First Grade Update

In first grade today, the children learned about the upcoming holiday of Lag B'Omer. We talked  about the counting of the omer (the measure of grain) that Jews count each day to mark the period between Passover and Shavuot. In fact, we said the blessing and "counted the omer" during tefillah with Cantor Ken this morning. Ask your child if he/she remembers what day in the omer cycle it was today and what day it will be when we celebrate Lag B'Omer. The children learned about Rabbi Akiva and Simeon bar Yohai who bravely defied the order of the Romans requiring them to stop studying torah. They continued to study torah in secret, going out into the fields with bows and arrows as if they were hunting. In Israel on Thursday there will be huge bonfires and children and families will take a day to go on picnics, play games and enjoy the land. Ask your children to show you the booklets and fun packets that they did about Lag B'Omer.

In Hebrew, the children learned two new Hebrew letters, fay and sin, and one new vowel, the vowel tzya'reh which makes a sound like a long a in English. The children were excited to see that we are quite close to the end of our Hebrew workbook. I anticipate that we will complete the letters next Sunday!

First graders had fun with Bar today. They learned a number of facts about the Dead Sea. For instance, they learned that it is called the Dead Sea in English because it is so salty that no animal can live in it; it is also the lowest place on the entire earth. The children played a game of limbo with Bar with they quite enjoyed.

Shavua Tov, Joanne