| Reminders |
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 8:45AM-10:15AM THE 3-YEAR-OLD AND 2-YEAR-OLD CLASSES WILL HAVE THEIR CHANUKAH CELEBRATIONS IN THEIR CLASSROOMS.
Please check the Lost and Found
table and coat rack outside the Elementary School office if you are looking for a missing item.
For the boys: Every day during davening, we say the bracha for tzitzit, so please make sure your son wears some or keeps in his backpack a pair of tzitzit and a kippah.
If you have any recyclable materials, please send them in for our classes to use. Examples are:
-Paper towel/toilet paper rolls
-Paint color samples
-Scraps of contact paper, wallpaper, or cloth
-Small pieces of tile
-Any other crafty loose parts!
Please send in dress-up clothes, especially authentic doctor clothes and supplies. Thank you!
Whether you are a parent, alumni or faculty member, your Maimo Moments are welcomed and appreciated.
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How To Subscribe to the Calendar
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For step-by-step instructions for subscribing to the Maimonides Early Childhood Center calendar on your mobile device or computer,
CLICK HERE.
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From Robin Meyerowitz
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Dear Parents,
It was so nice to see the 4-year-old class's parents this week. It was wonderful to have everyone in school and to celebrate Chanukah together.
We hope to see the parents of the 2- and 3-year-old classes on Tuesday, December 19 for our upcoming Chanukah Celebrations:
3-Year-Old Class: Tuesday, December 19, 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
2-Year-Old Class: Tuesday, December 19, 9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Re-enrollment information for next year will be coming out soon, so please keep an eye on your inboxes. We love each and every one of your children, and we can't wait to watch them continue to grow and learn.
Chanukah Sameach and Shabbat Shalom,
Robin
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Dvar Torah
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by Rabbi David Saltzman
Last week we learned that the sar hamashkim (wine bearer) forgot to show hakarat hatov to Yosef. This week, the sar hamashkim has a chance to redeem himself. After hearing Pharaoh's dreams and seeing that none of the trained magicians were able to offer a viable solution, the sar hamashkim remembered Yosef and said (as the song goes), "I know of a bloke in jail, Who is hot on dreams, Could explain old Pharaoh's tale."
The pasuk states that he prefaced his words with the following:
וַיְדַבֵּר֙ שַׂ֣ר הַמַּשְׁקִ֔ים אֶת־פַּרְעֹ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר אֶת־חֲטָאַ֕י אֲנִ֖י מַזְכִּ֥יר הַיּֽוֹם׃
The chief cupbearer then spoke up and said to Pharaoh, I must make mention today of my offenses.
What exactly was his transgression, and against whom did he sin?
Rabbi Moshe Alshich (1508-1593) comments that the sar hamashkim felt he had sinned against Yosef, as he states:
את חטאי - מה שחטאתי ליוסף שלא הזכרתיו עד הנה
My sin to Yosef that I have not remembered him until now.
The sar hamashkim, 10 years later, remembered the favor that Yosef did for him while they were in jail together. Finally, after 10 years, he showed hakarat hatov by recommending Yosef to the king, which ultimately spurred Yosef's release from prison.
We discussed with the Elementary School students that it's never too late to show hakarat hatov. A good activity is to think about someone who made a difference in your life and call that person to express your gratitude.
We also discussed that one can show hakarat hatov by recommending a person for a job in thanks for the good work they provided, which will help the person get other jobs. Writing a positive review on a website in order to help a business attract more patrons is another example of showing your hakarat hatov.
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Thoughts of the Rav
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by Rabbi Dov Huff
When we think about the appropriate place for the laws of Hallel in our sifrei halacha, our books of law, we would likely look towards hilchot tefilla. Since the recitation of Hallel is done as part of tefilla, it would seem appropriate to place the laws of Hallel in the sections about prayer. This is, in fact, what the Shulchan Aruch does.
Interestingly, the Rambam does not. In the Mishneh Torah, one can find the halachot pertaining to Hallel right in the middle of Hilchot Chanukah. The Rav explains the reason for this is that the function of Hallel is giving praise to Hashem, and giving praise to Hashem is at the very core of the meaning of Chanukah. The underlying theme, the reason we light candles in the places and at the times that we do, the emphasis on pirsumei nisah - all flow from this idea, which is the very essence of Chanukah.
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2-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
It's been a chilly week, so we haven't spent too much time outside. The cold weather is here to stay, so please make sure your child has everything they need to stay warm while we go outside, including hats, mittens, boots, and snow pants, all labeled please. And please let us know if we can keep these items at school or if you want them brought home.
We have been very busy this week making Chanukah come alive. Morah Tzipi told the story of Chanukah on Tuesday using puppets, animals, chanukiyot, and blocks. We've also been looking at photos and learning about all different kinds of animals. We love doing fun projects, drawing with crayons and markers, and putting together puzzles.
We are looking forward to seeing you at our Chanukah celebration on Tuesday, December 19 in our classroom from 9:30am - 10:15am.
We hope you enjoy the photos below, which range from Thursday of last week through Wednesday of this week.
Getting the potatoes ready to make delicious latkes to eat.
On Friday we brought out our beautiful animal book.
"Lighting" the candles and spinning dreidels at last week's Shabbat party.
Look, on Friday, we drew upside down under the table, just like Michelangelo.
On Monday, after the first snowfall, we brought some snow into the classroom.
Monday was a good day to decorate a lovely kad katan (little oil jug) with gold.
On Tuesday, Morah Tzipi told us a very exciting story about Chanukah.
Then the children got to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash on their own.
Look how pretty the choshen [breastplate] of the kohen gadol [high priest] is.
On Wednesday there was a feast of latkes and tea!
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah,
Morah Laura and Morah Tzipi
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3-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
We have really been enjoying Chanukah this week. The students have dressed up and acted out the story of Chanukah. The students also used puppets to act out the story as the morahs told it. During provocations, the morahs used tape to make the letters found on a dreidel on the table. The students then traced the letters by placing stones on the taped lines. We talked about what the letters are, and what they stand for. They also used popsicle sticks and glue to create a
chanukiyah
.
During our activity time, the students made drip trays. They loved getting their hands painted to create their own handprint
chanukiyot
. The students said that the paint was very tickly! We hope you enjoy using the chanukiyot. The students love spinning dreidels, and have been practicing all week. During Art time, they made a beautiful picture by dipping the base of the dreidel in paint and spinning it on paper.
The students did an amazing job painting our classroom
chanukiyah
. Each student painted a cardboard tube, which we then used to construct the
chanukiyah
. When it was all assembled, we hung it on the classroom wall. Each day we put in a candle, "light" it, and make the
brachot
. The students get so excited when they choose what color candle we should use next! We have also been singing the Chanukah songs for our Chanukah celebration on Tuesday. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, December 19, for our celebration in the classroom from 8:45am - 9:30am.
On Friday, we had an ECC whole-school Rosh Chodesh Shabbat party. The other classes came into our room, we sang Chanukah and Shabbat songs, and everyone enjoyed some special treats. We love when we get to celebrate Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh with everyone!
Chanukah Questions
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Who was the mean king who wouldn't let the Jewish people keep
mitzvot
? (Antiochus)
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What did the Jewish people do when they were learning Torah and the Yevanim came? (They quickly put away their
seforim
and started playing dreidel)
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What was the name of the small Jewish army that fought the Yevanim [Greeks]? (The Maccabees)
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Who won? (The Maccabees chased away Antiochus' army)
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What did the Yevanim do to the Beit Hamikdash? (They made a mess and broke things)
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Who cleaned up the Beit Hamikdash? (The Jewish people)
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Did they find oil to light the menorah? (Yes, one small jug that was supposed to last for one day)
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How long did the oil burn for? (Eight days)
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,
Morot Leisa, Shayna, and Sara
As a provocation this week, the children used loose parts to trace the Hebrew letters found on the dreidel.
During activity time, the students dipped dreidels in paint, then spun them on paper.
They were hard at work making beautiful Chanukah pictures!
Each creation was unique and beautiful.
Better roll up your sleeves!
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The children enjoyed having their hands painted to create pretty drip trays.
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The paintbrush was so tickly!
When it was too cold to play outside, we went up to the gym and had a dance party to Chanukah music.
The children "lit" the first candle in school together on the first day of Chanukah, and said the brachot. We will be doing it every day of Chanukah.
We acted out the story of Chanukah throughout the week.
We each worked hard building the Beit Hamikdash.
The children had opportunities to build the Beit Hamikdash on the tables.
They also built the Beit Hamikdash with the objects in the block area.
We played with playdough. Some of us make latkes, or dreidels.
Others made candles and menorahs!
We had the opportunity to play with candles and chanukiyot
We really enjoy playing with the dreidels!
Some Middle School students came this Tuesday to read to our class.
The kids always LOVE it!
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4-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
It was so great to see so many of you this week at our Chanukah party. We are all so proud of your children, they did a great job! We already put up the Chanukah bulletin board and lit our first "candle"! Every day, we will say the
brachot
and add a flame until our whole
chanukiyah
is lit. Thank you for helping decorate the pieces. We hope you enjoy the usable
chanukiyah
and Chanukah decorations we sent home.
This week we familiarized ourselves with the letters E and
ה
. We went on a letter hunt around the school and found that these letters are in many words. We traced the letters, and practiced making them in playdough. We also reviewed all the numbers from 1 to 10. The students practiced counting out pieces to match the picture or number in a ten frame. Check out our pictures below.
This week's parsha is Mikeitz. We learned that Pharaoh had some really strange dreams, and the only one who could tell him what they meant was Yosef. As a project, we made dream-catchers for our own strange dreams.
Here are some parsha questions and answers to share at your Shabbat table:
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How many dreams did Pharaoh have? (2)
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What was Pharaoh's first dream? (That seven skinny cows ate seven fat cows)
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What was the second dream? (Seven skinny sheaves of wheat ate seven fat sheaves of wheat.)
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What did both dreams mean? (That there were going to be seven years with plenty of food followed by seven years of no food.)
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What did Yosef say to do? (Gather food during the years of plenty and save for the years of no food)
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What did Pharaoh do to Yosef? (He made him the second most important man in Egypt)
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Who came down to Egypt to get food? (Yosef's brothers)
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What trick did Yosef do to test the brothers? (He put his gold cup in his brother Benjamin's bag)
We ended this week with an all-ECC Shabbat party for Rosh Chodesh and Chanukah! We had a great time singing songs together and eating our challah and treats!
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!
Morot Irit, Mimi, Chava, and Marggie
Thank you for coming to our Chanukah celebration. It was great seeing everyone!
We hope you enjoyed working with your kids on our bulletin board!
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Look how beautiful the board is! Every day, we will come to the chanukiyah and light it using the
כד שמן
[little oil jug].
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We made chanukiyot using our handprints.
We made Chanukah symbols using tape. The children painted on and around the tape, and after the paint dried, we took off the tape to see the designs.
The children worked on creating a dreidel
סביבון
by decorating a CD with tissue paper.
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The next step will be inserting a crayon or marker in the hole and spinning the dreidel.
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We made the sufganiyot that you all enjoyed eating during the celebration.
We played a Chanukah memory game.
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This week we introduced the letters E and
ה
. The children traced the letters.
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We went on a hunt on the second floor to find the letters.
We introduced the 10 frame, and the children needed to match the correct amounts of objects to the amounts in the frame.
For Parshat Mikeitz, we made dream-catchers to represent the dreams that Pharaoh dreamed.
It was fun to put the string in!
We made frying pans with oil and flippable latkes out of paper plates, yellow cellophane, brown construction paper, and string.
Avraham enjoyed the rainbow dreidels and the candles in the chanukiyah.
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Town Hall Meeting in Brookline
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The Maimonides School Board of Directors
invites parents to a
Town Hall Meeting
Thank you to everyone who attended the Town Hall Meeting in Sharon this week. It was a valuable evening of meaningful conversation.
Steven Schwartz, Board Chair, and Naty Katz, Head of School, look forward to meeting with more of you after winter break, listening to your suggestions and concerns, and benefiting from this opportunity for open dialogue.
These meetings are intended to focus on the non-academic issues within the purview of the Board such as day school affordability, financial matters, and other topics of interest to the community.
The second Town Hall Meeting will take place Wednesday, January 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Brookline - click here to respond
There will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion during the meetings. To help us prepare, we encourage you to submit questions in advance to
chairman@maimonides.org
We look forward to
an evening of engaging conversation with you.
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Mazel Tov!
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Send us your simchas!
Please share your simcha announcements with us by sending details to info@maimonides.org.
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Social Time!
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There's so much going on here at Maimo! Be sure to check out our social media to get the inside scoop (with lots of great photos) on happenings at school.
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See what's happening in other divisions
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 Lots of wonderful things are happening at Maimonides School!
If you'd like to take a peek at what's happening in the other divisions, click to visit the Elementary School, Middle School, or Upper School newsletter pages.
If you would like to contact a specific school office, please use these emails:
ecc@maimonides.org
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