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MONDAY, APRIL 16 IS MARATHON MONDAY. PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICE AT x303 IF YOUR CHILD WILL NEED TO STAY LATE.
TUESDAY, APRIL 17 THERE WILL BE
EARLY 3:00PM DISMISSAL DUE TO AN ALL-SCHOOL FACULTY MEETING.
WE WILL ALSO HAVE ROSH CHODESH PIZZA ON TUESDAY, APRIL 17.
THURSDAY, APRIL 19 IS YOM HAATZMAUT. PLEASE DO NOT BE LATE AS WE WILL HAVE PROGRAMMING BEGINNING AT 8:30AM.
WE WILL ALSO HAVE AN "ISRAELI LUNCH" FOR YOM HAATZMAUT.
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,
Welcome back to school! We hope that you had a great
chag.
Please let us know how your children did at your seders. We hope you enjoyed our school haggadah!
We have been having a great week, and enjoying being back at school.
Next week will be very busy!
Monday, April 16 is Marathon Monday. Please contact Esther at x303 if you will need your child to stay later than usual. Please remember that all students need to be picked up by 5:45 p.m.
On Tuesday, April 17, we will have Rosh Chodesh Pizza! We will also have some Yom HaZikaron activities. Morah Nechi will lead some Israeli army exercises, and Morah Tzipi will tell us about her son, who is a chayal boded (lone soldier) in Israel. Later in the day we will have an early 3:00 p.m. dismissal due to an all-school faculty meeting. The Elementary School will not have after-school activities or bus recess. Please let Esther know if your child will need to stay later than 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 18 is Yom HaZikaron. We will have an all-school moment of silence, and then we will sing tehillim and Hatikva together.
Thursday, April 19 is Yom HaAtzmaut. All ECC students will be walking over to the Saval building at 8:45 a.m. for a full, interactive program with the entire school. Please try to be on time that morning. If you think you will arrive later than 8:45 a.m., please let Esther know. After we return to Brener, we will have an Israeli lunch of falafel and pita.
We look forward to a great week of learning and fun!
Shabbat Shalom,
Robin
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Dvar Torah
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by Rabbi David Saltzman
In this week's
parsha it is
Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the first day the
Mishkan was operational. It was the day of the
Chanukat HaMishkan, the inauguration of the tabernacle. A special
korban for
Rosh Chodesh was brought, and because Aharon's sons died earlier, Moshe and Aharon had a difference of opinion as to whether the
korban should be eaten by the
kohanim or completely burned.
After some discussion and expression of opinion, the pasuk says that:
וַיִּשְׁמַע מֹשֶׁה וַיִּיטַב בְּעֵינָיו
And when Moses heard this (the opinion of Aharon and his sons), he approved.
What does it mean "and Moshe heard"? Since Moshe was talking to Aharon, of course he heard him! Perhaps it means that Moshe listened closely. Since he made an effort to listen well, he then understood. The Torah is teaching us that in order to understand another person's opinion, you need to be open to listening to it and not just "hear" the words.
The pasuk continues and adds "that it was good in his eyes." What was good in Moshe's eyes?
Seforno comments:
וייטב בעיניו
שמח על טוב סברת אחיו ובניו שהיטיבו לראות ולהורות:
Moshe enjoyed the reasoning Aaron presented explaining why he had acted as he did and Moshe accepted Aharon's interpretation of the law. Moshe was happy that they were correct in their interpretation.
According to Seforno, Moshe had hakarat hatov because he was able to recognize the good and correctness of Aharon's argument and understand it. When he did, he was happy for them (and himself) that they knew the law. Moshe was happy even though he needed to change his own opinion. Also, Moshe was on a higher level than Aaron and his sons, and still he humbly accepted their proper position.
We can learn from this episode that whenever we are involved in a discussion it is important to show hakarat hatov, which in this case means to recognize the good of others' viewpoints and to respectfully listen to their ideas.
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Thoughts of the Rav
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by Mrs. Stephanie Samuels
In this week's parsha, we read the story of the untimely and tragic death of Aharon's two oldest sons, Nadav and Avihu. According to the text, there is really only one difference between their actions and the action of their father. While they both brought the same ketoret, incense, Aharon's sacrifice was according to G-d's will, while his sons' offering had not been commanded by G-d.
The sin of Nadav and Avihu highlights a dichotomy in our approach to religious observance. On the one hand, our religiosity is very serious and disciplined. At the same time, however, all mitzvot should be experienced through joy. How can we resolve this dichotomy?
The Rav explains that the Jewish approach to religious observance is to live a disciplined life according to G-d's commandments. For example, we pray in accordance with set times, location, and behavior. Prayer is obligatory, an act where we surrender to G-d's will. The hope is that eventually, we can transform that ritual experience into a profound spiritual experience.
In contrast to this, the pagan approach to religious life begins with excitement and fervor and culminates in sin and disillusionment. This is comparable to the experience of using drugs or alcohol to create an artificial feeling of happiness, which masks underlying sadness or disappointment.
According to the Rav, the sin of Nadav and Avihu was that they were overcome by ecstasy, and totally missed the point - that a Jewish life worth living, a joyous life, is one that is imbued with a sense of mitzvah, of obeying G-d's commandments.
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PTA Lunch for All Students on Yom HaAtzmaut
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In celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut, the PTA will be providing an Israeli-style lunch to all students on Thursday, April 19. Parent volunteers will be in each lunchroom to help with distribution.
Teacher Appreciation Week begins Monday, April 23 and the PTA is excited to recognize our dedicated teachers! More information will be sent out next week.
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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,
This week we are continuing our planting curriculum. Carrots, broccoli, garlic, and even a pineapple are thriving in the growing station out in the hallway. When we eat snack, the children like to save the apple seeds for planting.
We now have real live caterpillars in our classroom, and are very excited to begin a unit on butterflies. On Thursday, we began a collage of Mount Sinai so we can count our 49 steps of the Omer before Shavuot.
We hope you enjoy these photos from our week!
On Monday, we decided to play with the dry beans before we get them ready for planting.
As we begin our unit on caterpillars and butterflies, we look forward to reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.
On Tuesday, Shoshana brought in a special book from home. She even read it to some of her friends.
On Tuesday morning in Music class, Morah Linda helped us learn by using her wonderful puppets.
This puppet is a dog who makes us laugh when he finishes his song.
These are the caterpillars that we are very interested in learning all about.
"There's the caterpillars!"
This is going to be our butterfly and caterpillar viewing, playing, and learning area.
Working on puzzles and...
...pattern blocks allows for endless creative ideas.
An old box makes a perfect instant basketball hoop.
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Laura and Morah Tzipi
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3-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
It was so nice seeing everyone back from Pesach break. The students were excited to share with us what they did over Pesach. We heard that some of the students stayed up late and said the "
Mah Nishtanah
." They were also so happy to be back with their friends!
We started talking about how we count the days from the second seder to Shavuot. We used our loft to make our Har Sinai classroom chart. The students painted brown, green, and blue pieces of poster board, which were cut into Har Sinai, grass, and the sky. We even added lightning bolts and the
luchot
! The students then traced their feet, wrote a number between 1-49 on each foot shape, and cut them out. We count the Omer each day when we daven as a class. We say the
brachot
and add a footprint with the correct number to our chart. We then count the footprints each day to reinforce counting, as well as number recognition.
For
Parshat Shemini
, we talked about the rules for keeping kosher. We read
Fins and Scales: A Kosher Tale
by Deborah Miller, which reinforced how we know whether something is kosher. We discussed how we look for kosher symbols on packaged foods that we eat. The students then did an activity where they looked for different
hekshers
found on boxes and bags. They were so excited to be "kosher detectives" that they looked for
hekshers
on packages in their own lunch. They were very proud to show their friends when they found one!
Parsha Questions
:
- What does shemini mean? (Eight)
- What do you do to be sure an egg is kosher? (Crack it into a glass to make sure there is no blood)
- How do you know which fish is kosher? (They must have fins and scales)
- Can we eat meat and milk together? (No)
- Are all fruits and vegetables kosher? (Yes)
Shabbat Shalom
,
Morot Leisa, Shayna, and Sara
During exploration time we are always busy building amazing things together.
The students used the light table with different building manipulatives to see what they could create.
During provocation time, we practiced tracing our letters and numbers.
The kids were so excited when we got our new easel to draw on.
We were hard at work one morning at the sand table!
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We created mountains and dug for treasure.
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For Cooking this week, the students made edible gardens.
This was the "brown dirt" into which we put our edible "plants."
We got real caterpillars in our room this week, and have learned all about how butterflies grow.
Each day we check on them to see what is new.
Each child got a chance to trace their own feet to help make our Omer counter.
They cut out the shapes themselves and wrote numbers from 1-49 on them.
This week, the kids worked together to make the loft into Har Sinai as we start to learn about Shavuot.
Our loft has now become Har Sinai!
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4-Year-Old Class Newsletter
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Dear Parents,
Welcome back to school. We hope everyone enjoyed their
chag
!
Although it is still a little chilly, it seems that spring is finally in the air. We have been learning about the signs of spring. We even went on a nature walk and found some flowers poking out of the ground. We have been decorating the room for spring. We even have some real live caterpillars in the room, and we are observing them every day to see when they will start the next phase of their life as chrysalises.
This week we discussed how, in the time between Pesach and Shavuot as we count the Omer, we think about the importance of being good friends, and how we can treat others better than we have in the past.
The
parsha
of the week is
Shemini
. In this week's
parsha
, we learn about kosher and non-kosher animals. We learned that four-legged animals need to have split feet and chew their cud. Fish need to have fins and scales to be kosher, and there is a list of birds in the Torah that are kosher.
Shabbat Shalom,
Morot Mimi, Irit, Nechi, Chera, and Marggie
We are starting to get ready for spring. This week we planted seeds and we are going to follow the plants' growth in our classroom.
In Music class, we played some fun games in pairs.
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Going on a letter hunt. This time we were looking for Q. |
Making a big spring picture on our new easel
We made flowers using coffee filters, liquid watercolors, and pipettes
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We decorated our loft with the flowers we made |
We went on a spring walk around school
Collecting signs of spring!
Say "Spring!" The last time we took this picture, there was snow all around. Now we can see the green grass, and even some blooming flowers!
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Ayeka: A Special Interactive Workshop on Spirituality and Connection
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Join us on Monday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Saval Auditorium for a special program featuring Rabbi Aryeh Ben David, Founder and Director of
Ayeka: The Center for Soulful Education. Rabbi Ben David will be sharing his vision of Jewish education that promotes a personal and vibrant relationship with Jewish text, Judaism, G-d, and spirituality. He will also discuss how we can focus on soulful parenting in today's busy and complicated world. RSVP to
msnyder@maimonides.org
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Alumni Newsletter Online
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The monthly alumni newsletter for March is now online, and can be found
here
. This issue's articles include:
- Graduate's Hospitality Career Thrives in the Hub of Boston's Medical Universe
- Alumna's New Venture Explores Text, Tradition through Tangible Creating
- Graduate Finally Finds Income, Spare Time to Pursue Comedy Projects
- 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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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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