Shalom,

This week we have been very busy preparing for the holidays as the coming two weeks will be short weeks. May you enjoy Rosh Hashana with your child and family. May we all enjoy and embrace a sweet new year. Your children will enjoy extended days at home with you and your loved ones, so we may see a few more tears as they return after the longer weekend. In this weeks Conscious Discipline links I have included the I Love You Ritual of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I encourage you to make the time to practice this song and connect face to face and eye to eye with your child. It was introduced this week in the Green Room along with the second breathing routine 'The Balloon'. (We practice ours slightly different than the instruction on our hallway bulletin board and your child may teach it to you).

Children have big emotions, as well as adults. These techniques give the children a tool to calm themselves. Often in a high emotion moment they will say, "I don't want to breath!" I assure them, I (and/or other surrounding children) will practice the breathing. When it isn't directly suggested or forced upon the child, even my own breathing will begin calming them. Practicing these skills at peaceful times assists the child in gaining skills to use in high emotion times.

The week has been full of things we are grateful for, davening, art materials, and scents of Honey Cakes baking and the sounds of the Shofar. We made bees to aid us in remembering to BEE:
Kind
Sweet
Grateful
Prayful
Smart
Hard Workers
Service Givers

We continue to work on independence. Please support your child in learning to fully dress themselves, attend to their restroom needs, and putting their own water bottles on the cart and supplies in their cubbies. They are capable of so much and this develops intrinsic self-satisfaction and confidence.

Regularly we are focusing on the vowels and the first letter of each of their names using movement and sign language. Hearing and generating the sounds is a phonetic exercise that prepares the child's mind and improves his/her skill set for future reading.

a - ants on an apple /a/a/a/ (It's a big mouth sound like taking a bite)
e - elephants are enormous /e/e/e/ (Your mouth makes a little smile)
i - itchy insects /i/i/i/ (Your mouth is small)
o - Oscar the octopus /o/o/o/ (Your mouth is round as in a Dr. checkup)
u - umbrellas go up /u/u/u/ (Your chin drops and the sound is lower like you are blowing away in the wind)

We introduced shapes in connection with the space needed to line up and the children enjoy exploring them and learning their names:
Quadrilaterals: Square, rectangle, rhombus (diamond), isosceles trapezoid, (future lessons on right-angled trapezoid and parallelogram)
Curvilinear: Circle, quatrefoil, ellipse, oval, curvilinear triangle
Polygons: Pentagon and octagon, (in the future we will add hexagon, heptagon,nonagon, and decagon)
Triangles (future types: Equilateral triangle, acute angled isosceles, right angled isosceles, obtuse angled isosceles, acute angled scalene, right angled scalene, obtuse angled scalene)

I encourage you to learn and practice Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with your child over the long weekend. It only takes a few minutes and will offer your child additional connection which we all seek. I have listened to comments regarding children copying the behavior of others or seeking to please others. The third link brings our attention to 'Noticing' or being mindful without judgement. It is important for each of us to develop a sense of self, to feel loved, accepted and connect.

Conscious Discipline Highlights:

https://youtu.be/UCeAsWcJjOg Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - I Love You Ritual

https://youtu.be/C1E3BejU1gc Twinkle Twinkle Little Star what a wonderful child you are.

https://youtu.be/5ddLD__8AQo Noticing is an essential skill. It allows each of us to be who we are.

Dr. Becky Bailey offers many publications and series are available for free on YouTube.

Thank you for supporting Chandler Jewish Preschool with your purchases of Honey Cakes and Honey!

Reminder: Please ensure your child brings a labeled water bottle daily and wears sunscreen. It is necessary to keep them properly hydrated, especially during outdoor play. After the long weekend, return laundered sheets for quiet time.

Note: Aluminum water bottles keep water cool, however outdoors the bottles become very hot to touch. Consider a water bottle that has an attached cap and clearly has the child's name printed on it. Label backpacks, lunch boxes, clothing and sheets. Waterproof labels are available online.

Shana Tova!

Morah Cindy and Morah Devora