Shomrai Nursery

Weekly Glimpse

Daily thoughts, expressions, interests, communications, explorations, collaborations, adventures, research and discoveries, as experienced by

students at Shomrai Nursery 2016

Patience is a Virtue

Parshas Ki Tisa

Candlelighting: 5:39 PM

Havdalah: 6:38 PM

YISE SHOMRAI NURSERY

February 26, 2016 18 Adar I 5776

From aish.com: “Sometimes a person feels like losing his

temper. We all have moments or encounter people that try our

patience and make us feel like we are at our wit's end. In this

week's Torah portion the Jewish people had tested God's

patience very severely. Moses was on Mount Sinai getting

ready to bring the people the wonderful gift that God had

given them, the Torah. At that very moment the people did

exactly what God had asked them not to do, by building and worshiping a golden calf. This

was a terrible mistake and God was very frustrated by this behavior. Yet He told Moses

that He still loved them and would continue to be patient with them and give them a chance

to straighten out their ways. We can learn from here to be more patient and understanding

with the people in our lives who tend to anger and frustrate us.”

Rabbi Mati adds: This is especially so with our children. Not only that, but when our

children see us controlling our temper and managing our anger in effective ways, they also

learn to control their anger effectively. When children see us label our feelings honestly and

use strategies to help ourselves calm down (such as counting to 10, waiting before

speaking, etc.), they learn how to manage their feelings effectively as well.

Thank you to our Shabbat Party

Sponsors!

Josh Rabin and Family Avigail Shoshani and Family Gavi Hershenson and Family

Ahuva Kaplan and Family Eli Gabay and Family

Aidel Gaisin and Family A Capital Challah

A Busy Week of Learning in Kitat Simcha

The PTA is recruiting volunteers and prizes for our

Lag B Omer Raffle and Carnival! We need a few folks to help collect prizes. Or, if you have a prize you'd like to donate (service, item, gift

card) that would be great too!

Consider donating something in honor of your child's teachers.

We also need a volunteer to organize our annual Lag B Omer Carnival.

Please be in touch if you are interested in 1. helping to collect prizes, 2. donating a prize 3.

organizing our carnival.

Send an email to Emily @ todd.emily.friedman@gmail.com

Kitat Simcha made some finger puppets today that we plan to use for our upcoming Purim party in March. The children chose a personality from the Megillah for their puppet, either King Achashverosh, Vashti, Haman, Mordechai HaYehudi, or Queen Esther. They had fun raising their puppet when their chosen character was mentioned in our song.

We reviewed Parshas Ki Sisa using Tell Me The Story of The Parshah by M. Klein. The Morot gave out quarters to each student and then went around re-collecting them in a jar. We talked about how Hashem knew the number of Jewish people in the midbar but counted them out of love for each individual. The Morot counted out fifteen quarters corresponding to the 15 precious students in our class.

On Wednesday, it was a rainy day. The children enjoyed a book entitled Gavriel's Storm by Aviva Werner. Gavriel's father helps Gavriel feel safe when he hears thunder and sees lightning. He also explains to his son why Hashem makes storms and what brachos we make during a storm. The children sure were prepared for our severe thunderstorm warning and tornado watch that very night!

Morah Yocheved, Morah Jessica, Morah Judy, and Morah Chaya Sara

Castles, Zoos, and Dinosaurs!The building of castles and palaces continued in Kitat Gefen.

Leba was building with square blocks. “I am building a tower for the castle,” she said.Eliana was building too. “I am building a castle cake,” she announced.Tziona was building a single tall tower from small and large blocks.Morah Leah offered to help the children build a wall around the castle.Eliyahu and Esti began to build a line from blocks on one side of the table. Devorah and Yehuda built lines on the other sides. The children connected the four lines of blocks to form a wall around the perimeter of the table.

Eliyahu brought two toy elephants to the table and put them inside the wall. “This is a zoo for my animals,” he said, placing the different sized elephants next to each other.“I want the big elephant to take care of his baby elephant,” he continued.Leba brought two toy ducks into the enclosure. “I have a mommy duck and a baby duck,” she announced.The children brought many toy animals to the table.“I want animals too,” requested Yehuda. Morah Leah gave him a toy cow.Yehuda found some other cows, picked them up, and placed them next to each other.“How many cows are there?” asked Morah Leah.Yehuda pointed to the cows as he was counting them. “Five cows,” he answered.

Leba found a toy dinosaur amongst the animals.Spontaneously, the children began to sing one of their favorite songs. Here’s how it goes:There is a dinosaur knocking at my doorKnocking one two threeThere is a dinosaur knocking at my doorHe wants to spend Shabbat with me.

The royal zoo was complete, and it looked pretty grand!

Thank you to Moshe for bringing Purim show and tell. Parents, keep the Purim show and tells coming.Thank you Avigail for Shabbat party.Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Morah Anna and Morah Leah

Baby News

Mazel Tov to Devorah and the entire Goldberg family on the birth of a baby brother!

Do we have your registration? Registration for the 2016-2017 school year is now officially open!

We have a lot of interest in our 3s and Pre K program for next year. We give first preference for admission to current students and their siblings until February 28th. Thereafter, YISE synagogue members are given the next preference, after which admission is awarded to applicants from the wider community. Full day applicants will be given a higher priority.

If you are planning on sending your child to Shomrai Nursery next year, please complete the registration forms by February 28th to secure your child’s spot for next year.

Calendar Reminders

in March  Please note the following dates have been changed in the March 2016 school calendar. Parent teacher conferences and the professional day will now be the week of March 14th.

The new calendar: Mar 1 and Mar 2  - Regular days of schoolMar 3 - Regular day of school

Mon Mar 14 - No School; Professional DayTue Mar 15 - Conferences in the evening; Aftercare ends at 5PMWed Mar 16 - 9AM Start Time; Aftercare ends at 5PM

Purim Fun in Kitat GefenThis week Kitat Gefen learned about Purim. On Tuesday the class made a castle wall that now resides in the schools’ hallway. On Wednesday, the morot told the children the story of Purim using puppets. The children then painted using the colors that were on King Achashverosh’s robe.Yosef said, “King Achashverosh.”“Purple and silver,” said Michal.“I have brown,” said Talya, mixing the two colors together. “Oh yah! Nice!” exclaimed Josh.

On Thursday the children used many different loose materials to create a door for the castle we had created earlier in the week.“My daddy made one when he was the king and my mommy was the queen of our house,” said Michal.Zevy said that he had, "glued paper on paper.""We glued paper for the door," said Esti.

We will continue to learn about Purim in the coming weeks.

Shabbat Shalom!Morot Daniella and Chaya Sara

Parsha is Paramount in Kitat Rimon!On top of our Purim preparations, we have been learning the parsha here in Kitat Rimon! We discussed how, in this week's parsha, every Jew had to give half a shekel towards the Mishkan. We showed the children a half-shekel Israeli coin, and this morning, with the the help of magnifying glasses, the children had the opportunity to make observational drawings of the coins. Some children, such as Elisheva and Gedaliah, beautifully copied the numbers and Hebrew letters which appeared on the coin. Sara, in addition, copied the year in Hebrew and also the word Israel in English and Hebrew from the back of the coin. Zacky drew an awesome lion which he copied from the back of the coin.

We also learned about the Ki'or, the special sink in the Mishkan which the Kohanim used for washing their hands and feet before beginning to serve Hashem. We tied it to our washing of hands in the morning and before eating, and watched a short (Artscroll) video about how the Ki'or was made. The children painted the Ki'or using gold paint. (We were fresh out of copper paint!) Some children, such as Meir and Sara, even included a Kohen washing hands in their painting.

We look forward to more Purim preparations next week! Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Mati and Morah Yvette

This is the Way We Wash Our Hands…

Parsha Questions from Pre KNummy: Why did the Kohanim have to wash their hands and feet?Ahuva: Why did they have to count Bnai Yisrael?Moshe F: Why did the Kohanim have to wash their feet?Leah: Why did they need a special sink for washing their feet and hands?Eliav: Why did they need to wash before doing their work?Elisheva: Why did every Jew need to give half a Shekel and not a whole one?Sara: Why did Hashem want to count them?Moshe K. and Aidel: Why did the Kohanim need to wash their hands and feet before entering the Mishkan?Bracha: Why did they need a special sink? Why not a normal one?(Sara had an answer for Bracha: Because in those days they didn’t have any sinks!)

Drawing By:Nummy Goodman

Drawing By:Rachelli Pomerantz

This week is Parshat Ki Tisa. When we sat down to learn Parsha this week, the children’s ears perked up and they were ready to learn some Torah.

“In the Parsha, Hashem told Moshe to count B’nai Yisrael,” the Morah said to the class.“Why do we need to count the people?” Nummy asked.“Hashem loves each and every Jewish person, and because of this Hashem wants to count us so that we know that each one of us is precious to Hashem,” the Morah answered.

We explained that the way Moshe counted the people was with a half-Shekel coin. Each person gave the same coin if they were rich or poor. We were fortunate that Rabbi Mati had some half-Shekel coins from Israel to illustrate the concept to the children. During center time the children painted and later drew a replica of the half-Shekel coin.

We also learned about the Kiyor in the Mishkan.“Why do the Kohanim have to wash their hands?” Nummy asked.“Why did the Kohanim need to wash their feet?” Moshe F. wondered.Later, in afternoon center time, the children worked on observational drawings of the Kiyor.“I made the Kiyor where they wash their hands and feet,” Ahuva said, describing her drawing.“They use them before they go to work,” Rachelli explained as she referred to her drawing of the Kiyor.

Thank you to Eli and the Gabay family for sponsoring this week’s Shabbat Party.

Shabbat Shalom,Morot Lisa and Devorah Sarah

Kitat Shalom is Under Construction!

This week, to compliment all kinds of construction that our children are doing, we had Mr. Lew come into our room with a big ladder to install a new fire alarm. This event inspired some conversation among our students.

“Why is there a ladder?” Shlomo wondered.Avi noticed that the ladder went up almost to the ceiling and asked, "Is he going to go to the ceiling?" "This ladder is so tall, it can reach the roof!" Yishai exclaimed.Shoshana began to laugh and shared a story: ”Yesterday, my daddy lifted me up and I could touch the ceiling." Shlomo noticed a warning picture of a person falling on the side of the ladder and said, "Someone is getting hurt. He is falling." Avi and Shlomo agreed that we have to be so careful when we are on the ladder.

As more construction equipment entered into our class, Simcha wondered, "Why is he bringing so much stuff into our room?" "I have a screwdriver at home,” Shlomo said, noting the screwdriver the worker was holding. Simcha was impressed. “Really?" he said."Screwdrivers I know, we screw out screws,” Yishai explained.

Mr. Lew began to drill an opening into the side of the wall. Many of the children agreed that it was a loud noise! We are very grateful that our classroom has a new fire alarm system, and we look forward to connecting this experience with learning more about fire-safety rules.

Wishing you and your families a Good Shabbos!Morot Devorah Malka, Hanna, and Sigla

Happy Purim!

Yes, it is that time of year again!Please support YISE Shomrai Nursery by ordering our

beautiful full color, glossy, Purim cards featuring our very own community children!

Order 3 cards for $6

10 cards for $1820 cards for $3630 cards for $5440 cards for $72

E-mail nursery@yise.org and state your name, phone number and number of cards ordering. Call Ruthie Cohen at 301-593-7365 with

questions.

Cards available for pickup

from shul office or

Nursery office from Feb 17

We wish you a freilichin Purim!