Torah Tots Pesach Newsletter 2017

‫בס"ד‬

SPRING 2017 PESACH 5777

Torah Tots CELEBRATE PESACH WITH YOUR PRESCHOOLER

PESACH MAGAZINE 2017

CHABADTORAHTOTS.COM

letter from director This year, we present you with an inside look at some of the stimulating and enriching ways our child is spending their days here at Chabad and some helpful tips on how to make the Holiday more meaningful. Their beautiful projects speak for themselves!

On the subject of Passover: Celebrating freedom on this much anticipated holiday presents an interesting paradox: At first glance, the word “freedom” can bring to mind a vacation, a release from the norms of everyday life, perhaps a freeing of oneself from rules and limitations. Given that association, a Seder- a highly structured evening where every step is laid out in measured detail and even the name of the evening means “Order”- seems an incongruous way to celebrate!

But as educators, we know that there is deep wisdom to be found in precisely this method of celebrating Freedom. True freedom, according to the Torah, is to be free to express one’s true self and reach one’s full potential; an exodus, as it were, from all internal and external hindrances to reaching that goal. As human beings in a finite world, structure and order and a moral and organisational hierarchy are critical to achieving our goals and becoming the best we can be.

In our classrooms, we see this wisdom at work every day. At this point in the year, our children have internalised the structure and routine of their rooms; it provides them with stability, a firm foundation on which to develop their growing perceptions of the world around them and the skills to express their inner worlds and bring to life their limitless potential.

On behalf of our entire staff, I wish you and yours a joyous and meaningful Seder, a wonderful holiday, and a great spring break. Chag Kasher V’Sameach!

Morah Adina

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PESACH MAGAZINE 2017

nursery morning MORAHS MIRIAM, MAJA, DANIELA

It has been quite the journey in our classroom. The children are getting older each day, and with it, more independent.

It's a pleasure watching them take initiative in the routines, and take care of each other while building friendships. Over the last three weeks, we have gone knee deep into introducing the story of Pesach.

Questions for your child: 1) What is yellow, crunchy and we eat it on Pesah? Matza 2) How does the Marom taste? Mar- bitter 3) Why do we have salt water by our Pesach Seder? It reminds us of the tears that the Jewish people cried in Mizraim 4) Who was the baby in the basket? Moshe

Our main goal was to give your child and overall introduction to Pesach, allowing them to begin to hear new words and understand their meaning. We told the story of how the Jewish people left Egypt, with various dramatic voices and visual aids.

Over the next few years, the knowledge, excitement and pride planted in your child will surely grow into fruition. Thank you for allowing us to take this incredible journey with your child. Have a wonderful Pesach!

PESACH MAGAZINE 2017

CHABADTORAHTOTS.COM

Here are the key items we discussed: We have a Seder meal together with our family At the Seder there is a seder plate, salt water, and matzah We eat special seder food, as follows: Matzah: Finally, Pharaoh let the Jews out of Egypt. They didn’t have much time to make new fresh food. They just made the dough, but it didn’t have time to rise (like the Challah we make in school). It was flat bread.

Marror: When we were slaves in Egypt, it was hard times. It didn’t feel like sweet happy times. It was bitter, icky times.

Charoset: The Jews worked so hard, they had to make their own cement.What on our Seder table helps us remember the cement? [charoset] It has the same colour and texture (sort of) as cement. We just need to eat a little bit to remember. We dip the marror into a little bit of charoset.

We drink 4 cups of wine/grape juice We have a large, special cup of wine on our Seder table, called Elijah’s cup We remember the story of what it was like living in Egypt by reading from a book called a Haggadah We sing the Mah Nishtana We rest on a pillow to remember how we are no longer slaves We eat crunchy matzah, and not Challah or Chametz We prepare our homes for Passover; we clean up very, very carefully We celebrate this holiday in a special way: lighting candles, making Kiddush, wearing festive clothing, and setting a beautiful tablecloth.

Your child learned about these themes through hands-on activities. It was so fun to see them thinking and absorbing these new concepts!

Trying to make our own bricks with special sand that we made of flour and oil.

Making real Charoset together and eating it for a snack.

Stamps of different veggies on the paper.

Tasting different veggies and chatting about how different the taste Splitting the sea project Mixing our own salt water and dipping a cooked potato Creating a Chametz collage by glueing pasta Crawling around the room in our Chametz searching game

PESACH MAGAZINE 2017

CHABADTORAHTOTS.COM

nursery afternoon MORAHS PENINA, MAJA, DANIELA

The world of colour comes to life as we use our body to explore...

Like a fresh flower sprouting on the grass, our curiosity about the colours has sprouted with our spring activities. Our afternoons have been so fun while exploring and mixing the colours and using different parts of our body and various mediums to paint. Somehow, many of the children’s favourite colour changed each time we explored a new colour. We loved talking about the differents sensations we felt while at work and practised taking turns and sharing all the while. The expression on the children's faces showed the joy of the moment and reminded us just how beautiful the colours around us really are.

Here are some highlights of our favourite activities: - Learning about parts of our body while painting a spring flower masterpiece: our wrist- brown ground | hands prints - green grass | hands and feet- colourful flowers - Painting with ice and talking about cold and warm sensations, and how ice melts to water.

- Strengthening our fine motor skills by painting with feathers and kneading a variety of coloured play-doh - Painting “secret” letters using water-paint to find the white letters hidden on the paper Throughout the break, we encourage you to continue to chat with your child about the wonderful colours around our world. Looking forward to seeing the children’s colourful faces soon. Have a vibrant spring break!

PESACH MAGAZINE 2017

CHABADTORAHTOTS.COM

Parents as Partners!

FROM YOUR DEDICATED MORAHS

The past few weeks have been filled with fun, activities, crafts, song, and loads of learning, as we prepared for Pesach and spring.

Your child has worked hard in school over the last few weeks. We strongly encourage you to find a calm time to sit with your child to go through their projects. You and your child will gain so much. Check out the blog as well and take the time to engage and connect with your little one.

"TAKE THE TIME TO ENGAGE AND CONNECT WITH YOUR LITTLE ONE" The experience of showing your interest will inspire your child to learn more and will give them a valuable self-esteem boost.

Do not force your child to speak, but rather read through the content and allow them to share as they wish. We have truly enjoyed the learning and exploration and invite you to take a glimpse at the learning, values, growth and fun that took place at Chabad Torah tots!

PESACH MAGAZINE 2017

CHABADTORAHTOTS.COM

jk & k morning MORAHS CHANA, SHIRITH, AHAVA

Our class has invested time into creating centres and projects that allowed us a full body Pesach experience. Your child put so much thought into the projects and process. It is our sincere hope you will look closely and take a moment to engage your child in understanding their thoughts and process of their creations. Enjoy the nachas and time together!

Centres: - Dramatic Play: The children created a bottle of wine and cups for the four cups of wine. We have been acting out the seder and practising the steps.

- We created different sensory buckets with sand and talked about the work the Jewish people did in Egypt.

- We “crossed” the Yam Suf by walking through blue paint one day and water buckets another day.

- The children developed a hands-on centre of Moshe in the basket Our Projects: - Ma Nishtana Book: the children acted out the Ma Nishtana/ four questions and created a book with these pictures. Many of the children chose to write parts of it by themselves.

- Goblet: can be used either for the cup for Eliyahu Hanavi or by your child to drink the four cups at the seder.

- Towel: for drying your hands while washing for the matza. Check out the colours and design decorations. We loved hearing the explaining their artwork. So creative!

- Pesach coloring book: Follow along and hear the whole story - Search Bag: can be used as a game or to conduct a real search for Chametz It has been so much fun to get creative together and it is our hope that the children are coming into Pesach with a love, excitement and deep understanding. We wish each a happy and healthy holiday. Can’t wait to see you all back after Pesach!

P.S. We encourage the children who have their Hagada from last year to use it again this year at the seder!

PAGE 07

"My favourite colour was blue when I was two. It was red when I got three but now it is purple because blue mixed with red make purple". (Actually, we think he still loves red.)

- SAULLY ESTEIN

CHABADTORAHTOTS.COM

PESACH MAGAZINE 2017

CHABADTORAHTOTS.COM

jk & k afternoon MS. LEAH AND MORAH SHIRITH

The past few weeks we have been focusing on rhyming in class. Rhyming is a precursor in learning to read and write. It plays an important part of phonemic awareness, which lays the groundwork for written language, and will help your child develop pre-reading and writing skills.

It is important for kids to be able to hear the ending sounds in words and recognise patterns in the English language, plus rhyming fun! In class, we practice thinking of different words that rhyme and even make up our own silly rhyming words!

It is easy to practice this skill with your child and can be a great way to pass time while driving in the car, sitting at a restaurant or even while waiting at the doctor's office. Simply think of a word and have your child (or children) try and think of words that rhyme with it. You can also create many rhyming games. Here is a fun activity that you can do with your child over the break using items from around your house.

Rhyming Game with Household Objects: What you need: 1) A basket or bin 2) A paper and something to write with (optional) 3) Household objects that rhyme (see example list below) Examples: Rock- sock - clock Car- star- jar Truck- duck Shell- bell Bag- tag- flag Pan- can- fan Directions: Place an item into the basket and say "I found a _____. Can you find something that rhymes with it?"

See how many objects you can find to add to the basket!

If your child needs a bit of extra help, try brainstorming some rhyming objects ahead of time that you know you have available.

This game takes very little time to set up but will be a ton of fun for your child, while also fostering the literacy skills that they will need to become successful readers and writers!

Enjoy your break, and happy rhyming!

P.S. Have you seen our awesome volcano unit? IIt's exploding on our blog!

songs FOR YOUR PRESCHOOLER

MA NISHTANA Chorus: Mah Nishtana halayla hazeh mikol haleylot?

Mikol haleylot?

What makes this night different from all other nights?

1) Sheb-ch-ol haleylot eyn anu matbilin afilu pa-am ech-at.

Afilu pa-am e-ch-at.

Halayla hazeh, halayla hazeh sh'tae p'amim.

Halayla hazeh, halayla hazeh sh'tae p'amim.

On all nights we need not dip even once, and on this night we dip twice!

2) Sheb-ch-ol haleylot anu o-ch-lim ch-ametz umatzah, Ch-ametz umatzah.

Halaylah hazeh, halaylah hazeh kulo matzah.

Halaylah hazeh, halaylah hazeh kulo matzah.

On all nights we eat leavened bread or matzah, and on this night, only matzah!

3) Sheb-ch-ol haleylot anu o-ch-lim she-ar yerakot.

She-ar yerakot.

Halayla hazeh, halayla hazeh maror.

Halayla hazeh, halayla hazeh maror On all nights we eat various vegetables, and on this night, bitter herbs!

4) Sheb-ch-ol haleylot anu o-ch-lim beyn yoshvin uveyn mesubin.

Beyn yoshvin uveyn mesubin.

Halayla hazeh, halayla hazeh kulanu mesubin.

Halayla hazeh, halayla hazeh kulanu mesubin On all nights we eat sitting upright or reclining, and on this night we all recline!

THE ORDER OF THE SEDER KADDESH we take a sip Of wine to our lips URCHATZ we wash our hands For the KARPAS which we dip YACHATZ we now divide And put a half a side Of the middle matza which we will hide MAGGID tells the story And once more we tell our children the nes to repeat Wash our hands RACHTZA demands For MOITZIE MATZA the matza that we eat MORROR is bitter greens KORECH sandwich between SHULCHAN ORECH the yom tov meal We lick our soup bowls clean TZOFUN is not far behind The afikoman we find BEARACH we are bentching HALLEL mention Hashem who is kind NIRTZA is our task to ask Hashem To be pleased with our mitzvois we have done Now we can start to say by heart the mitzvois of the Seder Starting from step one

THE SEDER PLATE SONG ZEROH, a roasted neck BEITZA, a hard boiled egg MORROR, oh so bitter to eat CHAROSES, apples nuts and wine It looks like a brick Then comes KARPAS in the salt water we dip Then comes CHAZERES, which looks like the morror This completes the entire KERAOH We place the KERAOH on top of matzahs three The KOHEN the YISROEL and middle the LEVI AVADIM HAYINU ‫ בְּנֵי חוֹרִין‬- ‫עֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיֽם עַתָּה‬ Avadim hayinu lepharo bemitzrayim, ata – benei chorin We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt – now we are free.

PAT A MATZAH Pat a Matzah, Pat a Matzah Baker man Bake me a Matzah As fast as you can

MOSHE SONG Stepping step in to the water Down to bathe came Pharaoh’s daughter There she saw a basket boat With a baby boy afloat Moshe means drawn out of water He was named by Pharaoh’s daughter But she did not know that he Would let all the Yidden go free

Roll it, Poke it, Make it flat as can be, Put it in the oven very quickly Matzahs for the seder One, Two, Three Two for Lechem Mishna And one for Lechem Oni

10 MAKOS SONG

JOKES What did the Lion say at the seder?

Ma-Roooooooar What did the lamb say at the seder?

Maaaaaaa- Nishtana What did the marror say to the charoset?

You’re driving me NUTS!

Ten Makos Ten Makos Pharoh why did you say no When Hashem told you to let The Jewish people get up and go 1st came Dam There was blood No drinking water anywhere Then Tzfardeah The frogs came jumping In their pockets and in their hair 3rd was kinim The lice were crawling Oy vey it itches so Then Hashem sent wild animals The 4th Mako was Arov 5th was Dever What a pest All the animals, they died Schin the boils It hurt so much That all of Pharah’s people cried 7th was borod Fire and hail What a storm, who ever saw Then the Arbeh, All the grasshoppers Oh Hashem, please no more.

But Parah was still very stubborn And would not let the yidden go So hahsem sent choshech darkness They couldn’t even move a toe.

Number 10 was Makos Bichoros, All the oldest sons would die Paroh came running To Moshe and Aharon Take the Jews and go good bye!!