Shalom, Parents:
We had a lot of fun learning about what I think is the everyone's favorite holiday--Hanukkah! First we brainstormed in small groups and listed everything we knew about the holiday, and then we shared our lists with the class. You'll be happy to know that the children wrote about giving as well as receiving gifts, and also were familiar with the reason we celebrate Hanukkah, how we celebrate, as well as special foods we eat.
The dreidel game provided lots of excitement and also an opportunity to review some of the Hebrew letters we've learned! I provided pennies and dreidels and the competition was loud and fun. One child asked if this was gambling, and I replied that it wasn't because they don't keep the pennies; I do. Everyone was rewarded with Hershey kisses, though.
Music with Spencer focused on wrapping up our study of Shabbat, and also featured a fun team-building game. Next Sunday he plans to teach the Hanukkah blessings and some Hanukkah songs.
Enjoy your week,
Morah Debbie
Monday, December 5, 2016
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Nov. 20 Summary
We had a full house today with only 4 students absent! Your children listed what they knew about Shabbat on the board, then read aloud in pairs or small groups as we finished the Shabbat chapter in our books and put the Shabbat sticker on the treasure trail. The children are familiar with why we celebrate Shabbat, how we welcome Shabbat and end Shabbat, prayers we say, and Shabbat symbols.
Our music elective with Moreh Spencer provided some more experiential learning about Shabbat with songs, prayers, and using our senses as we learned more about havdalah and once again smelled the wonderful baseman (spices) used to say goodbye to Shabbat. A few movement activities with song added to the fun, as did a team building exercise involving juggling and catching tennis balls!
Hope you and yours have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving,
Morah Debbie
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Sunday, 11/6/16
Next time you come to the temple, be sure to check out the school bulletin board across from the temple office. It's our turn to display our work, and your children outdid themselves! Our theme for this year is Hebrew and Jewish Holidays, and they used their creativity to create quite a display. According to my tally, Hanukkah was the holiday of choice, and the smiling letter samech the most popular Hebrew letter. Ask your children to show you their creations--many made two!
Music with Spencer gave us a chance to learn more Shabbat prayers and songs. Spencer taught a song and discussed how very observant Jews celebrate Shabbat, and the children imagined how it would be to observe Shabbat without any television, computers, or driving anywhere.
Morah Liz loaned us a beautiful Havdalah set and Spencer explained the braided candle with many wicks, kiddush cup, and spice box. We smelled the wonderful besamin (spices), held out our hands and looked at the reflection of the candle's glow on our fingernails, and heard the hiss as he put out the flame by dipping it into the wine.
Our star children (helpers) were Jesse and Jamison today.
No school next Sunday due to Veteran's Day.
Have a good week,
Morah Debbie
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Sunday Oct. 30 Summary
Today we continued learning about our Jewish fall holidays. The students finished their Sukkot chapter and added yet another sticker to their holiday sticker trail. We talked about how Thanksgiving is the first Sukkot, and brainstormed ways to incorporate Sukkot into our Thanksgiving celebration this year. Ask your kids if they'd like to decorate your dining room with paper chains, or the table with fruits like the pomegranate, maybe even a lulav and etrog! They also thought adding a Hebrew prayer like Hamotzi would be a nice touch.
Our elective, Music with Spencer, was a lot of fun. We used our siddur to learn "Lecha Dodi" and discussed the meaning of the Shabbat Bride. Spencer also treated us to some fun movement songs and team building exercises to help our class continue to learn and work together. Our next holiday to study is Shabbat.
Star children were Asher and Jeff. Everyone will have a chance on Sundays to be a star child and pass out books, pencils, notices, etc. and be an overall helper. We're going alphabetically by last names, from Z to A.
Enjoy your week,
Morah Debbie
Our elective, Music with Spencer, was a lot of fun. We used our siddur to learn "Lecha Dodi" and discussed the meaning of the Shabbat Bride. Spencer also treated us to some fun movement songs and team building exercises to help our class continue to learn and work together. Our next holiday to study is Shabbat.
Star children were Asher and Jeff. Everyone will have a chance on Sundays to be a star child and pass out books, pencils, notices, etc. and be an overall helper. We're going alphabetically by last names, from Z to A.
Enjoy your week,
Morah Debbie
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Sunday, 10/17/16
Shalom and Happy New Year!
It was so good to be back at religious school; I really missed your children!
We started our day with a quick review of Sukkot, and I was happy to hear that quite a few children were building a sukkah at home with their families and planned to eat, read, and even sleep in it during the holiday. With the warm weather forecasted for early this week, that could really be pleasant!
Everyone will have the opportunity to visit our temple's sukkah this week. Today we made decorations, working independently and in small groups to create paper chains, fruit baskets, decorative fruit constructions, and other artwork. We'll be hanging their creations in the sukkah early in the week, and beginning Hebrew classes in the sukkah so everyone can perform the mitzvah of shaking the lulav and etrog and reciting the blessing. Stop by the sukkah during the week and see how beautiful it looks!
Our service with Rabbi Meyer was full of music and learning, and he picked up our story--the story of the Jewish people--where he left off a few weeks ago, with Moses growing up in Pharoah's house. Next Sunday, we find out how Moses learned out that he was Jewish.
Morah Jill said that the class is working very well on their technology project about Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, and Simhat Torah, and that the three groups will finish next Sunday and then view all the final products. This elective gives them the opportunity to use iPads in a creative way, do research, and work in small groups to learn about the Jewish holidays. Can't wait to see what they've done!
Enjoy your week,
Morah Debbie
It was so good to be back at religious school; I really missed your children!
We started our day with a quick review of Sukkot, and I was happy to hear that quite a few children were building a sukkah at home with their families and planned to eat, read, and even sleep in it during the holiday. With the warm weather forecasted for early this week, that could really be pleasant!
Everyone will have the opportunity to visit our temple's sukkah this week. Today we made decorations, working independently and in small groups to create paper chains, fruit baskets, decorative fruit constructions, and other artwork. We'll be hanging their creations in the sukkah early in the week, and beginning Hebrew classes in the sukkah so everyone can perform the mitzvah of shaking the lulav and etrog and reciting the blessing. Stop by the sukkah during the week and see how beautiful it looks!
Our service with Rabbi Meyer was full of music and learning, and he picked up our story--the story of the Jewish people--where he left off a few weeks ago, with Moses growing up in Pharoah's house. Next Sunday, we find out how Moses learned out that he was Jewish.
Morah Jill said that the class is working very well on their technology project about Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, and Simhat Torah, and that the three groups will finish next Sunday and then view all the final products. This elective gives them the opportunity to use iPads in a creative way, do research, and work in small groups to learn about the Jewish holidays. Can't wait to see what they've done!
Enjoy your week,
Morah Debbie
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Sunday, 9/25/16 Summary
Shalom Parents,
Today was a wonderful day: almost every student was here, everyone listened when someone else was talking so everyone could learn, and we accomplished a lot! The first hour, we learned about Rosh Hashanah through discussions and reading from our holiday book. The children then experienced the holiday up close and personal by seeing, touching, and even smelling my shofar and then chanting the shofar calls as I blew the shofar for them. We also enjoyed a little something sweet for the new year and dipped honey graham dippers into honey.
Our service with Rabbi Meyer explained how our temple was getting ready for the New Year, and we learned about the birthday cakes every family will receive and saw the hundreds of extra chairs set up in the social hall to accommodate everyone. Our professional shofar blower was there with his impressive curved shofar so the children saw how it's really done!!!!
The last hour, Morah Jill divided the class into groups to start working on their holiday videos. The children researched their holidays on iPads and chose 4 facts about their holiday--Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, or Simhat Torah. They also took pictures of each other with the green screen, and started to select holiday images.
We finished our day by singing Israel's national anthem, "Hatikvah," and learning an Israeli dance called "Ack Shav" (Now let's go to Israel).
Thank you for helping your children to remember tzedakah. Quite a few of the children are participating in this mitzvah, and our tzedakah box is filling up beautifully!
L'Shanah Tova u'Mitukah~A Sweet and Happy Year,
Morah Debbie
Today was a wonderful day: almost every student was here, everyone listened when someone else was talking so everyone could learn, and we accomplished a lot! The first hour, we learned about Rosh Hashanah through discussions and reading from our holiday book. The children then experienced the holiday up close and personal by seeing, touching, and even smelling my shofar and then chanting the shofar calls as I blew the shofar for them. We also enjoyed a little something sweet for the new year and dipped honey graham dippers into honey.
Our service with Rabbi Meyer explained how our temple was getting ready for the New Year, and we learned about the birthday cakes every family will receive and saw the hundreds of extra chairs set up in the social hall to accommodate everyone. Our professional shofar blower was there with his impressive curved shofar so the children saw how it's really done!!!!
The last hour, Morah Jill divided the class into groups to start working on their holiday videos. The children researched their holidays on iPads and chose 4 facts about their holiday--Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, or Simhat Torah. They also took pictures of each other with the green screen, and started to select holiday images.
We finished our day by singing Israel's national anthem, "Hatikvah," and learning an Israeli dance called "Ack Shav" (Now let's go to Israel).
Thank you for helping your children to remember tzedakah. Quite a few of the children are participating in this mitzvah, and our tzedakah box is filling up beautifully!
L'Shanah Tova u'Mitukah~A Sweet and Happy Year,
Morah Debbie
Monday, September 19, 2016
What we did on Sunday, Sept. 18!
Shalom,
We have a big third grade class this year which means lots of opportunities to make new friends, have fun, and learn from one another. Today we focused on the fall holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simhat Torah. On the board, the children wrote what they already knew about the holidays--"throwing challah into the water," "say sorry to people we did bad stuff to," "visit with family," and key words like round challah, Torah, and sukkah. We talked a little about each idea, and also the holiday Shabbat which we celebrate every week and every season.
Our Sunday curriculum is the Jewish Holidays, and our book "The Jewish Holiday Trail" will take us on a virtual adventure through the year. We read the introduction and everyone chose a bonus sticker to put on their holiday trail.
Our morning also included a service in the sanctuary with Rabbi Meyer, and Tech with Morah Jill in the new youth lounge upstairs. The children are excited that they'll be making holiday videos with Morah Jill during the next few Sundays, and had fun experimenting with different apps on the iPads in preparation for their movie making adventure!
Many children stayed for the first SMARTY event, and we'll keep you posted about upcoming programs. We have a class tzedakah box and it would be wonderful to start making this mitzvah of helping others a regular part of the children's Jewish education. All it takes is a little pocket change!
Enjoy your week,
Morah Debbie
We have a big third grade class this year which means lots of opportunities to make new friends, have fun, and learn from one another. Today we focused on the fall holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simhat Torah. On the board, the children wrote what they already knew about the holidays--"throwing challah into the water," "say sorry to people we did bad stuff to," "visit with family," and key words like round challah, Torah, and sukkah. We talked a little about each idea, and also the holiday Shabbat which we celebrate every week and every season.
Our Sunday curriculum is the Jewish Holidays, and our book "The Jewish Holiday Trail" will take us on a virtual adventure through the year. We read the introduction and everyone chose a bonus sticker to put on their holiday trail.
Our morning also included a service in the sanctuary with Rabbi Meyer, and Tech with Morah Jill in the new youth lounge upstairs. The children are excited that they'll be making holiday videos with Morah Jill during the next few Sundays, and had fun experimenting with different apps on the iPads in preparation for their movie making adventure!
Many children stayed for the first SMARTY event, and we'll keep you posted about upcoming programs. We have a class tzedakah box and it would be wonderful to start making this mitzvah of helping others a regular part of the children's Jewish education. All it takes is a little pocket change!
Enjoy your week,
Morah Debbie
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