Shavuos

After the Jewish people left Mitzrayim, they began their journey to Israel through the desert.

The Jews counted 40 days until Hashem would give them the special present that He had for them. But first, Hashem tried to give the Torah to other people who would be happy to own it. He sent angels from nation to nation asking if they'd like this gift. Each nation explained why they didn't want to accept the Torah. At the end, the angels went to the Jewish people and asked them if they'd accept the Torah. They knew it must be a good thing since after all it was coming directly from Hashem. And, it was Hashem who took them out of Mitzrayim, He was the one who split the sea for them, and He was the one who gave them Mann to eat in the desert; so they knew the Torah would be a very special gift.

Altogether, they said "Naaseh V'Nishmah. We will do and we will listen." 

Song:

Naaseh V'Nishma,

Was our cry,

We will do and we will listen,

Without asking why.

Hashem wanted to give the Torah in the desert. The desert is a bare and barren place, but a land which did not belong to any country or any nation. Whoever wanted to be there and accept the Torah could have done so.
Now Hashem was looking for a mountain to give it on. One mountain wanted the honors because it was taller than all the other mountains, while another mountain claimed that it was so wide. But Hashem chose Mount Sinai becuase he was so humble. Har Sinai didn't have grass or flowers and wasn't able to brag about itself in any way. In the end, while the Jewish people were getting ready to receive the Torah, Hashem chose Har Sinai and made grass and flowers grow on it to be pretty for the Torah. 
It is a wonderful midda/ character trait  to know the things were good at, but to boast about it isnt pleasing to others or Hashem. Hashem honors humility. :)

Song:

I am a mountain so very tall,

I can reach way up to the sky,

the Torah can be given on me,

Cuz I am as tall as can be you see.

I am much wider than you,

There are so many things I can do,

The Torah can be given on me,

Cuz I am as wide as can be you see,

But little Har Sinai just stood there and sighed,

I know Im not tall,

I know Im not wide,

The Torah can't be given on me,

For I am as simple as can be you see,

But from all the mountains,

Hashem chose Sinai,

Because He did not hold himself high,

He had such simple and humble ways,

And from that we learn that humility pays.

 

Decorating the covers of our Mitzva Note Torahs.         

                      

The Aron Kodesh with the Torah inside- finished product!

Parshas Beha'aloscha

Click here for more info on the Parsha:

http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/bamidbar/bahaalo2.htm

May Excitments

Oh, what a great time we had last Tuesday!

Thank you to Leon's mom and Leon for inviting Pre-K Friends for Sport Backyard Party:)

Trampoline jumping!  

Soccer game! See our girls protecting the gates!

Ice Cream making and of course eating it.... IT WAS Sooooooo DELICIOUS:)

The best way to refresh - WATERMELON:)

On Wednesday, Friends released (let go) our butterflies.

We observed how butterflies flew searching for beautiful flowers that

provide butterflies with pollen and nectar.

Our garden gave first vegetables! Friends discovered two radishes! We pulled them. We washed them and we ate them.

Letter Saf

This week we learned letter Saf. The last letter in the Hebrew Alef Beis. Saf has one big line on top, one big line coming down on the right, one big line coming down on the left, and a little line on the bottom. Saf has no dot.
We heard a little story to remember the difference between letter Taf and Saf.
Taf had a loose tooth in his mouth. He went to the dentist to get it pulled out. The dentist put gloves on his hands. He put his fingers into Taf's mouth to feel the tooth. "Wahoo!", he said. "It is very loose." He tugged and pulled and the tooth came out. Now, Taf had no tooth in his mouth. He then became letter Saf.

We have completed learning the Hebrew Alef Beis!

Mazal Tov!!

Letter Taf

Sophie brought us the second to last letter in the Alef Beis. It was letter Taf. Taf has one big line on top, one big line coming down, another big line coming down, a little line on the bottom left, and one dot in the middle.

Torah begins with letter Taf.
We went to the Shul. Rabbi Dovid showed us the different Torahs in the Aron Kodesh. He told us there are 300,000 letters in the Torah and it takes a Sofer (scribe) 6 to 9 months to write just one Torah. Then we each got a turn to find the first letter of our names in the Torah. So special!

Is the Torah heavy or light? The way we found out was by lifting it.

Yes, it is heavy!

Our World -Space I

Pre-K Friends learn about Space! Thank you to David S. who shared his Space Puzzles with all friends.

Friends learned that there are 8 planets in Solar System.

There are attached to links to Space songs that we sang in the classroom

 and learned a great deal about planets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd_EIdZrvaU The Planets Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ-qLUIj_A0 The Solar System Song

Excitments of the week

Having Simcha observing friends learning about Space:)

A perfect spring day for outside play.

Sensory Room addition in the Gym.

Tag game. Almost.... almost fair and square.

Finally, BUTTERFLIES!

Parshas Bamidbar

For more info on the Parsha click here:
http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/bamidbar/bamidba2.htm

For a nice song on the Parsha click here:
http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/610706/jewish/Bamidbar-II.htm

Parshas Behar Bichukosai

Click below for more info on the Parsha:
Behar- http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/vayikra/behar2.htm
Bechukosai- http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/vayikra/bechuko2.htm

Click below for a nice song on the Parsha:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/608126/jewish/Behar.htm  

Letter Sin

Menny our Mail Man brought us letter Sin. 

It has three big lines coming down, one big line on the bottom, and a dot on the left side. 

Simcha Smiley Face

Simcha begins with Sin

Our World- Land and Plants

What is land for? Friends said that people can walk,  jump and run on the land. People build houses on the land. People plant vegetables and fruits on the land. Pre-K Friends made their own garden and planted radish, sweet pea and flowers seeds.

Come and see Pre-K garden at our school's playground.

What do we know about plants? Friends went on the trip to the Botanical Gardens. They learned that plants can be found on every continent of the world. Some plants live in water, some plants live in rocky and dry places.

Friends learned parts of the plants and what job they do. Simple experiment taught us that roots and stem of plants deliver water to the leaves and flowers.

 

 

Friends learned that fruits and vegetables parts of the plants that people eat.

For example, pepper is a fruit of a plant, radish is a root, cauliflower is  a flower; we eat leaves of red cabbage and stem of celery. Zoya, Emma’s mom (she is a health coach), taught us that color and shape of fruit tell us what are they good for. For example, all red and orange fruits that ripe on sun are good for heart, liver and blood.

Lag Ba'Omer

There was a very kind boy named Akiva who took care of sheep all day and night and because of that, he couldn't go to school. When Akiva grew older, he married Rochel: a wonderful and smart girl. Rochel told Akiva to go to school and learn Torah, but Akiva said, "I'm 40 years old and I don't even know the Alef Beis!" Rochel encouraged Akiva and told him that he could do it! 


And so Akivah went to school. He first started out with the youngest children who were beginning to learn Alef Beis. Then he moved onto higher grades with students who could already read and with them he learned how to daven, read the Torah and heard the lessons of the parsha. Learning wasn't always easy for him to do and understand, but he tried and tried and never gave up until he knew it well. Finally, after 12 years Akiva no longer needed a teacher as he was finally able to learn on his own. He soon became known as Rabbi Akiva and began teaching others. 

Song:

Many years ago, a small shepherd boy, watched the sheep all day.

Akiva didn’t even learn the Alef Bais, which all of us can say.

Rachel his smart wife, gave him good advice and this is what she said,

“It’s never too late to start learning Torah, if you use your head.”

Reb Akiva learned all day and night, a Talmud Chochom he became.

He had many Talmidim who all learned Torah and we should do the same.

By now, Rabbi Akiva had 24,000 students. Each student wanted everyone to think that only their opinion was correct and thus began arguments with one another. Hashem was so sad to watch how his children were behaving and one by one the students began to get sick.


On Lag Ba' Omer the students stopped getting sick because they realized why Hashem was making this happen to them. They understood that even though they each had their own opinion they still needed to get along with each other and be kind. 

 

Rabbi Akiva had 5 students who did not become sick. One of them was Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who lived during the times of the Roman Empire. At the time, the Romans weren't happy to see Jewish people learning Torah. If they would find someone learning Torah, they would punish them.


Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai found out that the Romans knew he was learning Torah and that it wouldnt be safe for him if he stayed at home. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son Rabbi Elazar went to live in a cave until the danger passed. They were there for thirteen years and learned Torah. What did they eat and drink all this time? Hashem created a spring of water for them to drink from and a carob tree from which they ate.


The friends were discussing the possibilities of the outcome if they left the cave to get water and carobs: 


Naomi asked how could they leave the cave to get water and carobs from the tree? Wouldn't the Romans see them?
Sophie answered, "Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son could put brown blankets around them so they can be camouflaged and get water and food from the tree."





On Lag Ba'Omer we sometimes have a parade with friends and people of all ages to show unity. It shows that it doesn't matter what shape or size we are, talents we may have, or opinions we may hold, because we are all part of the Jewish nation.


We also dance around a big bonfire and haves games and fun in the park.

Parade parading altogether hand in hand

                                                                           

Races

Letter Shin

Eliana brought us the letter Shin. It has three big lines coming down, one big line on the bottom, and one dot on the top RIGHT.

We learned two fun hints to remember that the Shin has the dot on the right side as opposed to the left side.

Hint #1: Which hand do we use to cover our eyes to say Shma? Our right hand. Shma begins with Shin.

Hint #2: When we say Shalom (Hello) to someone and greet them with a handshake, we always use our right hand. Shalom begins with shin.

We sang a song while turning to our friend with our right hand to shake their right hand.

"Give him your right hand,

Look him in the eye,

Put a smile on your face,

And then you say Shalom." 2x

Mail Carrier Eliana

Using right hand to say Shalom.

Being creative while making Shin out of material and a yarmulka for the dot.

Parshas Emor

Click link below for more info on Parsha:
http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/vayikra/emor2.htm


Click link below for nice song on Parsha:
http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/608122/jewish/Emor.htm


This weeks parsha talks about 5 different holidays.
Being that we already learned about the holidays as we approached them during the year, we played "Kids on Stage" instead of using our usual puppets and props to tell the stories. The friends got turns to come up, look at a picture of a holiday, and act it out. The other friends needed to guess what the friend was doing and which holiday it was. They were super at it.

Excitments of the week

                                Look at our little garden! Radish and sweet pea had sprouted!  

On Tuesday, friends visited the Mazel Juice Bar. Delicious! 

 Our caterpillars had turned into chrysalises. It is time to transfer them into the butterfly house.

Day on the beach! What can be better!

On the third day of creation Hashem created the land.  We learned that  the biggest parts of land is called a continent. There are seven continents on the Earth- North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica.
There are different kinds of land. Some land is flat; we call it a plain or valley. Some land is made of rocks; we call it a mountain. Some land is made of sand; we call it desert. A land that is surrounded by water is called an island.

What is land made up of? Rocks, soil, and sand... We took some soil from our school backyard to see what it is made of. There we found sand, little rocks, and humus. What is humus?  Earth worms that live in the soil eat parts of dying plants and animals making them into humus - an important part of soil that contains food for growing plants. You say- yicky, we say- science!

 We also learned that rocks are a part of land, they can be different in many ways. Some rocks are too big to hold it in our hands. A rock can be as big as a mountain.

Other rocks are so small that we can hold thousands of them at once, thousands of grains of sand. It  start as larger rocks, which are broken down to the grains of sand as rivers carry them down stream.

Our World-- Water II

This week friends learned that the earth has small amount of water.  That water keeps going around and around and around and around. We call it the "Water Cycle".
This cycle is made up of a few main parts:

• evaporation
• condensation
• precipitation

Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers or lakes or the ocean and turns it into vapor or steam. The water vapor or steam goes into the air.
Water vapor in the air gets cold and gets together forming clouds. This is called condensation. Check our youtube postings with friends performing "Water Cycle" song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFXZwO-NOsg&feature=relmfu    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMi0Jj3SwJE     

During the Rain Walk, friends observed three steps of Water Cycle: condensation, precipitation and collection in forms of puddles and big water body- ocean.

When the sun strikes falling raindrops rainbow appears. To memorize rainbow colors, Sophie taught friends a rainbow song:

Red, yellow, orange,

green followed blue,

indigo and violet

This is rainbow song for you.

Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore.  The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, or snow.