Need a link for a class? ZOOM links are here.
5-17-2020
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HI All,
I will plan to meet with your children for our last class on Tuesday at 4:00 pm. I have scheduled a Zoom meeting in my personal meeting room (see the invitation below) and am hoping the platform will be up and running smoothly by then. I will be using Zoom tomorrow for my teaching at MetroWest Jewish Day School and will change platforms for Tuesday if there appear to be problems tomorrow. Apparently people all over the world had trouble with Zoom today-church services and other events were cancelled and more. At the beginning of this teaching online, we considered using Google Meet but it has certain disadvantages (as well as advantages) and it was decided that we would use Zoom. Please help your children connect with me on Zoom on Tuesday unless you hear otherwise from me.
Again, thank you all for your support and patience this year and thank you so much for the generous Amazon gift card.
Best,
Joanne
5-11-2020
HI All,
I wanted to let you know that Kitah Aleph will meet at 10:00 this coming Sunday May 18th which is a half an hour earlier than usual. We will meet then so the children can be free to join in the all school celebration and 7th grade siyum at 11:00. Please check the blog for the zoom link. That will be our last class together for this school year. Many Thanks, Joanne
4-23-2020
Hi All,
I hope you all continue to do well. I look forward to seeing your children on Sunday at the regular times. Please help them prepare by having paper ( a couple of sheets) and markers and/or crayons or colored pencils. We will watch a video with highlights from Israel, look at a map of the State of Israel and then the children will do their best to draw a copy of the map. If you are able to print, I am sending you a PDF of a map that they could fill in. At our 5:00 pm time, I will be reading stories as usual.
Please find the link to my personal zoom room on the TI blog.
Best,
Joanne
4-18-2020
Hi All,
Just a reminder that I am planning our class meeting tomorrow morning on Zoom at 10:30 and then again at 5:00. Please help your child be prepared for our morning class by having Legos or other building materials available to use. At 5:00 I will be reading stories as usual. I look forward to seeing your children at those times. Shavua Tov, Joanne
Reminder: you can find the Zoom links to all of the TI Hebrew School classes on the blog. See below.
4-13-2020
Hi All,
I am listening to the wind and watching the rain and hope you are all well and still have your power in this storm. I am looking forward to seeing your children again this coming Sunday at the same times:
10:30-11:15 on Sunday morning and 5:00-5:30 in the afternoon.
In our morning time together, I will introduce the upcoming holiday of Yom Ha’atzma’out or Israel’s Independence Day. We will watch a short video about the old city in Jerusalem and then I will ask the children to spend some time using Legos to build their own version of the old city. At the end of our time, they will share what they have built. To that end, please help your child have a collection of Legos available when we start our time together. If you do not have Legos, any blocks or even recycling materials that they could use to build, would be great.
At our 5:00 pm time I will be reading stories as we have been doing.
Below is the link to the TI site with class Zoom links.
Mo’adim L’simcha,
Joanne
Need a link for a class? Go directly to the Hebrew School blog or copy and paste this into your web browser: http://tioneducation.
You can also use the information below for my meetings.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 607 828 0693
Password: 451197
4-7-2020
Hi All,
I hope you have a wonderful beginning of Passover. Just to be sure that you are able to easily access our Sunday class via Zoom. I am sending you the links directly now. Please do note that I do not check or respond to email on Shabbat or Yom Tov (so Thursday, Friday or Saturday (until after Shabbat) of this week. Chag Sameach, Joanne
Joanne Camann is inviting you to two scheduled Zoom meetings.
Topic: Joanne Camann's Zoom Meeting
Time: Apr 12, 2020 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
A second zoom meeting on that date at 5:00 for stories
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 607 828 0693
Password: 451197
4-1-2020
Hi All,
I am inviting you to join a class meeting on Sunday from 10:30-11:10 and then a story time meeting on Sunday from 5:00-5:30. The details are below.
Please do note a couple of items. I very much would appreciate it if you could help your child be ready for our class on Sunday morning dressed, having already eaten breakfast and sitting up at a table or desk in a quiet space. I would ask that your child also be ready with some paper, a couple of pencils and some either markers, colored pencils or crayons for some drawing and writing. Learning in class while at home is challenging for most first graders (frankly its challenging for me too) so if you can limit distractions as much as is possible (and I know that this is not always possible) that would be great. Thank you in advance for your partnership and support in this new crazy world we are inhabiting at present. Best, Joanne
Joanne Camann's Zoom Meeting
Time: Apr 5, 2020 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 607 828 0693
Second zoom meeting:
Time: Apr 5, 2020 05:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 607 828 0693
3-28-2020
Hi All,
I hope you are all doing well and that the children can join me at these times.
Best, Joanne
Joanne Camann is inviting you to two scheduled Zoom meetings.
Topic: Kitah Aleph lesson
Time: Sunday Mar 29, 2020 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 607 828 0693
Passover Story
Sunday March 29th
5:00-5:30 pm
Same zoom link (I hope)
Hi All,
I hope you are all doing well and that the children can join me at these times. Best, Joanne
3-19-2020
Hi All,
I am looking forward to connecting with your children online on Sunday. I hope that they will be joining in the tefilah zoom meeting the Cantor Ken at 9:30. After tefilah, I would like to have a zoom meeting with the children as well for about 40 minutes. During that time, I will plan to review some of the Hebrew letters we have learned so far this year and introduce them to a new letter. I also will teach them a bit about Passover and read a Passover story.
Here are the instructions for joining the meeting:
Joanne Camann is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic:
This is a calendar meeting Time: Mar 19, 2020 08:41 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 607 828 0693
One tap mobile ,,6078280693# US Toll Dial by your location US Toll Meeting ID: 607 828 0693 Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/ad1nbqeFU6
You also should receive an invitation from me at my MetroWest Jewish Day School email.
Thank you for your partnership in this new online endeavor.
Shabbat Shalom,
Joanne
3-3-2020
Shalom Kitah Aleph Families,
It
was wonderful to be back together again after the February vacation. Today we
began to prepare for the upcoming holiday of Purim. In tefilah with the
cantor, the children learned some new Hebrew Purim songs in addition to
our usual tefilot.. Back in our classroom, they especially enjoyed
acting out the Purim story from Megilat Esther with my
guidance. The children took turns taking on the various roles of Queen
Vashti, Queen Esther, Mordecai, King Ahaseurus and even the wicked Haman. We
used some costumes and props, including a pretend royal scepter, to re-enact
the story. Kitah Aleph students then worked on some popsicle stick
puppets of the Purim characters. Next Sunday the children will finish the
puppets and them use them to retell the Purim story in their own words.
In
Hebrew today, the children learned the new Hebrew letter, chet. As we do
every week, in addition to learning a new letter, we reviewed all the letters
we have learned so far this year. I called out the sound and the children had
to find the letter matching that particular sound. The letters we have learned
so far are as follows: aleph, ayin, shin, tav, mem, lamed, bet, vet, vav,
hey, resh, dalet, chaf, koof, tzadee and nun. The children also know three
of the vowels, two that make the sound “ah” and one that makes a long e sound.
The students are doing a great job remembering the names and the sounds of the
letters. They have only eight more letters to learn to complete the aleph-bet.
The next letter we will learn will be the letter yod and the next vowel will be
one that makes a sound similar to the English letter O.
A
few friendly reminders: please have each child bring his/her own nut free snack
each week along with his/her own water bottle. Next weekend, we change the
clocks. We will begin Hebrew school at 10:00 (daylight savings time) instead of
the usual 9:00 start time to give everyone a chance to get a bit more sleep.
Don’t forget the Purim carnival next Sunday afternoon after Hebrew school.
Have
a fabulous week. Shavua Tov, Joanne
2-11-2020
Shalom
Kitah Aleph Families,
Students
arrived and we did morning greetings in Hebrew and letter coloring. Then we had
the morning meeting where we went through the schedule and passed the ball
around discussing what we were looking forward to in the coming weeks. After morning
meeting we went upstairs to Tefilah with the Cantor. There was prayers as well
as discussion/questions about mezuzot.
Tu
B’shvat was also introduced and a few songs were sang and Cantor led the kids
in the a circle dance. Once we got back to the room we transitioned to Hebrew.
Bay led the aleph bet with some assistance and the rest of the class responded
to the song. After we did some review of letters from the white binder.
We
got back on task with introduction of the new letter “Nun” and reviewed the
mnemonic. After learning the new letter kids got their Hebrew books and worked
on pages 53-55, making their way through the activities with assistance when
needed. After making their way through the pages in their books the kids were
given Hebrew reading sheets. In pairs the kids moved to the floor and read
lines providing each other stickers after successfully completing each line.
Overall the kids seemed to have good comprehension of the letters and vowels.
Boaz reads very well, but tried to go ahead and gets a little distracted. He
not only can read the lines without error, but also could spot and correct my
purposeful mistakes. Roy and Jacobi worked well together and went through the
sheet at a good speed. Bay and Sophia later joined the groups reading letters.
Bay worked with Sarah and seemed to have good comprehension and speed. Sophia
knew the letters and vowels for the most part, but had a few stumbles. After
being told it was wrong and thinking a little she was able to arrive at the
right answers. All the kids completed and put the finished Hebrew line sheets
in their bags to bring home. Following Hebrew we had a quick snack and then
went upstairs to join second grade for the Tu B’shvat seder. Once the kids
settled down they seemed to learn and make contributions about the holiday and
enjoy the food. Following seder first grade returned to the green room. Sarah
read a story book about a tree and then we held a discussion about trees, their
importance, uses, and types. Following the discussion we transitioned to
working on the Tu B’Shvat packets. The boys worked quickly through the first
color by shape page, but greatly enjoyed the challenge of the word search. The
girls focused a bit more on the coloring. We worked on the Tu B’svhat packets
until dismissal. The kids took home their unfinished packets to show their
parents and work on at home.
2-4-2020
Shavua Tov,
Kitah Aleph students learned the letter ayin
this morning. Like the letter aleph, ayin is silent and “speaks” only
through it vowel. We spent a few minutes looking at ayin and comparing
it to the letter we learned last week, the letter tzadee. Those two letters do
look a lot a like and it is easy for new Hebrew readers to confuse them.
The children had fun acting out some Torah stories this
morning complete with some costumes. The children acted out the story of Jacob
meeting Rachel at the well and then going home with her to meet Lavan. Lavan
then agrees to have Jacob work for him for seven years to earn marriage with
his beloved Rachel. We continued the story when Jacob is tricked into marrying
Leah instead of Rachel and has to work for another seven years before being
allowed to marry Rachel. We finished with Jacob and his family traveling back
to the land of Israel and Jacob wrestling with a stranger over night in the
desert. The children shared ideas about the identity of that stranger. Their
ideas included an angel from God or even Esau in disguise.
We missed Yahav this morning as he was out sick. However,
the children did write some short notes with prayers for Yahav to put in the Kotel
this week when he goes home to visit Israel. We wish him a refuah shelayma
and a wonderful visit to his family at home in Israel.
We began preparing for the upcoming holiday of Tu B’shvat
this morning. The children saw a video about Honi the circle maker (https://www.bimbam.com/?s=video+for+honi+the+circle+maker)
and learned about the mitzvah of ba’al taschit, not wasting or
destroying anything but rather doing things to take care of the earth. Honi
learned about the importance of planting trees for future generations. Ask your
child to show you the booklet we read together about the Jewish value of taking
care of the earth.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead,
Joanne
1-28-2020
Hi All,
Today we began talking a bit about the upcoming holiday of
Tu B’shvat. Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Shvat and we talked a bit about the Jewish
calendar and the fact that it is a lunar calendar which is different from our
secular American calendar. In addition, to singing our usual tefilot with
Cantor Ken this morning, the children looked at pictures of almond trees in
Israel and began learning both English and Hebrew versions of the song, Hashkediyah
Porachat, or the Almond Tree is Blooming. We talked about the fact that
although it is still winter here in the USA, in Israel, spring will begin in a
few weeks. Later in the morning, during our time with Yahav, the children
decorated leaves and branches for large cardboard class trees.
In Hebrew today, the children learned the new Hebrew
letter, tzadee and a new vowel, chirik, which makes a sound like
an English long E. We spent quite a bit of time reviewing all the letters we
have learned so far this year.
We continued our discussion about justice/or tzedek,
from two weeks ago, when we read about the friendship between Dr. Martin Luther
King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Today we focused on tzedakah,
which comes from the same Hebrew root as the word tzedek and which of
course begins with our Hebrew letter of the day, tzadee. The children
enjoyed hearing the book, How Dalia Put a Big Yellow Comforter Inside a Tine
Blue Box and Other Wonders of Tzedakah by Linda Heller. Ask your child to
tell you about the story. The children then went on to make their own tzedakah
boxes, which are currently hanging in our classroom to dry. They should be
ready for the children to take them home next week.
For our torah lesson today, we reviewed what we learned two
weeks ago about how Rebecca and Jacob tricked Isaac into giving Jacob the
blessing of the first born, which forced Jacob to flee his home. Today, the
children listened to the story of Jacob and his dream of the ladder reaching to
heaven with angels going up and down on the ladder.
Toward the end of our morning, we had a chance to do some
singing with Anna. All in all, it was a very busy and productive morning.
Have a wonderful week ahead! Best, Joanne
1-14-2020
Shavua Tov,
As always, we began our morning with morning meeting. This
is a chance for the children to sit together, greet each other and share
highlights of their week. We also go over the schedule for the day at this
time. We then had tefilah in the sanctuary together with the preK/K
class and second grade. Cantor Ken was unable to join us but the children did a
lovely job singing the tefilot with some help from the teachers.
This morning in our Hebrew lesson the children learned two
new Hebrew letters, vav and koof. We talked about the fact that
the letter vav sometimes appears as a letter and sometimes appears in
Hebrew as part of a vowel. Kitah Aleph students seem to especially enjoy
playing the “back game.” In this game, an individual child comes up to the
front of the room and I hold a letter on his/her back. Another child then says
the sound that that particular letter makes and the child with the letter on
his/her back has to say the name of the letter. This is a fun way to review and
the children did an excellent job saying both the sounds and names of the
letters we have learned so far this year. The children completed the
pages that go along with these letters in their Aleph-Bet workbooks and
went on to practice some Hebrew reading with a partner, as we do each week.
Yahav paired the children up with a partner and had each
child draw a portrait of his/her partner. Then Yahav taught the children the
Hebrew word for friend, chaver. The children have a growing list of
Hebrew words in their Hebrew dictionaries.
During snack today, we read the book, As Good As Anybody,
in preparation for celebrating the birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. next weekend. As Good As Anybody tells the parallel stories of
Dr. King, growing up and facing racism in the south, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua
Heschel, who grew up in Poland and Germany and faced anti-Semitism there. The
book goes on to describe how the two men grew up and became friends and allies
in the civil rights movement. We talked about the Hebrew saying, Tzedek,
Tzedek Tirdoff, roughly translated as “You should pursue Justice.” As
a class, we then discussed he connection between the Hebrew word tzedek,
justice, and the word, tzedakah, which is often translated as charity
but really has more to do with making the world a just/fair place for everyone.
Ask your child to show you the pamphlet we read about tzedakah.
We finished our morning with a fun bingo game using Hebrew
colors and a few minutes of Herzl Omer.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead.
Joanne
1-7-20
Shavua
Tov,
It
was wonderful to be back at Temple Israel with all of the children this
morning! After a quick morning meeting in our classroom, we went upstairs to
the sanctuary and had tefilah with Cantor Ken. We began with a minute of
silence to give everyone a chance to focus in on tefilah. It was amazing
to see a fairly large group of preschool through second grade children sit
totally silently for what to them can seem like an eternity. We then had a
lovely tefilah session with the cantor. In addition to singing the
prayers, a number of the children in preschool, kindergarten, first and second
grade, shared things for which they feel especially thankful. Things they
mentioned included: candy, technology, family, friends and being “being loved
so much by my family.”
After
tefilah, Kitah Aleph students learned two new Hebrew letters: dalet
and aleph. As always, we reviewed the letters we have learned previously
as well. We have now learned a total of twelve Hebrew letters and two vowels.
We are almost half-way through the letters but do have a number of vowels still
to learn. Overall, the children are doing a great job of remembering the letter
names and sounds especially given that we meet only once a week and have not
had school for a few weeks. Please do encourage your child to “show off”
his/her Hebrew reading skills by reading the yellow Hebrew reading sheet that
came home today.
The
children were happy to see Yahav as always. In our time with Yahav today, the
children listened to some Hebrew songs and played a variation of musical
chairs. Then they added the Hebrew word, shir, which means song or poem
to their Hebrew vocabulary booklets.
We
ended our morning with some Torah study. We reviewed the story of Eliezer
meeting Rebecca at the well. Then the children acted out the story of Eisav and
Yaakov and the exchange of the birthright for the bowl of stew. Kitah Aleph
students thought that Eisav was not thinking ahead very well when he agreed to
sell his birthright to his brother for such a simple thing. They wondered if he
perhaps wasn’t getting enough to eat otherwise. Next, the children went on to
act out the story of Rebecca and Yaakov tricking Yitzchak into giving the
blessing of the first born to Yaakov. We discussed the fact that Rebecca had
spoken to God before the babies were born and knew that her younger son would
“rule over’ the older one. Thus, she was probably acting on what she thought
was God’s will when she helped Yaakov trick his father. The children thought
that both Rebecca and Yaakov probably felt a little sad about having to trick
Yaakov. There was some great method acting in our class, especially around
Eisav threatening to kill his brother, and a lot of giggling was involved in
the acting as well. Some of the children said that acting out the torah stories
is their favorite part of our mornings together.
Best
wishes for a fabulous week ahead.
Joanne
12-18-19
Kitah Aleph
Hi
All,
The
theme of the day was definitely Chanukah. The children began the morning eating
delicious latkes and applesauce provided by the brotherhood. We
then watched two videos to learn a bit more about the holiday. The first video
was a reading of a book called The Story of Hanukkah by Jeremy Frank and
read by Peter Jacobsen. It is a retelling of the story of the Maccabees
fighting against the powerful Assyrian army and winning despite overwhelming
odds. It can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tws_uMAEOs.
The second video was the Chanukah themed video that is part of a series of videos
for Jewish children on the website https://www.bimbam.com/ and tells the story of a
Jewish family helped to celebrate Chanukah by two little anthropomorphized
sparks of light. It is a very cute series that the children seem to enjoy and
it conveys the important message of Chanukah as a time of spreading light to
the world.
In
Hebrew today, the children learned the new Hebrew letter vet. We talked about
how vet and bet appear very similar to one another; the only difference being
one little dot in the center. We compared the vet and bet to the chaf and kaf
in appearance as these letters are easily confused by new Hebrew readers.
In
tefilah with the cantor this morning, we sang a number of Chanukah songs and
reviewed the Chanukah candle blessings. Yahav shared a bit about Chanukah in
Israel and then he showed the children how to make dreidels out of a CD and a
marble. Please be certain to have your children show you their beautiful
dreidels. Kitah Aleph students added the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, hey and
shin to their dreidels as well as various decorations. Yahav also showed the
children two different dreidels, one from Israel and one from the USA. He
explained that in Israel the dreidels have the Hebrew letter pey which stands
for the Hebrew word “po” to show that the miracle happened “here” in Israel
while in the States we say that the miracle happened “sham” or “there.”
We
ended our morning reading The Magic Dreidels by Eric Kimmel, singing more
Chanukah songs and doing a Chanukah fun packet. Please encourage your children
to do more pages in the packet at home since there was not enough time for them
to complete it at school.
Thank
you all so very much for the generous gift card! It was so lovely of you to
think of me. Best wishes for a joyous Chanukah, a wonderful December break and
a happy new year. I look forward to seeing the children back on January 5th.
Chag
Chanukah Sameach, Joanne
12-10-19
Kitah Aleph,
This past Sunday Kitah Aleph students learned a new Hebrew letter, the letter kaf. They also began to learn about the holiday of Chanukah and the miracles of the small band of Jews who triumphed over the larger and stronger Assyrian army as well as the oil that was supposed to last for only 1 day but lasted for 8 days. The children enjoyed making “stained glass” dreidels with tissue paper. As usual, they had tefilah with the cantor and learned new Hebrew words with Yahav. The children are building a dictionary of Hebrew words with Yahav’s help and by the end of the year, they should have collected a large dictionary of words. Finally, they learned the torah story about Rebecca at the well.
11-19-19
Shavua Tov,
This morning, the children learned two new Hebrew letters, hey and kaf. They are doing a wonderful job of recognizing all the letters we have learned and putting them together with the two vowels that we have learned so far this year. In addition to the Hebrew consonants they have learned, the children have been practicing two vowels, kamatz and patach, that make the sound /a/. Just a reminder for those of you who do not read Hebrew, that consonants and vowels are quite separate in Hebrew. The children have now
learned a total of seven letters! Most recently, they have even been able
to decode a few simple words (it is not so easy to find words that use only
those letters and vowels). Next week, the children will learn the letter resh.
Each Hebrew letter that the children have learned has a specific English
mnemonic to help them remember the sound. Ask your child to tell you the
mnemonics we have learned to date.
In our torah lesson today, the children acted out the story
of Abraham and Sarah welcoming three visitors who turned out to be messengers
from God. According to the rabbis, this story teaches us about the important
mitzvah of hachnassat orchim or welcoming guests. When I asked the
children what they do at home to help guests feel welcome in their homes, we
came up with the following list:
- Invite them in
- Ask they what they want to do
- Offer them something to eat and drink
- Walk them out when it is time for them to leave
- Clean-up the house before they come
- Give them a nice place to sleep if they are staying
over.
We also talked about what is required of guests when they
visit and came up with the following:
- Handle items carefully
- Bring food to share
- Bring a toy or other gift
- Take turns picking an activity to do
- Ask for things using polite manners
- Help clean-up
- Say thank-you for having me when you leave
I have to say that I was impressed with what wonderful hosts
and guests the children must be! We will continue to explore this mitzvah a bit
more next week as well in anticipation of Thanksgiving coming soon.
Kitah Aleph students had music with Anna today and tefilah
with Cantor Ken as usual. Yahav is away but will be back next Sunday. We
played Herzl Omer and a the “color game” at the end of our morning.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead.
Joanne
11-12-19
Kitah Aleph children participated with some of the other
younger children in a special Veteran’s Day assembly. First, the children
watched a light hearted video staring former First Lady Michelle Obama and the
penguins of Madagasca,r who help explain some facts about military service.
Then the children heard directly from three members of Temple Israel who are
either former or current members of the US military. The children were very
engaged in the program, asked some great questions and shared some comments as
well. A number of the children mentioned family members who have served,
particularly in the IDF. Questions included: How much training did you need?
What would happen if the general in charge got hurt? Why did you decide to go
into the army? How did you get in touch with each other? How did you know where
to put the cannons? And more…
Back in class, we played a fun Hebrew game with Yahav, very
similar to Red Light/Green Light, and then had snack. In Hebrew, we
reviewed the letters that we have learned so far (tav, shin, bet and mem) and
learned a new letter, the letter lamed. The mnemonic for lamed is that lamed
has a lap and says /l/. The children read and did work in their Aleph Bet
workbooks.
The children acted out this past week’s parsha, Lech Lecha,
when God speaks to Abraham and tells him to take his family and move to a new
place. After acting out the story, the children shared their thoughts about
what it must have been like for Abraham and Sarah to leave their home and
travel to an unknown land. We made a list of things that they might have taken
with them and talked about how hard that must have been for Abraham and Sarah.
The children shared ideas about why they thought that Abraham and Sarah
were willing to do follow God’s words and why we consider them to have been the
father and mother of the Jewish people. We listened to Debbie Friedman’s beautiful
song: Lechi Lach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8WrShnKTWY
The children did a shabbat fun packet and listened to two
stories about Shabbat. We read Once Upon a Shabbos by Jacqueline Jules
and a chapter about shabbat from an old standby, Ktonton by Sadie Rose
Weilerstein. We finished our day with music with Anna. The children
reviewed the Noah’s ark song, Rise and Shine, that we learned last week and
also sang David Melech Yisrael, complete with hand motions.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead. Joanne
Friendly reminder: Our class starts right at 9:00 with a
morning meeting and review of the day’s schedule. Learning begins right away. I
understand that Sunday mornings can be hectic but please try to have your child
in class promptly at 9:00 or even a few minutes before to ensure that he/she
does not miss out on any of the learning.
11-5-19
Hi
All,
This
morning, as part of our torah study, we reviewed the story of the creation of
the world through the book Genesis illustrated by Ed Young and then read
a version of the Noah’s ark story. The book we read is titled Two by Two
and was written and illustrated by Barbara Reid. This particular book happens
to be one that belonged to my own children when they were small. Kitah
Aleph students especially enjoyed the amazing illustrations which were made
with Plasticine that is shaped and pressed onto illustration board and then
photographed. We then learned the song, Rise and Shine, which retells the
Noah’s ark story in a rather “campy” but fun way.
In
Hebrew this morning, the children leaned the new Hebrew letter mem which makes
an “M” sound. We reviewed the other letters we have learned so far (shin, bet
and tav) along with the two vowels we have learned. The students worked in
their Aleph-Bet workbooks and then practiced reading with a partner.
We
had a lovely visit with our shinshin, Yahav, and we were lucky to have a former
shinshin, Bar, stop by to say hello as well. Bar is now in the Israeli Defense
Force, but took vacation time to come and visit us at Temple Israel. Yahav
prepared beautiful challah covers for the children to decorate! Please make
sure to ask your child to show you the one he/she made today.
The
children worked on finishing up their fun packets about Bereshit that we began
last week. We continued our study of Shabbat with the book, Annie’s Shabbat
by Sarah Marwil Lamstein. This “chapter book” tells the story of Annie and her
family and how they prepare for and celebrate Shabbat. We will continue
our focus on Shabbat next week.
A
highlight of the morning was playing Shimon Omer (Simon Says in Hebrew)
and our color game. Ask your children to explain the color game and have them
tell you the names of some colors in Hebrew.
Best
wishes for a wonderful week!
Joanne
10-29-19
Hi
All,
It
was wonderful to be back at Temple Israel with everyone this morning. We had a
very full agenda today. We began our morning with our usual morning meeting.
Since yesterday was Shabbat Bereshit, it seemed natural to take some
time to review the creation story. Today we focused on the very beginning
of Bereshit which speaks about how God created the world in 6 days and
rested on the seventh day. The children enjoyed learning, singing and
performing the hand motions to a Bereshit song.
After
learning torah, we went into the sanctuary for tefillah with
Cantor Ken. The cantor taught a fun version of one of the tefillot we
sing to praise God. You may be familiar with this stand up/sit down song that
has the words, Hallelu, hallelu, halleluyah, hodu la’Shem. Then we had a
chance to look a beautiful wimple made by a child who recently celebrated his
bar mitzvah. After returning to the class, we played a game to help the
children learn the names of the colors in Hebrew. In this game, after I
say a color in Hebrew, the children have to walk quickly around the room and
find a hidden piece of paper in that color, returning to the rug before I count
to 10 in Hebrew. If they return before I get to 10, they win but if they are
not back in their place by the time I count to 10, I win. Not surprisingly
those speedy children won the game, with a score of 5 points to my 2.
In
our time with Yahav today, we learned about the dove as a symbol of peace and
the children made paper doves with accordion style wings. It was great to see
our shinshin Bar from 2 years ago who came back to visit and helped us
with the doves today.
In
Hebrew today, we reviewed the letters tav and bet. Then we
learned the letter shin as well as the vowels kamatz and patach,
which are two vowels that generally make a sound similar to the English short a
sound. The children practiced reading the letters and vowels together and
completed the appropriate pages in their Aleph-Bet workbook. They took
turns reading to me and to each other to practice the sounds of the letters and
vowels.
We
began talking about Shabbat today. Kitah aleph students listed to the
book, Mrs. Moskowitz and the Shabbat Candles. We talked about the
connection between Bereshit and God’s creation of the world and Shabbat.
We
finished our morning with some beautiful singing with our friends in the pre-K
and kindergarten class and the music teacher, Anna.
Have
a fabulous week. Shavua Tov, Joanne
9-24-19
Shavua
Tov Kitah Aleph Families,
This
morning, Kitah Aleph students made some great decorations for the
Temple’s sukkah. We were lucky to have Randy Singer from the Sisterhood
come into class to help us decorate some wooden shaped apples that will be hung
in the sukkah. We began our morning with morning meeting as usual
and then had tefilah with Cantor Ken in the sanctuary. At the end of tefilah,
the cantor opened the ark so that the children could have a closer look at the
torahs. We saw the bells and crowns that decorate the torahs as well as the
pointers or yads that are used when someone is reading from the torah.
The cantor pointed out the ner tamid or eternal light that hangs over
the ark and never goes out reminding us that God is always with us. Our
timing this morning was excellent, while we were in the sanctuary, someone came
along to change the torahs into their special white covers for the high holidays
so the children were able to observe that as well.
Back
in the classroom, the children had snack and listened to the book, The
Hardest Word, A Yom Kippur Story by Jacqueline Jules about a large bird who
learns that the hardest thing to say is “I’m Sorry.”
We
talked about the fact that saying sorry is sometimes so hard to say because it
requires admitting that you were wrong and did something you should not have
done.
In
our Hebrew reading lesson today, we reviewed the sound of the letter bet.
We use mnemonic devices to help the children remember the sounds and names of
the letter. The mnemonic for bet is that it is a ball in a box. Then the
children learned the letter tav which begins the word Torah and “has a
toe” (of sorts). Ask your child to point out the toe on the letter tav.
The students then completed a couple of pages in their Aleph Bet
workbooks. The children also are learning the Aleph Bet song by Debbie
Friedman. Singing the song reinforces the names of the letters and their order
in the Hebrew alphabet.
At
the end of the morning, we were joined by the pre-K and Kindergarten students
for a shofar round robin activity. The children were divided into three groups
which then rotated through three stations. Each station had a different kind of
shofar and each child was able to try to blow each of the three kinds of
shofar. We reviewed when we blow shofar and the different kinds of sounds that
we hear on the shofar. The children enjoyed singing the song by Peter and Ellen
Allard about the blasts of the shofar. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfhbLddUnW8
There
is no school next Sunday as it will be erev Rosh Hashanah. Best wishes
for a happy and healthy new year and I look forward to seeing you all at
Tashlich on Sunday October 6.
Shana
Tova,
Joanne
9-18-19
HI All,
It was wonderful to meet all of the children this morning! We began our day as we will each Sunday with a little morning meeting. Morning meeting includes a greeting and an opportunity for each child to share something about his/her week. We then go over the schedule for the morning and often play a game. Today we played the game, When a Warm Wind Blows, which is a great game for beginning to get to know each other a bit better. Ask your child how to play. We also played a fun round of Shimon Omer or Simon Says in Hebrew beginning with the Hebrew words for head, legs, mouth, and stomach. We will add more and more Hebrew words as the year goes along. We also began our study of Rosh Hashanah this morning and the children heard the book, The World’s Birthday by Barbara Diamond Goldin. The children enjoyed listening to the shofar during tefilah with the Cantor this morning. He did a little “show and tell” to teach the children about tallit and tefillin in addition to leading them in some beginning prayers. Later we met our shinshin, Yahav and the children played a game with him to help them get to know him a bit better. We began our study of Hebrew letters with the letter bet and the children completed the first couple of pages in their Aleph Bet workbook. It was a very busy day in Kitah Aleph. Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead. I look forward to seeing the children again next Sunday.
Best, Joanne
Best, Joanne
5-19-19
Hello Gan Class Families!
Thank you all for such an amazing year! Below is our final Gan Class Update but you will be hearing from me again in the next few weeks with some specific information about your student.
Another busy day had us completing so many of our long term projects. We read our final Torah story, about Jacob's family and illustrated the one daughter and twelve sons that Jacob had. We then made a cover for all of our stories and but them together in one book. We also made a Torah Cover out of felt to cover out personal stories from the year. I know that there will be lots of things to look back on when you unroll them. We were excited to see our families at Tefillah and watch the "big" kids show all that they have learned at Temple Israel.
It was so nice to catch up with many of you at brunch and to see the heartfelt goodbyes many of our students had with Nitzan. Thanks for being an amazing Gan Class!
Bina, Jo and I would like to thank you for your support and encouragement throughout the year as well as the generous gifts and heartfelt sentiments we received today. It was our pleasure to spend the year with your students.
I wish you all a relaxing summer vacation and I can't wait to see you in the fall.
5-12-19
It is hard to believe that we have only one Sunday of Hebrew
school left. Today Kitah Aleph students learned the final Hebrew letter,
the letter zayin, which makes a sound comparable to the English letter
z. The children completed the pages in their Aleph-Bet workbooks and
took them home today. They also made aleph-bet flashcards with the hope
that they might take them out and review some letters over the summer. It is a
long time from now until September!
This morning we counted the Omer with Cantor Ken
during tefillot. Ask your child which day of the omer we counted
today. Back in class, we watched a short video about the omer period and
what it signifies. Here is a link to the video if you would like to watch it
with your children: https://www.bimbam.com/?s=lag+b%27omer
The children learned that the omer was a measure of
grain that was brought by farmers in ancient Israel to the Temple. We count 49
days from the second night of Passover until the next major holiday of Shavuout.
The children also learned that the period of the omer is considered a
somewhat sad period because of a plague that occurred among the students of
Rabbi Akiva. Traditionally there are no Jewish weddings during this period and
some people do not buy new clothes or cut their hair. However, Lag B’Omer,
the thirty-third day of the counting of the omer, is a day when the mood
lightens. This is a day when the plague stopped. It is a scholars’ holiday when
Jews around the world go on picnics and build bonfires. Kitah Aleph
students especially enjoyed hearing the Lag B’Omer story from K’tonton
by Sadie Rose Weilerstein. This is a book from my childhood and it
follows the adventures of a thumb-sized Jewish boy who celebrates all the
Jewish holidays.
We were fortunate to have some time with Nitzan this
morning. Nitzan gave the children the opportunity to ask her any questions they
have been wondering about her or the State of Israel. Questions ranged from
those focusing on Nitzan’s family, her siblings and their names to questions
about what she will do once she returns to Israel and goes into the army. We
have been very lucky to have Nitzan as our shinshin this year.
At the end of class today, we did a little catching up or
“ketchup” time as we sometimes call it. The children worked on completing their
maps of Israel, their Hebrew name posters and then worked on a packet of fun
pages about Israel. We also learned a bit about the upcoming holiday of
Shavuot.
I want to take this opportunity to say again how much I have
enjoyed getting to know your children this year. I truly have enjoyed teaching
every one of these bright, sweet and engaging youngsters. I will not be in
school next Sunday. Although I will be sad to miss the final day with your
children, I will be happily attending my daughter’s college graduation weekend.
I will be busy celebrating with her and of course, helping her pack up to come
home. Your children will be in excellent hands with Cheryl as their
teacher next Sunday.
Best wishes for a wonderful and relaxing summer! Joanne
5-5-19
Hi All,
This morning we had a wonderfully fun drumming workshop! The
children used shakers and small drums to try out various beats to different
tefillot including Modeh Ani, Halleluyah (Psalm 150) and V’ahavta. The children
also had the chance to try playing the large drum, also called the “mother
drum.” Starting our morning with drumming to tefillah was pretty awesome!
In Hebrew today we learned the letter gimel. Gimel “is going
for a goal” and makes a sound similar to a hard G in English. We also learned
two vowels that make an “oo” sound. We have only one letter left to learn (the
letter zayin) which we will do next week. Next Sunday the children will
complete the final pages in their Aleph-Bet workbooks.
We spend a good part of our morning focused on Israel since
Israel’s birthday, Yom Ha’atzmaut is coming later this week. Sadly Nitzan was
out sick today so we missed our time with her but we look forward to seeing her
back next Sunday. In class, we watched a video about Israel titled: Israel
Small but Outstanding. It can be found here if you would like to watch it with
your child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoizSL-TEJQ
The video includes some beautiful pictures of Israel and
really showcases its diverse landscapes, people and animals. The children also
saw pictures from a book called A Day in the Life of Israel. This
book includes photographs from 50 of the world’s top photojournalists who were
given one day to take photographs of Israel and submit them to be included in
this book. We learned part of a song that children in Israel sing, called Eretz
Yisrael Sheli, about building the land. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq1u8BlGJb0
if you would like to hear it. We will practice it again next week.
Toward the end of the morning, we examined the map of
Israel. After spending some time together finding key areas and cities, the
children went off to work individually on labeling their own maps of Israel. We
will finish these up next Sunday.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead.
Joanne
4-28-19
Hi All,
I hope you had a wonderful Passover and a great school
vacation week. It is hard to believe but we are fast approaching the end of the
Sunday school year. There are only a few more Sunday classes remaining. Today
in class, the children learned a new Hebrew letter, the letter “sin.”
Sin makes a soft S sound, the same sound made by another Hebrew letter, the
letter Samech. Sin looks almost exactly like the letter Shin
but has a dot above it and to the left while the Shin has a dot above it
and to the right.
During tefillah with Cantor Ken, the children learned about
the process of counting the omer, the measure of grain that the Jews have used
for centuries on to keep track of the seven weeks between Passover and the next
major Jewish holiday, the holiday of Shavuot. Now-a-days we use a calendar but
we still “count the omer” on a daily basis. We discussed the fact that these
weeks between Pesach and Shavuot are generally considered a serious period
during the Jewish year when some Jews do not get married or hold large parties.
Many people do not shave or cut their hair during this period, at least until
the holiday of Lag B’omer. The children will learn more about both Lag
B’omer and Shavuot over the next few Sundays.
Nitzan spent time with the class as usual today. She played
a game with the children to teach them about the many innovations that Israelis
have contributed to the world. The children were surprised by the fact that
some of these well-known and well used items were first invented by Israelis. The
items invented in Israel are quite diverse and used all over the world. These
items include: drip-irrigation, the iron-dome system, USB drives and the game
Rummikub.
Today’s class focused on the Jewish value of Tzedakah. We
learned that the word tzedakah actually means righteousness and generally
refers to what people give to others in an effort to make the world a better
place. The children watched a short video about tzedakah entitled “Get with the
Giving” (https://www.bimbam.com/episode/giving/).
They also listened to the story Benny and The Bagels about a little boy
who tries to give bagels to God as thanks but ends up giving tzedakah to a man
in need instead. The story teaches that helping others is a perfect way to show
God our appreciation for the blessings that we have in our lives. At the end of
the morning, the children decorated their own tzedakah boxes. These are sitting
in their cubbies in the classroom to dry and should be ready to be taken home
next Sunday.
Best wishes for a wonderful week ahead. Joanne
4-7-19
Hi All,
This morning Kitah Aleph students enjoyed tefillah
with Cantor Ken. In addition, to our usual tefillot, the children
practiced singing the four questions. Cantor Ken also taught them the song for
the order of the seder, complete with hand motions. We ended this
morning’s tefillah with the singing of Dayenu and the English
version of Echad Mi Yodeiya or Who Knows One. Ask your children if they
remember what the numbers up to five represent (One is HaShem or God,
two are the tablets that Moshe brought, three are the fathers, four are the
mothers and five are the books of the Torah). In class, toward the end of the
morning, we went over the four questions again this time singing them while
following along in the haggadah. The children were able to identify a
number of words that they can now read since they have learned so many of the
Hebrew letters.
Back in class, we also reviewed many of the symbols of the seder.
These symbols include: the parsley which represents spring; the salt
water which reminds us of the tears of the Jewish slaves; the bitter herbs
which represents the bitterness of slavery; the charoset which reminds
us of the bricks that the slaves had to make; the egg which represents spring
and the cycle of the year and the matzah which we eat to remind us that the
Jews left Egypt in a hurry and did not have time to let their bread dough rise.
Kitah Aleph students finished up their beautiful Passover placemats and
worked on a fun Passover packet. We read the book, The Matzah that Papa Brought
Home, by Fran Manushkin with gorgeous illustrations by Ned Bittinger.
During Nitzan’s time with the children, she described
Passover in Israel. Nitzan told the children that in Israel, schools are closed
for three weeks-the week of Passover and the week before Passover and the week
after Passover. She explained that there is no February vacation for the
children in Israel so this is their first break since December. It is a time
when lots of families take vacation together. Nitzan also said that it is
nearly impossible to buy chametz (anything not Kosher for Passover) anywhere in
Israel during the holiday and that most of the restaurants switch over to being
Kosher for Passover; even Ben and Jerry’s becomes Kosher for Passover. Nitzan
played a fun charades game with the children, having them act out various
symbols of the holiday.
In Hebrew today, the children learned another new letter,
the letter Phey which sounds like the English letter F, and a new vowel tzayreh
which is said either as the sound ay or the sound eh, depending on your accent
and whether you are Israeli or American. They are getting close to completing
their Aleph-Bet workbooks. We have only three more letters to learn and
one vowel.
Our next Sunday class is in three weeks, Sunday April 28th.
Best wishes for an enjoyable spring break and a wonderful,
fulfilling Passover.
Chag Sameach,
Joanne
3-31-19
This morning Kitah Aleph students learned two new Hebrew
letters: Pay and Samech. Pay makes a sound like the letter
P and Samech has a sound similar to a soft S. The children completed the
pages in their Aleph-Bet workbooks for these two letters. They then played a
tic-tac-toe game with a partner. In the game, the children had to correctly
read a Hebrew letter and vowel before they were able to claim a particular space
for their X or O.
We had a wonderful visit, as always with Nitzan. She shared
a beautiful video of Israel made by a drone with views of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem,
Acre, Massada, the Dead Sea, Be’ersheva and more. Then Nitzan split the
children into two teams and gave each team a cut up version of the map of
Israel. Each team had to try to put together the map. The first group to finish
the map was the winning team. The children seemed to enjoy the challenge and
this activity gave them a better sense of the geography of the land of Israel.
Kitah Aleph students practiced singing the four questions
using the Haggadah. We then read the questions in English and reviewed the
answers. We also went over the symbols on the Seder plate including the
bitter herbs, the salt water, the parsley, the egg and the charoset and why we
eat them. Ask your child if they can identify the reasons that we eat those
things at the Seder as well as why we eat matzah. The children worked on
some Passover placemats with the symbols on the seder plate written in English
and Hebrew. We then read the book: The Ten Plagues of Egypt by Shoshana
Lepon which tells the story of the plagues and the exodus from Egypt in verse
with some very silly illustrations.
We finished our morning with a wonderful session with Josh Warshawsky, an amazing song
leader and rabbinical student from the West Coast. Josh led the children in
singing some tunes and prayers that they have learned with Cantor Ken as well
as some lovely new tunes in both Hebrew and English, complete with hand motions
and even some dance moves.
Best wishes for a wonderful first week in April! Joanne
3-24-19
Hi All,
Wow! Kitah Aleph students have now learned six Hebrew vowels
and twenty Hebrew letters. We have only six more letters to learn and a couple
of vowels. Today the children learned the Hebrew letter Tet which makes
a T sound and the vowel segol which makes an “eh” sound.
The children spent time on our usual Hebrew activities: singing the aleph bet
song, reviewing letters previously learned, reading some Hebrew letters
combined with vowel sounds and working in the aleph bet workbook. In addition,
we played an aleph bet bingo game which the children seemed to very much enjoy.
Since Cantor Ken was busy helping second grade practice for
Kabbat Siddur, Kitah Aleph combined with the kindergarten class for our own
tefillah service. The children did a great job singing Mah Tovu in a round and
just generally singing the tefillot. It is hard to believe but Passover is
about a month away. We ended tefillah with some Passover songs including the
four questions. Our songs included a version of the song “Who Knows One.” If
you are not familiar with this song, feel free to check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkfGdm1WBh4
The version on the video is very close to what we did except that we say: One
is HaShem rather than One is God and the chorus is a bit different.
Kitah Aleph students had fun acting out some stories from
the beginning of the book of Exodus. We had Baby Moses, Miriam, Yocheved
(Moses’ mother) and Pharoah’s daughter right in our classroom. We also learned
why Moses had to flee from Egypt and how he ended up meeting his wife
Tzipporah. Ask your children to tell you why he had to run away.
We went over some Passover traditions and the reasons for
them. For instance we talked about why we eat Matzah and open the door for
Elijah at our seders. The children heard the book, Only Nine Chairs, one
of my favorite Passover picture books.
Lastly today we did some “catch-up” (or ketchup as I like to
call it) work. The children finished up some Purim puppets that we began last
week in class and worked on some fun packets around the Joseph story. Make sure
to look for those in your child’s backpacks. Next week we will continue to
practice the four questions and will learn more about Moses’ encounter with God
in the burning bush and his return to Egypt.
Have a wonderful week. Best, Joanne
3-17-19
The
Kitah Aleph students had a wonderful time this morning at our drumming workshop
with Josef Kottler. They had the opportunity to practice drumming and to learn
about incorporating rhythm into some of our favorite songs. The children used
small drums and shakers and tried out different beats while saying or singing
words; for instance, singing the “bim bam” song for Shabbat. They did a great job
listening and following Josef’s directions!
In
Hebrew today, the children learned the letter yod (which “yells” and
makes a Y sound). We also learned two new vowels today: cholam maley
and cholam chaser. Cholam maley looks like the letter vav but has a dot
over it and makes an “oh” sound. Cholam chaser is just a dot that appear
over and a bit to the left of a letter and also makes the “oh” sound. The
children read different letters combined with the new vowels for practice and
also worked in their aleph-bet workbooks. The children were excited to realize
that they can now read the Hebrew for the word "Torah".
Nitzan
spent time with the class this morning as well. She shared pictures and
descriptions of how Purim is celebrated in Israel. Kitah Aleph children were
surprised to learn that there are big Purim parades in Israel. Nitzan also
explained that starting a full week before Purim, the Israeli school
children have a special daily fun theme that they follow. So for instance, one
day is pajama day and all the children come to school in their pajamas; another
day might be crazy hat day and everyone wears crazy hats to school, etc. We also
talked about the practice of mishloach manot, giving gifts of food to your
neighbors and friends and the importance of matanot l’evyonim or gifts
to the poor as well.
Kitah Aleph students had fun acting out the Purim story together. Children took turns
playing the parts of Haman, Mordecai, Esther, Vashti and a score of other minor
characters. Each child played multiple roles as we acted out the story in a
series of scenes from the megillah. We also watched a brief video re-telling
the Purim story. You can find that video here if you would like to watch it
with your child: https://www.bimbam.com/?s=purim+story
Please
note that we watched the first video on the page entitled: The Purim Story.
At
the end of the morning, the children began making some small puppets of the
Purim characters which they will finish next Sunday. They also heard the
story Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale by Barbara Diamond Goldin.
Have
a marvelous week and a joyous Purim! Joanne
3-10-19
Hi All,
It was great to see so many of the children this morning
despite the snow and some illnesses that seem to be making the rounds. Our
Hebrew letter of the day is the letter Chet. Chet and Chaf make the same
guttural back of the throat sound that we do not have in the English language.
Chet begins a word that we are familiar with, the word Challah. Today Kitah
Aleph students helped me count the letters that we have not yet learned and
realized that there are only 7 letters (and some vowels) remaining. As always,
we reviewed the letters that we have learned previously.
This morning, we continued to prepare a bit more for the upcoming
holiday of Purim. The children sang Purim songs with the Cantor and in class we
reviewed the story of Purim. The children decided that Esther and Mordecai were
indeed brave upstanders who risked their lives to speak up for the Jewish
people. The children are starting to get excited about Purim; a number of them
already have begun planning their costumes for next Sunday. Please do remember
that the Purim carnival will be next week immediately after Hebrew School.
We played a game with the names of the colors in Hebrew
today. Ask your child if he/she can tell you the Hebrew for any of the colors
including red (adom), yellow (tza’hov), green (yarok), pink (va’rod), blue
(ka’chol) or purple (segol). Kitah aleph students played against me as a group
and although the game was close, they won by one point. Kol Hakavod students!
In our torah lesson today, we completed the story of Joseph.
The children acted out the part of the story when Joseph’s brothers come down
to Egypt because of the famine. He recognizes them but they do not recognize
him. Joseph tests his brothers by first insisting that bring Benjamin to him,
framing him for theft and threatening to keep him as a slave in punishment.
Judah offers to take Benjamin’s place and Joseph sees that the brothers have
repented for their treatment of him. He becomes emotional and reveals his true
identity to them. The brothers return back to Canaan and bring Jacob and the
rest of their families to Egypt. This sets the stage for the story of the
Exodus which we will focus on after Purim.
Have a wonderful week! Best, Joanne
3-3-19
Hi All,
It was great to see the children this week back after
February vacation. Almost everyone was present which was a treat. As always, we
began our morning with each child rolling a ball to another child, greeting
him/her with the Hebrew greeting of Boker Tov or Shavua Tov and sharing
something about his/her time away from Sunday school. Some children shared
activities that they did over vacation and others shared plans for an upcoming
event or birthday. In our tefillah time with Cantor Ken, the children have
begun using the Halleli Nafshi siddurim designed by faculty and students at
Solomon Schechter Day School specifically for children. Now that they know more
Hebrew letters, it is becoming a bit easier for the kitah aleph students to
follow along with the Hebrew in the siddur. Cantor Ken also began teaching some
Purim songs in preparation for the holiday which is now a little more than two
weeks away.
Back in our classroom, the children acted out a couple of
different stories from the end of the book of Genesis about Joseph and his
ability to interpret dreams. Ask your children to tell you about the dreams of
the butler, the baker and Pharoah and what Joseph said that the dreams
meant. The children also began a packet with some fun pages about Joseph.
Nitzan spent time with us today. She shared some pictures of
her home and her family from her recent visit in Israel. We looked at a map of
Israel to see where Nitzan’s home city of Haifa is located in relation to other
parts of Israel and the surrounding countries. Nitzan also showed the
children a video about Israel’s first launch of a spacecraft to the moon. She
emphasized how exciting this is as Israel is only the fourth country to send a
spacecraft to the moon and the other three countries who have done so (the USA,
Russia and China) are so much bigger, wealthier and more powerful than Israel.
In Hebrew today, the children learned the letter nun which
makes the same sound as the English letter N. The children completed pages in
their aleph-bet workbooks and worked with a partner to review and read the
letters and vowels we have learned so far this year.
We played a fun game of Shimon Omer in Hebrew. The children
have become Shimon Omer experts, so much so that I find it hard to trick them
into doing the wrong thing. They now know the Hebrew words for hands, head,
legs, knees, shoulders, stomach, nose, mouth, eyes and ears. They also know the
commands for walking, running, jumping, standing up and sitting down.
Best wishes for a safe, warm and wonderful week ahead.
Joanne
2-10-19
Hi All,
In Kitah Aleph this morning, we reviewed the Jewish values we have focused on so far this year. These include: hachnassat orchim (welcoming guests), bikkur cholim (visiting and supporting the sick), sh’mirat ha’lashon(guarding one’s tongue/thinking before we speak and using kind words) and shalom bayit (making and maintaining peace in the our families and with our friends). We talked a little about each of these mitzvot and then watched a video about shalom bayit. Here is a link to the video in case you would like to watch it again with your child: https://www.bimbam.com/episode/shalom-bayit/
The children learned another Hebrew letter this morning, the letter ayin. Like the letter aleph, ayin has no sound; it is heard only through the accompanying vowel. The children are doing a wonderful job overall of remembering the names of the Hebrew letters and the sounds that they make. Ask your child to sing Debbie Friedman’s aleph bet song and identify the letters that he/she has learned so far this year.
Kitah aleph students have been decorating construction paper sheets with their Hebrew names. On these sheets, each child has his/her Hebrew name along with pictures of things that he/she finds important in his/her life. Examples include family, pets, sports activities, school, Temple Israel, vacations and more. Come into our classroom the next time we meet to take a peek at these lovely pictures as they go up on our bulletin board. We have talked about the importance and significance of our names and related this to the story of God changing Jacob’s name to Yisrael in the torah. Today during our torah study, we reviewed the story of Joseph’s dreams from last week. Then the children acted out the part of the torah when Joseph’s brothers throw him in a pit and sell him to the passing Ishmaelites.
We had a quick practice lockdown drill this morning as well. The children did a great job of following directions as they did last week during our evacuation drill.
In tefilah this morning, the children spent time examining the Halleli Nafshi siddur at some length. We looked at the pictures and related them to the meaning of the prayers that we say every week. The children recognized many of the Hebrew letters we know within the tefillot we say each Sunday. Even though Purim is not for a while, we sang our first Purim song today.
Best wishes for a wonderful, health and enjoyable February break. Joanne
2-3-19
Hi All,
This morning we continued learning torah and went over the
story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. We talked together about what it
must have been like for Joseph to grow up in a household with 12 siblings.
Kitah Aleph students thought it was probably quite noisy, busy and messy in
that household. The children also agreed that it was not fair or right of Jacob
to pick out favorite children and the children understood that Joseph’s
brothers felt angry and jealous of his status as the favorite son. We acted out
parts of the story together and left off (to be continued) when the brothers
threw Joseph in the pit and then sold him to the passing Ishmaelite
traders. We also talked about the importance of names in relation to
Jacob’s earlier name change to the name Israel. Kitah Aleph students each
shared a bit about their names both English and Hebrew. Each child then began a
picture with his/her Hebrew name and the people and things that are most
important to him/her. We will continue working on these next week.
We learned another Hebrew letter, the letter tzadee which
makes a sound similar to the letter combination of “ts” in English. The
children were excited to finally learn a new Hebrew vowel, a chirik, which
is one single dot and makes a long “e” sound. We then practiced putting the chirik
vowel together with the letters that we have learned previously.
In tefilah this morning, Cantor Ken talked about and
showed the children his tallit and tefillin. We were able to see
the framed copy of the parchment pieces inside the tefillin as well which was
very “cool.” The cantor showed the children how to put on and take off tefillin
and I think they are excited about learning to do that themselves when they are
older.
Nitzan visited today as well and talked to the children
about the Dead Sea. She explained that it is called the Dead Sea because the
water is so salty that no fish can live in it. The children had many questions
including some technical ones about how much saltier it is than other bodies of
water and what items might float verses sink when placed in the Dead Sea.
Best wishes for a warmer and wonderful week ahead! Joanne
1-27-19
Hi
All,
This
morning the children learned the Hebrew letter koof which makes the same
sound as the Hebrew letter kaf and the English letter K. The children have now
learned fourteen Hebrew letters which means that they know more than half of
the aleph bet! Ask your child to read to you from the reading practice sheet that
they took home today.
We
took the opportunity to extend our celebration of Tu B’shvat to this morning.
We sang some Tu B’shvat songs with Cantor Ken at the end of our tefillah time.
Then we came together with the preK and K class and Nitzan told the
children a Tu B’shvat story. Both classes together made a paper tree complete
with leaves filled with Jewish values.
Kitah
Aleph students had fun playing a game with Hebrew colors and also playing
Shimon Omer. Our Shimon Omer game got a little silly when I asked the children
to put their noses on their knees and their ears on their shoulders (all done
in Hebrew of course).
We
concluded our morning with torah study. We continued the story of Jacob and
learned about his return trip from Haran to his homeland and his meeting with
his brother Eisav. The children heard the story of Jacob wrestling with a man
and we discussed different ideas about the identity of that “man.” Some
children thought the man was definitely a messenger from God. We learned about
some alternate interpretations of that story, for instance, that the man was
really Eisav who came to wrestle with Jacob or that the man who wrestled with
Jacob wasn’t really a man at all but Jacob wrestling with his own conscience
about what he had done in tricking his brother out of his inheritance. In the
end, we noted that the two brothers made peace with each other. I read the
children a book called Sharing a Sunshine Umbrella which is about two
friends who argue and then make up. We talked about the importance of making
peace with friends and siblings after a quarrel and the Jewish saying that you
should love peace and chase after it. It isn’t enough to just want peace but
you have to actively facilitate peaceful solutions to conflict. On that note, I
wish you all a peaceful and fulfilling week. Best, Joanne
1-13-19
Hi
All,
We
began this morning with our usual morning meeting which includes a greeting in
Hebrew, attendance and reviewing the daily schedule in Hebrew and English. I
reminded the children that there is no Hebrew school next Sunday but we will
meet again in two weeks. Tefillah with Cantor Ken was spirited as
usual and included some songs for the upcoming holiday of Tu B’shvat. An
extra special piece of our time with Cantor Ken was an opportunity to look at
the inside of a haftorah scroll and compare it to the inside of a torah.
For me personally, this was especially exciting as I have never seen a haftorah
scroll before. Many of you probably already know this but this haftorah
scroll was at Temple Israel in honor of Men’s Club Shabbat yesterday. The
children noticed that unlike the torah scroll, the haftorah
scroll included vowels. Both kinds of scrolls have trop or musical
notations. The letters in the haftorah scroll do not have the beautiful
crowns that adorn some of the letters in the torah scroll, however.
Back
in our classroom, we played some games in Hebrew and had a visit from Nitzan.
She played a game with the children to teach them about Tu B’shvat.
Nitzan also taught the children some new Hebrew words including P’ree (fruit)
and Eytz (tree). As always, we reviewed the Hebrew letters we have
learned and learned a new one, the letter vav which makes the sound “v”
just like the letter vet. Today we counted the letters in the Hebrew
alphabet and came up with the number 26 including the letters that look similar
but are pronounced differently, for instance vet and bet. Ask
your child to read to you from the Hebrew reading sheet that he/she brought
home today.
We
read the book As Good As Anybody by Richard Michelson which is a boy
that tells parallel stories of Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua
Heschel. The book describes how they both faced discrimination as children
because of who they were and how they came together to march in support of
civil rights. The children were fascinated by this true story of friendship and
standing up against injustice.
We
completed our morning with an activity packet for Tu B’shvat while listening to
some Tu B’shvat songs. Here is a link to a site on Spodify with some children’s
songs for the holiday https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5etioueJvnwr810MGTA4HS
In
two weeks, we will have a Tu B’shvat seder led by Nitzan in honor of the
holiday! We will be tasting lots of different fresh fruits.
Enjoy
the long weekend next weekend and I look forward to seeing your children again
in two weeks.
Best,
Joanne
1-6-19
Hi All,
We had a very busy morning today in Kitah Aleph. We began
our morning with our usual morning meeting. We reviewed today’s schedule in
English and Hebrew, greeted each other with Boker Tov and shared highlights of
our vacations. We played a quick game of Simon Says in Hebrew. Then we went off
to join the pre-K/K class and second grade in the sanctuary for tefilah with
Cantor Ken. In addition to our usual tefilot, we sang a few songs in
preparation for the upcoming holiday of Tu B’shvat which this year will fall on
the same day as Martin Luther King Day. Back in our classroom, we talked about
why trees and important and why we have a holiday for trees. The children
helped make a list of reasons we need trees. This included: trees give us
fruit, nuts, maple syrup, paper, wood for houses and furniture, oxygen to
breathe, homes for animals and they help prevent soil erosion. We talked about
the importance of trees to the early chalutzim or pioneers who first built the
state of Israel. Then we watched a video about Honi Ha’Ma’agal, Honi the circle
marker, who learned about the importance of paying it forward, planting trees
for future generations. Here is a link to the video online in case you want to
watch it with your child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRfV7XrGfBo
In Hebrew, we sang the aleph bet song and reviewed the
letters we have learned so far. We also learned the letter aleph, the first
letter in the Hebrew alphabet which is silent. The children worked on some
pages in their Hebrew books and read to a partner. I met with them each
individually as well to go over the letters and their sounds. When Nitzan
came in today, she played a matching game with the children. The game was made
up of Hebrew words that Nitzan has been teaching them. Ask your child to share
one or two Hebrew words that he/she has learned from Nitzan. These include: har/mountain,
yam/sea, sheket/quiet, mishpacha/family, yabasha/dry
land, rikud/dance, yad/hand and others.
We reviewed some of the mitzvot or good deeds that we have
been learning about this year. We have learned about welcoming guests/hachnassat
orchim, visiting the sick/bikkur cholim and our most recent mitzvah,
shmirat halev/guarding the tongue. The children read and answered a
booklet about guarding one’s tongue; please ask them to show it to you.
Lastly today, Kitah Aleph students enjoyed acting out some
torah stories. Everyone had a chance to act in at least one story. We covered
the story of Jacob fleeing from his home and dreaming of a ladder with angels
going up and down, the story of Jacob meeting Rachel at the well and lastly
Jacob being tricked by Lavan into marrying Leah first before getting to marry
Rachel.
Have a wonderful week.
Best,
Joanne
12-16-18
Hi all,
This morning we had tefilah with Cantor Ken as usual. After
tefilah, we stayed in the sanctuary with the second grade and talked about how
a torah is made. The children learned the word parchment and got to touch and
see a torah up close. The children had many thoughtful questions about the
torah including who writes it, why some of the letters had crowns and many
more. Ask your child why we use the silver yad or pointer when reading the
torah rather than touching it with our fingers.
In Hebrew, the children learned the new letter dalet. Dalet
has a dent (which distinguishes it from the letter resh) and makes a sound
similar to the English letter D. As always, we reviewed the letters that we
have already learned. We also played the color game and Shimon Omer. We began
working on the Hebrew for jump, sit and run in addition to the parts of the
body we have been working on for a while.
Unfortunately, Nitzan was not feeling well today so we
missed our time with her. We reviewed earlier parts of the story of Jacob and
Eisav and the birthright and continued the story including Rebecca and Jacob
tricking Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing meant for Eisav. We watched a
short video from Godcast re-telling this story. You can find the video at https://www.bimbam.com/?s=toldot
(it is the second one on the site; the one by Nechama Tamler).
We began some discussion of the Jewish value of sh’mirat
ha’lashon or guarding one’s tongue. Each child wrote something kind on a slip
of paper, folded it up and put the paper in a container. The children then took
turns picking out one kind thing that someone had said and reading it out loud.
We read the book: The Shema in the Mezzuzah; Listening to Each Other.
Many thanks to you all for the generous amazon gift card!
Have a wonderful vacation and I look forward to being back with the children in
the new year.
Best,
Joanne
12-9-18
Happy
Chanukkah to you all on this the last night of the holiday. Today in first
grade we learned the Hebrew letter vet. Vet looks exactly like the letter bet
except it is missing a dot and consequently has the sound of the English letter
v rather than the sound of the English letter b. The children are doing a
fabulous job overall remembering the letters that we have learned so far this
year.
We
had tefilah this morning with kindergarten and second grade as usual. However
we were missing Cantor Ken, as he was busy at minyan. We discovered together
that many of the children have been lighting their very own Chanukkiot this
holiday and a number of them use Chanukkiot that they themselves made. We also
discovered that most of the children have the shema hidden in their houses
somewhere. Ask your child if he/she remembers where the shema is tucked away in
your house.
The
children finished up work on their Chanukkah fun packets and decorated dreidels
with Chanukkah stickers. Please ask your child to show you the lovely tissue
paper, “stained glass” dreidels that we made last week. We watched a somewhat
silly but also informative video on the history of Chanukkah. You can catch it
here if you want to watch it with your child: https://www.bimbam.com/?s=chanukah+video.
Please note that the video we watched is entitled: God Cast Spins Chanukah and
can be found partway down this link.
We
had great fun at the Chanukah party with the rest of the school this morning.
We sang the Chanukkah blessings and many Chanukkah songs with Cantor Ken and
the rest of the school. The children played with the dreidels at our table and
pretty much everyone had their fill of yummy latkes, apple sauce and apple
cider. Many, many thanks to the brotherhood for preparing and serving this
delicious feast.
Back
in the classroom, we finished our morning with two wonderful Chanukakh books: Nathan
Blows out the Hanukkah Candles and The Borrowed Hanukkah Latkes.
Next
week we will resume our torah stories with more about Jacob and Esau and will
learn the Hebrew letter Dalet. Have a great week!
Best,
Joanne
12-2-18
Hi All and Happy Chanukkah!
First grade students reviewed the Chanukkah blessings and
sang Chanukkah songs today with the cantor. From Nitzan, we learned a bit
about how Chanukkah is celebrated in Israel. The children especially
enjoyed playing a charades game with Nitzan acting out some of the symbols of
Chanukkah. They learned that in Israel, Chanukkah is a time when we think about
heroes. Each child shared a personal hero like a parent, sibling or grandparent
and what makes that person heroic. We made “stained glass” dreidel pictures which
are currently drying in the classroom and worked on Chanukkah fun packets. The
children listened to one of my favorite Chanukkah stories, the Chanukkah Guest.
Ask your children if they can tell you the Chanukkah trivia question they
learned today during tefillah. We all are looking forward to continuing to
celebrate Chanukkah next Sunday with latkes and other treats.
In Hebrew today, the children learned a new Hebrew letter,
chaf. Chaf is tricky because it looks exactly like kaf but is missing a dot. The
mnemonic for chaf is that it has a cough (in contrast to kaf which has a cough
drop). Another challenging thing about chaf is that it makes a sound that we do
not have in English. Overall, the children are remembering the letters we have
learned beautifully. Since we meet only once a week, I do not really expect
them to learn to read this year but I do hope that they will become familiar
with most if not all of the letters and be able to name at least many of them.
In our torah lesson this week, we acted out the story of
Eliezer meeting Rebecca at the well. The children also learned of the birth of
Jacob and Eisav and how Eisav traded his birthright to Jacob for a pot of stew.
To be continued…
Best wishes for a delightful Chanukkah!
Joanne
11-18-18
Hi All,
Our new Hebrew today was the letter resh which has a round
back and makes the sound “r.” The letter resh begins the Hebrew expression
“Refuah she’laymah” which one says when wishing someone a speedy recovery from
illness. In class today we began to learn a bit about the mitzvah of bikkur
cholim, visiting the sick. The rabbis tell the story that God demonstrated this
mitzvah by visiting Abraham when he was not well. Today the children made get
well cards to be kept at TI. These will be sent out to students and faculty at
the school who are sick during the year. In our study of Torah today, we
reviewed the story of Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, who goes to find a wife for
Isaac. He determines that Rebecca is the right person to marry Isaac after she
not only offers to give him water but offers to give water to all 10 of his
camels. The children concluded that Rebecca’s offer to draw water for all of
Eliezer’s camels showed that she was a kind person who was good at sharing.
KItah aleph students enjoyed our weekly game of Simon Says in Hebrew. We have
now learned the Hebrew words for eyes, ears, nose, mouth, head, shoulders,
stomach, knees and feet. Ask your child which ones he/she can tell you. We also
played a game with the Hebrew names of the colors. The children practiced the
blessings on the Chanukkah candles during tefillah with Cantor Ken and then
again at the end of our class. It is hard to believe but the next time we meet
will be on Sunday December 2nd. Chanukkah will begin that evening.
We finished our morning with the book: Potato Pancakes All Around by
Marilyn Hirsh. Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
Joanne
11-11-18
Hi All,
Happy Veteran’s Day weekend. We began our morning we the
story of Abraham “arguing” with God about God’s plan to destroy the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah. The children listened to the story and we discussed how brave
Abraham was to question God’s plan. Abraham challenged God not to destroy two
whole cities given the possibility that there were some good/innocent people
living in those cities as well as the “wicked” people. We talked about Abraham
as an upstander like other upstanders the children know about (Dr. Martin
Luther King and Ruby Bridges were two upstanders mentioned today). We will talk
about more upstanders, both within and outside of the torah, as we continue our
studies this year.
Kitah Aleph students had the opportunity to meet and hear
from three members of Temple Israel who are veterans. One of these veterans is
the grandfather of one of our own Kitah Aleph students. We ended our Veteran’s
Day assembly with the singing of Oseh Shalom and our wish for peace.
In Hebrew, the children reviewed the letters we have done so
far and learned a new letter, the letter Hey. At this point, even knowing only
6 letters and a couple vowels, the children were able to read a few very short
Hebrew words.
Nitzan spent time with us as usual today. Nitzan’s lesson
focused on different places in Israel. The children played a matching game with
pictures of some different places. Ask your child how to say mountain in Hebrew
and to tell you the name of the mountain near where Nitzan lives in Israel.
Hint: it sounds a bit like something you put on a hot fudge sundae and starts
with the letter c.
Believe it or not, we have only one more Sunday of Kitah
Aleph before we start Chanukkah. We did a very quick review of the story of
Chanukkah by watching a video:
We talked about the fact that the Chanukkah miracle was not
only partly related to the fact that the small jar of oil that was meant to be
enough for only one day actually lasted for eight days. The other miraculous
part of the Chanukkah story was that the small army of Jews was able to defeat
the mighty Assyrian forces. As part of our preparation for Chanukkah, we
practiced the candle blessings and heard The Magic Dreidels by Eric
Kimmel. Next week, we will continue to practice the candle blessings and learn
more about Chanukkah.
Have a wonderful week.
Best, Joanne
11-7-18
Hi
All,
This
morning in Kitah Aleph, the children learned a new Hebrew letter, the letter
kaf which makes a sound like the English letter K. As we do every week, we
reviewed the other letters we have learned so far this year and the children
practiced sounding out individual letters and the two vowels we know. We also
have been working on singing the Debbie Friedman Aleph Bet song to help
facilitate the children’s recognition of all of the Hebrew letters. Ask your
child to sing the song for you.
For
a little reminder here is a link to Debbie Friedman singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22KiI5xvxfA
Please
note that I do not do the English parts of the song with the children but
rather we sing only the part that pertains directly to the Aleph Bet itself.
We
reviewed the story of Abraham and Sarah welcoming the strangers to their tent
and the mitzvah of hachnassat orchim today as well. We watched a fun video
about this mitzvah and the children read a booklet and did some fun pages as
well. Here is a link to the video on the site called Bimbam which has many
videos about torah stories and mitzvot: https://www.bimbam.com/?s=vayeira
In
other news from Kitah Aleph, we played Shimon Omer, Simons Says in Hebrew, as
we continue to learn the parts of the body in Hebrew. The children also played
a game with Nitzan similar to Duck, Duck Goose but using the word Arnevet
(bunny) and the Hebrew colors. The children played a second game to work on
learning the colors in Hebrew as well. We will be continuing to play both
Shimon Omer and the color game in the coming weeks to reinforce and expand the
children’s knowledge of these Hebrew words.
It
is hard to believe but later this week, we will begin the new Hebrew month of
Kislev which is the month in which Chanukkah falls. In tefillot this morning,
Cantor Ken started reviewing the blessings for the Chanukkah candles. We will
be going over these blessings as we go forward and get closer to the holiday.
Best
wishes for a peaceful week ahead,
Joanne
10-30-18
Hi All,
Today in Kitah Aleph we reviewed the Hebrew letters bet,
tav, mem and shin and learned a new letter, lamed. The children all took turns
reading and did a wonderful job pairing the letters with the two vowels we have
learned (the kamatz and the patach which both make the sound “ah”). Each letter
has a mnemonic device to help the children remember the letter and the sound it
makes. The mnemonic for lamed is that lamed has a lap. We had a fun visit from
Nitzan who taught the children three slang expressions in Hebrew: yalla (which
means “let’s go”); sabbaba (which roughly translates as “cool” or “it’s good”)
and achla (which means “good”). In tefillah, we practiced the sign language for
the shema. Ask your child to show you how to sign the words of the shema. We
also sang a fun song about Noah and his ark. Back in our classroom, the
children acted out Lech Lecha, the parsha in which God tells Abraham and
Sarah to leave their home and go to the land of Israel. The children talked
about moves that they have made and what it felt like to have to move to a new
house or town. The children also acted out the story of the visit by the three
angels to Abraham and Sarah. We talked about the mitzvah of Hachnassat Orchim,
or welcoming guests, that the rabbis say we learned from how Abraham and Sarah
welcomed these three strangers to their tent. The children shared what they do
to make guests feel welcome at home. We learned the Hebrew term for welcome:
bruchim ha’baim and made signs with those words. We also reviewed what we
learned about Shabbat last week and finished reading the book: Mrs. Moskowitz
and the Shabbat Candles, one of my personal favorite books about Shabbat. Next
week we will go on to learn the letter kaf and continue the story of Abraham
and Sarah.
Have a wonderful week!
Best,
Joanne
10-24-18
This week in Kitah Aleph we learned a new Hebrew letter, מ (Mem), and our
first vowels. Ask your student where the vowels go! We also discovered that
using our new vowels we can now read the word שבת (Shabbat) in Hebrew. We decided that was
great timing since we started learning about Shabbat this week. We talked about
when Shabbat starts and ends and what special things we do for Shabbat, like
lighting candles and eating challah. We talked about how some people won’t ride
in cars or spend money on Shabbat. For our Torah study, we reviewed creation
then went on to learn about Noah and how he saved two of every animal and even
saved seeds to plant when the Earth dried out after the flood. We even read a
silly story about Noah’s Bark! Cantor Ken wasn’t there to lead us in Tefillah,
but we sang our prayers without him and did a great job. We missed getting to
visit with our Shinshin, Nitzan, as she was travelling back from Israel, but
are looking forward to getting to spend time with her next week.
10-14-18
Hi All,
It was wonderful to be back with the children today at
Temple Israel. We reviewed the Hebrew letter bet and learned two new
letters: tav and shin. Ask your children to tell the sounds that
the two letters make. Today we also reviewed the story of creation from the
book of Bereshit. We read a beautifully illustrated book titled Genesis which
uses word directly from the Torah and illustrations by Ed Young. We sang
a Hebrew song about creation and also did a creation chant/rap (see the
words below). The children then each chose a day of creation to illustrate.
When you have a moment, please come into our classroom to check out our days of
creation wall. As usual, the children had tefillah in the sanctuary with Cantor
Ken. We took a few extra minutes with the Cantor to look at the beautiful
torahs in their covers and to learn about more about a number of items in and
around the ark including the eternal light, the torah pointers and crowns. The
children had some great questions for Cantor Ken. Finally we played Simon Says
in Hebrew and read Once Upon A Shabbos as an introduction to next week’s
lesson about Shabbat. Our shinshin, Nitzan was away this week but will be back
with us next Sunday. Have a wonderful week! Joanne
Here is the creation chant/rap we learned:
Once upon a time it was
right in the start
God said I’m gonna make
light and dark
Chorus:
God said, (do two quick claps here) it’s the ____________ (fill
in with first, second, third etc) day
And I did very good work
today
Once upon a time
It was day number 2
The waters they parted,
the heavens came through
(Chorus)
Once upon a time
It was day number 3
The land appeared all
covered with trees
(Chorus)
Once upon a time
It was day number 4
The sun and the moon and
the stars galore
(Chorus)
Once upon a time
It was day number 5
The fish in the seas and
the birds in the skies
(Chorus)
Once upon a time
It was day number 6
The people and the animals
were here to mix
(Chorus)
Once upon a time
It was day number 7
God said: I finished
the earth and the heavens
God said: sh…sh…it’s the
7th day and I’m gonna rest all day today (2Xs)
10-3-18
Hi All,
We had a very busy morning today in Kitah Aleph. We joined the rest of the religious school and other members of the TI community in the sukkah this morning for hallel. Then after learning a bit about the holiday of hoshana rabba, each child was given a willow branch and allowed to beat it on the ground. We listened to the sound of the beating of the willows, which sounds a bit like the rain we begin to pray for starting tomorrow on Shemini Atzeret. Back in class, we met our shinshin, Nitzan, who played a number of “getting to know you” games with the children. The children learned three new Hebrew words (mishpacha-family; rikud-dance and machzor-cycle/the siddur we use on the high holidays). The children had snack and heard the book, The Sukkah on the Roof. We began our study of the Hebrew alphabet today with the letter Bet and the children did the first pages in their Hebrew workbooks. Finally, we had a chance to sing with Cantor Ken in preparation for Simchat Torah. The cantor taught the children how to sing the beginning of the first hoshana for erev Simchat Torah (Monday evening services).
A couple of reminders: There is no school next Sunday October 7th as it is Columbus Day weekend. I look forward to seeing your children on the 14th when we will learn another letter of the aleph-bet and begin to review Torah stories from the beginning of the book of Genesis. We do have a couple of children with food allergies in our class so please be extra careful that whatever your child brings for snack is free of nuts and nut residue!
Chag Sameah,
Joanne
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