Dr. Seuss’ Birthday!

This Friday the Preschool will celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Birthday! Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, would have been 108 years old this year and his books are still classics! His books are full of crazy characters, fabulous rhymes, and because the brain learns through repetition, his books are great for young readers.  Dr. Seuss’ books also teach great morals in a fun way! (Check out The Star Bellied Sneetches if you haven’t read that one!)

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The National Education Association has declared Dr. Seuss’ Birthday, March 2nd, “Read Across America Day.” As Early Childhood Brain Insights discusses, it is important for children to be read to for many reasons.

Reading offers numerous benefits for a developing brain. When a child is read to, cells in the brain are triggered within seconds. Some existing connections in the brain are strengthened while new connections are formed.  This helps create a more defined and complex wiring of the brain that will benefit a child throughout life.

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Or as Dr. Seuss himself said,  “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Not only is it important to read to children, but the actual physical contact is important as well.

The time spent cuddling while reading is also very important. This closeness helps the brain make valuable connections contributing to healthy emotional development. It is ideal to begin sharing books with infants. A love of books begins when children are exposed to reading early.

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So on Friday the Preschool will celebrate with cake and singing! We will read his books and do some crazy art projects! Throughout the whole month some classes are focusing on Dr. Seuss books. Take this opportunity to read some books together as a family, have some fun, and learn together!

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Be on the lookout for our pictures from our Birthday Party and for crafts and fun all over the school!

Order Your Lunchskins! Help the Environment and the Preschool!

How Many Sandwich Baggies do you send to school everyday with your child? How many Ziplock bags do you take to work everyday?

In theUnited Stateswe send 20 million plastic baggies to landfills everyday! Only 1-3% of these bags are recycled. By the end of the school year it is estimated that each child will generate 67 pounds of waste.

Why should we care about this? A major problem is that plastic is non-biodegradable.  There is an estimated 50,000 pieces of plastic per square mile in the world’s oceans. 3 mothers were horrified by these statistics and wanted to make a difference. So they created Lunchskins.

Lunchskins are a food-safe, dishwasher friendly alternative to the plastic bag! In 2010 people using Lunchskins saved 120 million plastic baggies from going to landfills. They come in different colors and designs. Stop by the preschool lobby to check out some sandwich bag and snack bag examples!

We are selling them in the preschool and they will benefit our school. Sandwich bags are $6.80 and Snack Bags are $5.97.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and help Beth Shalom! Orders are due Friday, February 24^th.

You can fill out the form below and submit a payment using a credit card. It does say “donate,” but that is the proper paypal button to click.

Atid Laila B’Yisrael & Jewish Cooking Club

This Saturday night, Atid (3rd-5th grade) met in the Youth Lounge/gym for games…all about ISRAEL! We learned each other’s names, and enjoyed some Israeli snacks together (Bamba and Bissli – what else?).

Then we split into 2 teams to travel around “Israel”, without leaving the gym. We visited four cities in Israel. At each stop, teams were awarded points based on their performance in the task at hand in a competition. We moved from Israeli city to Israeli city by following a series of riddles.

In Tel Aviv, we played a round of basketball…

In Jerusalem, we bartered (as “vendors” or as “tourists” – each team drew an envelope of instructions, randomly) in a shuk…

And in Eilat, we played “Ostrich, Seahorse, Leopard,” a variation of the popular “Wizards, Giants and Elves” game, where two teams face off before making a group decision to be an Ostrich (with one hand/body motion), a Giant (with a different hand/body motion) or a Seahorse (with a third hand/body motion). The winning animal’s team must recognize the other team as the loser, then chase them to the opposite wall of the gym. Any player tagged by the winning team becomes theirs.

Finally, in Haifa, we raced to do a big math problem on our cell phones and talked about the Technion.

Then, we had lots of free time to watch the Lion King on T.V. (for fun!) and chill in the Youth Lounge with snacks and lemonade for all. What a fun night.

Sunday afternoon brought us Lesson #2 of the Jewish Cooking Club series: HAMANTASCHEN! Together, K-5th grade learned how to make this delicious Purim treat and everyone took home a copy of the recipe. We thank Deena Ross of Creative Kosher for her dough, filling and assistance with this project.

Check out these great photos of our youth learning how to roll out hamantaschen dough, cut out circles, fill the hamantaschen, and bake! Each child took home 6 freshly-baked hamantaschen of their very own to share with their families. We became experts in rolling, filling, pinching and of course, eating hamantaschen.

Our next Jewish Cooking Club is Sunday, March 18 at 12:30 p.m. The cost is $15.00/session or $10.00 with advance RSVP! We’ll be making soup…yum!

See you next time! Mark your calendars for the Purim Carnival on Sunday, March 4 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.!

The Youth Department Welcomes February

We’ve been up to a lot of fun in the Beth Shalom Youth Department this year!

On January 8, all Beth Shalom families met at the Schenley Park Skating Rink for a night of ice skating, snacks, board games and winter fun. Our Chaverim (K-2nd), Atid (3rd-5th), Kadima (6th-8th) & USY (9th-12th) families enjoyed hot chocolate and tested their skills on the ice!

Over Martin Luther King weekend, on Sunday, January 15, all 5th-12th graders were invited to join the Religious School for a morning of volunteering around the community. Some teens participated in projects around the building – including making sandwiches for a women’s shelter, decorating photo frames for Children’s Hospital, and organizing the Hoffman Library. Others travelled to Phipps Conservatory and a local animal shelter to spend the morning volunteering there.

Afterwards, we reunited for pizza and a debriefing with USY about our social action experiences.

USY also held their annual tri-chapter overnight this January, with Beth El Congregation and Tree of Life/Or L’Simcha. We spent Friday night, January 28 at Congregation Beth Shalom, playing icebreakers and improv games, celebrating Shabbat and sleeping at the shul. We woke up early Saturday morning for a short walk to Tree of Life, where we had Shabbat morning services, lunch and an excellent shiur on Israel advocacy with Jewish educator Danielle Kranjec. Our theme for the overnight this year was Friday Night Live, based on Saturday Night Live! It was a blast!

That night, January 28, USY and Kadima then met at Beth Shalom in the evening for Havdalah together. USYers left to go home after an awesome 26 hours together, and Kadima quickly hopped in cars to head to Laser Storm in the North Hills for a night of Laser Tag with their friends. We played 2 games together, ate lots of snacks, and had a lot of fun together at Laser Storm.

Last Saturday afternoon, February 4, Chaverim met in the Youth Lounge after Shabbat morning services to play some Shabbat-friendly games and enjoy lunch together, for our second Chaverim oneg. Chaverim talked all about the parsha (Beshalach) for the week, played games in the gym, and learned about the crossing of the Red Sea and the Israelites’ journey through the desert! We’re so glad so many of our friends could make it.

USY had their turn at Laser Tag that evening after Havdalah in the Lounge. Over 20 USYers turned out to put their game face on and enjoyed snacks in the party room and 3 games of Laser Tag together! It was a fun, social and exciting event for all. We’re looking forward to our Tu B’Shevat seder tomorrow night and Specialty Kinnus at the end of the month – we hope you’ll join us!

Kadima Kinnus was also this weekend (Feb. 3 – 5, 2012) in West Bloomfield, Michigan, outside Detroit. Nine Kadimaniks from Beth Shalom and 2 USYers boarded a bus with Kadimaniks from Tree of Life, Beth El and 3 Cleveland congregations for the journey to Michigan. The theme of Kadima Kinnus 2012 was SUPERHEROES. Upon arrival, everyone split into Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Wonder Woman teams for lots of “hero” programming all weekend long. We also had a blast Saturday night at a local recreation center, climbing up an enormous climbing wall, swimming in the pool (complete with fountains, a water slide, a lazy river, and a hot tub) and playing games in the gym! What a great weekend!

This Saturday night, February 11, Atid will meet in the Youth Lounge at Beth Shalom for LAILA B’YISRAEL: A Night in Israel! We’ll tour the State of Israel in the gym, learning about 4 different Israeli cities (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Eilat and Haifa) and enjoying Israeli snacks and games along the way. Join us this weekend!

Thank you for your constant support and to the many Chaverim, Atid, Kadima and USY members who participate in our endless programming! We’re happy you’re here!