What Happened in Grades K-2 on Sunday, December 14...

Kindergarten

Today in Kindergarten we had an extremely exciting day! We mostly focused on Hanukkah since the holiday is coming so soon. We did fun activities such as coloring, playing dreidel, and making Hanukkah cards for family, friends, and IDF soldiers. To top it off, today was latke day! For snack, a few volunteers fried up a whole bunch of latkes for us to nosh on. After snack we went to T’filah and then back to our classroom. Mrs. Bernstein asked us to sit in a circle to talk about our plans and also our class rules. Originally, we thought we did not have art class today but Mrs. Schulgasser came in and offered to help us make Hanukkah cards. We used a ton of cools stickers and we could even make dreidels out of some pretty paper. Some of us plan to give them to family members while the rest of us are going to mail them to the IDF.

Grade 1

Today in Grade 1, we began by playing fun Hanukkah games! We played dreidel and pin the candle on the Hanukkiah! It was so much fun!! 

We then went to a very special Kehillah where Temple Emanu El’s WOTEE (Women of Temple Emanu El) and the Brotherhood made us latkes! They were so tasty! After Kehillah, we went to T’filah.

After that, we went back to the classroom where Cantor Lawrence came to teach us two of our consecration songs. We learned The Tree of Life, as well as Rabbi BenBagBag. Cantor Lawrence recommended that we listen to our consecration CDs at home to practice all our songs each day so we are ready for Consecration in February.

After, Cantor’s lesson, Mrs. Rosenblum came in to read us the story, Lots of Latkes. After the interesting story of everyone bringing latkes to one party, we got our chance to borrow our very own books from the library. It was a great day and we cannot wait for what awaits us when we come back from winter break. I hope everyone has a happy Hanukkah, a happy New Year, and a great break and we cannot see you in a few weeks!

Grade 2

Grade 2 began our day with a question: “What is the upcoming Jewish holiday”? Of course, everyone knows it’s Hanukah. We talked a bit about the history of Hanukah and why we celebrate this holiday, and why we should give thanks during it. 

Next we read some fun Hanukah stories. We read Hanukah Mice first, which was a fun book about mice celebrating Hanukah. Next we read Like A Maccabee and talked about how we could be like the Maccabees. 

 During T'filah today we recapped last week’s topic, which was Joseph. We then continued on with our new topic, Hanukah. It’s the holiday of light during the darkest time of the year. We know to do good things during this time and work hard with a good attitude. If we believe in ourselves, we can do great things. 

Back in class, Grade 2 made our flashcards. By the end of this year, we’ll know the entire Alef Bet! We practiced what letters we know with friends after finishing our cards.