Updates

Kids are bringing them in each week!! Prizes are being bought!! The press is impressed with our innovative BMC! Watch for articles in the local papers and the jewish news.
Did you get the invitation to the chanuka party in the mail? Mark your calendar and invite some friends!!
Remember there will be NO class on sund dec 21 at shul at 10 am - instead we WILL meet at Bonaventure at 5 pm:)

Today many of our teachers participated in the Anita Naftaly Family Circle Confrence and thuroughly enjoyed a practical presentation by Dr. Ross Greene author of Lost at School.

The talk was filled with insight on a very solution oriented approach to dealing with challenging behavior. Dr green showed us how to zero in to the skill that is preventing the child to deal with the current situation in a less explosive manner.

I am looking forward to implement these tools to our class rooms as well as my home:). I recommend the book highly as I think you will enjoy it and the peace it will bring to your home and relationships.

Shabbos on Sunday!?!?!?  If you passed by the 2nd grade classroom you would of heard all sorts of Shabbos songs. We even had our own Shabbos meal. The girls lit the candles while the boys made the kiddush on the grape juice we had yummy home made Challah. (yum!) We learnet that G-d created the world in six days and on the Seventh G-d rested which is why it is called Shabbos-rest.We ended the day with our Jewish Home scrapbook and Aleph Champ. Keep reviewing, your doing a great job!

Today in K-1 we learned the letter Zayin. Your kids thought of some great zayin words such as zebra, zipper, and zig zag. We played Aleph Bet baseball to review the letters and had a tie. Today we had a very practical lesson on what to do in Shul. We learned some of the terms such as bimah, aaron, and mechitza as well as what to do and how to behave in Shul.

This week 2nd grade learned about the Mitzvah of putting a Mezuzah on the doorpost of our homes. The Mezuzah is written by a scribe. He uses special ink and a quill. He writes the Shema on parchment. The Mezuzah  serves as a protection and is an "alarm system" for our homes. We got to see for ourselves real Mezuzahs and were able to see which ones were kosher. We then played a fun review game of musical chairs! What a fun day. I  cant wait to see which room will visit next week and which Mitzvah we'll learn! Have a great week!

In K-1 this week we learned the letter Vav that goes "Vava Vroom". We even raced our cars around the room and practiced the sound. Each week we are making a new page of our Alef Bet book that will be brought home at the end of the year.
Now that we have had a short break from Jewish holidays we spent the last two weeks developing a deeper understanding of Hashem. We had some great discussions and learned a wonderful song TTO "Raindrops on Roses" from The Sound of Music. Maybe if you start your child off he/she can sing it to you.

As part of our Focus program - today we focused on Jews in Sports. Rabbi Dov led a discussion of todays heros as well as a moving story of Sandy Koufax and his commitment to his Jewish identity. He also shared a lesson we can learn on being a player in the game called life - read on for more...

Sandy Koufax
Career Highlights:
6 Time All-Star (1961-1966)   3 Time World Series Champion (1959, 1963, 1965)
3 Time Cy Young Award winner (1963, 1965-1966)  1963 National League MVP
2 Time World Series MVP (1963, 1965)  Pitched a perfect game (September 9, 1965)

World Series & Yom Kippur
Despite the constant pain in his pitching elbow, Koufax pitched 335⅔ innings during the 1965 season and led the Dodgers to another pennant. He finished the year by winning his second pitchers' Triple Crown, leading the league in wins (26), ERA (2.04) and strikeouts (382; the second highest modern day total).  He allowed the fewest base runners per 9 innings in any season ever. Koufax had 11-game winning streaks in both 1964 and 1965. Koufax captured his second Cy Young Award unanimously.
Koufax and the Dodgers faced the Minnesota Twins in the World Series. Koufax declined to pitch Game 1 due to his observance of Yom Kippur; with Drysdale pitching, his team was hit hard. In Game 2, Koufax pitched six innings, giving up two runs, but the Twins won the Game 5–1 and took an early 2–0 lead in the series. The Dodgers fought back, with Claude Osteen, Drysdale, and Koufax claiming vital wins to take a 3-2 lead back to Minnesota. In Game 5, Koufax pitched a complete game shutout, winning 7–0; however, the Twins won Game 6 to force a seventh game. Starting Game 7 on only two days of rest, Koufax pitched through fatigue and arthritic pain, throwing a three-hit shutout to clinch the Series. The performance was enough to win him his second World Series MVP award. He was awarded Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year award.

There are players and fans, the baseball fan explained. The fans can leave when they like -- they're not part of the game and the game could, and does, continue after they leave. But the players need to stay and try to win until the game is over.
"That is the lesson I want to teach you in Judaism," said the Rebbe with a smile. "You can be either a fan or a player. Be a player."
- The Lubavitcher Rebbe o.b.m.

Todays focus on Jewish cooking with a Rosh Hashana spin found us enjoying a wonderful apple cake and secrets about why the apple is part of our New Year...

Why do we dip an apple in honey for Rosh Hashanah, and not another sweet fruit? The apple symbolizes Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden), which has the scent of an apple orchard, and in Kabbalahis called "the holy apple orchard." Together with the sweetness of the honey, it is symbolic of the ultra-sweet year we hope G‑d will grant us.
On Rosh Hashana we crown Hashem as our King. Why is the apple known as the "King" of all fruits? Because there are so many great things about this fruit. An apple is beautiful, tasty and has a nice smell. It can be grown almost anywhere, and it keeps well. It comes in lots of colors, from green to red to gold. Aples are tasty and juicy, and have various tastes from sour to sweet. One can eat an apple raw, cooked, or baked, and it can be used in many dishes, such as applesauce, apple cake, and apple pie.
 
When King Solomon wanted to describe the love between the Jewish people and the Almighty, he said: "like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, is my beloved among the sons" (Song of Songs, 2:3).

try this at home and bring the great smell in your kitchen...

Apple Cake Recipe

1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups peeled, cored, and cubed apples
1 cup raisins (optional)
1 tsp. cinnamon
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
 
Grease a 9 inch tube or bundt pan.
 
In a large mixing bowl, beat oil with sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, then flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
 
In a separate bowl, tossed cubed apples, raisins, and cinnamon until apples are coated. Stir apple mixture into batter. Batter will be very stiff.
 
Spoon into the greased pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool before slicing.