What Happened in Grades K-2 on Sunday, September 7...

Kindergarten

As today was our first day of class, Mrs. Bernstein made sure to have a coloring activity out while all of us got settled in the room.

Then, in the social hall, Cantor led Kehillah. We sang HaTikvah, joined together for Havdallah and sang happy birthday to everyone who has a summer birthday or who will have a birthday in September. We got a tasty snack of animal crackers, but only after we said Mizonot, the brachah (blessing) over crackers.

In T'filah, we used special siddurim (prayer books), just for kids. These are the same prayers that adults sing in their services!

Back, in the classroom, we played Shimon Omer (Simon Says) and learned a new Hebrew word: rosh, which means head.

At the end of the day, we did an art project where we wrote about our favorite things on a Star of David. Mrs. Bernstein will turn these into name signs for us that we'll use each morning when we come into the classroom.

Grade 1

Today has been a great first day! To help us learn all about Rosh Hashanah, we started off with a coloring project that helped us become familiar with the different items and symbols of the chag (holiday).

In Circle Time, we learned how to say "good morning" in Hebrew - Boker Tov. Did you know that if someone says "Boker Tov" to you, you respond "Boker Or"? We also introduced ourselves with our names, favorite food, what we did over the summer, and what we like to do. This helped us get to know one another better, which is important as we grow together as friends in our class.

After Circle Time, we went to Kehillah where Cantor Lawrence led us in HaTikvah, Havdallah and we sang happy birthday in Hebrew to everyone who has a summer or September birthday.

Then, we went to T'filah with Grades K-2.

After Kehillah, we went back to the classroom where we spoke about Tzedakah, and why we give to people in need and we listed some people who might need.  We'll collect Tzedakah every week and then at the end of the year, it will get donated to a charity of our choice! After a discussion about Rosh HaShanah, we made a brit or an agreement, with rules for how we should all behave in the classroom to make sure that everyone can learn. After making all our rules for the classroom to make sure we have a great year, we all signed it.

At the end of the day, Mrs. Rosenthal came in and read us Sammy Spider’s First Rosh Hashana because. Afterwards, we got a chance to take out books at the library so we could enjoy reading at home! It was a great first day and we cannot wait for next week!

Grade 2

To begin our first day of class of 2014, we helped Ms. Evans get to know our names as she took attendance. We also shared a fun activity we did this summer!

Next we had Kehillah. Cantor Lawrence led us in HaTikvah, Havdallah and we sang happy birthday to everyone who had birthdays over the summer and who has a September birthday. During Havdallah, we got to smell spices and see one of the sixth grade students hold the candle.

In T'filah, we got to meet our new cantor! He was a lot of fun and he did funny dances while we were praying.

When we got back to class, we made name tags with crayons, and on the back we drew something we enjoy doing. This will help all of us get to know one another more, as we hope to make friends with everyone in our class.

At the end of the day, Ms. Evans had us tell her all about Beresheit, which was the focus of our curriculum last year. This helped us remember what we learned, and prepare for our year ahead, which will focus on the next book of Torah - Shemot. To help get us started, Ms. Evans read us two stories about Moses, who is one of the main people that we'll learn about in the book of Shemot.