What Happened in Grades 3-6 on Sunday, May 3...

Grade 3

Mrs. Zaas wasn't here today, so we had Mr. Silber as our substitute teacher. Mr. Silber taught us about Lag b'Omer,  a holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Omer (this is the 18th of Iyyar and this year it will be Thursday, May 7). Lag b'Omer is a celebration during which we remember Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Akiva's heroic efforts to continue teaching Torah despite Roman persecution.

Meanwhile in Mrs. Gabay’s class, we played Jeopardy to review the holiays and Jewish values we've encountered this year.

Our review with Mrs. Gabay included putting the Hebrew months and holidays in order, an activity that we did on the first day in her class. It was so great to see how much we've learned since then!

In Hebrew with Mr. Silber we made cards for Mothers Day using Hebrew words and phrases. It was neat to combine our Religious School learning with an upcoming American holiday!

Grade 4

In Mr. Stone’s class we read a story about a woman who gossiped. Then, we discussed personal stories, how gossip hurts and why people may gossip. Then, we went outside and collected pebbles. We were told to name each pebble and have it represent a story of gossip. We were told to put the pebbles back exactly where we found them. This was to represent the story we read and to show how it’s hard to to remember the exacts of gossip and how when it spreads people forget what actually happened. 

In Mr. Stone’s class we read a story about a women who gossiped. Then, we discussed personal stories, how gossip hurts and why people may gossip. Then, we went outside and collected pebbles. We were told to name each pebble and have it represent a story of gossip. We were told to put the pebbles back exactly where we found them. This was to represent the story we read and to show how it’s hard to to remember the exacts of gossip and how when it spreads people forget what actually happened. After, we went to Hebrew. In Hebrew today, we reviewed Yotzer Oar. Then we learned some colors and numbers. It was fun!

In Mrs. Abrams class we talked about the story of Purim,. First, we watched a video about it so we could determine who was an upstander and who was a bystander in the Purim story. Then we split into groups and checked off reasons we thought that Esther chose to be an upstander and tell her secret of being a Jew. We had a lot to stay about why we thought different people were upstanders and bystanders, and we even talked about how some people were upstanders in one part but bystanders in another part and why it is hard to be an upstander.

Lastly we wrote bio poems about upstanders. A bio poem is a poem that has the person’s name, then, 1-3 words that describe the person, 1-3 things the person loves, something the person accomplished, where the person lived and then ends with their last name or a nickname. 

Grade 5

During T'filah today, Cantor wasn't here! He’s out of town, so Sam (our high school youth group's Religious and Cultural Vice President) led the service. It was fun! 

During Kehillah, we collected all of the donations that have come in for the City Mission Hope Totes that we'll be putting together as a part of Mitzvah Day on May 17. We also collected Tzedakah and talked about where we are all going for summer camp this year.

Today, Grade 5 had art. We talked a bit about Shavuot and the traditions that we observe on this chag (holy day). Shavuot is an important chag because it is when God gave the Jewish people the Torah. There is a custom on Shavuot to eat dairy foods (for a variety of reasons, check out http://www.aish.com/h/sh/r/48969771.html), so we made no bake cheesecake!

In Hebrew, we continued learning Birkat HaMazon using the birkonim that we'll use on Monday nights when we are in Grade 7.

Grade 6

We got to learn outside today with Mrs. Potash! While the warm weather was fun, the topic was one that required a lot of thought. Our focus today was on peace. A lot of us brought up what we've been hearing in the news about Baltimore. We explored our obligation as Jews to bring peace to the world and talked about how and why peace is so difficult. We discovered that working towards peace is a significant part of our prayer service!

 

Mr. Solomon wasn't here today so our madrich, Jeremy Cronig, got to step in as our teacher! We reviewed Ashrei together, as the Hebrew in Ashrei is particularly challenging. We also played a few games to help keep our energy level up!