Grade 4-Kitah Daled Update

 Our delightful Daled-niks have been busy thinking, learning and creating!  They brought their candleholders and Kiddush cups home with candles both Shabbat and Havdalah candles.  Each week, we offer a new set of Shabbat candles to students who report lighting theirs on Friday night. 

Tu B’Shevat, the new year for trees, offered us beautiful opportunities to explore some Jewish texts and to recognize the many gifts that trees give us.  Students celebrated many things that trees give us by creating Tu B’Shevat trees with leaves representing many of those gifts.

I Have Some Questions About God is a thought-provoking curriculum that encourages students to ask questions, to wonder, to consider and to explore their thoughts, ideas and feelings about God.  The book is structured as a series of questions about God.  Each chapter highlights one question and several rabbis answer that question through a story.  Students hear and discuss the stories and then select the one that speaks to them and, in their journals they write a sentence or more about their selection.  Last week, we discussed the question, “If there is one God why are there so many religions?” As part of this chapter, students considered laws that should apply to all people regardless of religion.  Their amazing and insightful suggestions included:

Treat people how you want to be treated

Always smile and tell jokes

Don’t commit murder or destruction

Listen to God

Respect the planet/Treat the world well—no pollution

World peace

Never be jealous

Don’t commit suicide

Never ever lie

Be nice

Be kind

Never be mean

No cannibalism

Have fun

Obey God

Be happy

Be respectful

Be grateful for what you have

Give back to others

Have confidence

Keep your promises

Be honest

Don’t kidnap

Don’t steal

Never worship idols

Don’t be cruel to anything

Be healthy

Be smart

Think wisely about what you say and do

Help the poor and needy

Be helpful