Dear Purple Room Families,

    In all the excitement, we didn't get a chance to tell you about all the amazing Purim learning we did last week. As we planned our Purim celebrations, we focused on the four mitzvot of Purim: hearing megilla, having a mishteh (feast), giving mishloach manot (gifts of food to friends), and giving matanot l’evyonim (gifts to the poor.) Read on to find out how we brought each of these mitzvot into our learning last week!

Megillah Making

We did an edible megillah craft, using tortillas as the parchment. We used food markers and fruit to decorate our megillot. The children particularly enjoyed cutting and preparing the fruit for the project. Some children wrote letters, others drew the Purim story. This led to an interest in making paper megillot, with many children making and exchanging small paper scrolls with messages and pictures.

We also finished our groggers so we could use them during the megilla reading!

Hamentaschen Making

We tried many different play doughs to figure out which one would make a good dough for play hamentaschen. A soap-based play dough turned out to be the best! We enjoyed the process of testing and making the different recipes. We set up a corner of our room to be a hamentaschen bakery, where the children could practice rolling and shaping the cookies. Finally, we made REAL hamentaschen for Purim! First, we did a taste test of different filling options, and graphed and counted the results. Then, we followed a recipe and made delicious hamentaschen to enjoy.

 

Mishloach Manot

We decorated bags for mishloach manot, and the children enjoyed counting and distributing the items they had brought. We had a mishloach manot exchange the day before Purim.

 

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Giving Matanot L’evyonim (Gifts to the Poor)

We talked about why we give gifts to the poor, so that every Jew can celebrate Purim and have a mishteh (feast) regardless of how rich or poor they are. During davening, we started counting pennies to see how many we could give as matanot l’evyonim. This led to an interest in numbers that make ten, which we explored in our math center. We also introduced the game Tiny Polka Dot, a fun number sense game. The day before Purim, we decorated a bag for our matanot l’evyonim, and everyone got to put pennies in. We presented our matanot l’evyonim to Rabbi Deitsch so he could give the money to someone who needed it. 

 

We hope you also had a meaningful and fun Purim! 

Have a wonderful Shabbat,

Morah Shoshi and Morah Athena

 

Dear Purple Room Families,

    Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha! When the month of Adar starts, we increase our joy! The Purple Room has been joyously exploring the Adar holiday of Purim. Next week we will celebrate on Wednesday. Don’t forget to come in costume! And please consult the list below to see what food to bring for our mishloach manot exchange. Please bring 11 sets/bags of the following items:

Shepherd: Veggie Straws

Jonny: Applesauce

Yehonathan: Granola Bars

Rylan: Clementines

Natan: Mini Peppers

Ella: Mini Carrots

Benny: Original Pringles

Daniel: Pretzels

Abigail: Bananas

Carmel: That's It Fruit Bars

Harvey: Tree Top Apple Juice Boxes

We also welcomed a new friend this week! We are so glad to have you with us, Benny!

Jewish Learning: Purim

We continue to tell and retell the story of Purim. The Purple Room is very intrigued by Queen Esther’s bravery, and every time we tell the story the children want to discuss how King Achashverosh never made his own choices, he just went along with whatever someone else told him. Mordechai and Esther did make their own choices, even if it was hard. The idea of making your own choices or following someone else is very relevant to four year olds, who are building their sense of independence. When we tell the story, each child wants to share a time when he or she made a good choice even though it was hard. It is wonderful to hear them connecting personally to the stories of Tanach (Jewish Bible).

 

Math and Science Learning: The Grogger Experiment!

    For Purim, we are making groggers (noisemakers). We did a sound experiment this week as we designed our groggers. The Morahs showed the children three containers, one with one bean, one with five beans, and one full of beans. Which one do we think will make the most noise? Almost all of the children thought the one that was full would make the most noise. We graphed and counted our predictions, and then did the experiment. The children were fascinated to hear that the full one made almost NO noise! We had a rich conversation about why that happened and how it would affect our grogger design. 

Some of our noticings:

Daniel: “It’s zero loud!”

Shepherd: “The beans are stuck. They can’t make noise.”

Harvey: “Yeah, they need some room. If they can’t move they can’t make noise.”

Ella: “If we pour some beans out it will make more noise.”

Natan: “One hundred beans is too much beans.”

Jonny: “One bean is not even loud either. You need medium beans.”

Abigail: “When I make my grogger I will not fill it up.”

Rylan: “Five beans is a little loud.”

Carmel: “We could also use marbles inside to make noise.”

Art Learning: Making Groggers

    We asked the Purple Room what art materials they wanted to use to decorate their groggers. Connecting back to our art exploration last week, they voted to use paint and glue together. We set out materials for the students to explore how paint and glue can combine. Some chose to make very textured art with a lot of glue, while others enjoyed combining many colors. We also discovered that paper plates make a good foundation for this art– much thicker than paper! We will be filling the plates with beans to finish our groggers before Purim.

 

Fine Motor Learning: Hamentaschen and Playdough

We have been practicing making hamentaschen (three-cornered cookies) for Purim. The children have to roll, cut, and pinch the dough to turn a circle into a triangle. This takes a lot of fine motor skills, as well as learning to follow multi-step directions!

 

    The interest in hamentaschen dough led to curiosity about what kinds of play dough work best for shaping the cookies. We have a cookbook of different play dough recipes, and the children have enjoyed picking and trying new recipes this week. A salt dough worked well for rolling out hamentaschen. We also make a dough from hair gel (!) that has a great texture, and we tried a “cloud dough” which had a fascinating, fluffy texture.

Gel was so fun in the sensory bin! We found we could write letters in the gel.

We added flour to create the dough. We had to work together to mix it. 

Cloud dough felt like kinetic sand.

We took cloud dough outside to work with in the mud kitchen.

Next week, we will continue the Purim exploration! Please check the list we have given out for Purim Spirit Week.

Have a wonderful Shabbat,

Morah Shoshi and Morah Athena

 

 

Dear Purple Room Families,

    It’s almost Purim! The Purple Room is getting excited for the holiday. We are learning about the four mitzvot of Purim: hear the Purim story read from the megillah, give gifts to the poor (matanot l’evyonim), give gifts of food to friends (mishloach manot), and make a festive Purim meal, or seudah. Please take note of the Mishloach Manot announcement that was sent home. We will be making gift baskets for our friends to fulfill the mitzva of mishloach manot.

Jewish Learning: Purim

    We have been retelling the Purim story each day, and this week we got a special treat: to see a real megillah! Rabbi Deitsch visited the Purple Room and showed us the megillah. We looked for letters we know, and noticed that the letters written in the megillah have little crowns. 

 

Jewish Learning: Aleph Bet

    We sing the aleph bet each day, and the Purple Room is learning to shape the letters. This week we have been going outside and forming the letters with natural materials we can find in our outdoor classroom.

 

Jewish Learning: Parachute Davening! 

    The Purple Room has worked together to create a new way to daven. We go outside on the lawn and use the parachute! We talked about the meaning of the tefillot (prayers), and decided on movements to match the songs. For example, during ve’ahavta we all sit under the parachute like it’s a house because that tefillah talks about having a mezuzah on the door of your house. For “Hashem is Everywhere,” we wave the parachute up, down, and all around to match the words of the song. This has been an enjoyable project for the whole class!

Art Learning: Salt Painting

    This week Morah Athena introduced a new art technique in our art center: salt painting. The children spread glue on paper, sprinkled salt over the glue, and then, once it dried, they painted the salt. The salt soaks up the paint and creates a beautiful effect. The children loved this multi-sensory exploration. Some preferred the step of dripping the glue, others preferred the feeling of sprinkling the salt, and some enjoyed painting and watching the salt absorb the paint. 

 

This process builds on the children's fine motor skills, important for writing later on, as well as hand-eye coordination, an key skill required when learning to read. The children also used the executive functioning skill of planning. Children who can create, follow, and complete multi-step processes in preschool go on to perform highly in elementary school and beyond.

An Announcement about Pokemon:

Some of the children in the Purple Room are very interested in Pokemon. (If your child is not, ignore this message!) It is fine for them to bring the cards to school. Playing Pokemon together is an opportunity to cooperate, take turns, and listen to each other. We have a set time of day to play, and the children have been very cooperative in helping create our class rules for Pokemon. If you have any questions, please message Morah Shoshi.

The children are allowed to take out cards during learning time if they are being used for learning! This week we created a Pokemon writing invitation for those interested. Did you know that all the names on the Pokemon cards are phonetic? This creates a great opportunity to practice letter and sound recognition.

Have a restful Shabbat,

Morah Shoshi and Morah Athena