| Reminders |
WEDNESDAY,
JUNE 6 WILL BE WACKY WEDNESDAY: PAJAMA DAY.
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 has been a fun-filled, perfect weather week. The kids have had a ball outside. Please don't forget to send in labeled waterbottles and apply sunscreen in the morning.
Here are a few dates to remember:
Special Days
- Wednesday, June 6: Wacky Wednesday: Pajama Day. Please feel free have your child come to school in pajamas. They may bring a change of clothes if desired. If you have anything special you would like to send in, please feel free to label it and bring it.
- Thursday, June 14: Water Play Day. Please have your child wear a bathing suit, and bring a change of clothes for afterwards. If you would like to send in water toys to use, please speak to your child's teacher or Robin. We will not be using water guns at all.
End of the Year Celebrations
- 4-year-old classes: Friday, June 15, in the Brener gym, from 11:00am - 11:45am
- 3-year-old class: Friday, June 15, in the classroom, from 11:15am - 11:50am
- 2-year-old class: Friday, June 15, in the classroom, from 11:30am - 12:00pm
Shabbat Shalom
,
Robin
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Dvar Torah
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by Rabbi David Saltzman
וַיְהִי הָעָם כְּמִתְאֹנְנִים רַע בְּאָזְנֵי ה' וַיִּשְׁמַע ה' וַיִּחַר אַפּוֹ וַתִּבְעַר־בָּם אֵשׁ ה' וַתֹּאכַל בִּקְצֵה הַמַּחֲנֶה׃
The people took to complaining bitterly before the Lord. The Lord heard and was incensed: a fire of the Lord broke out against them, ravaging the outskirts of the camp.
An unfortunate and long chapter in Jewish history begins with the pasuk above, which then cascades into one unfavorable incident after another.
What was this initial complaint that ignited the wrath of G-d and led the people down a path of self-destruction, culminating with the negative report of the spies and the death of a generation in the desert?
Rashi remarks first that their complaints were unfounded and were only a pretext to a more serious problem:
אֵין מִתְאוֹנְנִים אֶלָּא לְשׁוֹן עֲלִילָה - מְבַקְשִׁים עֲלִילָה הֵיאַךְ לִפְרושׁ מֵאַחֲרֵי הַמָּקוֹם.
The term
מתאננים
denotes [people who seek] "a pretext" - they seek a pretext how to separate themselves from following the Omnipresent.
Then Rashi comments that this pretext was a complaint about their most recent journey:
אָמְרוּ: אוֹי לָנוּ, כַּמָּה לֻבַּטְנוּ בַּדֶּרֶךְ הַזֶּה, שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים שֶׁלֹּא נַחְנוּ מֵעִנּוּי הַדֶּרֶךְ!
They said: "Woe unto us! How weary we have become on this journey: it is now three days that we have had no rest from the wearisomeness of the march!"
The problem was that G-d had good intentions for hastening the journey, as Rashi writes:
ויחר אפו.
אֲנִי הָיִיתִי מִתְכַּוֵּן לְטוֹבַתְכֶם - שֶׁתִּכָּנְסוּ לָאָרֶץ מִיָּד:
And His wrath glowed
- He said in anger: How ungrateful you are, "I meant it for your good - that you might immediately come into the land."
The road to destruction began with the people's inability to recognize the good that Hashem planned for them. Had they seen the positive in their accelerated excursion, they would have appreciated the "fast pass," and instead of complaining they would have showed hakarat hatov to G-d.
We see here how the lack of hakarat hatov can change the path and destiny of an entire nation for all of history, and the same applies in our own personal lives. Go show hakarat hatov to someone today, and change your own course of history and your relationships for the better.
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Thoughts of the Rav
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by
Rabbi David Saltzman
וַיֹּאמֶר משֶׁה לְחֹבָב בֶּן רְעוּאֵל הַמִּדְיָנִי חֹתֵן משֶׁה נֹסְעִים | אֲנַחְנוּ אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אָמַר ה' אֹתוֹ אֶתֵּן לָכֶם לְכָה אִתָּנוּ וְהֵטַבְנוּ לָךְ כִּי ה' דִּבֶּר טוֹב עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל:
Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses's father-in-law, We are traveling to the place about which the Lord said, I will give it to you. Come with us and we will be good to you, for the Lord has spoken of good fortune for Israel.
The Rav writes that whenever he read this pasuk it brought a tear to his eye and he wanted to cry. This is due to the simplicity with which the great Moshe, the master of all wise men and the father of all prophets, spoke. He used the grammatical first person נֹסְעִים אֲנַחְנוּ, אִתָּנוּ, because Moshe was certain - there was not even a shadow of doubt in his mind - that he was going to enter the Promised Land. He was convinced that he would see the hills of Judea, climb the mount of Lebanon, and be one of the ba'ey ha'aretz.
By this point in the narrative, there was no doubt about Moshe's destiny, and for this reason the Rav would have to control his tears whenever he read this pasuk.
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2-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
It's that time of the year, when you begin to think about how much your child has grown since September. For the past nine months, we've watched and guided our students throughout their journey from shy and unsure to confident, bold, funny, sweet, and oh-so clever.
On Tuesday, we had another sweet baby arrive. Congratulations to Azariah England, his brother Elhanan, and his parents. Azariah just became a big brother and now has another brother to love.
The weather has been wonderful, so we've been spending lots of time enjoying the outdoors. We hope to be taking more walks these next few weeks, exploring all that our neighborhood has to offer. Please be sure to put sunscreen on your child before school. If you need us to reapply sunscreen to your child during the day, please send in labeled sunscreen and let us know.
Zooming on the riding toys on the playground helps the students use that wonderful energy they all come to school with. The sandbox gives them a chance to dig, negotiate, build, and make plans. Collecting and mixing up the compost keeps them aware of the beauty of nature and the magic it makes.
In the classroom, there have been lots of "tummy aches," but don't worry, we have a plethora of "doctors" to help them all heal.
Building with Duplos, MagnaTiles, and wooden blocks brings out the architect in all of us. We've been counting, learning geography, and listening to stories. They especially love
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
by Eric Carle.
Please join us on Friday, June 15 for our End-of-the-Year Celebration. It will be in the classroom from 11:30am-12:00pm. We hope you can join us!
We hope you enjoy our photos!
Shabbat Shalom
,
Morot
Tzipi and Laura
Morah Linda getting ready to wake up the "sleeping bunnies."
"I want to live here, in Boston."
It's the next best thing to being on Cape Cod. Tunnels, holes, cups of coffee, and cakes are all being created.
And this is just one reason why we all love Morah Tzipi. She makes us laugh and plays such fun and exciting games. On your mark, get set...
Gluing absolutely anything continues to to be an all-time favorite. On Wednesday, we glued honeysuckle, clematis petals, tiny maple seeds, and some purple flowers fresh picked up off the ground. This project engaged our senses with vibrant colors, pretty smells, and interesting textures.
We tried some colored rice in the water table, and the children really loved pouring and measuring it.
Here's Margalit, Yakira's little sister. Yakira clearly is enamored with her.
Azariah the explorer, with his trusty flashlight, checks out all the interesting places around our world. Looks like he's somewhere on the coast of Africa--Somalia, or maybe Ethiopia.
On Wednesday morning, Morah Laura's daughter Marisol came in for a quick visit. She did a little counting to ten before she left.
Riding with smiles on their cars and on their faces.
This is Yair's house, complete with decorations and a fire station.
Shabbat shalom
,
Morot
Tzipi and Laura
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3-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
The children have been enjoying the warm, beautiful spring weather outside. Many mornings we start our day on the playground with the other classes. While outside, the children "bake" cakes and other treats that they share with their friends and
morot
. We also use this time to add food scraps to our school compost and mix it up.
Each day the children like to go onto the blacktop to ride bikes and scooters. They ride in fire trucks pretending to put out fires, and race each other on bikes. Recently, the children have been working together to strategically place magnetic ramps on a board and then roll wooden balls down them. They get so excited when they are able to connect the ramps in a way so that the balls make it all the way down.
We completed our "Imagine" books this week. After doing another draft of where they want their rest mat to fly, the children were ready to draw their final picture. Each child told us where their mat would go, and then they took their time drawing a picture showing their special place. The children were very excited when we told them that all of their pictures would be put together to create a class "imagination" book. As the children completed each draft, we could see their imaginations grow. When they drew their final pictures, they were so happy to share the details they were adding. It was wonderful to see them develop their projects at each step of the process.
Next Wednesday, June 6th, we will be having our Summer Wacky Wednesday, which will be Pajama Day!
Please join us on Friday, June 15 for our End-of-the-Year Celebration. It will be in the classroom from 11:15am-11:50am. We hope you can join us!
Shabbat Shalom,
Morot Leisa, Shayna, and Sara
During provocation time, the students made amazing scupltures. Some used pieces of stone and tile.
Others used tape and pipe cleaners.
The children enjoyed the beautiful weather playing in the sandbox with their friends.
We loved watching Morah Chera and Morah Irit put ants into their new ant farm.
We used the magnetic tubes to be creative with our friends on the black top.
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Morah Amy came to play with us and teach us more about Social Thinking.
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Friends explored with magnatiles using the different light.
We have been working on spelling our names out with different materials.
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4-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
Another week of beautiful spring weather meant we could take advantage and do some fun activities outside. We have been playing with our new ant farm, getting to know how they carry their food and how they work together. We also played with our outdoor magnet wall, making tunnels and shapes for our balls to travel down. We have a lot of fun playing, having Zumba class, and even davening outside.
We have been very busy learning about the season of spring. We learned about different kinds of flowers and butterflies. We made our own butterflies with different materials and colors. For the flowers, we learned about the different parts of a flower, did observational drawings of them, and even dissected some of them, and in the next week, we will see what happens.
We are learning about friendship and working together, especially with Amy Freedman from Gateways in her Social Thinking classes. We have been singing a lot of songs to reinforce the ideas we are learning.
Thank you to Avraham, our Shabbat Abba, for the delicious challah and Shabbat treat that he brought in for our Shabbat party this Friday.
Because we are spending so much time outside, please remember to bring in labeled water bottles and put sunscreen on your children in the morning. If you need us to reapply sunscreen during the day, please bring in labeled sunscreen and let us know.
Shabbat Shalom
,
Morot Irit, Chera, Marggie, and Alexa
On Friday, we said goodbye to our wonderful Morah Nechi. The children made cards with descriptions and drawings of what they liked to do with her, and we had yummy cake. Thank you, Morah Nechi!!!
In honor of spring, we made butterflies by painting paper plates with watercolors and adding popsicle sticks.
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Here is a finished butterfly!
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We also learned about the parts of a flower. We observed two different kinds of flowers, and then made observational drawings of sunflowers.
The children used their senses of smell, touch, and sight to explore the sunflowers before they drew them.
The children are very interested in the bugs that come out in spring, and have been collecting ants. So we got an ant farm, and put in some of the ants that the children found on the playground inside.
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The children explored the magnetic board we have outside. They built a funnel together and tested it with balls.
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We had Zumba outside with Morah Tzipi.
We had so much fun dancing to Israeli songs!
Observing our ant farm
Making bees and ants from loose parts and paint
A completed ant!
Using our five senses to observe real flowers
We looked at paintings of sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh.
Then we made our own versions of van Gogh's paintings.
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Alumni Newsletter Online
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The monthly alumni newsletter for May is now online, and can be found
here. This issue's articles include:
- Alumnus Making an Impact through Jewish Divorce Resource Line
- Undergraduate Part of a Team That "Can Change the Lives of Millions"
- Graduate Running for Congress in the Country's Most Jewish District
- Class Notes
If you would like to receive the alumni newsletter each month, contact Mike Rosenberg at (617) 232-4452 x 405 or
mrosenberg@maimonides.org
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Donations to Cradles to Crayons
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The Maimonides eighth grade is collecting items for Cradles To Crayons in honor of their Middle School Aliyah (graduation) ceremony!
They would appreciate if you could help them by donating new or gently-used items for babies and children. There will be collection boxes near the entrance of the Saval shul. The organization could use kids' clothes, games, books, and bedding.
Cradles to Crayons is especially looking for:
- Boys Pants 4-5/7-8
- Boys Shirts 2T-12
- Girls Shirts 2T-12
- Twin Blankets
- Girls' and Boys' Sweaters
- Girls' and Boys' Boots
Thank you!
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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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