What Happened on in Grades K-2 on Sunday, October 4...

Kindergarten

Today while our class was coming in, we got to color different symbols of Tishre, our Hebrew month. We also shared what we did over the week and what are favorite things about Sukkot are.

After circle time we had a snack at Kehillah and then we went to services with the Rabbi and Cantor. We sung songs and learned that Simchat Torah starts tonight. Simchat Torah celebrates that we have completed once cycle of reading the Torah and are beginning again! To celebrate the Torah in T'filah, we sang Eitz Chayim (Tree of Life). In the song, the Torah is compared to a Tree of Life.

After services, we went out to the Sukkah. We got an etrog and a lulav and we went over what each one of them means. We got to feel and smell the etrog, we also went over what we do in the sukkah, like eat dinner and some people live in it!

After the sukkah we went inside and read Bubby Isabel and the Sukkah Cake. We learned that Bubby in Yiddish means grandma. We had lots of fun hearing the animals that went in Bubby Isabel’s sukkah like catipeliars, squirrels, bears and more. We also had lots of fun hearing all of Alex’s voices and hearing everyone share their opinion of the book.

After we read the book we went to the sanctuary to learn about Simchat Torah. We learned what the yad, the book cover and  the Torah are and what they do. We then took out our own mini Torah and walked around the sanctuary. We went over how we start over with reading the Torah on this holiday. 

Grade 1

When we got to our classroom this morning we all drew pictures about what we did for Sukkot.

During Kehillah, Mrs. Milgrom talked to us about how we are moving from Sukkot into Simchat Torah. Shortly after we celebrate Simchat Torah, we are going to begin the month of Cheshvan. Cheshvan doesn't have any holidays other than Shabbat, so it is a great month to focus on Shabbat! We talked about what we can do to enjoy Shabbat with our families. Then, we sang HaTikvah with the Cantor and last but not least, we enjoyed graham crackers for snack (but not before saying the brachot!)

In T'filah, we thanked God for all of the good things that happened to us this week. Rabbi and Cantor also showed us the lulav and etrog and helped us shake them together.

After T'filah, instead of going back to our classroom, Ms. Levy taught us about Simchat Torah, the holiday that celebrates the Torah and our beginning a new cycle of reading the Torah. We opened up the Aron HaKodesh (Holy Ark) to count how many Torah scrolls we have at TEE. Want to know the answer? Ask me or visit the sanctuary to count for yourself!

In Art class with Mrs. Schulgasser, we made our very own Torah scrolls to celebrate Simchat Torah!

Grade 2

To begin class today, Grade 2 was read a summary of a story about slavery from the Torah. Then, to further our understanding of the topic of slavery, we split up into three groups. In these groups, we made up skits to represent our scenarios, like the one shown in the picture. The three groups were depicting how slaves didn’t get paid, how they were often tired and hungry, and how they didn’t get to rest.

During Kehillah, we talked about the holiday that is coming up today, Simchat Torah. We also discussed how the month of Cheshvan has no holidays except for Shabbat. Our snack was graham crackers and water. Afterward, we went to T’filah. During T'filah, we learned about the fun service tonight to celebrate Simchat Torah, which celebrates the reading of the end of the Torah and the beginning of rereading it. 

Back in class we finished our lessons. We worked on a worksheet and had a class discussion to find out the main idea of our story, which we can apply to modern day society. The main idea we got was the golden rule, which is ‘Treat others the way you want to be treated.’ 

After finishing up our lesson, Grade 2 worked in our Hebrew workbooks. Last week we finished up the letter shin, so we reviewed it and the vowels. While reviewing, we learned how to spell our first word in Hebrew! It was ‘Shabbat.’ We then began our next letter, which is tav. 

To wrap up the day in a fun way, the librarian came to our classroom and read us a book called The Littlest Mountain. It was about all of the mountains of the world, which were personified, trying to be the best mountain of the world. In the end, Mount Sinai, the smallest and most unimpressive, was deemed the best by God. It showed us that you just need to be yourself, you don’t need to try to be better than anyone, because there will always be someone who will appreciate you for who you are.