December 19, 2008 Kislev 26, 5768Dear MJCDS Parents, TO EVERYONE: MAY YOUR HANUKKAH BE FILLED WITH JOY AND LIGHT! Mazel tov to the Pront Family on Liannaís big sister, Elishava, becoming a bat mitzvah! Congratulations are extended to our students for a wonderfully successful presentation at Oakwood Village at the beginning of this week. Yashar Koach/all to their honor to these lovely students as well for their good behavior while visiting the dalet class at Gan HaYaled! This week we had such an exceptional week as we had even more special events than the ones listed above. On Monday, Patti Epstein came to share her flute and music with us! Using various Disney tunes she had our students up and about and moving! Wednesday we went to the Y.M.C.A. and finished our swim sessions with an in house pool party! Everyone in the water had an exceptionally grand time. The students almost succeeded in getting one of the teachers into the water as well. Almost ‚ but not quite! Additionally, students continued to do Hanukkah activities including sending cards, singing songs, hearing stories, doing a special art activity and playing dreidel. Needless to say, the week has been one of strong celebration. It even included a small gift for each child as well as one made by the students for their parents. During General Studies students read new poems and increased their vocabulary with words such as adrift and tapers! They finished a major project that involved gathering information, tallying and graphing. They also celebrated reaching the class goal of 2500 minutes spent reading at home! We hope students will continue reading over winter break. Parents, please have students read to you to practice their reading skills. Reminder: With the advent of cold weather please have your child(ren) bring a hat, gloves, and scarf to school. Thank you for your help in this matter. PLEASE HAVE FOR JAN 5th: During the winter holiday please fill a large plastic or paper bad with all kinds of no longer needed cardboard objects: small boxes, rectangular, and round (oatmeal boxes, rice containers, jewelry box containers, etc.), paper towel cardboard cores, toilet paper cores, clean egg cartons, old gift wrapping paper, ribbons, cardboard, and anything that might be used in collage making or /and assemblage making including small plastic containers, buttons, old fabrics for which the family no longer has any use, and anything else but not limited to twigs, feathers, old used mittens that have holes. Any thing has possibilities, but the objects should be clean and usable with the other objects. (No milk cartons and meat cartons). A small new Elmer's glue for each child. A ream of LARGE construction paper (available at Sam's as well as other places). A box of Cray-pas oil pastels for each child. 1 pkg/ream of white paper (printmaking) Small sketch book with studentís name on front and back cover. 1 pkg of many sheets of colored tissue paper. New box of Crayola crayons. Thank you for your help in this matter. We are excited about starting our new art program! Refuah Shlama: We continue to send out prayers for Jonathan Greenspan who will have his second surgery early in 2009. Todah Rabbah: To Rabbi Rebecca Ben Gideon for coordinating our special Thursday Hanukkah gathering, to the Milunís for the use of the JEM Center. We thank the Rudin Family for a lovely Hanukkah gift. We also appreciate the donation that has been made to the school in honor of the birth of Ora Milun, Chaya Nechaís sister as well as for the donation made to the school in honor of Elisheva Pront becoming a bat mitzvah. Our thanks to Faygie for having the students make home made olive oil and teaching them another Hanukkah song! Request: Please send in magazines that have pictures. We need pictures to use for various projects. We also would appreciate items that we could use for a dress up corner and/or house-keeping area. . Upcoming Events: SCHOOL RESUMES: Monday, January 5, 2009 Car seats needed: Thursday, January 8, 2009 for a trip to the Monroe Street Library. Open House for Parents of Prospective Students for the academic year 2009-2010, Tuesday, January 13, 2009, 6:30-7:30 pm. To be rescheduled: Friday Pool Party at YMCA Until next timeÖ have a sweet Shabbat. Kol tuv, Meisha and Jodi |