Chessed Guard, Assemble!

This week we continued learning about Rivkah our matriarch.
Rivkah, was known for her beautiful kindness and what it really means to notice others. We read together a story that showcased this. 

To bring Rivkah’s kindness into our classroom, we created a Chessed Guard! A Chessed Guard is a special team whose job is to make sure everyone feels safe, cared for, and included.

Here you can see Theo working on his Chessed Guard vest, and Chana helping Golda when she fell. Chana helped her get back on her feet, asked if she needed anything, and brought her an ice pack — real kindness in action!

We also made “Get Well” cards. Mordy was our Refuah Sheleima Helper, and he delivered a card to Moshe, who smiled so big — it truly made his day. That is the power of a small act of kindness!

Another beautiful project we did was “Mail a Hug.”
We traced the children’s arms open wide, like a giant hug, and mailed them to someone special.

Yehudis, chose to send her hug to a woman in the community who isn’t feeling well.

Yossi, sent his to a friend he misses.

Golda and Miya, decided to mail their hugs to their cousin who is having a hard time at school, and Avraham sent his hug to a friend who recently moved away. 💛

After all these beautiful acts of caring, the children truly earned the Gem of Kindness for their crowns!

Parasha time!

In Parashat Toldos, we learned that after Yitzchak and Rivkah got married, they did not have children for many years. They davened to Hashem, and finally their tefillot were answered — Rivkah became pregnant, and she was carrying twins!

One twin, Yaakov, was kind, gentle, and loved doing mitzvot. He listened to his “Yaakov voice” and made thoughtful choices. The other twin, Esav, was born red and very hairy, and did not always make good choices.

But even though Esav wasn’t always doing the right things, we can still learn something special from him. Esav,         showed tremendous kibbud av v’eim — he respected his mother and father in beautiful ways. This taught us that every person has something we can learn from.

Here you can see Eli F. and Avraham creating their Yaakov and Esav puppets. They even made Esav’s puppet red! We also explored different textures of fur to imagine how Esav might have felt.

When we were talking about ways we can do mitzvot of kindness, Eli B. shared that he helps his mommy take out the trash, and Theo said he helped his grandpa carry a heavy box. These were perfect examples of kibbud av v’eim 💛

Esav was a hunter. He would go out into the fields to catch animals. One day, when he came back from hunting, he was starving. As he walked into the tent, he smelled the most delicious smell — Yaakov was cooking lentil soup!

We made our own lentil soup, just like in the parasha!

When Esav arrived, he didn’t say “please.” He simply said, “Give me some of that lentil soup.”

Yaakov answered, “I’ll give it to you on one condition — you must sell me your birthright,” the special honor that belongs to the older child.

Esav said, “The birthright? I don’t need it!” And he sold it for a bowl of soup.

Later, Rivkah told Yaakov to put on Esav’s clothing and go to Yitzchak to receive the bracha. Yitzchak was older and could not see very well. When Yaakov entered the tent, Yitzchak heard him coming. He touched Yaakov’s arms, which Rivkah had covered with furry material so they would feel like Esav’s, and he smelled Esav’s clothing. Yitzchak said the famous words: “The voice is Yaakov’s voice, but the hands are Esav’s hands.”

Yaakov received the special blessing that Hashem should give him goodness, food, and plenty, that he should grow into a great nation, and that Hashem would always be with him and protect him.
This is the beautiful blessing that was passed down through Yaakov to all of us, the children of Am Yisrael 💙

Pre-K Kria

Vered varod (a pink rose) for the letter Vav!

K Kria

Yossi found the hidden word and read it beautifully!

Can you unlock the letter lock?

Academics

We had fun at Circle Time this week playing a beginning sounds alphabet game. We took turns and waited patiently for our turn.

We also played a silly game where we wrote our names…sharing the marker pens!

Aftercare

Stretching, breathing, and having fun!

Sipping warm hot cocoa on this cozy, chilly day!

Happy birthday to our Morah Rachel and Morah Leah!

Shabbat Shalom!

Twins with a twist!

This week's Parsha is Toldos, and we learned that Yitzchak and Rivka gave birth to twins!

What are twins?

Our friends were invited to match up who they thought were twins.

We also saw that sometimes twins can also look very different, but they are always the same age. 

Yitzchak showing us his twins. One was Yakov and one was hairy and red named Esav.

Practicing how to take care of babies. Pinny figuring out how a diaper works.

We learned what Yakovs personality is like, to do Mitzvahs and when he made a mistake he always wanted to fix it!

Esav on the other hand, was always doing not good.

Creating two different puppets.

Using red paint to make Esav.

Our focus this week was Yakov. He is our role model and the voice inside of us that want us choose good. This puppet was one that we can wear! To show we are just like Yakov. 

Wearing Yakov's puppet and listening to our Mitzvah notes.

Esav sold his birthright to Yakov over a lentil soup!

We made a delicious soup this week and learned a lot of skills along the way.

How to hold a plastic knife safely, the names of the vegetables, and how lentils feel before and after they are cooked.

It was delicious!

The sand feels so good after some days of rain. Yocheved Sara was busy making cholent !

A Jewish Wedding!

Parashat Chayei Sarah.

We learned about the story of the very first Jewish wedding. Eliezer, Avraham’s trusted messenger, went on a special mission to find a wife for Yitzchak. He met Rivka, and right away he knew she was the perfect match because of her incredible kindness. She worked so hard drawing water from the well and giving drinks to all of Eliezer’s thirsty camels — a true act of chesed (kindness).

To bring this story to life, our class took a walk around the block and discovered a real-life well!

(Well… it didn’t actually work — it was just for decoration — but it was still so exciting!) The children loved pretending to draw water and imagining what Rivka’s big mitzvah was like.

We also celebrated with a mock wedding in our classroom! The kids dressed up, learned about the special parts of a Jewish wedding, and danced with so much joy. It was such a lively, magical way to connect to the Parsha.

The Chossan is coming to greet the kallah.

He’s gently covering her face with the veil, and now it is a big time to daven!

The kallah is walking to the chuppah.

The chuppah!

Dance time! It is a big mitzvah to make the Chossan and kallah happy!

"כשושנה בין החוחים כן רעיתי בין הבנות"

Hashem tells us that Rivka was like a soft, beautiful rose growing between prickly thorns. Even when the people around her weren’t kind, she stayed good and did mitzvot.
Hashem says Am Yisrael is just like that too, a special rose that brings light and kindness to the world!

Yossi C. said "oh it's spiky!"

We had an amazing time celebrating with our dads on Tuesday at our “Doughnut for Dad” event! The room was filled with happy energy — you could hear the bang, bang, bang of hammers as fathers and children worked together on their special crafts. We also had a meaningful visit from Rabbi Lang, who reminded us that each one of us is a big, big, BIG light in the world. It was a morning full of joy, connection, and so much nachas!

One morning, our classmates discovered a little caterpillar in our classroom! We wondered how it found its way inside, but together we decided the best thing to do was help it get back to nature so it could grow into a beautiful butterfly. With gentle hands, Ashira scooped it up in a cup and set it free outside.

A big shout-out to Morah Rachel for our new wiggle cars! The children are absolutely loving them!

Pre-K Kria

We’re saying HEY to the letter HEY!

K Kria

In our Kria class, we had a tzirei party! The kids had so much fun creating their own tzirei “bike,” decorating it, and writing a letter with the tzirei sound. They were so proud to see their work displayed on our brand-new bulletin board, a special spot where everyone can enjoy it and remember the tzirei sound!

Academics

At Circle Time we played a game about weather and the seasons.

Eli working on his fine motor skills.

Shabbat Shalom!