Grade 1 - Kitah alef, The Israelites and God’s Laws (January 22, 2017)

Dear Families:

I was so delighted to be back with the class today!  We began with tefillah with Cantor Ken.  Several students told him what they were thankful for—such as family and animals.

Back in class, we sang about the weather (ananim—cloudy).  Then on to Hebrew: first we reviewed vet from the last class.  Then we learned dalet, the first letter in “dag.” (fish) “degel” (flag) and “d’vash (honey).  We used the mnemonic “Dalet has a dent.”  We also wrote a thank you to Eli for his presentation on January 8th.

Then it was time for snack—I showed pictures of my recent visit to a banana plantation, to explain why we do not say the blessing for fruit of the trees over them.  Bananas are plants.

Our story was about The Israelites and G-d’s Laws.  We brainstormed what we knew about the life of Moses.  We put events of his life in order.  Several students added details they had learned elsewhere—Moses killing the cruel overseer, Moses and the midrash of the crown or the fiery coal.  The latter explains his speech impediment.  As we discussed the story of Mt. Sinai, one student mentioned the Golden Calf episode.  You can be proud of how much they know!

Then we discussed how to served G-d by positive actions and refraining from hurtful ones.  Students listed and illustrated what they could do to follow the Commandments.

The children are wonderful.  Thank you for them and for your support.

Shavua tov—have a good week.

Judy and Cheryl (Esther and Tzipporah)