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Leonard and Madlyn Abramson
Early Childhood Education Community
Communications
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February, 2012 Ma'aseem - Hug a Tree - 2/2/2012
Once when Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook was walking in the fields, lost in deep thought, the young student with him inadvertently plucked a leaf off a branch. Rabbi Kook was visibly shaken by the act,...
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January, 2012 Ma'aseem - Real Live Torah - 1/6/2012
". . . the great stories of the past are great because they bespeak that which is timeless."
Torah Talk, Y. Chubara, M. Feinberg, R. Rotenberg
We tell stories to children for...
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December, 2011 Ma'aseem - Curriculum Happens - 12/2/2011
Fortunate is the generation in which the elders listen to the youth.
-- Rosh Hashanah 25b
Curriculum is what happens when you least expect it! It is well documented that...
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November, 2011 Ma'aseem - Hineni: Here I Am - 10/28/2011
God said to Moses, Go up to the top of the mountain, and be there.
- Exodus 24:12
This newsletter is being written just before the High Holy Days, the Days of Awe, a time of...
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October, 2011 Ma'aseem - Making Space for God in Children's Lives - 10/27/2011
"The root of religion is the question what to do with awe, wonder and amazement. Religion begins with a consciousness that something is asked of us."
- Abraham Joshua Heschel1
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September, 2011 Ma'aseem - Doin' What Comes Naturally - 8/25/2011
"If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it."
David Sobel, Beyond Ecophobia
The last few...
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June, 2011 Ma'aseem - Recognizing the Miracles All Around Us - 5/27/2011
The Talmud advises that to sing to God and not see God's world is a contradiction!
Children have a strong connection to the natural world. Yet today's children spend less time...
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May, 2011 Ma'aseem - Who ARE These Children? - 5/4/2011
...and what do they want from us, anyway?
By the preschool age, children are well on their way to being able to answer that first question about themselves. The major development of...
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April, 2011 Ma'aseem - Ready? Or Not? - 3/29/2011
The 3 R's of Readiness: Relationships - Respect -- Responsibility
Each of the ancient Israelites, when given the chance to leave Egypt and taste freedom, had to decide if he or she...
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March, 2011 Ma'aseem for Purim - "Texts for Tots" - 3/16/2011
It often seems that there is TMI coming from the Early Childhood Education Community. However some information is 2G2B4G. Therefore in keeping with the need to use time efficiently, and to take...
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February, 2011 Ma'aseem - Practice Makes Perfect - 2/9/2011
Practice makes perfect, and it certainly makes life easier when we need to accomplish something. Young children, especially, find comfort in repetition. Living with young children, we all know...
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January, 2011 Ma'aseem - Look Back, Look Ahead, Look Within - 1/13/2011
"Life is a gift, and if we agree to accept it, we must contribute in return. When we fail to contribute, we fail to adequately answer why we are here."
Albert Einstein
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December, 2010 Ma'aseem - Think Like a Kid - 11/30/2010
The world exists only because of the breath of young students at school.
Pirkei Avot, Shabbat 119b
The focus of this statement -- breath--implies life,...
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November, 2010 Ma'aseem - Gratefulness: True Soul Food - 11/3/2010
The truth of being human is gratitude; its secret is appreciation. . .
It is gratefulness which makes the soul great.
-- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
What does being human...
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October 2010 Ma'aseem - How Preschool Changes the Brain - 9/29/2010
Early Childhood Education has been shown to have powerful and long-lasting effects on the human brain. In a new paper1, Flavio Cunha, an economist from the University of Pennsylvania, and James...
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September 2010 Ma'aseem - Time is Now! Space is Here! The World is Me! - 9/29/2010
Such is the world of the young child.
Our sages tell us to study Torah lishma ("for its own sake"). So it is with children. "A paradox of parenting is that if we love our children...
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June, 2010 Ma'aseem - Learning To Do God's Work - 7/16/2010
"No one is lonely when doing a mitzvah; for a mitzvah is where God and man meet."
--Abraham Joshua Heschel
The above quote, displayed on the door to Cantor Shammash's office,...
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May 2010 Ma'aseem - Tell Me That Story Again... - 5/21/2010
There are some stories that are told and retold. As I am writing this we are preparing to retell one famous story that we hear every year. The intriguing thing about the story of Passover, as...
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April, 2010 Ma'aseem - Beyond the Classroom - 5/18/2010
Many of the previous newsletters have spoken of the alignment of our daily curriculum with the PA Department of Education Early Learning Standards. Standards give us a yardstick against which to...
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March, 2010 Ma'aseem - The Power of Questions - 3/17/2010
I don't have all the answers, but I am beginning to ask the right questions.
(author unknown)
Our tradition puts great value on questions. We are encouraged to ask questions. ...
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February, 2010 Ma'aseem - It Should in Early Childhood (with apologies to Dr. Seuss) - 1/27/2010
Early Childhood -- yes it should.
It should, in Early Childhood . . .
How should a child spend his day?
Would you say that it's JUST play?
A school that truly...
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January, 2010 Ma'aseem: Our Learning Community - 1/20/2010
There is power in community. Human beings function best in community. Community gives us comfort, acknowledgement, encouragement, identity and responsibilities. Our first community is our...
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December, 2009: How are You Smart? - 12/4/2009
A human being mints many coins from the same mold, and they are all identical. But the holy one, blessed by God, strikes us all from the mold of the first human and each one of us is...
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November, 2009 Ma'aseem - Out of the Classroom Thinking - 11/13/2009
"Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple, or more direct than does Nature, because in her inventions, nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous."
-...
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October, 2009 Ma'aseem - Thinking Outside the (Sand)box - 10/2/2009
"Leftover parts are proof that you made it better."
- Anonymous quote on a T-shirt
Some of the world's wisdom is found on T-shirts. These words, displayed by...
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September, 2009 Ma'aseem - How I Spent My Summer Vacation - 10/2/2009
Much have I learned from my teachers:
even more from my colleagues;
most of all from my students.
- Taanit 7a
For many of us in the Early Childhood Education...
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June, 2009 Ma'aseem - Reflections - 6/4/2009
In order to know where you are going, it is important to know where you've been.
What's in a name?
For the last year it may have seemed that we don't know who we are. A...
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May, 2009 Ma'aseem - How to Grow a Mensch - 5/19/2009
"Train your child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)
The short term goal of discipline may be to control...
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January, 2009 Messenger - Home Away from Home - 3/26/2009
There is a children's song that starts:
Wherever you go, there's always someone Jewish.
You're never alone when you say you're a Jew.
So when you're not home...
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February, 2009 Ma'aseem - Early Childhood Marketplace: Parents as Consumers - 3/26/2009
This is the time of year that parents of young children are looking at preschools or early childhood education programs for next year.
Sadly, consumers often put more time in looking...
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March, 2009 Ma'aseem - The 3 R's of School Readiness - 3/26/2009
Relationships, Respect, Responsibility
In a recent announcement, Arne Duncan, President Obama's Secretary of Education, prioritized early childhood programs as "Job One" in the new...
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April, 2009 Ma'aseem - Why is this job different from all other jobs? - 3/26/2009
"When we become parents, whether intentionally or by happenstance, our whole life is immediately different, although it may take some time to realize just how much. Being a parent compounds stress...
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December 2009 Messenger - 12/16/2008
E pluribus unum: Out of many, one.
I am writing this four days before Election Day. By the time you read it, we will all know the outcome. The interpretation of the above phrase is...
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November 2008 - 10/30/2008
Am HaSefer traditionally refers to the Jewish people and our relation to the Torah, and subsequently to the Mishnah, the Talmud, and other sacred books. Books and learning have always been...
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September 2008 - 10/7/2008
The Talmud advises that one should pray only in a room with windows. To sing to God and not see God's world is a contradiction!
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch suddenly announced to his...
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October 2008 - 10/7/2008
The Lord said to Moses, "Carve out two tablets of stone . . . I will inscribe on the tablets the commandments. . . "
-- Deuteronomy 10:2
Even God doesn't do things alone.
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May 2008 - 4/30/2008
Love, Protect, Nurture, Guide, Teach ... MOTHER
God could not be everywhere, so (s)he created mothers.
-- Jewish Proverb
Every day is a time to appreciate mothers....
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March 2008 - 4/2/2008
Creating Shalom Bayit*
While Responding to War and Superhero Play
Or -- Where Have All the Hamantashen Gone?
This month we celebrate Purim. The Megillah of Esther...
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April 2008 - 4/2/2008
Oh The Places You'll Go!
This phrase, the title of a book by Dr. Seuss, conjures up excitement and adventure, as well as fear and insecurity. Last month, at just about the same...
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February 2008 - 2/13/2008
AT HOME IN A JEWISH WORLD
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
In Israel, the almond trees are just beginning to bloom; the new...
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January 2008 - 1/8/2008
The Gift of Time . . . Too Valuable to Give Up
One who is descended from you often teaches you.
-- The Talmud
The Preschool ended the calendar year with a flurry of...
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Messenger Article December 2007 - 12/4/2007
The Jewish people, ever since David slew Goliath, have never considered youth as a barrier to leadership."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Today's Preschoolers will shape our...
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Messenger November 2007 - 10/30/2007
Fall is such a wonderful holiday season for Jewish families. Jewish holidays seem to be planned with young children in mind. We know that children learn best when their hearts, hands and minds...
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Early Learning Standards and Jewish Values -- Play as the Child's Work - 10/16/2007
The Preschool at TBI has been in session for a month. Based on the 9 Key Learning Areas of the PA Early Learning Standards, our program is similar to other high quality secular preschools, with...
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Preschool Education Committee - 10/16/2007
Co-Chairs: Margie Kerbel and Sheila Kowit
The mission of the Preschool Committee is to be a voice and an advocate for all of the members our Preschool family. With the direction...
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Camp TBI - 10/16/2007
Camp TBI is the summer session of our preschool with registration for 4 or 8 weeks (other time periods by special arrangement). We welcome campers from 2 to 5 years of age. It's a great...
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TBI Messenger - 9/16/2007
"Many things we need can wait, the child cannot. Now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, his mind is being developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow. His name is...
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