Erev Rosh Hashanah Glimpse

Transcription

1 Shomrai Nursery Erev Rosh Hashanah Glimpse September 19, 2017 A Message from the Chair of the YISE Nursery School Committee Chodesh Elul is our clock. Its arrival heralds the coming of a new year, with significance of time in terms of religious observance, as well as the call for teachers and students to return to school. The end of August and/or beginning of September begins the sharing of information, learning, and unique creations that your child, grandchild, or neighbor will proudly bring home from school! The year starts with a purposeful focus on who the teachers, children and families are, that will help to create this year s classroom communities. At the same time, the children will begin their exploration of the upcoming Chagim. YISE Shomrai Nursery has changed over the years its educational philosophy, learning environments, and teaching approaches to keep pace with new research and knowledge of how students learn best. The work that the students undertake reflects the deep values of the school and synagogue. I have seen the children study shofarot and make representations out of clay or make careful drawings after time spent examining and observing a variety of shofarot. In preparation for the Yamim Noraim, the children will measure, compare, taste test, and cook various kinds of apples. Graphs and charts of the children's preferences will document their individuality and findings. The Shomrai Nursery students will bring home work that is truly theirs, not an exact replica of other students. Nor will the children's work "copy" the teacher's example, rather it will be the result of each child's thinking, theories, and evolving efforts to represent their understandings. You know it is truly made by a child when an adult isn't exactly sure of what something is. Parents and grandparents have also grown in our understanding and we now know to ask not what something is but rather to tell me about your picture. Daily thoughts, expressions, interests, communications, explorations, collaborations, adventures, research and discoveries, as experienced by students at Shomrai Nursery 2017 YISE SHOMRAI NURSERY

2 A Message from the Chair of the Nursery School Committee Continued So why am I, who has no child, grandchild, or even great grandchild as a Shomrai Nursery student, writing this article? It's a long story, but suffice it to say that I'm involved because I care about education and I love what our nursery school does. I became chair of the Nursery Committee last year and since then, I ve been witness to the joyous voices of our younger crowd. Preschool plays a vital role in our children s lives. Not only do they learn the basics how to listen, share, socialize, ask, explore, experiment, make friends, and develop their own personalities, but they also are exposed to a whole host of new experiences to awaken their curiosity and creativity. It s a hands-on and minds-open school! The STREAM program introduced last year is a combination of experiential and inquiry-based learning in the areas of Science, Technology, Relationships, Engineering, Art, and Math! By offering challenges and problems for the children to solve, we see their critical thinking and science and math skills are strengthened. Interesting and open-ended materials are also available for the children to explore and tinker with in the maker/art realm. With the unfortunate death of beloved Morah Anna Rutner two years ago, a fund was established in her memory. Money from the Anna Rutner fund is being used to bring in childcare development consultants to work with our staff and classrooms to ensure that the best teaching strategies for all children in the school continue. There are specialists in music and something new this year is the introduction of a Zumba teacher. New as well this year, due to the school s intent to support the children's self-regulation (critical for all learning) and to increase the children s ability to self-calm and be mindful, there also will be a yoga instructor. Why Shomrai? Because all this wonderful, joyous, caring attention is provided in an Orthodox setting, where Judaism shapes our curriculum and is woven into all facets of the daily classroom. We are honored to have Rabbi Rosenbaum come in weekly to give a Parsha talk and to answer questions. Our children come up with some really good ones! It s also beautiful to witness the kesher, bond, our students have with him. Shomrai Nursery's program is also practical and realistic. We recognize the need of many parents for extended childcare, and we offer quality before and after care, staffed by our own warm and caring teachers. Tours of the school are available and staff can be available to answer your questions. Please visit our website for more information. Soon we ll all be hearing the shofar, dipping apples into honey and counting the number of seeds in our pomegranates "Dip the apple in the honey, make a bracha loud and clear; l shanah tovah u metukah; may you have a sweet new year!" Susan Koss Chairs, YISE Shomrai Nursery School Committee

3 Kitat Tamar Explores Honey I know what that is, Seth announced when he spied the honey dippers on the table on Monday morning. They are honey dippers, he said. In honor of Rosh Hashana the children in Kitat Tamar added embellishments to honey dippers. They were excited to take their turns. Each child chose the string, yarn, or twine to wrap around the honey dippers. I want to use blue string, Josh requested. I like pink string, Michal shared with the morah. The children had the option to continue to work on their honey dippers on Tuesday as well. They could add the wire and beads of their choice. We explored honey during snack time too. The children sampled three types of honey. There was the famous honey bear that contained clover blossom honey. We also had wildflower blossom and buckwheat blossom honey. We asked the children to share which honey they preferred. All of the children with the exception of one, shared that they liked the clover honey the best. We plan to continue our exploration of bees and honey after Rosh Hashanah. We want to wish all the Kitat Tamar families a happy and healthy sweet New Year!!לשנה טובה ומתוקה Morah Lisa & Devorah Sarah Mazel Tov to Aliza & Adam Mervis on the birth of a baby boy, little brother to Miriam Bracha! Welcome back to Morah Debby & Friends! Thank you for teaching us about teshuva!

4 The children in Kitat Gefen are ready for Rosh Hashanah! They know all about dipping the apple in the honey, blowing the shofar, round challahs, and so much more. This week we also explored all things pomegranate. The children touched, counted, and tasted the seeds. They rolled them and squished them between their fingers. Using red dot paint, they created observational paintings of the seeds they found in a pomegranate. The children's paintings, along with the Yehi Ratzon we say when eating pomegranate on Rosh Hashanah, make a perfect honey drip mat to enhance your Rosh Hashanah table. The children are also bringing home honey dippers that they crafted. First they painted wooden beads (with the paint colors we mixed ourselves). Then they laced the beads onto pipe cleaners and wrapped them around the handle. They are also bringing home a repertoire of Rosh Hashanah songs we sing in class, including... Dip the Apple (Traditional tune) Dip the apple in the honey Make a bracha loud and clear L'shana tova umesuka Have a happy, sweet New Year. The Shofar in the Shul (To the tune of The Wheels on the Bus) The shofar in the Shul goes toot toot toot Toot toot toot Toot toot toot The shofar in the Shul goes toot toot toot On Rosh Hashanah morning. Tekiah Toot (Loosely to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell) Tekiah toot Shevarim toot toot toot Teruah toot toot toot toot toot toot toot toot toot Happy Birthday to the World (To the tune of Happy Birthday to You) Happy birthday to the world x4 Wishing you a happy holiday, a sweet New Year, and a k'siva v'chasima tova, Morah Aviva and Morah Chaya Sara Kitat Gefen is Ready!

5 Kitat Simcha Graph their Favorite Apples Kitat Simcha has been learning about the many different components of Rosh Hashanah. The children have shown a strong interest in apples. Over the past two weeks the children had the opportunity to taste different types of apples. At our afternoon meeting on Monday the morah conducted a survey to find out which apple was each child's favorite. Each child found his/her picture from the basket and was asked to place their picture under the apple that was their favorite on the graph. The results: When our survey was completed we counted together how many friends liked each type of apple. Two friends preferred red, three friends liked yellow, three friend liked green, and just one friend said they liked pink apples. Shana Tova! Morah Jessica and Morah Chana Red Apples Yellow Apples Green Apples Pink Apples

6 Kitat Rimon Explores a Rimon! Kitat Rimon has been busy preparing for Rosh Hashana! The children beaded their very own honey dippers, and they each made a shofar to use on Rosh Hashana. We sang Rosh Hashana songs with Morah Leah on Monday, and today we enjoyed a puppet show with Morah Debby & Friends all about Rosh Hashana! This morning, the children experienced a Rimon! They observed how it looked on the outside as well as on the inside. When asked by the morah if anyone had ever seen a pomegranate before, Effie determined that it looked just like the pomegranate in his book at home. At snack time, the children tasted the delicious pomegranate, as well as apples dipped in honey! Have a wonderful Yom Tov! Shana Tova U mesuka! Morah Miriam and Morah Yvette

7 Happy Birthday Yaakov & Shana Tova In honor of Rosh Hashanah the children in Kitat Prachim used colored masking tape to make patterns on their Rosh Hashanah honey dipper. We also read the story, Sammy Spider s Rosh Hashanah by Sylvia A Rouss during morning meeting. At different points in the story, the morah paused. This allowed time for the children to reflect and demonstrate their understanding of the story. At one point, the children moved their feet slowly up and down to show how Sammy s legs got caught in the honey jar. The children also predicted what would happen. They had two predications: Sammy would get stuck in the honey; and Sammy would leave the honey pot. In the end, we found out that everyone guessed correctly. Sammy got stuck and ate the honey so he could free himself from the pot! Today we celebrated our first birthday in class. Happy birthday Yaakov! The children decorated a special birthday crown for Yaakov. They also made him a bear puppet from the story Brown, Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle. The children enjoyed having a visit from Yaakov s mom and baby sister. They loved the delicious fruit platter! Shanah Tova! Morah Siena, Morah Tara, and Morah Sigla