"Birthday of the Trees"

This week the children in the Bear’s class have been busy preparing for some very important upcoming celebrations. As we welcomed Orli and Zev back from their 2 week vacation in Israel, we centered many conversations about things that are the same and different between here and there. It was noted, that despite the cold snowy weather here in Brookline, the children in Israel are beginning to see signs of spring. This includes seeing flowers on the trees. We talked about the importance of trees, and the upcoming Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat, otherwise known as the “birthday of the trees”. We read the story Sammy Spider’s First Tu B’Shevat, and learned the importance of planting new trees. In the next few weeks, the children will be planting seeds in honor of the holiday. Hopefully we will see them grow! We will celebrate the holiday next Wednesday and Thursday with activities and special snacks.

We heard the story of Martin Luther King Jr. and learned about how some people did not like him because he looked different than they did. We read the books We Are All Alike, We Are All Different, and The Skin I’m In. The children created multi cultural replicas of their own faces! We have stressed that it does not matter what you look like, but rather what is “inside” that makes us all special.

We prepared for the upcoming New England Patriots playoff game by painting footballs to decorate our bulletin board! You can never be too young to become an avid sports fan in the city of Boston!

Thank you to Teo and his family for being our special Shabbat family this week. There are still some available weeks for anyone wishing to sign up, even if you have already signed up for 1 week.

Mid year Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Thursday, February 3rd. There is a sign up sheet in the classroom. We will make every effort to accommodate you if these times are not convenient for your personal schedule. We look forward to meeting with each of you.

If you are interested in signing up for the February and or April vacation day programs, please do so as soon as possible so that we can plan accordingly. This can be done by contacting Shari, Micah, or any of the teaching staff. Information is now also available for our upcoming Summer 2011 program.

Happy 4th Birthday to both Charlie and Teo.

Enjoy the long weekend. Shabbat Shalom.

Morah Rhona and Morah Jessica