| Reminders |
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, THERE IS AN EARLY 3:00PM DISMISSAL DUE TO AN ECC/ES FACULTY MEETING.
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,
Thank you so much to those of you who came to Parent-Teacher Conferences this week. We look forward to seeing the rest of you next Sunday, November 19. We hope you enjoyed the portfolios and the opportunity to speak to the teachers.
In order to make things easier for our parents, and to minimize confusion, we have written out a guide (see below) for Early Dismissal Tuesdays due to faculty meetings, and to clarify how we can accommodate changes to your and your child's schedules.
We are always happy to answer any questions, so please do not hesitate to contact us.
All the Best,
Robin and Esther
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Early Dismissals and Schedule Changes
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Early Dismissal Tuesdays due to Faculty Meetings
Once or twice a month on Tuesdays, Early Childhood Center (ECC) and Elementary School (ES) students are dismissed at 3:00 p.m. due to faculty meetings.
There are two types of faculty meetings: "All-School" and "ECC/ES." In general, these occur in alternating order. Please see the Maimonides School calendar at http://www.maimonides.org/calendar.
When Esther sends out reminders before any days that have early dismissals, the email includes a list of all the early dismissal dates for the whole year.
All-School Early Dismissals:
The Middle School and Upper School also dismiss at 3:00 p.m. The effect of this is that the buses leave at 3:00 p.m, so the Elementary School does not offer Bus Recess or after-school programs.
ECC/ES Early Dismissals:
The Middle School and Upper School do not dismiss early. The effect of this is that the Elementary School does offer Bus Recess and after-school programs.
No matter what type of meeting it is, we always offer the option for your ECC child to stay in Extended Day for 45 minutes, until 3:45 p.m. There is an $8 fee to stay for this time. Please let us know ahead of time if you plan for your child to stay until 3:45 p.m. on Early Dismissal Tuesdays.
You also have the option for your child to stay in Extended Day until 5:45 p.m. The charge to stay until 5:45 p.m. is $31. If your child is already signed up for Extended Day on Tuesdays, there is no extra charge to stay until 5:45 p.m. on Early Dismissal Tuesdays.
Your Child's Schedule Changes and Accommodations
We are fortunate enough to be able to be quite flexible when it comes to our students' schedules. We can accommodate early and late drop-offs, as well as early and late pick-ups.
We are also aware that students' needs often change as the school year goes on. If you would like to add, remove, or change the times of your child's weekly schedule at any point during the school year, please let us know.
For instance, a child may begin the school year only staying for Afternoon Activity on Mondays, and in January begin to stay for Afternoon Activity on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead. Any schedule configuration, beginning at any time in the school year, is possible.
Your SmartTuition account will be updated accordingly for any changes, with prorated charges or credits. Please contact our Tuition Coordinator, Arline Tannenbaum at atannenbaum@maimonides.org, with any financial or SmartTuition questions.
For any schedule changes, please send an email copying Robin, Esther, and your child's teachers, informing us of the change. It is helpful to have at least 24 hours' notice, if not more. However, if things change in the middle of the day, you may still send us a message informing us of the change as soon as you know about it.
There are four main blocks of time each day in the ECC:
- Early Morning Drop-Off, 7:45 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. ($16 daily rate)
- Core Day, 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
- Afternoon Activity, 1:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. ($42 daily rate)
- Extended Day, 3:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. ($31 daily rate)
If your child is not signed up for any specific block, you may add it on for any particular day. Just let us know, and the relevant charge listed above will be added to your SmartTuition account. We would like to let you know that if you add time on a regular basis, it is much cheaper to simply add the time officially to your child's schedule, instead of day-to-day.
You may drop off or pick up your child at any time between 7:45 a.m. - 5:45 p.m., not just at the beginnings or endings of the blocks.
Please note that ECC teachers are only downstairs to receive students in the morning from 7:45 a.m. - 8:15 a.m. and 8:25 a.m. - 8:35 a.m. At all other times, ECC students must be walked to their classroom by an adult, not an older sibling.
Similarly, teachers can only bring students downstairs for dismissal at 1:00 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. If you are picking up at any other time, please come to your child's classroom to pick them up.
Note about Friday dismissals: On Fridays the school day ends at 1:00 p.m. for everyone until March 16, 2018. From March 16, 2018 until the end of the school year, Fridays will end at 2:30 p.m. If a child who is normally picked up at 1:00 p.m. stays until 2:30 p.m. on a Friday, the charge is $26.
We hope that this information clarifies any questions you may have had about Early Dismissal Tuesdays and schedule changes and accommodations. Please feel free to contact us with any further questions.
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Dvar Torah
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by Rabbi David Saltzman
In this week's
parsha, Eliezer is charged to find a wife for Yitzchak. He is told to find someone who embodies the character traits and philosophies of the first monotheistic family. Along the way, Eliezer davens to G-d for assistance in his mission. Almost immediately upon completion of his prayer, Rivka meets him at the well, and Eliezer is amazed at her acts of kindness and compassion. He knows his
tefillah was answered! After he gives her some jewelry, she invites him to stay the night and meet her family. Before he journeys to her home, the Torah says that Eliezer:
וַיִּקֹּ֣ד הָאִ֔ישׁ וַיִּשְׁתַּ֖חוּ לַֽה'׃
וַיֹּ֗אמֶר בָּר֤וּךְ ה' אֱלֹקי֙ אֲדֹנִ֣י אַבְרָהָ֔ם אֲ֠שֶׁר לֹֽא־עָזַ֥ב חַסְדּ֛וֹ וַאֲמִתּ֖וֹ מֵעִ֣ם אֲדֹנִ֑י אָנֹכִ֗י בַּדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ נָחַ֣נִי ה' בֵּ֖ית אֲחֵ֥י אֲדֹנִֽי׃
The man bowed low in homage to the L-rd
and said, "Blessed be the L-rd, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His steadfast faithfulness from my master. For I have been guided on my errand by the L-rd, to the house of my master's kinsmen."
As we would expect, Eliezer recognizes the great benefit that Hashem just performed on his behalf, and even before leaving, he bows and gives thanks to Hashem. Eliezer thanked G-d and expressed hakarat hatov in the moment and while the event was still unfolding. As the Radak explains:
קידה על אפים השתחויה זו פישוט ידים ורגלים. והודה לא-ל שהצליח דרכו:
The bowing and thanking was to express his gratitude to G-d for having heard his prayer.
One lesson from this episode is not to miss an opportunity to give hakarat hatov, especially when you have the strongest feelings of appreciation. Saying a bracha when you eat, or saying thanks to someone immediately after they performed a favor for you, would emulate this trait of Eliezer.
Secondly, at Rivka's home, Eliezer recounts the story to her family and recalls many of the salient details regarding how he knew Rivka was the right choice. It is interesting to note that when reviewing the story with Rivka's parents and brother, Eliezer also mentions that:
וָאֶקֹּ֥ד וָֽאֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֖ה לַה' וָאֲבָרֵ֗ךְ אֶת־ה' אֱלֹקי֙ אֲדֹנִ֣י אַבְרָהָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֤ר הִנְחַ֙נִי֙ בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ אֱמֶ֔ת לָקַ֛חַת אֶת־בַּת־אֲחִ֥י אֲדֹנִ֖י לִבְנֽוֹ׃
Then I bowed low in homage to the L-rd and blessed the L-rd, the G-d of my master Abraham, who led me on the right way to get the daughter of my master's brother for his son.
In addition to all the details of the encounter between himself and Rivka, Eliezer also recounts how he gave immediate thanks to Hashem. Eliezer, realizing this was an important element of his success, made sure to spread the important message of hakarat hatov as well.
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Thoughts of the Rav
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by Rabbi Dov Huff
There are three purchases we made of land in Eretz Yisrael.
Avraham purchases Maarat Hamachpela in Chevron from Ephron in this week's parsha.
Yaakov Avinu purchases a plot of land in Shechem from the sons of Chamor.
David Hamelech purchases Har Habayit from Aravna HaYevusi.
The Rav points out that these three purchases correspond to the three crowns given to Am Yisrael - Keter Torah, Keter Kehuna, and Keter Malchus - the Crowns of Torah, Priesthood, and Kingship.
The purchase of Maarat Hamachpela in Chevron is connected to Malchus (Kingship), since it is the place where the reign of David Hamelech began.
The purchase of land in Shechem is connected to Torah, because in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, we carved the words of the Torah into Har G'rizim, reminiscent of Matan Torah.
And finally, the purchase of Har Habayit is connected to the Kehuna (Priesthood), which expressed itself through the service in the Beit Hamikdash, situated on that holy site.
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2-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
We hope you had a great week. Let's start this week's newsletter with last Friday, when we had a Shabbat party full of songs, soup, challah, and joy.
Also on Friday, Ms. DiOrio did a fun and beautiful project about colors. First she read us a story about mixing colors.
Then she showed us how to use eye droppers to drip paint onto a large sheet of paper. It was so beautiful that we are going to use the finished project as our tablecloth for our Shabbat parties.
On Monday, we took out our doctor's kit and got right to work helping our patients, which included doll babies and even a bear.
Some of the medical instruments even worked as musical instruments.
On Tuesday, we turned an old toy from outside into a spin-art machine. It was such a different, creative way to use our markers.
We also used our golf tees and hammers on Wednesday. The kids loved using them like hammering nails into wood.
On Wednesday we listened, acted out, and created experiences to help the children learn about Parshat Chayei Sarah. We gave our camels water to drink.
We even built a well together to gather cold water.
We recreated and attended Yitzchak and Rivkah's wedding in the three-year-olds' room.
We always love to dress up as animals!
And we practiced our fine motor skills playing with pretty little beads.
On Friday we not only had our Shabbat party, but also celebrated Yakira's birthday.
We really enjoyed talking with all of you at your child's conferences on Thursday, and we are looking forward to next Sunday!
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Tzipi and Morah Laura
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3-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
We started off our long-term Home Project by having the children look at photos and identifying their homes. They saw how different each of the homes looked. One morning during provocation time, the children looked at a house blueprint with magnifying glasses. They used pencils, scissors, and rulers to explore the blueprint. After looking at the details of the large blueprint, each student had the opportunity to make their own. They looked at the photo of their own home, and used a permanent marker and transparency sheet to trace the outside of it. The traced transparencies and the photos are hanging up on the bulletin board outside our classroom. Please come and take a look! The children are excited to start the next step, where will they construct their own 3D home!
For Parshat Chayei Sarah, we talked about how once Sarah was no longer there, the special things (the cloud over the tent, the candles that burned from week to week, the challah dough that got bigger) stopped. When Yitzchak married Rivkah and they came back to his mother's tent, those special things began again. On Tuesday, the children got to make their own challah. We started by measuring, pouring, and mixing the ingredients together in the morning. We let the dough rise, and braided it in the afternoon. It smelled so good while it was baking in the oven! The children then enjoyed eating their challah at our Shabbat party on Friday.
The children had fun acting out the parsha this week. They pretended to be Eliezer waiting by the well to see who would offer him and his camels water. They also liked to pretend to be Rivkah as she lifted the bucket of water out of the well to give to Eliezer and his camels. We talked about how kind Rivkah was, and because of this Eliezer felt she was a perfect match to marry Yitzchak. On Wednesday we reenacted Yitzchak and Rivkah's wedding in our classroom! The two-year-olds joined us, and everyone dressed up to celebrate! The children took turns being the
chassan
(groom) and
kallah
(bride). We even had a
chuppah
that the children held. It was a great
simcha
!
Parsha Questions
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What's the name of the parsha? (Chayei Sarah)
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Why did Avraham send Eliezer to Charan? (To find a wife for Yitzchak)
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What kindness did Rivkah do for Eliezer? (She gave Eliezer and his camels water from the well)
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Did Yitzchak and Rivkah get married? (Yes)
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What are some ways you can be kind like Rivkah?
Shabbat Shalom,
Morot Leisa, Shayna, and Sara
Even though the weather has been getting chillier this week, the kids have found fun and creative ways to play and stay warm outside.
Say cheese!
Working hard to trace the outside of our homes!
We enjoyed making blueprints!
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Our finished products are hanging up outside our room. Come and see them!
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During provocation time this week, the children worked on fine motor activities.
Scooping colored chickpeas was a great way to practice.
Baruch and Noam used watercolors and cotton balls to create a beautiful class collage.
The children made their own challot this week, mixing and kneading all of the ingredients together. It was delicious!
Eliya and Baruch practiced pulling a bucket out of a well, just like Rivkah Imanu did in the parsha.
Naomi, Bella, and Ellie practiced making challah with playdough before we made some for real.
In our journals this week, the students wrote about different ways they are kind to their friends.
Kneading our challah dough!
Some of us made our dough flat before we made it into a challah shape.
Working on shape tracing during provocation time
Shiraz and Noam E. delivered our invitation to Morah Robin to come to Yitzchak and Rivkah's wedding.
Yitzchak and Rivkah get married!
All the guests loved singing mazel tov, and watching the glass get broken!
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4-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parent,
It was very nice to see so many of you yesterday. We have had a very full week! We had guests from the Elementary School two times this week. On Monday, the fifth grade came down to read stories to us, and on Tuesday we had students from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades come for activity period. They played with us and read to us, and it was a lot of fun!
We have been working a lot on fine motor skills this week. For one of the morning provocations, we asked the children to do tasks with tweezers and spoons. Another day, we had the children make inventions using foam balls, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, and craft sticks. This turned out to be a very popular activity, and the children got very creative and made impressive structures.
The parsha of the week is Chayei Sarah. We learned that at the beginning of the parsha, Sarah passes away after a very long life. There were three things that were special about her tent when she was alive, which Avraham and Yitzchak would like to come back. Avraham sent his servant, Eliezer, to find a wife for Yitzchak. Eliezer traveled through the desert with ten camels and lots of gifts for the potential bride. When he met Rivkah, he knew she was the right girl, and asked her if he could bring her home to marry Yitzchak. She said yes, and went to Canaan to marry Yitzchak, and the three special things returned to their tent.
Here are some questions (and answers) about the story.
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How old was Sarah when she died? (127)
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What were the three special things in Sarah and Rivkah's tent? (The challah was fresh all week, the Shabbat candles burned the whole week, and the cloud of Hashem's shechina was always there)
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What gifts did Eliezer bring for the potential bride? (Clothing and jewelry)
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How did Eliezer know Rivkah was the right girl? (She was kind enough to offer not only him a drink, but also all his camels.)
This week we celebrated Ayelet's birthday. She was also the Shabbat Ima this week. Thank you, Ayelet, for the yummy birthday and Shabbat treats!
Shabbat Shalom!
Morot Irit, Mimi, Chava, and Marggie
This week we did a lot of fine motor skills activities. This task was for the students to put cotton balls and pompoms inside a jar using tweezers.
They also collected colored chickpeas using spoons and put them back into the container.
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They matched colors by putting colored clothespins onto the matching color on a paper plate.
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They inserted pipe cleaners into strainers.
We made necklaces and bracelets like the jewelry that Eliezer gave Rivkah.
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We created different things from foam balls, toothpicks, sticks, and pipe cleaners.
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Aviv created a porcupine, and added its face using crayons.
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In honor of parashat hashavuah,
חיי שרה
(Chayei Sarah), we made challot.
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The students followed the recipe, measured, and mixed the ingredients.
Then they each braided their own challah.
We had a visit from the 5th graders, who came to read with us.
And on Tuesday afternoon, our partners from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades came to be with us. They read our students' favorite book, and helped them make their own cover for the book.
We acted out the parasha, ending with Yitzchak's and Rivkah's wedding.
Avital and Ayelet decided to get married.
Ella, Batsheva, Leah, and Simcha built a balance beam and tested it.
Ari and Ezra built a special zoo from Magnatiles.
The students love making drawings on the whiteboard.
Ella, Liam, and Ari enjoying their portfolios.
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Parent-Teacher Conferences
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Thank you to everyone who joined us at conferences on Thursday!
Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences will continue:
- Sunday, November 19: Grades K-12 from 12:00 - 7:00 p.m., ECC from 2:00 - 7:00 p.m.
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Our 5th Yom Chesed - still making a difference!
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Students, parents, alumni, grandparents, faculty and staff gathered to work together on meaningful
chesed projects on campus, around town, and in Israel during our 5th Yom Chesed on Sunday.
The morning began with davening followed by a welcome by Head of School Naty Katz and a thoughtful d'var Torah by Eliana Diamond '21. Yom Chesed co-chairs Stef Mishkin and Alissa Muzin then recognized the volunteers, sponsors, and participants who contributed to make this day so special. Following breakfast, participants headed to locations throughout the school and the community to work on a wide range of projects.
Our 17 projects helped the following organizations and groups: Alex's Lemonade Stand; Brookline Parks; Brookline Police, Fire, and Neighbors; Center Communities; Children's Hospital; Friends of IDF; Gift of Life; Gittel's Kitchen; Heading Home; Hebrew SeniorLife; Hope Time Cure; Jewish Family and Children's Service/Chai Works; Lone Soldier Center; Ohr Shabbat; Pantry Packers (in Israel); ROFEH; and Yachad.
Many thanks go to all of our volunteers and sponsors, who helped to make this Yom Chesed so special!
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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 the other divisions' newsletters, please click here.
If you would like to contact a specific school office, please use these emails:
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