The children created ‘invisible numbers by writing the numbers 1 – 50 with white crayon on white paper and then discovering the number become visible when they water painted on top of it.

The stamping page already had the numbers printed on it and the children stamped the numbers with flowers or matching numbers.

 

Discussion:

 

What is your favorite mitzvah?

 

Jemma: Sharing my toys.

Geffen: To daven to Hashem and give tzedakah.

Leah: Love my mom.

Angie: Share my toys to my baby if I have a shaker.

Alisa: Toys and hockey.

Bracha: Learn new stuff.

 

If you were getting dressed up for receiving the Torah, what would you wear?

 

Bracha: My new dress that I just got yesterday in a leopard pattern. It’s in grey.

Alisa: A ballerina dress. It is white.

Jemma: A wedding dress. It has a pink bottom and a blue top. It has a ribbon that’s a bow.

Geffen: New clothes with a giraffe on it and a tiger. And tzitzis and kippah.

Leah: A dress. It is pink at the bottom and a rainbow all over and blue things on the shirt and pink right here (collar).

Angie:  A princess dress. It has rainbow right in the side of my dress.

 

Show and Tell

Please remember to text/Whatsapp a picture of your child’s Show and Tell the night before his/her day. It is a wonderful opportunity for the child to develop confidence in public speaking as they stand in front of their friends and relate the qualities that appeal to them of their Show and Tell item.

 

Monday: Naveed and Geffen

Tuesday: Ronan and Leah

Wednesday: Jemma and Bracha

Thursday: Angie and Alise

 

Mitzvah Notes

Mitzvah Notes are an opportunity to link home and school through a positive lens. The child feels the positive stroke of his/her parent as the note is read aloud to friends. The Mitzvah Notes are read aloud every day and the children are filling up their Mitzvah buckets with the notes. If you are running out of notes you can write on any paper or request more notes from the Morah.

 

Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Perline