Robin Cohen, LCSW, is the featured guest speaker for our upcoming Sisterhood Education Event on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at CBE, 1:30 p.m. 

Robin will be speaking on "The Science of Love: Improving Relationships with your Spouse or Partner." 

Robin is an experienced counselor and specializes in improving communication and interpersonal relationships in her practice. This should prove to be an interesting and informative topic for the entire community. Bring your spouse or partner! Light refreshments will be served.
 
RSVPs are not required but would help to ensure that we have enough handouts available for everyone.  Contact Kathy Cohen, Sisterhood Education Chair, (703) 757-1258, to RSVP or request more information.
 

Hello Parents,
 
Congratulations to our Fabulous Frogs class for being the first class to fill their 'Reservoir Bear Tzedakah jar' with enough gelt for their Bears For Life program stuffed bear! Way to go Frogs! Your adorable stuffed bear has been ordered and will be delivered to your class as soon as it arrives!
 
All of our classes are well on their way towards their own stuffed bears as well; so please continue to support this wonderful program by sending in Tzedakah for your children. If your son or daughter happens to find a random coin; let them bring it into school to donate towards their classroom bear!
 
Remember, our goal is for each class to reach $23 in Tzedakah. When that goal is reached each class will get an adorable Teddy Bear in return for their efforts to help Israel with their terrible water crisis. How fun!
 
Thank you in advance for helping with Tikkun Olam. For specific Bears For Life program details, please see the Bears for Life web site.
 
Caryn Danoff
 

Snow Day
Make-Up Policy 

We will make up FIVE snow days, now making our last day of school Wednesday, June 16, 2010.  The Pre-K End of Year Celebration will be on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 10:00 AM. We will not add any additional make-up days even if there are additional snow days, as we need to prepare for our first week of camp, which is scheduled to begin on June 21, 2010.
 
To help you clarify future calendar issues, PLEASE NOTE BEECC ONLY FOLLOWS FAIRFAX COUNTY FOR INCLEMENT WEATHER CLOSINGS.  We do not close for their teacher work days and we do not open for their snow make up days or times. 

If you are not currently on BEECC Announce, please sign up as soon as possible by going to the CBE website at http://bethemeth.org.  In the "Get Involved" box on the left, click on the "Join Email" link.  Scroll down through the different groups and follow directions to sign up for "BEECC Announce."

 

 

Judy Fox-Tepper represented BEECC and CBE at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's "Super Sunday" donation appeal last Sunday, Feb 21.  Along with a few other directors of Jewish preschools she phoned members of the Jewish community to ask for their financial support of Federation. 
 

Dear Parents,
 
Oh today we'll merry, merry be,
Oh today we'll merry, merry be,
Oh today we'll merry, merry be,
And nosh some hamantashen!
 
Purim is such a happy holiday for children and their parents alike.  At BEECC we learned that though Esther was just one person, she saved the whole Jewish people.  Her story teaches us that every person can be a hero - every Jew is important!  To help remind us that every Jewish person can be like Esther, we make sure that the holiday is filled with fun - at BEECC it is a time for parties, costumes and carnivals.  We made crowns and masks, groggers and hamantashen!  We sang songs for our parents and special guests, played games and won prizes. On Purim it is a mitzvah to give gifts to your friends and all the children made special Mishloah Manot, gifts of food to bring to their families.
 
February was an abbreviated month for us at BEECC, cut short by what is now commonly known as the "Blizzard of 2010!"  We missed several days of school and many of our families had to deal with a loss of electricity and heat along with the dramatic amount of snow.  Many of our students brought in pictures of their snow activities to add to our school-wide "snow photo collage."   We hope March is dry and warmer as we look forward to Passover and our model seders!

B'Shalom,
Judy
 

Hello BEECC Families-
We've had a very exciting month, ending with lots of Purim ruach! Let's keep the excitement and community spirit going THIS WEEKEND when we spring into the FAMILY DANCE. Lauren Pinnar and our volunteers are gearing up for fun and fundraising at the dance and SILENT AUCTION. It is not too late to RSVP. You can even purchase tickets the day of the event. Please remember that proceeds from these events and all BEECC PA fundraising efforts will be used for teacher education. We're looking forward to showing the kids a great time.

CBE has launched the new interactive CALENDAR on the web. Use this link to try it out now! The link will bring you to the master calendar. To see only BEECC and BEECC PA events click the blue "clear" box on the right side, then click in the grey box next to "BEECC & BEECC Parents Assn" or bookmark this link. 

In addition, please continue to check the BEECC PA web page for event details.

Our community spirit has continued to grow stronger as the year has unfolded and we're looking forward to some more fabulous events in this second half of the school year. Thank you so much for supporting the MOVIE DAYS. The kids have been loving it, and we hear the parents are too! We have had a request to do the movie day on a Tuesday in March. It is tentatively scheduled for March 23, but we're in need of a volunteer Mashgiah for the event. Please contact beeccpa2008@yahoo.com if you are able to help out in this role. Additionally, we will need 2 parent volunteers. This event will not be cancelled, but the date may be changed if we can't fill these volunteer spots.

Todah Rabah to all the parents that volunteered their help at the BEECC Purim Carnival. A wonderful time was had by all. We appreciate all the extra effort and time our parents put in to make our school a fantastic place for our kids to learn, grow, and have fun.

Have a wonderful month and an enjoyable spring break.

Lori Kraden and Sam Brown
BEECC PA co-presidents
http://www.bethemeth.org/beeccparentsassn.htm
 

Socially Speaking
Your BEECC PA education and social chairs have joined forces these last few months of school to bring you some fun and educational events. Please mark your calendars now and plan to join us!

· Dance with us March 7th at the BEECC Family Dance and Silent Auction (see box below)

· PLAN NOW to join us for a FUN RELAXING evening March 25th, BEECC Scrapbooking (see box at left)

· April TBD, BEECC Mom's movie night

· Start reading now for the May 2nd, Book Discussion on The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel

A (FREE) Taste of Yoga, Mar 11
Your BEECC PA has arranged for you to enjoy a FREE Taste of Yoga once a month at CBE. We will meet from 7:30-9:00 pm in the CBE Flex Space. Please SIGN UP  so instructors can bring enough "props" (i.e., blocks, bands, etc).Come TWIST with us!

Spread Some Sunshine!
Do you know of any families expecting a baby, experiencing a loss, or going through a stressful period? Please contact us with any news about our BEECC families so we can offer support. Please speak to Julie Dann or Shana Cassidy, or email beeccsunshine@gmail.com.


Order Challah by March 25th
 

Spring into the Annual Family Dance and Silent Auction

Sunday, March 7, 2010
3:30-5:30 pm

• Wonderful music by "Daddy Eric the DJ."
• Dancing
   
• Face Painting
• Arts and Crafts
   
• Light dairy meal
• Silent Auction includes themed baskets from each class and donations from community businesses and restaurants including gift certificates to Cheeburger Cheeburger · California Tortilla · JW Tumbles · Cafesano  ·  Mama Lucia's · Vocelli Pizza · a 3 month season pass to the At Play Café · gift bags of goodies from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods · and a great selection of Tupperware just to name a few.
   
• Raffle prizes include Cartoon Cuts Gift Certificates, children's purses from Bow's Etc, and many more.

Advance tickets for the dance are $25.00 per family  and $30.00 at the door.

Should you have any questions or need any additional information please contact Lauren Pinnar

   Delightful Dolphins

On the heels of joyous Tu B'Shevat, in February we began our in-depth study of Purim. This festival is one of the most interesting and fun holidays that Jews celebrate! We read the story of Purim and got to know its main characters -- heroes Queen Esther and Mordechai, and the evil advisor to King Ahasuerus, Haman. The children learned many Purim songs in music class and had fun at the Purim sing-a-long with their parents. Purim art projects included:  bead necklaces; masks; crowns; and groggers (noise makers). We also made delicious hamantashen (triangle-shaped) cookies and Shalach Manot (gift bags) as is the custom of the holiday. BEECC hosted an age-appropriate carnival for its preschool students mid-week; many BEECC families also had fun at the CBE Purim services and a larger carnival for kids of all ages.

In March, we will do a short unit on nursery rhymes, which is always a big hit. Classic favorites like "Humpty Dumpty," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "Hickory Dickory Dock" are always popular with the children. The kids love to sing the rhymes and perform the finger plays and/or act out the events of these stories. Perhaps we will see some budding actors and actresses emerge in the 2-day group!
The Dolphins all seem to be enjoying Show 'N Tell/Share, Ta'am Shel Shabbat, donating Tzedakah, and having Flipper go home each week. Thanks for keeping on top of our busy Dolphin schedule.
           
Morah Shari & Morah Dina


  Terrific Teddy Bears    
 
Although the snow, snow and more snow kept the Teddy Bears away from the classroom for a few days we were very busy Bears all the same. We look forward to dry, warmer weather so that we can once again enjoy the playground. 
 
Our first annual "He and Me" Day was a big hit with the children. Thanks to all who joined us in the classroom to make a special craft, sing Purim songs during circle and share snack. To celebrate Purim we had fun making crowns, groggers and necklaces for our Purim sing-a-long and making yummy hamentashen.
 
In early March, the children will make a class banner for the BEECC Dance. The dance is a fun way to spend time with other BEECC families. We hope all the Teddy Bear families will get on the dance floor and show off their moves. We will also explore how the children have grown since September in our "All About Me" unit. Then from mid-March through the end of the month we will be learning about Passover. We will make seder plates, afikomen bags and frogs. Of course we'll be talking and singing about the Pharaoh, Moses and the importance of freedom. We look forward to sharing our class seder with you on Thursday, March 25th.  Save the date!
 
It is amazing how fast time is going by and how much the children have grown! Thank you for sharing them with us. 
 
Morah Theresa & Morah Judi
 

BEECC parents quality for member rates. Sign up here. 

Junior Congregation for Adults
Teacher:  Mike Wikes
January 9, (No Feb.), March 13, April 10, May 8,
10:30- 11:30 AM

While the kids are in K'tongregation, Torah for Tots and Jr. Congregation, the adults wills get together for an informal class to provide explanations and contemporary interpretations for different parts of the Shabbat service.  Guaranteed to make you feel more comfortable in services.  No cost, no registration.