Grade 1 - Kitah Alef -- Sukkot October 16, 2016

שלום:

How wonderful to be with the class again.  I hope that you and your family had a sweet new year.  We began on a serious note, signed a card for refuah shelamah to Rabbi and Mrs. Kushner after their auto accident.  Then we quickly reviewed Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  We joined Cantor Ken, and the kindergarten and grade 2 for our tefillah.

Back in class, I introduced Sukkot.  We looked at pictures of Sukkot.  We Jews build a sukkah to remind us of the time in the wilderness after leaving Egypt and of harvest time. It must have at least three sides and a roof, through which you can see the sky.  We saw pictures of a sukkah, etrog and lulav.  We also saw mobile sukkot on bikes, to bring the mitzvah to others.  We shake the lulav in all directions to show that G-d is everywhere.  The etrog is oval, citrus, and bumpy like a lemon, but has a sweeter smell and taste. 

STORY:  We laughed at the antics in Bubbe Isabella and the Sukkot Cake.  Bubbe has built and decorated her sukkah and has baked a lemon cake.  Every night animals like a caterpillar, moth, deer, and bear join her to tell jokes, sing songs, and sit gazing through the roof at the sky.  But they prefer to nibble on the fruits, leaves, and wood of the sukkah, so no one eats the cake. What becomes of it?

HEBREW: Our Hebrew letter today is ש, the first letter in shalom, shofar, and Shabbat.  We also learned our first vowel ah as in aqua, represented two ways under a letter.  We looked at the word “Shabbat,” which has both versions. The children are bringing home reinforcement papers.  In pairs, we reviewed the letters we have learned so far.

MUSIC:  We sang We’ll Be Going to the Sukkah and a few other songs like Yom Rishon Avodah.

Then to the sukkah to make decorations—three kinds!  Look for designs on tin foil.  Then they made wooden magen Davids decorated with glitter and sequins.  Last are the paper chains.  Such fun.  We watched them being hung in the sukkah. 

See you next week.

Judy and Cheryl (Esther and Tzipporah)

Grade K - Gan Class Update 10-16-16

Hello Gan Class Families!

After three weeks apart it was so great to get back into our Religious School routines!  Students enjoyed singing songs about Sukkot with Cantor Ken to start the morning and ended the day decorating the Temple Sukkah.

In between our Sukkot activities, we read a different version of the story of Creation and realized that both of the stories were the same even though they were from different books!

After so much time off for the High Holidays and Columbus Day I was so impressed at how well everyone remembered our first two letters, shin and tet.  We spent some time reviewing together and sharing ways to remember the vocabulary words before learning our new letter.  Today's letter was lamed.  Lamed makes the sound l- and begins the word lulav.  Cantor Ken taught us about the Lulav during Tefillot this morning and we are looking forward to exploring them next week as we continue to learn about Sukkot.

Before heading outside to make decorations for the Temple sukkah, we participated in a mitzvah together.  Students in the Gan Class made pictures of things that made them happy to share with Rabbi and Mrs. Kushner who are currently recovering from a recent car accident. Students drew things that they thought would make the Kushner's laugh, like funny minions, or things that might make them feel better such as hearts and rainbows.  I know that Rabbi and Mrs. Kushner will appreciate the thoughtfulness of the Gan Class students.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the Gan Class.

See you next week!

Michelle

Grade 6/Kitah Vav Update 10.11.16

Dear Kitah Vav/ ֿכיתה וו Parents,

I hope that your Rosh HaShanah and these days of self-reflection have been meaningful.  I wish all G’mar Hatima Tova ~ may we all be sealed for a good new year.  A few upcoming things to keep in mind:

 1.    Sunday, Oct. 16

a.    The students will help assemble the lulavim for Temple Israel.  You are welcome to join us if you want.

b.    We will also be helping to decorate the TI sukkah.  If you received Rosh HaShanah cards that you can part with, please send them to Temple Israel with your student on Sunday. We will hang them in the sukkah.

 2.    Sunday, Oct. 23, Kitah Vav will walk to a nearby sukkah, and do some activities there.   Once the location is finalized we will email a permission slip.  Please watch for that.

3.    Last week I was able to access and listen to every student that called my dedicated Google Voice number (617-410-8145).  Starting this week, I’ll give each student that calls a note in class with feedback.  Please remind your student to say his/her name clearly in their message.  The goal is fluent and accurate reading.  

 4.    Upcoming in Hebrew:  We will soon begin working on the Morning Blessings.  If your student wants to read these to me, that is most welcome.  Some might already know these blessings from camp. When our students enter the Gesher class next year, they will be joining the morning minyan at TI, and will want to feel comfortable with the morning, Shacharit, service.  Kitah Vav has a prayer/learning service with the Gesher class most Sunday mornings.

 Please do send questions and feedback to me.  I really appreciate it!

     

Kol tuv, all the best,

Rav Elana

Rabbi Elaine Pollack

​

Grade 6/Kitah Vav Trop Update from Cantor Ken

Wishing everyone shana tova-- a sweet new year-- good to celebrate with you! And wishing you a meaningful Yom Kippur next week.

A reminder that the Tuesday students can do their best to follow the assignments, but don't panic if you get stuck, and feel free to email me questions. (Wednesday students too)

The next Tuesday trope class is Nov. 1 at 5:30 and the next Wednesday class is Oct. 19 at 5:30, so you can work on this assignment over two weeks.

The general goals are to recognize the trope symbols we've learned, know each symbol's name, tune, and which trope it goes along with.

The first 5 trope families, which we're working on now, are enough to indicate the melodies for 85% or so of most Torah portions.

The first 3 trope families are review, and families 4 and 5 are new.

1) Learn/Review trope families 1-5: sing along daily with tracks 1-5 on the CD/website and follow along on pages 3-5 in the packet.  Please make flashcards for these five trope families; the flashcard should have ONLY the symbol on one side of the card, and the name (in Hebrew and/or English letters) on the other side.  The goal is to be able to see the symbol, know the name, and sing the melody, and be able to apply these melodies to the words of Torah readings.  You should now have 13 flashcards (10 from before and 3 new ones): mercha, tipcha, munach, etnachta from the 1st family, sof pasuk from the 2nd family (the others are repeats), kadma, mapach, pashta, katon, and yetiv from the 3rd family, v'azla from the 4th family (kadma is a repeat), revi'i and munach with the line after it (sometimes called munach l'garmei) from the 5th family. (in the picture below, the alternative name Revi'a is used, but I prefer Revi'i. The munach with the line after it is not shown in the picture, but you can see it in your packet)  Picture of the new families are immediately below, and pictures of the first 3 trope families are near the bottom of this email.

2) Please bring your binder or folder with the packet every Tuesday or Wednesday, and also bring your highlighters (blue, green, yellow, pink, orange, and purple) each time.

3) Next time we'll review trope families 1-5, and go on to families 6-7 (feel free to listen ahead to these tracks).  

If you get stuck or have questions, please call 508-650-3521, ext. 107, or email cantor@gmail.com.  Email is generally the quickest way to reach me.

Here is the initial letter with info on the class and some important dates to save.

Here are trope images of the first two trope families: 

Here is a picture of the trope from family 3 (note that this image calls the two dots above the word "Zakef Katon", while I call this trope "Katon.". 

     To distinguish between Kadma and Pashta, which look the same, draw a box on your flashcards, so that you can put Kadma above the middle of the box, and pashta above the left of the box.  Same thing for Mapach and Yetiv; draw a box so that you can put Mapach under the middle, and Yetiv below and to the right. This indicates the placement of each trope over or under a Hebrew word.

Grade 5- Diana's Update

Dear Kitah Hey families,

This week in Hebrew, we have been working more on learning the Ein Kamocha prayer. The kids have been putting in so much effort and they sound great!

On Wednesday, the fifth graders were given the opportunity to chant the prayer in the sanctuary. As the ark is opened at the end of the Ein Kamocha, students had the chance to come up to the bimah to open and close the ark themselves. Because it is considered a great honor to be able to participate in this job, many students were eager to volunteer! It was exciting to watch the students show such interest in learning more about the Torah Service.

Shana Tova,

Diana 

Grade 6 - Trop Update

Great to see the kids on Tuesday & Wednesday and to meet with some parents/grandparents as well!  

A reminder that the next Tuesday class is on November 1 due to all the holidays; the Wednesday class will meet each week except for Yom Kippur.  Classes going forward are 5:30-6:00.

During October, I'll email the assignments to the whole class, and ask the Tuesday kids to do their best to keep up, with the understanding that the Wednesday kids may temporarily get a little ahead.  

Shana tova-- wishing you a sweet, healthy, happy new year!  Below is the assignment--

Cantor Ken

1) Learn/Review trope families 1-3, tracks 1-3 on the CD/website and pages 3-4 in the packet.  Please make flashcards for these three trope families; the flashcard should have ONLY the symbol on one side of the card, and the name (in Hebrew and/or English letters) on the other side.  The goal is to be able to see the symbol, know the name, and sing the melody, so as later to be able to apply these melodies to the words of Torah readings.  You should now have 10 flashcards: mercha, tipcha, munach, etnachta from the 1st family, sof pasuk from the 2nd family (the others are repeats), and the new ones-- kadma, mapach, pashta, katon, and yetiv from the 3rd family. 

Here is a picture of the trope from family 3 (note that this image calls the two dots above the word "Zakef Katon", while I call this trope "Katon.". 

     To distinguish between Kadma and Pashta, which look the same, draw a box on your flashcards, so that you can put Kadma above the middle of the box, and pashta above the left of the box.  Same thing for Mapach and Yetiv; draw a box so that you can put Mapach under the middle, and Yetiv below and to the right. This indicates the placement of each trope over or under a Hebrew word.

 

2) Please bring your binder or folder with the packet every Tuesday or Wednesday, and also bring your highlighters (blue, green, yellow, pink, orange, and purple) each time.

3) Next time we'll review trope families 1-3 (which will get you through about 2/3 of any Torah portion), and go on to families 4-5.  

If you get stuck or have questions, please call 508-650-3521, ext. 107, or email cantor@gmail.com.  Email is generally the quickest way to reach me.

Here is the initial letter with info on the class and some important dates to save.

Here are trope images of the first two trope families in case they are helpful: 

Grade 3 - Gimel Happenings

It's been an amazing week in the Gimel Class!  Students are working very hard on reviewing their letters, vowels and decoding skills!  This past Sunday, in morning meeting, we reviewed greeting each other in Hebrew (boker Tov).  Students also went over some of the days of the week, the Hebrew date, different schedule words and the season.  Of course our counting game is always a highlight!

This Sunday we enjoyed Tefillah with the 4th and 5th graders.  This was led by 4th grade teacher, Jeremy Arcus-Goldberg, who went over some of the weekday morning blessings and prayers.

In Hebrew this week we did 3, 10 minute rotation stations:  Hebrew Reading, Hebrew Reading Games and Letter Review.  This will be done on a regular basis on Sundays.  This week students will receive orange binders in which they will store their Hebrew Reading packets and prayers (which they will start working on next month).  For now binders will be kept at school.  After we begin to study the prayers, students will be asked to review at home what we do in class.  More details to follow in a later update.

In our Holiday block we continued our study of the three main themes of Rosh Hashanah and how we can use these to make 5777 an even better year.  In groups students were given examples of Tefillah, Teshuvah and Tzedakah and as a group decided which category their examples fit into. On the weekdays students used tissue paper decoupage to make beautiful apple/honey dishes to be used at their holiday tables.  Other Rosh Hashanah activities included a High Holiday 4 in a row game and a Shofar puzzle game reviewing some of the things they learned/knew about Rosh Hashanah.

Wishing everyone a Shanah Tovah U Metukah!

Elana and Marc