Sunday, September 27, 2015

What Happened in Grades 3-6 on Sunday, September 27...

Grade 3


Grade 3 started off with T'filah in the Sanctuary. Here, we are all standing up for the G'vurot, which is a part of Amidah.



After morning services and HaTikvah, we went back to the classroom and got started with our Judaics learning. In the beginning of class we filled out a sheet of what are favorite things are and what we like to do. Then we shared our answers for two of the questions, so we could get to know each other better.

 


We also created a class Brit, with rules for how we should act so that everyone can learn. We came up with a big list of rules, but narrowed it down to four main rules that will help us stay on track: Be respectful to everyone and everything, Arrive to school prepared and with a positive attitude, Try your best, and Stay safe and have fun. 


During Hebrew, we spent time reviewing the aleph bet. We all got 2-3 cards and the cards. Each card had a Hebrew  letter on it. After we got are cards we were challenged to go through the aleph bet out loud, standing up and reading the letter on our card in turn. It was a fun and active way to review!

Grade 4



We started the morning in T’filah with Grades 3-6. In this picture we are praying for a great week with Cantor. Also during T’filah, the Cantor taught us about what makes a sukkah a sukkah. For example, a sukkah can only have three walls. It can’t have a door, because if it did and we closed the door it would then have four walls.





We all went to Art with Mrs. Schulgasser. We learned about all the different ways that books help us be Jewish. The Jewish people are even called “The People of the Book.” We created books that we turned into a book mobile. Mr. Stone will have us write down the acts of G’milut Chasadim that we do throughout the year so that we can fill the pages of our book mobile.


Welcome to our classroom! It is full of Judaism! During Hebrew, Mr. Stone helped us explore the text book that we’ll be using this year.


In this photo you can see the brit that we created. A brit is a covenant and our brit outlines the rules of our classroom. 


Grade 5



Today during T'filah, in addition to reciting the prayers, we talked about the upcoming holiday, Sukkot, which starts tonight. A sukkah is our temporary home away from home. To be a sukkah, it needs a maximum of three walls and a natural roof (made of leaves, twigs, etc.) with openings to see the sky. The idea being portrayed is that not everything lasts forever. As Cantor Lawrence said, “appreciate every moment for what it is.” We had Kehillah in the social hall today. We were in a shoulder-to-shoulder circle for HaTikvah and then we had Havdallah. Last, we recognized summer and September birthdays before having our snack of water and pretzels. 


Back in class, Grade 5 took attendance in a fun way! Ms. Wineburg called our names, and we responded with ‘ani-poh’, which is Hebrew for ‘I am here.’ Because some of us weren’t able to make it last week, we also shared a little about ourselves. And if we hadn’t made nametags yet, we had the time to do that as well. Last week, we learned rules and did introductions, so we debriefed our rules. Our word of the day is "nachon," which means "okay" or "correct." 


For our lesson today, we learned about the TaNaCH. We counted off by twos and separated between Mr. Chad and Ms. Wineburg, one group in the library and another in the classroom. With Mr. Chad, we read parts of the Haftarah as well as summaries of Torah stories, then made correlations between them. With Ms. Wineburg, we went through what we already know about the Torah, and briefly learned about what we didn’t know. To help learn, we played 20 questions. Students had to guess what person, place, or thing that another student was thinking of, and said thing had to be from the Torah


Next we began our Hebrew studies. To do this in a fun way, Ms. Wineburg made us fortune teller outlines, which we cut out, then used with a partner. This helped us name letters of the Alef Bet as well as recognize vowels. 


To end class, we played a game of hangman. Ms. Wineburg gave us a Hebrew word, which we then made the other students try to guess letters of until they made the entire word. Then she would tell us what it meant. 


Grade 6



Today we started off in T’filah. Cantor reminded us of the importance of following along in the siddur so that we can practice our Hebrew as we pray. We also learned about what makes a sukkah a sukkah. For example, the sukkah must be a temporary structure so that we are reminded how nothing, except for God, lasts forever. 


During Kehillah, Cantor led us in HaTikvah, Israel’s national anthem. We also had Havdallah and three of the sixth grade students got to help by carrying the candle, the wine and the spices.



We started our Count Me In curriculum today! The opening activity got us up and moving as we had to find our group based on the names we were given on slips of paper. Then, we worked on a worksheet that helped us explore the different names that people call us, both names we’ve been given and names we’ve earned. 


During Hebrew, we reviewed Hebrew vocabulary for Sukkot. In addition to working on decoding the words, we also worked on matching the Hebrew and English words together. 




Sunday, September 20, 2015

What Happened in Grades K-2 on Sunday, September 20...

Kindergarten


We had a great first day in Kindergarten! When we walked in, Mrs. Bernstein had books and games for us to choose from, all having to do with the High Holy Days - Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah.


She also had a special flower for each of our parents. On the flowers there was a note that said:

"Much I have learned from my teacher, more from my colleagues, but most from my students (Talmud, Ta'anit 7b). Dear Parents, we wanted to share this quote with you as we welcome your child to an exciting year of Jewish learning. please accept this very small toke along with gratitude for entrusting us to care for, and learn with, your most valuable possessions! thank you for being our partners in your child's Jewish education L'Shalom, Mrs. Bernstein, Alex, Noah and Peter"


During Circle Time today, we created a class brit (contract) that included rules for how we need to act in our classroom to make it a good place for everyone to learn. The most important rule is to show kavod (respect) to others.


Then, Mrs. Bernstein read us a book called No Rules for Michael, which is all about how having rules helps us get along with others. 


Cantor visited our classroom today! He blew the shofar for us and we talked about the three sounds that the shofar makes: Tekiah, Teruah, Shevarim. Check out this video of the shofar being blown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb0A_cPlHlk


At the end of the day, we went to art class with Mrs. Schulgasser. Each of us made a Magen David (Star of David) with facts about ourselves. Mrs. Bernstein will put our picture in our star and we'll have a special name tag for when we come to class!

Grade 1


Grade 1 had a great first day! We started off with some learning in our classroom and then went to T'filah with Rabbi Denker and Cantor Lawrence. They taught us about Rosh HaShanah and how it is the start of our year. They even did a dance about the year going around and around!


When we got back to class, we created a brit (contract) with all of the rules for how we are going to participate in class together. We decided that to make our classroom a place where everyone feels heard and respected, we need to do things like not talk when others are talking and keep our hands and feet to ourselves. We can add to our brit as the year goes on and we learn new things that will make our classroom a fun place to be!


Then, our library volunteer, Ms. Lowe, came in and read us a special story about one of the holidays that is coming up - Sukkot! Next week, we'll have a special program all about Sukkot and are excited to celebrate the holiday.


After Ms. Lowe read to us, we spent some time in the Library checking out books to take home. It will be fun to have something new to read when we are done with services on Yom Kippur!


When we were done checking out books, Ms. Levy let us put together puzzles, like this one about Noah's Ark.


Grade 2



Grade 2 began our day by introducing ourselves to our class for the year! We wrote on worksheets our names, which schools we go to, and some other basic interests we have. We sat in a circle and everyone shared what they had written down. We then went over class rules and expectations. 


Next we had Kehillah in class. We had a snack of animal crackers and water. During our small snack break, Mrs. Milgrom came into class with a stranger! We learned that his name is Noam, and he’s from Israel. It was interesting to get to meet him. 


Afterward we went to T’filah. We talked about Rosh Hashanah and the upcoming holiday, Yom Kippur. We also learned a fun sing along song to help us learn about the upcoming holidays.


Next, when we got back in class, we got our first Torah lesson. We got a worksheet and gave correlations between the Torah and books we read every day. After, we drew different mitzvot from the Torah, exemplifying the Tree of Life. 


To end class today, we began our Hebrew vocabulary books. We learned the letter shin after reviewing what we’d learned last year about the Hebrew language.