Letter Lamed

It was Monday in Pre-K and time for us to learn a new letter. Our Mail Carrier, Sophie, brought us the letter. It was the letter Lamed. It has one little line on the side, one little line across on top, and one big slanted line coming down.

Hint: Lamed has the same shape as one shaking a lulav.

Sophie our Mail Carrier

David shaking the lulav and making the Lamed shape with his body.

Our Community- Shoe Store and Shoe Repair Shop

People need a lot of things. Shoes are one of them. When it rains, we need rain boots.

When we want to run, we need running shoes for that.

"Where we can buy a pair of shoes?", asked Morah." In a shoe store", said friends.

Pre-K friends took a walking trip around our neighborhood and found a shoe store.

We saw different kinds of shoes and boots in the store. There are fancy Shabbos shoes and sneakers, rain boots and ballet shoes. Boots of every size and every kind. The saleswoman Alla showed us different shoes and said that we should measure our feet before we choose boots.

Everyone took a turn to put foot in the foot sizer. It was an interesting experience to find out size of our feet.

To know your feet size makes it easy to find shoes you need. In the shoe store, shoes are everywhere, they are stacked high in boxes. Knowing your size makes finding shoes in easy task. 

"But if shoes we are wearing need to be fixed? What should we do?, asked Morah.

" Should we throw them in garbage and buy new one?, asked Morah.

"No, said friends, we need to find a shoemaker."

We found a shoemaker in our community! A shoemaker who knows everything about shoes.

His Shoe Repair Shop smells like shoe polish and leather.

We asked him to repair shoes that our moms send with us.

It took him a day to do it.

 We paid money for repair. Now shoes are good as new :)

Thank you to Rachel's mom and Sophie's mom for supporting Pre-K friends learning and making it real:)  

Our Community- Grocery Store

One Monday, we realized that there is no milk for breakfast. Where can we get milk? One of our friends suggested to look in the refrigerator. There was no milk. Than friends got an idea! "We can buy milk in a store", they said. With no hesitation, they put coats on and went to a store. Luckily, there is a store in our community where we can buy what we NEED - milk. The store has a sign that said GROCERY.  When we came into the store, we saw different kind of food: yogurt, juice, muffins, bread, fruits and vegetables.

We found milk in the store's refrigerator. Morah asked why milk is kept in refrigerator. Friends said that milk can get spoiled without being kept in cold of refrigerator. We checked a kosher sign- Cholov Yisroel-that what we need!  

For things that we need or want we pay money. We found a cashier and paid for milk.

There are lot of people who work in the grocery store. There is a store manager, a cashier, store workers, and delivery men. Everyone is responsible for work to be done in the store. Pre-K friends discussed how much the community needs a grocery store and how a grocery store needs the people of the community. We help each other- people come to the store to buy things they need, Grocery stores provides them with these things. 

This week we learned

This week we learned the letter J. J is for our friend Jason! J is for January. J is for JOY!

To make the letter J one needs one big line, little curve and little line.  

To review /j/ sound please visit http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-j/load.htm?f

To pre-teach /d/ sound please visit http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-d/load.htm?f

Money, money, money!

This week friends started to learn about money.

Some friends shared what do they think money for. There is what they say,

Money is cash. (Ema)

Money are for putting them in tzedakah box.(Naomi)

Money are for paying in supermarket for pizza and apples, nothing else. (Mickey)

Money are for paying in a store for food. (Jason)

Money are for buying food. (David S.)

Money are for buying pretty dresses, heels, and make up. (Sophie)

We get money when we work. (Liza)

Money are for buying pants. (Rachel)

This week friends learned what is a penny and how we can recognize it among other coins. Friends learned that penny is a small round brown coin that worth 1 cent. It has picture of President Lincoln on.

Friends continued penny counting in a Grocery store. Naomi went shopping;Menny was a cashier.

Morah Bassie made a cute Lemonade Cafe where she sold drinks (lemonade, apple juice and water) and rice cakes. Drink cost 5 cents, rice cake- 1 cent. Friends were challenged to think what would they like to buy and how much money they need to pay.

After all calculations friends enjoyed snack:) 

Excitments of the week

This week Pre-K friends were excited to have a specail guest in our class. David's mom, Lily came to bake with friends Apple Cup Cakes.  What is a delicious treat! Thank you, Lily. Friends enjoyed helping you to bake and especially snacking this yummy treat!

The Marble Jar was filled once again with mitzvah marbles! How did we celebrate it? GAME PARTY!

Through all Friday, friends played different games. In the morning, it was "Musical Chairs" game. The rule of the game was to save a friend by making a sitting space for him or her even with few chairs left. As you see, friends did an amazing job following this instruction. Everyone was saved. Most important is that  everyone had a good time!  

Letter Chof Sofis

This week our letter Mailman was Menny. He brought us the letter Chof Sofis which is a long letter. At first, some friends thought that it was the letter daled but they realized the daled has a little line coming down while the Chof Sofis has an extra BIG line coming down. It has a little line on top and an extra big line coming down.
Hint: The Chof got tired of sitting too long so he stood up and stretched onto his tippy toes and made himself real tall.

Menny our Mailman

Practicing to make Letter Chof Sofis

Parshas Vayechi

For more info on the Parsha click on link below:

http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/breishis/vayechi2.htm

For a nice Parsha song for kids click on link below:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/608050/jewish/Vayechi.htm

Excitment of the week

As you heard, dear parents, the Pre-K Reward Jar was filled up with mitzvah marbles again. Mordechai Yisroel pulled out a reward idea from the Reward Ideas Jar. It was "Cake Party". This time it was Eliana's idea.  

Thursday morning, Pre-K friends busy themselves with making a cake for the Party. Strawberries, bananas, eggs, sugar, salt, flour.... Friends did an outstanding job working together as a team. They shared cutting fruits task, they took turns to put ingredients in a bowl. And finally, they enjoyed yummy cake with tea!  

One morning, Sophie was in a singing mood. Morah and some friends thought it is a great idea to sing in the morning. There is what happened next....

 Naomi was brave to start the singing first. She sang the Maccabees song! To see singing Naomi please visit 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSgrwl2V754

Then Sophie took the stage. She sang song about "Rock Star". To see Sophie's performance please visit 

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

Liza was next. She sang " If you happy and you know it." To see Liza's performance please visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRfPVKesPo4

 After Liza it was David G. turn. He sang "100 song". To see David's performance please visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MR1iGw27ho

Enjoy Pre-K Friends performances! Dear Parents, if you wish to come and sing with us, please come! We promise it will be a lot of fun!!!

This week we learned

This week we learned the letter S. To make the letter S one needs two curves. Friends learned that one of our friend's names and her mom's name and even their last name start with the letter of the week- Sofia and Svetlana Sky. Ema's brother name, Naomi's sister name, and Mickey's dad name start with the letter S too.

To review the letter S please visit http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-s/load.htm?f

To preteach the letter J please visit http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-j/load.htm?f

We learned about the number 5.

When Morah asked friends what do they know about 5. There is what they said, 

"It is a number", said Sophie. 

"Number 5 is more than number 4", said David

"Number 5 is more than 0", said Ema.

"Number 5 is more than 1", said Leon.

"Number 5 is more than 2", said Menny.

"There are 5 fingers.", said Naomi.

To make the number 5 one needs two little lines and one little curve.

That is how we write it:" Little line goes down. Little curve. Jump on the top. Little line."

Friends practiced to make a number line from 0 to 5.

As you see they did extremely well!

To play a counting game please visit http://www.abcya.com/counting_fish.htm

Very very important!

Dear Parents

With a start of a new learning unit about our community, Pre-K friends will take short and long walking trips in order to see and visit different places. Please send your child to school with all winter accessories on a daily basis, including: boots, hats, mittens/gloves, scarf, etc.  The kids should therefore be properly dressed to go on a trip. 

P.S. - Children who come to school in boots should have a pair of comfortable indoor shoes to change into when they arrive in school, leaving their boots in their cubby. 

- it would be helpful to keep an extra zip-up sweater in school so that your child can put it on or take it off if he or she so choose. 

Our Community- Our School

Pre-K Friends started a new learning unit - Our Community. The big idea of the unit is to teach friends that a peaceful community is a group of people who spend time together and share a place. In a peaceful community people help each other, solve problems talking to each other and sharing ideas.

Look ,for example, at our Pre-K class. Our class is a small community. Pre-K friends spend time together and share a place learning and playing together. Everyone has responsibilities in the class. Some friends are responsible for setting tables for breakfast and lunch, some take care of pets, some are Morah's helpers. For example, Naomi was a Davening Helper. Her responsibility was to hold a siddur during Davening. Naomi helped everyone follow along and daven together.  

In Mazel Day School, there are lot of students. School is a bigger kind of community than our class community.  Pre-K Friends are just a small part of school community. Children of the same age usually put together in one grade. Kindergarten class is another part in the school community.  Pre-K friends visited Kindergarten class to find out what do they learn and do in their community.

Kindergarten Friends were very kind to Pre-K friends and they happily shared that they have daily schedule in the class that they follow. They try to do all work that morahs plan for them in order to help them learn. There is time for learning and for recess (that means free play). Kindergartners have a lot of responsibilities: to do their homework, read books, keep their classroom neat, be respectful to each other.

There are lot of students in the school. Every class has two Morahs. What are Morahs' responsibilities in our school community? Pre-K friends said that main responsibility is to take care of them. That is absolutely correct! To take care of friends, to make sure that they learn Alef-Beis, ABC and many other things, to teach them how to get along with each other - these are morahs responsibilities.  

But who is in our school community responsible for fixing things from toys and furniture to fixing broken tiles? Who does give Pre-K friends a ride to a gym? Who does make sure that  school friends have fruits for snack? Who is always friendly and ready to help? It is Gena!   

There is one person who is charge of all things that happen in our Mazel Day School Community. It is Morah Chanie. She is a leader of the school community. It is not an easy job! How does she do it? With this question in mind, we visited Morah Chanie in her office.

Morah Chanie said that of course her job is not easy one. But she has a lot of helpers: morahs, Mrs. Inna, Morah Sarah, Gena and others. Morah Chanie makes sure that all her helpers know their responsibilities and do their job nicely. She makes sure that morahs have everything they need for teaching and taking care of friends. For example, Morah Chanie makes sure that every class gets great books to read and great toys to play and to learn with. 

Thank you to Morah Chanie, Gena and our Kindergarten Friends for letting us visit you and helping us to learn about our school community.

Shabbos Box

Our new Shabbos box is ready to be given out.

This week the lucky friend that will be taking it home is............... Mickey!

Enjoy & Good Shabbos!