‫בס"ד‬
‫פרנס היום‬
Todah rabah to:
Morah Gabin for sponsoring the month of Shevat for
bsoros tovos.
The yeshiva is sponsoring
the month Shevat in memory of
our friend Moshe Zaks.
R’ Yisroel & Ahuva Cherns
who are sponsoring for the entire school year. Tizku l’mitzvos.
Cooking Science
It explodes and we are going to eat it! How can that be? This week,
two of the learning pods in the elementary school began a new unit
on “Cooking Science.” The unit began with a discussion about food and how some
people have the skill to make delicious dishes. But really cooking is all about chemical
reactions — and getting the proportions just right.
In this first session, the students experimented with some basic ingredients that
are found in everyday food and learned about acids, alkalis, and PH levels. The class
began with a taste test. The children made and tasted fresh orange juice, and then
compared it to lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda. They discussed which had the
sharpest taste. Next, they combined two of the ingredients and discovered that
when vinegar is added to baking soda it “explodes,” bubbling up all over the place!
What will happen, we asked, when we put these two ingredients together in our
food? We will have to wait until next week to find out the answer.
The children experimented to determine the characteristics of our ingredients.
Continued on page 2
Stein Yeshiva Annual Dinner
monday, march 20, 2017
young israel of scarsdale, 6:30 PM
parent awards
teacher award
Drs. Mark & Elizabeth Benisz
Nachum & Atara Joel
Dr. Ori & Dana Rackovsky
Leah Kalisch
community service award
Deborah Wilk
Make your reservation, place your ad.
Do you have good/services to donate to the Chinese Auction?
Please contact Mrs. Pollock at [email protected]
Please call the office or send
in your reservation to sponsor a
day of learning for $18, or a
week for $72.
Mazal Tov
to
Rabbi Lane on
his daughter
becoming a
kallah.
Cooking Science
inquiry
investigation
interpretation
Observing the egg after one day
in a vinegar bath.
Continued from page 1
They used red cabbage juice as a control and discovered that
the juice contains a chemical called anthocyanin which changes color when acids or alkalines are added to it. Vinegar and
lemon juice turned the blue/purple cabbage juice red showing
that they are very strong acids. And, to the students’ surprise,
orange juice which tastes sweet also turned the control red.
Purell and dish soap proved to be alkaline, while baking soda
neutralized our acids.
The students recorded their observations, matching the
color of their experiments to a PH level color chart and determining whether it was acidic or alkaline. They also took turns
as photographers to document the experience.
Having determined that vinegar is a very strong acid, we
placed a raw egg in a jar filled with vinegar. The students hypothesized as to what would happen to the egg. Most thought
it would crack. After only one day, we have noticed that the
egg has indeed cracked, but that is because it has expanded!
What we wonder is going to happen next?
The culinary experience crossed curricula into ELA where
the students reviewed the words introduced in Cooking Science and wrote about their experience.
Daycare
The kinderlach in daycare were fascinated with the snow
and stood at their window excitedly watching the snowflakes
fall. Afterwards, the children made their own snowmen. They
painted their man white and then chose a color for his hat and
a different color for the buttons. It was a great fine-motor exercise as the children used a paintbrush and squeeze bottles
for their creations. The morahs reinforced color recognition as
the children made their choice of colors.
Our youngest “talmidim” are busily learning as they play.
In addition to learning the winter themed words, the children
are learning the names of animals and their sounds as they
match up puzzle pieces. And, even at this young age, there is a
focus on middos tovos as the children learn to share and care
about each other.
BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION
Please continue to send in
your Box Tops
Early Childhood
Reminder to return your
Shabbos bags on Monday
SY Registration 2017
is now due
Register for Camp Shemesh
for a fun-filled summer of
growth and explortion
Around the Early Childhood This Week
be concentrating on the mitzvah of v’ahavta l’rechacha
komecha learning the song in davening and practicing this
mitzvah in our everyday activities in class.
the threes
 The 3's came back renewed and ready to explore and
learn. The yeladim of Kitah Shalosh are hitting personal
and social milestones and we couldn't be more proud of
all their accomplishments.
 This week, Kitah Shalosh has been catching up on the Makos from last week's parsha, bringing the history of B’nei
Yisrael up to the last three Makos of Arbeh, Choshech,
and Makas Bechoros in this week's Parshat Bo. We have
been talking a lot about how hard it was to be slaves in
Mitzrayim and how Moshe helped us go free towards the
Torah and Eretz Yisrael.
the twos
 This week the children created their own ice paints. First,
they combined food coloring and water and then put their
ice paints into the freezer. The children waited patiently
for their paints to freeze and were so excited when they
were able to use them. The children created beautiful
pictures. Some of the children realized how cold the
paints were and loved touching them. It was a great sensory and fine motor activity.
 The children also worked on their fine motor skills this
week while practicing to hold a paint brush. The children
are learning how to properly hold a paint brush and make
swift motions instead of dabbing. The Twos watched the
snowflakes fall and then painted their own snowflakes.
They cannot wait until their snowflakes are hanging in the
classroom. The children were excited to see the snow and
to play outside in it. Some of the children pretended that
they were ice skating while others just wanted to make
snowmen.
 The children have been learning new Hebrew words every
day. This week the children concentrated on clothing
items. They spoke about a kova (hat) and meiel (coat).
 Marching and skipping are two important gross motor
skills and it was so much fun to practice them this week.
The children learned how to lift their knees up to their
chest while marching. They also learned how to change
feet and directions while skipping.
 The children have been developing so nicely in their social
and emotional abilities. Over the next few weeks we will
 Interestingly, the mitzvah of matzah is given in this week's
parsha, so we reenacted making matzah with kinetic sand.
We went through the whole process from mixing the flour
and water, kneading the dough, rolling and punching
holes in the dough, and baking it in the oven. That allowed
us to learn about the mitzvah and halachos through sensory play and gross motor development. Plus we made A
LOT of matzah pizza and keneidlach soup, so I hope everyone eats gebroks!
 The children are advancing in learning the
Ivris letters through
their classmates'
names. We started with
‫הדר‬-for Hadar, and this
week we have been
adding to the letters
using Elisha's name,
‫אלישע‬. We decorate
the letters as we learn
them, creating visual
 Moon Sand: We made moon sand out of flour, sand, and
oil. We loved sharing our thoughts about what the moon
must look like. We made moon rocks using various scoopers and formed our moon sand into different space
themed artifacts. After we made our moon sand we listened as the yeladim pretended to be on the moon. We
heard such interesting comments from them. One friend
said, “Be careful of the crater so you don't fall in!” Another friend said, “I'm not sure how long it will take to get
back to Earth if we don’t find what we're looking for.”
artworks out of the names. These artworks are kept in
your child's portfolio which you will receive at the end of
the year.
 A few friends have brought in tzedakah coins this week,
and they got the honor of handing out the tzedakah during tefillah. This is a special moment for a child, so please
collect your spare change for your child to engage in this
mitzvah!
 Stars, Space, and the Solar System: The children enjoyed
exploring the stars and the night sky so much that we extended the unit to include the solar system and space. We
used so many elements of learning in this unit which included; dramatic play, art, STEM, and Torah.
 We spoke about what space must feel and look like. Some
friends said it would be nice to play with the moon and
sun because we read a book about them being best
friends. Other friends said it would be fun to see space
ships with silly aliens. One friend said it would be nice because he would be closer to Hashem.
 We made our own aliens using Mr. Potato Head. All the
children took turns making their own silly-looking space
aliens.
 We pretended to be astronauts and zoom off to space.
During dramatic play we used a spaceship that we built
out of a large cardboard box. We made sure to cut out
circles for windows so we could see outer-space, the
moon, stars, and planets. Our first stop was the Moon. We
discovered there are craters, rocks, and loads of dust on
the surface of the moon. The moon has divots or craters
from asteroids and meteorites that crash and leave big
holes in the moon's surface. We also learned that there is
very little gravity on the moon — and will be exploring this
more next week.
 This week we did a few experiments to find out what
floats and what falls down from gravity’s pull. We discovered that because of the lack of gravity in space food and
drinks would float in the air. We pretended to be astronauts and tied ourselves down in our spaceship. We put
applesauce in a ziplock bag and used a straw to eat it just
like an astronaut would.
 Fizzing Jupiter and Mars: We used baking soda and vinegar with some homemade water colors to make Jupiter
and Mars fizzle. The yeladim know that chemical reaction
is always fun to watch, but when they have the opportunity to do it completely on their own it's taken to another
level. The children were so immersed in this science experiment that they explored with the colors for 40
minutes!
 We used a small planetarium with small plastic models of
each of the planets. We took each one and matched them
up to the ones on our rug. We noticed that the Earth is
small compared to other planets. We noted that it is
green and blue for all the plants, tree's, grass, water. The
yeladim even observed that the Earth ismade up of more
water than anything else.
 We made planets using round card stock and placed it in a
tin pan with paint and a marble. As the marble moved
around it caught the paint on it. We observed all the
movements and pretended the marble was shooting
around like a star.
 Rocket ships with Our Names: We used our name sticks
and made a rocket with the letters of our names on it. We
used construction paper and cut out various shapes and
colors. We added wings to our rocket ships to make them
look realistic. We added the letters in our name. This gave
us a chance to review our letters. We loved this learning
activity and can't wait to zoom around outer space in our
rocket ships.
the fours
 This week, the Fours learned that Parshas Bo introduces
three important mitzvahs. The children made beautiful
booklets with real leather straps and a copy of the first
paragraph of the Shema while learning all about the mitzvah of tefillin. Our sensory table displayed our play tefillin
and tefillin bag. The children learned that there are two
tefillin boxes which each house a smaller box inside. We
reviewed the Shema and talked about how the Shema
commands us to wear a sign on our arm and between our
eyes. The students learned that the tefillin worn on the
arm is placed opposite the heart. The children also
learned that only boys (men) wear tefillin and that a boy
dons tefillin the first time at the age of bar mitzvah.
 After a fun and relaxing break the yeladim were eager to
jump back into learning. We learned about the letter L
and the sound an L makes (lllll). We also practiced writing
the letter L using shaving cream. The children practiced
making straight lines down and a long foot on the bottom
in the cool cream. The yeladim had so much fun sharing
different L words; Eliora told us Lamp, while Judah shared
Lamb, and Koby mentioned Land.
 We also began to explore the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh.
We discussed how two witnesses would have to go out
and see the new moon in order to announce the arrival
of the new month. The children explored the cycle of the
moon and learned that the moon grows big and small.
We looked at our moon cycle bulletin board and noticed
how small the moon can become. The students looked
at a regular Jewish calendar and saw when Rosh Chodesh
Adar is going to arrive. We then displayed a lunar calendar showing all of the moon phases for the month of
February 2017 to see how Rosh Chodesh arrives right
when the moon is at its tiniest view.
 Paper plates were constructed into the various moon
phases, numbered and colored with chalk. The children
practiced their counting skills and pinned up each moon
phase in order. In the spirit of curriculum integration, Morah Bayla took over and taught the children about moon
phases in her science unit this week. You can see some of
our creations on the wall in the hallway.
 The last mitzvah discussed in Parshas Bo was the mitzvah
to keep Pesach. The children listed all of the holidays that
they know and we discussed the holidays commanded in
the Torah and the two rabbinical holidays: Purim and Chanukah. We made a chart of all the ways the children knew
to keep Pesach: no chametz, eating matzah, and having a
seder.
 We continued with our Alef Beis with the letter Caf/Chaf
and the word Keter (Crown). The children were asked to
remember the name of the letter and/or the word for
crown in order to get a turn wearing the very beautiful
golden crown borrowed from Pre-1 A. It was a fun way to
review the new letter and vocabulary. The students made
their Torah square with a 3D crown adorned with sparkles. Please make sure the kids place the new letter on
their Torah board at home.
 This week we focused on the letter L, made lemonade,
learned about the phases of the moon, and created a volcano!
 In honor of learning the letter L, the yeladim explored
Lemons. We observed a lemon and saw the smooth peel.
We also noticed that the skin could be bumpy. Bella said it
looked like an estrog! The yeladim smelled the outside of
the lemon and smelled the strong citrus flavor. We had
fun looking at the inside of the lemon and discovering the
seeds and the smooth flesh. The Yeladim tasted the fruit
and remarked about how sour it was! We had fun making
lemonade by juicing the lemons and adding some sugar so
it did not taste too sour! We put the leftover lemonade in
the freezer to make ices.
 When we began to explore the letter L, Judah told us
that Lava starts with the letter L! So, we decided to explore lava leaving a volcano! We made a volcano out of
paper cups, play dough, baking soda, vinegar, and food
coloring! We cut the cup in half and placed play dough in
and around the cup (to look like a volcano). We then put
the vinegar in the cup and slowly pored in the food coloring. Next, we carefully poured in the vinegar and the lava
begin to erupt! We had so much fun exploring lava and
seeing it leave the volcano. We spoke about how hot real
lava is and how it can preserve objects made out of stone
and clay. We talked about explorers/adventurers who go
into volcanos (no longer erupting ones) and look for clues
as to how volcanos work and what is inside of them!
Large oversized books called “Alpha-beats” allow the children to identify new vocabulary through picture recognition and increase their sight words by the rhythmic repetition offered in each concise booklet. This method has been
very successful in forging each student ahead in their reading.
 Each Wednesday is science day in Pre-1A! Prior to the
break, the students made a communal poster of five different types of clouds with each cloud labelled in their own
handwriting. I have been very impressed that the students
remember – even weeks later – and will comment in the
playground if they see a cumulus or a stratus cloud!
pre-1a
 What a fun week and exciting week in the Stein Yeshiva!
After our winter break we reviewed the “pasach,”
“kametz” and the “tzarie.” We were also introduced to the
“segal.” The children have begun to blend the different
nekudos.
 There has been so much so learn about in Parshas Bo! We
learned about the 10 makos, the mitzvah to be mekadesh
the new chodesh (month), and the leaving from Mitzriyim.
We saw live footage of what real locusts look like and how
they can fly as a swarm. We also saw and learned about
the cycles of the moon and when witnesses would come
to the Sanhedrin so they could declare a new month. The
children then actualized their new knowledge and, incorporating their artistic talents, made beautiful replicas of
the varied stages of the moon during it’s cycle.
 In our Middos Unit, we have been talking about how one
makes new friends. We talked about how we can introduce ourselves to new people and what it means to find
“things in common.”
 First, I want to thank all of the parents who helped their
children work on the review booklet that was sent home
over vacation break. If anyone still has the booklet at
home, completed or not, please return it to school as we
will work on it during class.
 This week we resumed our work on our Captain Cape-Able
projects with the students brainstorming lists of all of the
things they are good at doing. Each student then had to
choose 3 favorite sentences which will eventually be
written onto their capes. The students are working very
hard to get control of their writing skills in order to write
their letters small enough to fit neatly on the sentence
strips. We have been using personalized white boards with
markers and loose leaf paper to practice writing the letters
in a reasonable size.
 The students have all been working on their reading skills
using a variety of readers tailored to each student’s needs.
 This week we continued with the theme of Earth’s atmosphere with an exploration of the sky at sunset. We discussed why the sky is blue and why it changes colors at
sunset. The children created an experiment using rounded
whiskey glasses, water, milk, and a flashlight. We observed
how the introduction of a small amount of milk
(representing particles present in the atmosphere)
changed the colors that we can see when the flashlight is
shined onto to glass.
 Our exploration then continued in the art room with magnificent acrylic and shaving foam sunset paintings. Once
dry, the students placed black silhouettes on top of the
paintings to create a horizon for their sunsets. The project
was photographed and documented. Please wander into
the art room to view the final result!
 We learn Math everyday except Wednesdays. This week,
each student made a counting stick by writing the numbers from one to twenty on a long piece of board. A string
was then attached with a “magic circle.” The students
practiced how an addition sentence is always best tackled
by beginning at the larger of the two numbers. With the
magic circle over the larger number, the students practiced moving the circle up the correct number of moves in
order to reach the correct answer. As we progress, these
counting sticks will also be used to teach subtraction.
 We have completed our first chapter book, “Clover Twig
and the Perilous Path” and we have begun reading “The
BFG” by Raoul Dahl. The children love the story and all of
the made up “scrumpdillyicious” words that the giant
mangles as he talks to his good friend Sophie. Great fun!