| Reminders |
THURSDAY, MARCH 29 THROUGH SUNDAY, APRIL 8, IS PESACH VACATION AND THERE WILL BE
NO SCHOOL.
CHAG KASHER V'SAMEACH!
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,
The classes have been filled with song, skits, and multisensory activities about various aspects of Pesach, including making challah with yeast and matzah without, grinding real wheat grains, making grape juice with grapes and a potato masher, and making pyramids and other creations with real cement.
This year we created a new type of haggadah. The entire Early Childhood Center made a haggadah together. Our beautiful cover was made by the students under the direction of Nechi Sapir, our wonderful 4-year-old teacher and resident graphic designer. Be sure to take a close look at it!
We are very lucky to have Amy Freedman, who is a Gateways speech therapist specializing in Social Thinking, come to our school on a weekly basis. She has done some training with our teachers, and comes every Wednesday to do interactive circle time with the students, teaching them about different aspects of social thinking.
This week she taught the children how to think with their eyes, noticing the body language of another person. She led a wonderful game, starting by laying out four different objects. She then called on a student to sit in front of the objects and, without saying anything or touching them, just look at one of them. The other students then had to figure out which object their friend was thinking about. Amy has lesson plans for some of her circle times available for parents. Please let us know if you would like to see any of them.
Next week the teachers will be reenacting the story of
Pesach for our students. We will be doing a
Betzeit Yisrael parade around the school, baking real
matzah in the annual
Matzah Factory, holding model
seders in the classrooms, and enthusiastically singing
Pesach songs. Because it will be a short week, there will be no newsletter next week.
Chag Kasher V'Sameach and Shabbat Shalom,
Robin
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Dvar Torah
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by Rabbi David Saltzman
The Torah in Parashat Tzav discusses a number of korbanot a person brings to G-d. One of these mentioned is the Shelamim:
וְזֹאת תּוֹרַת זֶבַח הַשְּׁלָמִים אֲשֶׁר יַקְרִיב לה'.
This is the ritual of the sacrifice of well-being that one may offer to the Lord
A form of this korban is brought by a person who must give thanks to G-d for deliverance from one of the following four dangerous situations: Those who travel by sea, those who travel through a desert, someone who was imprisoned [or taken captive] and freed, and a sick person who was healed.
Usually a korban is not permitted to have chametz; however, this korban has 10 loaves of bread and 30 loaves of matzah.
Two questions emerge: First, why does the petitioner need to bring 40 loaves to be consumed in one day and night? Second, why is this korban different from most other korbanot? Why is it that for all other korbanot, chametz is not allowed, but for this korban leavened bread is required?
Seforno explains a reason for the first question:
שֶׁאִם הֵם עַל אודות הוֹדָאָה, יִהְיֶה עִמָּהֶם ״לֶחֶם״, בְּתוֹכוֹ מִין ״חָמֵץ״. כִּי אָמְנָם סִבַּת הַסַּכָּנָה אֲשֶׁר עָלֶיהָ הַהוֹדָאָה הוּא ׳שְׂאוֹר שֶׁבְּעִיסָה׳, מִכָּל מָקוֹם מִינֵי הַמַּצּוֹת רָבוֹת עָלָיו
For instance, if they involve thanksgiving the animal offerings are accompanied by breads, some of which are leavened. Granted that the underlying reason for the need to offer thanks is what our sages call the
שאור שבעיסה
, "the element of ego in the 'dough,'" the aspiring human personality, by consisting predominantly of unleavened loaves, this element becomes subordinate.
Meaning, Seforno is of the opinion that the chametz in the korban represents the negative behavior of the person, of which the consequence was so dangerous that they needed a miracle in order to be saved. At the same time, the person should realize that the matzot, the good deeds, outweigh the chametz 3:1, and fundamentally they are still a good person.
Regarding question #2, Seforno answers that the reason so many loaves need to be brought and consumed in so little time is:
וּבִרְבוֹת הַלֶּחֶם יִתְפַּרְסֵם הַנֵּס לְאוֹכְלִים רַבִּים
to enable as many people as possible to become aware of someone having been miraculously saved.
Imagine needing to eat 40 (really 36, as 4 are given to the kohen) loaves of matzah and bread in one day and night. You would ask anyone and everyone to partake. As more people join, each new person would learn about your hakarat hatov to Hashem for saving your life. The dispersion of the multiple loaves to many people will promote the attitude of gratitude one has to G-d for rescuing them from imminent danger.
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Thoughts of the Rav
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by Rabbi David Saltzman
וּפֶתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד תֵּשְׁבוּ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת מִשְׁמֶרֶת ה
'
וְלֹא תָמוּתוּ כִּי כֵן צֻוֵּיתִי
:
And you shall stay day and night for seven days at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. You shall observe the Lord's command, so that you will not die, for thus I was commanded.
The Rav states that proper preparation is a necessary condition for any encounter with holiness. For example, in the prelude to giving the Torah, the people were cautioned not to go near their wives for three days. Similarly, in our parasha, Aaron had to submit to a seven-day preparation period prior to the dedication of the Mishkan, and every Kohen Gadol went through a similar sequestration prior to Yom Kippur. Both involved an encounter with holiness.
The same is true of Shabbat. One is not worthy of celebrating it unless one prepares for it. The Rambam states that it is a mitzvah to wash one's hands, face, and feet in hot water on Friday afternoon before Shabbat in order to honor Shabbat.
Holiness does not arrive suddenly; it only comes from the invitation inherent in the act of preparation.
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Yom Orchim is May 4!
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We Need Contact Information for Your Child's Special Guests
We are gearing up for another wonderful Yom Orchim! All Early Childhood Center and Elementary School students are encouraged to invite grandparents or another special guest to spend the morning of Friday, May 4th at Maimonides. There will be singing, eating, and lots of fun! But we need the contact information to invite your child's guests.
Please click on this link, and fill out the form TODAY!
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2-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
These past couple of weeks between Purim and Pesach have been sprinkled with cold days and snow days. On these first few days of spring, we are continuing to care for our growing plants. We know the warm weather can't be that far away, so we even planted flowers this week.
We hope you enjoy these photos, which include the children separating the wheat from the chaff, baking challah and matzah, dipping parsley in salt water, and participating in our model seder. We've been drawing, designing, playing in the other classrooms, and even going to foreign lands via "airplane" in our imaginations to visit the native wild animals that live there.
We'll begin with photos from Wednesday the 21st.
Not only did the children mix up and knead the dough, they rolled it out themselves and made it into challah the first time and matzah the next.
Painting the egg wash on our challah before putting it in the oven to bake.
Now it's time to compare the two. Which is higher, and why?
Peek-a boo! Our matzah came out perfect.
Exploring the real wheat sheaves was a great way for the students to understand how wheat turns into flour, and how flour turns into bread and matzah.
Separating the very small grains of wheat was a fascinating way to practice our fine motor skills.
It was also great for our hands to squeeze the paint from these bottles. The children each made their own
kos shel Eliyahu
to bring home for their families' seders next week.
Making matzah covers wasn't just fun, it was also a great way to learn colors.
On Tuesday we had our first model seder.
Introducing the children to the beauty of the Pesach table, the tradition, and the understanding of what each item means to us, and why.
Stand back, here's some matzah going into the "hot oven" to "bake." We made and decorated the oven and paddle ourselves.
The children decided to trim the grass they had grown and then plant something new: sunflowers and zinnias.
These two artists are painting during Ms. DiOrio's Art class. Who needs paint brushes and a canvas when you have lovely paint, a hand, and an arm.
What is this magic box that music comes out of?
Last Friday's Shabbat Abba held the challah as his proud mom looked on.
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom,
Morot
Laura and Tzipi
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3-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
This week we have been busy getting ready for Pesach. We started off the week exploring the letter M for "
maror
" and "matzah." The students had the opportunity to trace the letter with rocks and seashells. We also focused on the number 4, for the 4 cups of grape juice they will have at the seder. To make their own grape juice, the students crushed grapes using a masher, and squashed grapes in a Ziploc bag with their hands. We then put the crushed grapes in a juicer to see how much juice would come out. The students thought this was hysterical. Ask your child what happened.
The students explored the tastes of Pesach. They dipped parsley into salt water and tasted it. Some thought it was delicious, while others said it was not to their taste. This was a fun way to get ready for the seder. The students also cut up apples and added cinnamon and grape juice to make
charoset
, which they ate for snack time. They thought it was delicious! During exploration time, the students sat with a teacher and had a model seder using actual Pesach items. It was a great way for them to use the items found on a seder plate and experience the order of a seder.
We talked about the differences between
chametz
and
kosher l'Pesach
food. We then made challah with the class. When we added the yeast to the warm water, the students loved watching how the yeast bubbled in the bowl. This was a great way for them to see what makes the challah they eat so puffy. In the afternoon, the students used the dough to make their very own challahs to take home.
We have been learning about the story of Pesach and why this is such a happy holiday. We had pyramid cutouts for the students to use. They spread cement onto the pyramids and attached small bricks to them. They have also been acting out the story of Pesach using props and costumes. The students have been working hard practicing their "
Mah Nishtanah
" and other Pesach songs. They were also very excited to practice looking for the
afikoman
, and did an amazing job making their own
afikoman
bags to use at their seder.
Shabbat Shalom
!
Morot
Leisa, Shayna, and Sara
During provocation time, the kids used real cement and little bricks to build pyramids.
At provocation time, we sketched Pesach items.
One of the most interesting things to sketch was the seder plate.
Even though we were very busy learning about Pesach, we made sure to have plenty of time to play with our friends.
Elhanan and Daniel love the firetrucks!
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Each child created their own bag to hold the afikoman during their family's seder.
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Each one came out beautiful and unique.
We squashed grapes to make grape juice for our seder
It was so much fun!
We worked hard cutting apples up to make our very own charoset to eat in school.
We talked about the difference between challah and matzah this week.
The students made and kneaded their own dough.
At Music time with Morah Linda, we acted out being the different things on the seder plate.
During the week, we took a few opportunities to dip parsley in salt water for karpas. Some of us really liked it!
And some of us thought it was just too salty!
We also practiced eating matzah!
We practiced having a
seder with real food!
We dressed up to act out the
Pesach story
B'nei Yisrael packed up their bags and left
Mitzrayim in a hurry!
In our Social Thinking class, we read a book with Amy to learn to think using our eyes.
The kids each got a turn to guess which object their friend was looking at and thinking about.
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4-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
This week we have been very busy learning about and getting ready for Pesach! Every day we have decorated the classroom as we learned more about Pesach.
We have been learning about the haggadah, and we worked hard to prepare our part in the ECC
haggadah
! We have been singing the "Mah Nishtanah" every day, acting out the Pesach story, and making pictures to illustrate the story in the
Magid
section of our
haggadah
. We have also been singing the steps of the seder, "
Avadim Hayinu
," and some of "
Dayeinu
." We are very excited to bring home the pillowcases we made so we can recline at the seder, and the seder plates we made!
Thank you to our
Shabbat Abba
, Ari Goldring, for the yummy challah and
Shabbat
treat!
Shabbat Shalom
!
Morot
Mimi, Nechi, Irit, Marggie, and Chera
We made our own seder plates!
And we made pillowcases to recline on during the seder.
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While during exploration time, we made a plan and worked together to build. |
When everyone does their part, we can make something big and special!
We also made pyramids like the ones in Egypt
Getting familiar with the items on the seder plate, touching, smelling, and even tasting them.
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We drew pictures of the ten makkot |
The sand table this week was all about the crossing of the Yam Suf.
Sitting together for our first model seder was so exciting!
We blessed and tasted some familiar things and some new things.
We learned that the word "seder" means "order." We practiced the order of the Pesach seder step by step.
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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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