An Introduction to Purim

Circle Time on Wednesday

This week we had a special guest in Kitah Alef Bet, Morah Sara Carter! Sara is a seasoned Jewish preschool teacher, whose CD, "I Have a Neshama" can often be heard playing in our class.

Sara brought her musical gifts to our class on Wednesday, as we sang a song with stick puppets to help us learn about each character in the Purim story:

(To the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb:)

In a castle lived a king, lived a king, lived a king.

In a castle lived a king; his name was Achashveirosh.

This king needed a new queen, a new queen, a new queen.

This king needed a new queen; her name was Esther.

Esther's uncle was Mordechai, Mordechai, Mordechai;

Esther's uncle was Mordechai, the leader of the Jews.

A not nice man; his name was Haman,

So we say BOO, we say BOO.

A not nice man; his name was Haman, so we say BOO!

Mordechai and Esther saved the day, saved the day, saved the day.

Mordechai and Esther saved the day for every single Jew.

Hashem  planned it just this way, just this way, just this way.

The Jews made a happy holiday; we call it Purim!

We will learn more about the fun traditions of this holiday in the following weeks. 

Feelin' LIke Fall

Sing the following song to the tune of "London Bridges."

Autumn leaves are falling down,
Falling down,
Falling down,
Autumn leaves are falling down,
All through the town.

Red, yellow, orange, and brown,
Orange and brown,
Orange and brown,
Red, yellow, orange, and brown,
All through the town.

This is the song we have been singing each morning during Morning Ma'agal in Kitah Alef Bet.

Thinking about leaves and the way they turn color, and float to the ground, we have begun playing a game called "Falling Leaves" to exercise our gross motor skills as well as our imaginations. The children pretend that they are leaves hanging on a tree. Then a teacher pretends to be the wind, and "blows" them off the tree.

 

The kids showed how the whirled and twirled to the ground.

We also played the game with roles reversed; The children were the wind, and the teacher was the leaf: