ECE Newsletter. ECE at a Glance. Tzedakah

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1 ECE Newsletter Dec. 8, 2017 ECE at a Glance Chanukah Dinner & Art 5:45pm Vacation Day Programming 12/14 12/26 12/29 ECE Closed 12/25 & 1/1 Tzedakah Each month, we designate a different charity or organization for our Shabbat Tzedakah collection. We encourage parents to tell us about organizations that are close to your hearts. Tzedakah is collected in the classrooms on Fridays during Shabbat, but feel free to bring coins in earlier in the week if it is more convenient. Donations will be held until Fridays so the children will contribute as a group. In our newsletters, we will include as many specifics about each organization as possible so that you will understand the importance of the charity. For the months of November and December, we will be collecting money for the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. The Regional Food Bank is a non-profit organization whose mission to is alleviate hunger and prevent food waste. As a whole, the Food Bank is able to deliver 31 million pounds of food to over 23 counties in New York. For more information, please visit

2 Sarah s Article A young child, sitting next to his Grandfather, tapped him on the shoulder and asked, Grandpa, when does Chanukah begin this year? His Grandfather smiled and said, Same as always, the 25th of the Jewish month Kislev. Chanukah is coming! Chanukah, the festival of lights, is celebrated each winter. The exact timing fluctuates for us as we follow a solar calendar, while the Jewish calendar follows a lunar cycle. Though Chanukah is a relatively minor holiday in Judaism, it is a reminder for Jewish people to be proud of their religion and ancestry as they fought for religious freedom without having to assimilate. It is also a time for family and traditions. My grandmother had several menorahs when I was growing up and I remember her proudly putting them on display, placing candles in each, while telling the story of why each one was so important to her or who it had been passed down from. In ECE, our children have been preparing their own menorahs and art work for the Chanukah Dinner & Art Show, while learning about the miracle of the oil lasting for eight nights when it was only supposed to last for one. The greater significance and the Jewish value that is being taught, however, is acceptance and tolerance. We are lucky to have such a diverse group of teachers, families and students and we enjoy taking time to celebrate those differences, rather than assimilating into one. The Chanukah Dinner & Art Show is on Thursday, December 14 at 5:45pm and if you haven t signed up to come yet, we would love to see you there! The article below provides a brief overview about the holiday of Chanukah. - What is Hanukkah Hanukkah is an 8-day long festive holiday that commemorates an improbable victory, some 22 centuries ago, by the Maccabees, a band of Jewish guerilla fighters seeking to reclaim their land, their Temple, and their sovereignty from the oppressive rule of the Syrian Greek Empire (also sometimes called the Seleucid Empire). The word Hanukkah means dedication, and it refers to the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem which took place after the Maccabees victory in 164 BCE. Once the Maccabees had restored the Temple and re-purified it, the traditional story says that they sought to relight a lamp known as the eternal flame. But only one day s worth of consecrated olive oil could be found, and it would be awhile before more could be produced. No one wanted to light the eternal flame only to see it sputter out after a day, but there was also a deep spiritual desire to rekindle the sacred lamp immediately. The priests decided to light it and hope for the best. Miraculously, it burned for eight days until fresh jars of olive oil were finally brought to keep the flame alive. Hence, the eight nights of candle lighting for Hanukkah. Like winter holidays of many other religions, Hanukkah emphasizes light during the darkest part of the year. The main observances are lighting a menorah (a ceremonial candelabra), spinning a top called a dreidel in a game of chance, and eating fried foods (to symbolize the oil in the story). Though it s a minor religious holiday, Hanukkah among American Jews has become enormously popular. It s a festival of light in the winter, it celebrates victorious underdogs, and it fits the they tried to kill us / we won / let s eat rubric that animates Jewish holidays like Passover and Purim. When is Hanukkah? In the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah begins at sundown on the 25th of a month called Kislev, and it continues for 8 days. The Jewish calendar is partly lunar and partly solar, whereas the Gregorian (Western secular) calendar is purely solar. The Jewish calendar and the Gregorian calendar do not overlap precisely, and that s why Hanukkah keeps moving around the secular calendar, sometimes starting as early as the tail end of November, and sometimes not until the end of December. The Hanukkah Menorah Hanukkah s sole mandatory religious observance is lighting the Hanukkah menorah or lamp, also called the Hanukkiah. The menorah has receptacles for nine candles, one for each of the eight nights of the holiday, and one helper candle, the shamash, to light the others. Each night of Hanukkah, there s a protocol for lighting the candles. Gather everyone around, and start by lighting the shamash. Then, holding the shamash, begin reciting the blessings.

3 Green Room Amy & Kim Happy Holidays from the Green Room! After Thanksgiving, we spent some time talking about the farm and all of the animals you can find on a farm. We also discussed all the food farms can provide for us. The children had fun turning the door into a barn with cows, sheep and even a John Deere tractor. We had fun turning our sensory table into a farm table with farm animals, corn kernels and some small blocks. After we finished with our farm theme, we moved on to Hanukkah. We have listened to some fun stories to help us learn all about this holiday. We ve talked about the 8 nights of celebration and candle lighting on the menorah. We practiced spinning dreidels and even turned our sensory table into an area to spin them. The children painted a large menorah for our door and also have been hard at work creating art for the art show. Please join us on Thursday, December 14th. This is such a fun night, come try some latkes and kugel and see the auditorium all decorated in art work done by the children. We will continue on with Chanukah fun for the next week or so. With winter approaching, please make sure your child s extra clothing is appropriate for colder weather. We do still try to make it outside whenever possible, so please make sure your child had the appropriate outside gear to keep them warm. Hats and gloves tend to get misplaced the most, so please label your child s gear so that we can try to keep such items from getting lost. Hope everyone enjoys this holiday

4 Kindergarten Emberly, Ruth & Kalpana you are in need of a sign up sheet for that night's attendance... we hope to see everyone there! Hello from Kindergarten! It is hard to believe that December is already here and that we will soon be in the midst of winter. The kindergarten crew has been up to quite a lot since our last newsletter was published. During the beginning of November, we started our unit on Shabbat. Students were given a chance to create a Shabbat box or bag containing several different items relevant to our unit. We enjoyed dying kippahs of various colors, molding together clay candle holders, painting challah covers, and shining up kiddish cups. We tackled a ton of different books aligning with our theme as well - these kids are basically experts on the matter! Shortly after finishing our work with Shabbat, we took to books, games, and art activities for some Thanksgiving fun! Our "Turkey bingo" game was a hit, and a nice way to end our time together before Thanksgiving break. After returning from our mini vacation, the kindergarteners began learning about a new holiday... Hanukkah! Our current unit on the festival of lights will likely bring us right up to our December break in a few weeks. We have so much to cover and have already been eagerly learning about dreidels, shamash candles, latkes, and Maccabea warriors. One of our first projects back was constructing a large, paper chain menorah which can be seen in our classroom. Everyone is eager to put up and light some paper candles once the holiday begins! This past week we started to practice playing the dreidel game in small groups, and even made our own paper dreidels to bring home. It has been great to see such continued enthusiasm with this group, and to explore the history, significance, and traditions of such a special holiday. Speaking of Hanukkah, I would like to remind our families that the Hanukkah Dinner and Art Show is rapidly approaching! We will be having our celebratory evening on Thursday, December 14th at 5:45 pm. Please feel free to reach out either in person or via Brightwheel if

5 Waddlers Lindsey & Jackie Hi again from the Waddler room! December is here and in full force, we can t even believe it! Our friends have been so busy lately getting ready for our Chanukah Dinner and Art Show that is coming up. You all have a bunch of future Picassos on your hands! Everyone is getting so big right before our eyes! Abigail is always busy exploring and emptying out the toy bins to find the perfect toy to play with. Charlotte has been practicing her standing and is getting so independent. Ezra looks like he grows everyday he is getting so big. He loves to make the cars and trucks zoom around the room. Gracen is totally out of her shell and is becoming quite the entertainer of the classroom with her personality. She loves to play with the stacking cups to make them into balls, but the purple ones seem to be her favorite. Kaleb is always busy! He loves to play with the toys that sing songs so that he can dance along to them. He even plays the piano for us. Myles is a bigger helper in the room. He is always sharing with his friends and helping us clean up the toys when it is time for lunch. He also likes to jump around on the mats with his friends. Shreya is doing so well in the classroom and is definitely finding her way around more and more every day. She also likes to look at the books and just lounge in our comfy corner. Vikram is finding all of his words. He loves to call all of our friends by their names and can say just about everyone s. He also has been rocking all of our babies to sleep. Zoe is everyone s best friend. She loves to run around with Kaleb, Myles, and Vikram. She also has a sense for fashion as she always wears our stacking rings as bracelets. Just a few reminders, please check your child s mailboxes and cubbies each night for anything that needs to be brought home. Please also check that they have extra clothing (shirts, pants, socks, etc.) and that they are size appropriate. Also a reminder about our art show, it is this coming Thursday December 14. If you have not signed up please do so at the front desk, everyone has been working hard on art projects and we would love to see everyone there. As always if you have any questions or concerns please see Jackie or myself.

6 Save the Date Infants and Waddlers are free!

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