What Happened in Grades K-2 on Sunday, October 26...

Kindergarten

Rabbi Denker led T'filah by himself today because Cantor Lawrence is getting married! Rabbi told us about Abraham and how God told Abraham that God is  the only god. 

Then we read a book about the best place for a penny. We learned that the best place is a Tzedakah Box. Tzedakah boxes are boxes that contain money for charity. We put money in the boxes so that people who aren't as fortunate as us can be helped out.

Then we went on a scavenger hunt around the temple, hunting for Tzedakah boxes. We found several different Tzedakah boxes in the shop and in the hallways.

Back in our classroom, we decorated people with examples of what it means to take care of those who aren't as fortunate as us.

Grade 1

We had a very fun and educational day today! We started by learning about all of the items that we use during Havdallah time to say goodbye to Shabbat on Saturday night.

First, we colored a picture with all the Havdallah items and then we got to see the objects.

Next, we compared our objects we use to say hello to Shabbat (Friday night) and our objects to say goodbye to Shabbat (Saturday night). Then, to review, we played a very cool game! One student would leave the room while another student went to a table with all out Shabbat objects and would take one away. The student who left would then come back and try to guess which object was missing.

Later in the day, we had a fire drill. We did a great job learning safety! When we returned to the classroom, we got a piece of paper. On the front, we wrote the word week and on the back, we wrote the word Shabbat. On our week side, we drew a picture of something we do during the week and on the Shabbat side we drew something we do during the time of Shabbat. We learned that Shabbat is the time of rest and we should do things that are different from the things that we do during the rest of the week.

 

Lastly, we went to art with Mrs. Schulgasser. We stayed with our theme of Havdallah by making clay spice bowls. Some of the spices included were ginger and cinnamon. We mixed the clay with the spices to make the clay smell good, just like the spice container during Havdallah and also to change the color of the clay. We then formed our clay into little bowls to make our very own spice containers for Havdallah! It was an awesome day today!  

Grade 2

Today Grade 2 started our day collecting tzadakah. We decided what charity we wanted it to go to, and we collected $9.48 today!

Next we learned about a new parsha (Torah portion). This one was about the 10 plagues! We talked about how when you’re a leader, you’re automatically responsible for the people under you, just like the Pharaoh was responsible for all of the Egyptians. We now know that if everyone else faces consequences, as a leader, we do too.

During snack time in Kehillah, Ms. Evans read the last two plagues to us. After that was T’filah. Rabbi Denker led T'filah today with some help from our madrichot, because Cantor Lawrence is getting married!. During T'filah, we talked about how God gave us the sun and the Torah - he gave us many gifts that benefit not only the Jewish people, but everyone - so what do we give God? Prayer, love, good behavior, and we create things with what God has given us. We also talked about Abraham and Sara and their brit (agreement) with God.

Back in class, we used our workbooks to learn about the letter tav. It was really fun! We found words that start with tav to help us remember the letter.

Last, we had library. While we waited for the librarian, Jacob showed us his lego book. It was so cool! It is always special to share our favorite things with our classmates.

The librarian read us a book about the 10 plagues. We learned more about what our teacher had told us about the plagues, and the best part? It was a rhyming book!

What Happened in Grades 3-6 on Sunday, October 19...

Grade 3

In T'filah, Rabbi Denker told us about what Torah portion we are currently reading. This portion tells the story of Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel.

Then we did an art project to celebrate autumn. We started with making trees by blowing through straws at paint.

Then we used colored paints to make dots that look like leaves of the trees. 

Did you know that another name for the Torah is the "Tree of Life"? We just celebrated Simchat Torah, during which we rejoice in that we've completed reading the Torah and will start again new for this year. 

In Hebrew, we finished learning our first Hebrew word - Bayit. Bayit means "house." We crated a picture of a house using the Hebrew letters that make up the word bayit.

Grade 4

Kehillah was in our classroom today because there was a program in the Social Hall. That gave us some time to hang out with our whole grade together! We spent it making Thank You cards for IDF soldiers. Two Temple Emanu El moms will be bringing the cards with them to Israel next week.

In Mrs. Abrams’ class, we made cubes of ways we can help others. Specifically, we had to think of things that we can't accomplish on our own, but towards which we can work to make a difference. 

In honor of Simchat Torah, in Mr. Stone's class, we created skits about the first few parshiot (portions) in the Torah. Guess which one we're doing in the picture above!

In Hebrew, we started by reviewing our blessings over food. We then learned a new root, which are letters that make up a word and give words similar meanings. After learning the root for "bless," we split into groups to practice our decoding.

Grade 5

Grade 5 started their day with T'filah. We talked about Simchat Torah, then the parshat Noach and how God needs our help. Also, if one person between now and next week can find the correlation between Nelsonville, Ohio and the Tower of Babble story, they’ll get a slinky or a Frisbee!

Kehillah was in our classroom today because there was a program in the Social Hall. That gave us some time to hang out with our whole grade together! We spent it making Thank You cards for IDF soldiers. Two Temple Emanu El moms will be bringing the cards with them to Israel next week.

In Mrs. Zamir's class, we kept working on parshat Noach, exploring more about what we eat and why, and how we decided what foods we should eat and which ones we shouldn't. This is because in parshat Noach, God gives the people permission to eat meat for the first time.

In Miss Silverstein’s class, we got to act out the Torah story of Joshua and the 12 Scouts. It was really fun! We learned about how spies were sent to Canaan to see if they could live there, but were met with obstacles along the way.

Miss Silverstein had set up a scavenger hunt in our room. The scavenger hunt helped us thing about the story we acted out. We didn't finish and are excited to keep work on it next week!

In Hebrew with Mrs. Zamir, we spent time in small groups. We worked on decoding practice words with Mrs. Zamir...

... and flashcards with Sam, one of our madrichot. We're excited to be warming up our Hebrew skills after our long break!

Grade 6

The sixth graders and their parents began the morning getting to know each other. They played a Jewish version of the memory game, along with fun questions in order to learn more about each other. It’s important for the student’s parents to have good relationships with one so they can support and help each other through the B’nai Mitzvah process. 

Everyone split up into groups and looked at pieces of text from the Mishnah. We talked about the important parts of Jewish text, and what to pay attention to while studying Jewish text, like who wrote it and background information. The text that we focused on was Pirkei Avot 5:21. One group discussed how society has changed from when the Torah was written and the text we study has not been modified to fit our modernized society. For example, this piece from the Mishnah sets a marriage age at 18, while nowadays many believe that 18 is too young to get married. 

We then split up into smaller groups to look at commentary about the text we studied.  

At the end of the program, Parents helped to display the Torah fully unraveled around the Social Hall. The students were able to see the Torah in its entirety and see different patterns in the text. The sixth graders also received their Torah portion materials for their B’nai Mitzvah ceremonies and were able to find their own portion on the Torah scroll. 

What Happened in Grade K-2 on Sunday, October 12...

Kindergarten

When we got into class today, we started coloring pictures of sukkot (sukkot is the plural of sukkah, and also the name of the chag - holiday)! sukkot are the huts that we build and stay in during Sukkot.

Then during Havdallah, the Havdallah kit was missing, so we had to use a box of cooking spices, a candle wrapped in foil, and a cup. This still works though, because they don’t have to be meant for Havdallah to be used.

Then in the Sanctuary during T'filah, the Rabbi and Cantor told us a story about a sukkah that kept leaning over. The builders had to keep pushing it to get it straight, it showed that no matter how many times you have a problem, you have to keep trying.

Then, we went in the temple’s sukkah! It has holes in the roof so you can see the stars at night. We had a lulav and etrog, and we shook them in all directions, to show that God is everywhere.

Back in the classroom, we made drawings which will be sent to Israel and given to the people who serve in the military there. We hope the cards will cheer them up and remind them of their homes.

Grade 1

Today was a marvelous day in 1^st Grade! We started by reading about our favorite spider, Sammy the Spider. We read Sammy’s First Sukkot because Sukkot began on October 7^th.

 After Kehillah and T’fillah we met in the Sanctuary to learn the three blessing to say in the Sukkah. We learned the blessing for our first time in a Sukkah, eating in a Sukkah and shaking the Lulav and the Etrog. Before heading to the Sukkah, we also learned the blessing for the reading the Torah because Simchat Torah is coming up so we got to see a Torah and say the blessing. 

Then, we got to go outside into the Sukkah where we all got a turn to shake the Lulav and the Etrog.   After reading the story, we made Israeli Flags, as well as decorating a blessing for the Torah for Simchat Torah.

 After, we went back to the classroom to read another Sammy Spider book! This time, we read Sammy’s First Simchat Torah because Simchat Torah is coming up on October 17^th.

On Simchat Torah, we parade around the Sanctuary with the Torah scrolls and wave flags in celebration of the fact that we've completed reading the Torah and will begin all over again. Our class made flags so that we can all participate.

Grade 2

The first thing Grade 2 did today was go outside and visit the Sukkah! It was really fun. We learned about the etrog and the lulav, and everyone got to try to shake them.

After going to the Sukkah, we came back inside for Kehillah- it was Havdallah! Cantor told us all about how Sukkot and Simchat Torah are tied together, and how we celebrate reading the end of the Torah and getting to start all over. 

In T’filah today, Rabbi told us a funny story about how Yankle tried to put a sukkah, but it kept leaning to one side or the other. Eventually, Yankle was able to get his sukkah to stand up straing. If things don’t work the first time, you can always try to get it right again!

Back in class, Miss Evans gave us cards about Moses. We read them, then worked in groups to put them in order according to when they occurred. 

The last thing we did today was art. It was really fun! We got plates, and we covered them with paint, then we made designs that had to do with what we’ve been learning about, whether it be pomegranates (like in Rosh HaShanah) or the Torah (for Simchat Torah). Once we finished the designs, we put paper over the paint and transferred them.