Sunday, November 24, 2013

What Happened in Grades K-2 on Sunday, November 24...

Kindergarten


In circle time today, Drew told us that over the weekend he watched The Neverending Story which is one of our favorite Movies!


Then, we ate Latkes! Latkes are Potato pancakes that we get to eat every Chanukah!
 

Then, we read a story called The Menorah Story. It tells the story of how the Menorah was made, and why we get to light the Menorah for Chanukah.


Then we got items that have to do with Chanukah and had to explain what they were and what they were for. We are all very excited for Chanukah!

Grade 1


Our Grade 1 families had a very special program today called "Beginning Your Child's Jewish Journey." The day started off with a breakfast...


And then the children and parents participated in parallel learning. The children read a story about Parshat Mishpatim (the Torah portion for that we will read during Consecration) and began working on the D'var Torah that they will give during the Consecration ceremony.


The parents spent time learning with Rabbi Denker about their child's Jewish educational journey.





Then everyone came back together to work on decorating individual kippot and one large tallit, all of which will be used during the Consecration ceremony. 

Grade 2



For Hebrew review today, we worked on tracing the different Hebrew letters that we've learned. Do you know that we've learned enough letters and vowels to be able to read short words?



Kehillah snack was fantastic today! We got fresh made latkes and apple sauce - yum!



In T'filah, Rabbi Denker and Cantor Yomtov taught us about Chanukah.




In class, we've started talking about the 10 Plagues (our theme this year is Shemot - the Book of Exodus). In Art class, we each drew our bodies on a big piece of paper and then illustrated what the plague would look like. It was really fun!


Sunday, November 17, 2013

What Happened in Grades 3-6 on Sunday, November 17...

Grade 3


First thing today, Grade 3 visited the Sivivon Gadol (Giant Dreidel) in the Atrium. Next to it, there is a sign with cards for us to take. On the cards are lists of toys that children from Bellefaire would like for the holiday season. We hope that every family will bring in one toy to help fill someone else's holiday season with cheer.


In Art, we made impressions on foil using Chanukah themes. Our artwork includes the brachot for Chanukah and we are excited to use it to help us when we light our chanukiot!


During Kehillah, we we helped with some work for Religious School Accreditation. Each student filled out a card asking them "How is your synagogue like a house?" and "House is your house like a synagogue?". How would you answer these questions?


In Hebrew class with Mrs. Zaas we added more vocabulary words to our TPR repertoire! Today we focused on the word "ble'e" (without).

Grade 4

Grade 4 had a very outstanding day. First, they had Kehillah all together. Then, we talked about the gift drive for children that are less fortunate than us. Check out the giant dreidel in the Atrium and pick up a gift list for children at Bellefaire.




During Kehillah, we helped with some work for Religious School Accreditation. Each student filled out the card above. How would you answer the questions?



In Mr. Feinberg’s class, we read the torah portion Lech L’cha - Bereshit 12: 1-9. We talked about the portion, and the questions we have about the portion.



In Mrs. Abrams' Judaics class, we read Shifra and Puach. We played a game where we had to give out a Shifra and Puach Award. We split into two groups to come up with a person we felt deserved this award and why. Group 1 decided to choose Abraham Lincoln and Group 2 chose Martin Luther King Jr. 



In Hebrew with Mr. Feinberg, we played Jewpardy!! It was so much fun! We had three categories all on Brachot - Brachot for Meals, General Brachot and Backwards Brachot (Mr. Feinberg told the students the brachah and they told him what the brachah would be said over). Team 1 was the winner!

Grade 5


During Kehillah, we we helped with some work for Religious School Accreditation. Each student filled out a card asking them "How is your synagogue like a house?" and "House is your house like a synagogue?". How would you answer these questions?


We also visited the Sivivon Gadol (Giant Dreidel) in the Atrium. Next to it, there is a sign with cards for us to take. On the cards are lists of toys that children from Bellefaire would like for the holiday season. We hope that every family will bring in one toy to help fill someone else's holiday season with cheer.



In Judaics, we continued our work with Parshat Noach. In the parsha, after the flood, God decides to let human beings eat meat (prior to this, God had commanded that humans only eat grains). We had a great discussion about what makes a food attractive or unattractive and how what we eat reflects our values.


Today was our final recap of the Avot v'Imahot. One activities that we did was that Ms. Silverstein gave us different pieces of paper. Each piece had a different part of the Avot v'Imahot on it. We had to put them in order. 

Grade 6


Today, our Grade 6 parents and students joined together for the pre-B'nai Mitzvah The Journey Continues Program. The morning started with a delicious breakfast spread.


To get to know one another, families lined up by the students B'nai Mitzvah dates.


Then, families brainstormed what qualities are needed in someone who leads the congregation in prayer. Students were able to reflect with their parents about what qualities they have and what qualities they might want to work on between now and their B'nai Mitzvah ceremonies.


Cantor Yomtov called up each student to receive his or her Bar/Bat Mitzvah materials.




Then, each student got to see where his or her parsha is located in the Torah as we unrolled the entire scroll.



Sunday, November 10, 2013

What Happened in Grades K-2 on Sunday, November 10...

Kindergarten


Today was all about Chanukah! During Circle Time, Mrs. Bernstein asked us to share our favorite part of celebrating Chanukah.


During T'filah, Rabbi Denker told us the story of Chanukah. For more information on Chanukah basics, how to guides and food, go to http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Hanukkah.shtml.


We also had a special Chanukah program today in the Social Hall. The Grade 2 teacher Mrs. Ehrenreich read us a story about Chanukah and then...


We each got to make our very own chanukiot! Did you know that there is a difference between a chanukiah and a menorah? A menorah is just a generic candelabra, but a chanukiah is a special one that has 9 branches and is used on Chanukah.

Grade 1



We started our day with Circle Time, which gave us a chance to check in with one another about what fun things we've done this weekend. Getting to know each other is one of the best parts of Religious School! We also reviewed what we learned last week about Chanukah in preparation for our special program later on in the day. For more information on Chanukah basics, how to guides and food, go to http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Hanukkah.shtml.


During Kehillah, we joined together with the whole school in celebrating Havdallah. This ceremony marks the end of Shabbat and the beginning of our regular week. While we usually celebrate Havdallah on Saturday night, you can actually celebrate Havdallah as late as Tuesday!


In T'filah, Rabbi Denker told us the story of Chanukah.


Then, during our program, we got to make our very own chanukiot! Did you know that there is a difference between a chanukiah and a menorah? A menorah is just a generic candelabra, but a chanukiah is a special one that has 9 branches and is used on Chanukah.

Grade 2


Grade 2 started our day by giving Tzedakah and discussing where we might like to donate all of the Tzedakah that we collect this year.


We played Chanukah Candy Land to learn about Chanukah in a really fun and exciting way!


During Kehillah, we joined together with the whole school in celebrating Havdallah. This ceremony marks the end of Shabbat and the beginning of our regular week. While we usually celebrate Havdallah on Saturday night, you can actually celebrate Havdallah as late as Tuesday!


In T'filah, we learned songs for Chanukah. 


Then, during our special program today, we got to make our very own chanukiot! Did you know that there is a difference between a chanukiah and a menorah? A menorah is just a generic candelabra, but a chanukiah is a special one that has 9 branches and is used on Chanukah.