Grade 1 - Kitah Alef. Shabbat introduction October 30, 2016

Dear kitah alef families:

In tefillah, all the students came together to act out the morning blessings.  In the future, the entire school will create something based on these blessings.

Today we began our unit on Shabbat.  I brought in my own shin candelabra, challah cover, and my grandfather’s Kiddush cup.  We practiced the blessings.

STORY:  We read Shabbat.  The children helped me with rhymes of how a family prepares for and celebrates Shabbat. 

Gretchen Brandt’s Gesher class presented the story of Creation.  See the letter I sent out separately with pictures.  The class was enthralled by their wonderful presentation.  Then we all sang “I Did Very Good Work Today” about the days of Creation.

CRAFT:   Students created a Shabbat counter to count the days of the week until Shabbat, the only day to have a name, not a number (unlike Yom Rishon, Yom Sheni, etc.).  The space for Shabbat is larger than the other days, to allow for drawing what’s important on that day.

HEBREW: Our letter of the week is  ל lamed.  Some words beginning with  ל are luach and lulav.  Help your child reinforce this letter by going over the page I am sending home.

During GAMES AND BOOKS TIME, students could look at books or work on Shabbat puzzles.  The students work so well together.

By now, you should have received a “save the date,” for the grade 1 Shema parent-student program on November 20.

Shavua tov!  Have a great week

Judy and Cheryl (Esther and Tzipporah)

Grade K - Gan Class Update

This morning started with Whole School Tefilah!  It is amazing to see the Social Hall filled with the energy of more than 100 students praying together on a Sunday Morning.  To get ready for our upcoming Art Pilot Project, Robin and Cantor Ken helped us to explore the morning blessings.  We made rooster sounds, did hand motions and worked with our friends to understand the meaning of some of the blessings.

In our second Torah Story, we met Adam and Eve.  They lived in the Garden of Eden and G-d told them that they could eat anything in the garden except for the fruit from one specific tree.  A snake comes and tricks them into eating the forbidden fruit and as their punishment, they have to leave the Garden of Eden forever.  Students were asked to think about a time when they did something they weren't supposed to do and how it made them feel if they got caught.  Many students shared that Adam and Eve must have been sad to have to leave the Garden because they were sad in their experience.

Our letter today was bet.  Bet makes the sound b- and begins the word bayit.  Each student was asked to share what color their bayit is.  Then we used our bodies to make the shape of a bayit.  Because we have now learned five of our Hebrew letters, it was time to start our Aleph Bet Centers.  Each year this is a favorite activity for the Gan Class students.  Students stamped the letters of the vocabulary words, illustrated the meaning of the vocabulary words, practiced letter recognition and played Aleph Bet Adventure, a board game much like Candy Land.

Finally, the focus of our Celebrations study was a Jewish Meal.  Students discovered that G-d made all of our food so it is important to thank G-d for our meals.  Together we practiced saying HaMotzi and brainstormed other blessings that we know for when we are eating including the blessing before out snacks. 

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

See you all next week!

Michelle

Grade 6/Kitah Vav: Trope Update from Cantor Ken

Nice to see the Wednesday group last week, and looking forward to seeing the Tuesday class again next week!

In class yesterday we learned trope families 8 and 9 and reviewed families 1-7.  

Students should aim to have flashcards for families 1-9 for next week and to practice singing along with the packet and CD/website for tracks 1-9 (pages 3-6 in the packet).

You can see pictures of most of the trope in a different format on my friend and colleague's website if that is helpful in recognizing the trope symbol.  (occasionally he and I use different variants of the names)

Please let me know if you have questions.

Tuesday group, do the best you can, and we'll check in next week in person...

Thanks--

Cantor Ken

Grade 7/Gesher Class - Gesher is Amazing!

Gesher is amazing!

It is a pleasure to see many of our Gesher students at Thursday morning minyan.  Students have been opening the ark, carrying the Torah, leading Ashrei, and joining their parents for aliyot to the Torah and Hagbah/Gelilah.

It’s all about Sukkot:  On October 16^th, Shimon Blacker taught Gesher and Kitah Vav (6^th grade) students the art of Lulav assembly and our group assembled 70 lulavim for the Temple Israel community.  Our study of Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Sages) led to a creation of a sukkah decoration. We explored the first mishna in Pirkei Avot the gist of which is that each of us is a link in the chain of transmission of Torah from Sinai.  Then we thought about those things, ideas, people, experiences etc. that link each of us to Judaism, the Jewish people, the Torah, G-d... and wrote those things on colored foam strips.  Those strips were stapled together to form the Gesher class chain of personal connection and that chain is hanging in our synagogue sukkah.  Gesher students were inspired by the chain from last year’s class and motivated to make their chain even longer.

The Sukkot experience continued on October 23^rd when Gesher students joined me in my sukkah and participated in the mitzvah of leshev (residing) in the sukkah by eating snacks and enjoying each other’s company.  Since it was a cold day, we elected to return to TI for our Godly Play Creation activity.

Godly Play is a special methodology for teaching Torah that invites participants into the story through hearing and seeing the story and then engaging in “I wonder” discussions.  Students watched the presentation of the Godly Play Creation narrative in which Creation is told through a series of abstract cards portraying each day of Creation.  Students were then invited to create their own Creation cards, to learn to tell the story and to engage others in wondering.  On October 30, students used this methodology and their own Creation cards to share the story with our first grade students.  They were amazing!

Extending our project based learning, we are repurposing etrogim used for worship during Sukkot and transforming them into B’samim (spice sachets used for Havdalah) by inserting cloves into the fruit and then allowing it to dry around the cloves locking the spice into place. Our classroom is fragrant with both etrogim and cloves.

We look forward to learning about Noah, a righteous man in his generation and to beginning the Birkot haShachar arts project in mid-November (details to follow.)

HaMorah Margalit (aka Gretchen Marks Brandt)
  

Grade 1/Kitah Alef - Simhat Torah October 23, 2016

שלום Kitah Alef students and families:

Today we celebrated the end of Sukkot.  Tomorrow night, Simhat Torah starts—rejoicing in the Torah. With the rest of the school, we joined the minyan for prayers in the sukkah.  We shook our virtual lulavs and etrogs in all directions.  For hoshana rabbah, we beat the willows.  As we listened, we realized that they sound like rain, something we pray for in Israel for the next crop.

Back in the classroom, we learned about Simhat Torah, the “rejoicing in the Torah.”  We finish Deuteronomy and begin reading Genesis again.  There is a parade of the Torahs (the Hakafot), with the congregation carrying flags, sometimes with apples on the top.

STORY:  To show the relationship between the fall holidays, I read a story written by a friend of mine called King of the Apples.  This large apple was picked and ended up in a refrigerator.  He hears the family talking about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, then Sukkot, and finally Simhat Torah.  But he is not chosen for the first three holidays.  He wonders what will happen to him.  Will he become apple sauce?  Ask your child what happens.

CRAFT:  Each child made an original flag to bring to the Simhat Torah Hakkafot service.  The Hebrew says Simhat Torah. As you know, we march seven times around with the Torah; then we read the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis.  We realize that learning never ends.

We did a review paper on the fall holidays.  Everyone did a fantastic job.  I had planned on having snack in the sukkah, but it was too windy.  When we were in the sukkah earlier, I did say the blessing for being in the sukkah.

HEBREW:  Our lesson today was about the letter מ “mem,” the first letter in mezuzah, matzah, melech (king), and magen David.  Cheryl and I each have our own groups.  Ariel assists the students.  Each week we review the previous letters and work with partners with our Hebrew packs of letters.  Please review the reinforcement paper I send home each week.

BOOKS AND GAMES:  Ariel read Bible stories to some students; others played matching games, a sukkah decorating game, or completed a puzzle.  Students also could do a paper on the differences between two boys holding the lulav and Etrog.

NEXT WEEK, we start learning about Shabbat.  I will be leading a workshop on Creation during the Synaplex on October 29.  I hope that you will be with me then.

Judy and Cheryl (Esther and Tzipporah)

Grade K - Gan Class Update 10-23-16

Today was a lovely fall day to be out in the sukkah.  Though it was a little cold, we enjoyed our morning Tefilot outside in the sukkah with the Sunday morning minyan.  As today is the last day of Sukkot, we participated in the tradition of "beating the willows".  The willow is one of the branches that makes up the lulav.  On this day we hit the willow against the ground which makes a sound like rain which is appropriate as the end of Sukkot is also the beginning of the rainy season in Israel.

We have been exploring the story of Creation from the Torah for the last several weeks.  Creation is the first story in the Torah and is when we learn about all the things God made and how Shabbat was set apart as special because that was the day God rested.  Student illustrated something that reminded them of this story.  The illustration will be included in their student workbook.  I encourage families to further explore the story of Creation at Synaplex this upcoming Shabbat.  There are several activities for Kindergarten students and families to enjoy that will help individuals make a personal connection this this parsha.  Please be on the look out for more information about Synaplex this week.

Our new letter was dalet.  Dalet makes the sound d- and beings the work degel which means flag.  Students constructed their own Israeli flags and many learned how to make the Star of David today.

Tomorrow evening begins Simchat Torah.  This is the day when we ready the last part of the Torah and then begin it all over again.  At Temple Israel we celebrate with singing, dancing and ice cream.  The festivities begin at 7pm and we would love for you to attend.  In preparation, our class went to the Chapel.  Students made observations that helped them to gain an understanding that this space of the building is used for prayer.  We then practiced standing when the Ark is opened and finally, each student got to see what is written inside the Torah.  We learned that the Torah is special, it is written on parchment that is very fragile so we can not touch it with our hands.  Everyone was very respectful of the Torah and there were so many great comments and questions about the Torah was dressed, what the printing looked like inside and how the Torah was treated by adults in the room.  We are looking forward to making more observations about the Torah and our prayer spaces soon.

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

Have a wonderful week!

Michelle

Grade 2 - Kitah Bet: Sukkot

We hope that everyone is having a wonderful Sukkot.  It was so much fun on Sunday to hear everyone share their memories of past holidays, there are so many wonderful family traditions to pass on to our children while creating new memories.  The students all looked so serious while they were assembling their Lulav and Etrog sets, trying to make sure that everything was intact and in the right place.  Hopefully everyone has had the chance to "shake" their Lulav in a Sukkah.

We are looking forward walking together to Margie's Sukkah this coming Sunday, where we will have the opportunity to have a snack hear a story or two, and play some games.

Wishing you all a Chag Semach (Happy Holiday)!

Margie & Joanne