The Schoolhouse News
Volume III, Issue 7 October 29, 2009 Parshas Lech L’cha
UPCOMING DATES: Friday, November 6—SCHOOL CLOSED for teacher in‐service day November 10—Elementary boys and girls choirs perform at the Self Help Senior Living Center November 14 at 7pm—First Melaveh Malkah for moms, TBA Tuesday, November 24—parent curriculum night (focus on the 3‐period lesson and math materials) TOP: Mendy works with the hammering tray in practical life. BOTTOM: Chana and Chana Leah work with the moveable letters to form three‐ letter phonetic words. These let‐ ters allow children to “write” as they are learning to read—without having to add the pencil (a more dif‐ ficult step).
TOP LEFT: Avi and Avi work with the sound cylinders. RIGHT: Ariella fastens her coat (all by herself!) CEN‐ TER LEFT: Dovy forms the bird—a rather difficult knobbed puzzle. CENTER RIGHT: Ella builds the Ro‐ man Arch—a block set that wows the children with the physics principle of the key stone. LEFT: Mendy matches people of profes‐ sions with the cards that show the implements they use—a “go togethers” pre‐ language activity.
LEFT: Reb Moshe acts out the story of Avram in the furnace of Nimrod the king to the rapt attention of the children!
It always seems so amazing to me how fast time goes by once school really starts. To think that this is the end of the second week since we came back from Sukkos vacation truly is an example of how fast time goes by when you are busy. When it comes to each day I find it even more incredible how much can happen and be accom‐ plished in just seven hours. We started the week with a song set to old MacDonald: Tzadik Noach had a Taiva, e‐i‐e‐i‐o, and on that Tavia he had some… Each child had a chance to say which animal they would like to insert into the song and imitate the sound it makes. The next day we had a lesson about the story of Noach. The story was accompanied by props of a Taiva and animals, even Noach and his wife were on hand. In the afternoon we read a book by Eric Carle based on the story by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The story recounts the reason that Noach chose the Dove. Some of the children have started working on making continent maps after being shown how to punch out simple shapes with push pins. Other children have really evolved, already, into pre‐readers and readers. Still others have gravitated toward the cultural and science sections. These children have been learning about living and non ‐living things, vertebrates and invertebrates, and the parts of animals. We even had time for a birthday celebra‐ tion this week, Happy Birthday David Gimelfarb. It is really nice to see the children moving into a rhythm. I would like to thank all of you for your patience while we have been working to hire another assistant. On Mon‐ day we have new assistant starting so our schedule and organization should be back on par by the end of the week. Between people leaving and being sick it has been very difficult. These difficulties have certainly been made easier by all those who volunteered to help and everyone’s patience. Finally, as cold and wet weather is now upon us please remember to not just bundle up your children but to label every piece of clothing. This applies primarily to outerwear but if you child frequently changes during the day for various reasons please label other layers of clothing as well. Gut Shabbos! All the best, Reb Moshe, Morah Miriam, Morah Libi
Elementary
ABOVE: The children learn about Avram and Sarai’s travels on the giant map of the travels of the avos. RIGHT: Braiding chal‐ los on erev Shabbos. BELOW: Manny reads during silent reading.
THANK YOUS… ...to all of the parents who came for our curriculum night—we had over 25 in attendance. ...to the Ohayon family for donating a glo‐germ set to teach the children about proper hand washing ...to the Mandelbaum family for donating rolled pen‐ nies for daily tzedakah.
LEFT: Ben, Manny, Tali and Esti work with vocabulary words starting with the letter daled. CENTER: Eli shades his parts of the tree diagram. BELOW: Everyone is excited about dioramas!
ABOVE: Chaya Muska and Guyli’s newest addition to their book of poetry: Fall beautiful piles big, windy, colorful crunchy sidewalks Leaves.
LEFT AND BELOW: Happy birthday, Tali and Esther! We enjoyed TWO birthday celebrations this week. Thank you to Malkah, our resident baking supervisor for assisting with two great cakes!
Our class is full of talented directors and ac‐ tors/actresses! BELOW: The play Chava Shira, Leora, Lea, Sara, Chavie, Meira Tova and Esther produced for our class on the four sea‐ sons—complete with scenery that now graces our wall. At the park every day the teachers are treated to plays on such topics as “friendship” and “hello and goodbye.” We look forward to our upcoming performance of the boys and girls choir at the Self Help Senior Living Center and our upcoming Chanukah Play!
From Parshas Bereishis and Noach you can review: 1 SUN 2 GLUE 3 TREE 4 DOOR 5 HIVE 6 STICKS 7 HEAVEN 8 GATE 9 WINE 10 TOES 11 DATE From Parshas Lech L’cha:
Music Corner