Storytime with Judy
Kitah Gan (Kindergarten)Kita Gan had a wonderful morning learning. We summarized our unit on Shabbat and began our two week sessions on Havdalah. At sundown each Saturday night - when we see three stars in the sky, we get to light a many wicked candle, have some more grape juice and smell some spices. In Hebrew we went onto the next letter - HEY. Ask your student to make the yoga pose for hey. This week’s “must do” homework are the hay pages in their Hebrew workbooks / binders. Your student “may” want to extend their learning with the many wicked craft. Heat some water and soak the candles - then braid them together. Wishing you all a week of health and joy.
Kitah Alef/Bet (1st grade/2nd grade)Today was another great class with your wonderful children. They all showed me their completed homework and got a lot of extra shekels. We learned a new letter today, Dalet. We reviewed the previous letters and words taught and I was very pleased that they remembered them all. We learned three new words: Gamal from Gimmel for camel, Dag which means fish, and Degel which means flag.
In our Chai curriculum, we learned about Who is a Jewish Hero. The Torah teaches us to be kind and love those around us as we would ourselves. It is the way of the land and it includes all things that make people be kind and show love and respect to one another. It taught us to treat others the way we wish to be treated.To illustrate this in class, we read a wonderful story called Picnic at Camp Shalom which demonstrates that we should engage in kindness and treating others the way we wish to be treated without judgement. The kids online heard the story Something from Nothing which conveyed a similar message.
We learned about the Torah portion, Chayei Sarah. We learned how Abraham and Sarah owned no land and that Abraham bought a cave for 400 silver Shekels. Sarah passes at 127 and Abraham buries her in the cave. Abraham also tells Isaac, his son, that he needs to pick a wife. Abraham sends his servant to find a woman from where he grew up. The servant plans a test for the right woman (Lesson 5: Rebecca). He prays to G-d that someone will bring him water for him and his gamals (camels). He notices Rebecca, a kind young woman. He asks for a drink from her pitcher and she quickly provides some to him and his gamals. The servant realizes she would be a perfect wife for Isaac since she is kind and strong. He brings her to meet Isaac and they fall in love and get married.
We ended with Yedayim Lemalah (Head and Shoulders) and our Aleph Bet Yoga.
Homework: Complete the dalet sheets along with the sheets from Chayei Sarah (the two faces of Isaac- sad and happy). Those sheets can be found within the packets previously sent home.
Kitah Gimel (3rd grade)We took a step back today to focus on Hebrew while I restructure our Chai lessons. Addie started us off with reviewing our new vowel Vavoo and teaching the kids a new letter. We then practiced reading both to get use to the new sounds. We finished up with penmanship, writing our new letter for an entire line. We then moved on to our lesson today about having friends outside the Jewish faith; learning on how our actions can affect others and that we want to treat people how we would want to be treated regardless of our beliefs. We read an amazing book provided by Judy called “Baxter the Pig that wanted to be Kosher”, beautifully showing how a small act of kindness goes a long way.
HOMEWORK - Tell your parents that we have decided to donate our Tzedakah for the year to the local animal shelter “Animal Friends Alliance”!
Kitah Dalet (4th grade)From Morah Batyah (Wednesday): Nicki here! It was soooo much fun subbing for Batyah. The kids were so polite and participatory.
- Aleph (4:30-5:15): We continued Lesson 7 and reviewed the letters Pey, Resh, and Final Mem. Together these letters spelled “Purim” and our lesson focused a lot on the symbols of Purim and the key players of the holiday. The students read some really challenging words and were rewarded with a fun 4-minute video about the story of Purim. We were all hungry for Hamentashen.
- Bet (6:00-6:45): We started Lesson 8 with new letters, Chet and Lamed. We looked at the difference between Hey, Tav, and Chet and the students read with near 100% accuracy. WOO HOO! When we put these new letters together, our lesson theme was all about challah. We then reviewed the blessing for the challah. I was so impressed with how many students remembered this blessing and continue to say it with their families. We ended by watching a video about 9 different ways to shape challah.
- MAY DO- If you want to continue to stretch your brain, your challenge is to rewatch the challah video (Google- How to Shape Challah in 9 different ways). Make one of these new shapes and send Nicki some pictures of your delicious final product.
From Morah Naomi (Sunday): Well Done Kitah Dalet! Today we reviewed our Hebrew words and talked about the 12 spies (scouts) sent out to check out the promised land before the Israelites to see what it was like. We talked about perspectives and how the ten spies came back with a report about giants and scary fortified cities, but Joshua and Caleb came back with a report on the good land and the richness of the soil. We talked about how perspective can affect the way we view things or take actions. We also read a modern story about a boy named Joshua who goes to Israel and plants a tree. He reads about his great aunt and how she and many others saw a glass "half-full" when they set out to make Israel a place where people could thrive. We talked about how we can have hope in what we do every day and believe that good things are possible. Don't forget to complete your assignment: "What is the color of hope?" in Seesaw. You can also watch a recording of the lesson on the class blog:
https://blog.seesaw.me/harshalomschool password: Shalom. Have an amazing week!
Kitah Hey (5th grade)From Morah Addie (Wednesday): On Wednesday we unscrambled Hebrew words!
From Morah Addie (Sunday): Today for Hebrew we decided which vocab words we might see in a school and a house. During Chai, we reviewed our last two prophets and discused what we would do if a parent asked us to do something we weren't sure about. We then learned about the word
reluctant and disussed how the next prophets we will learn about, Jonah and Jeremiah, are reluctant prophets.
Must do: remember that Jonah & Jeremiah are both
reluctant prophets and what that means.
May do: Earn 2 shekels for each unit of
this online reading game you complete!
Kitah Vav (6th grade)From Rabbi Finestone (Wednesday): The students of Kitah Vav, once again, each chanted the first two prayers of the Amidah beautifully. It’s been a few weeks since we reviewed it, and they had not forgotten a thing! WE then did a Hebrew reading exercise with the Kedusha prayer, the next prayer that we will be focusing on. We also discussed the concept of what it means to be “holy”.
Homework: practice reading lines 1-15 of the page that was previously sent.
From Morah Michelle (Sunday): This week the students learned about K’tuvim/Writings, the types of literature found in K’tuvim, and how God revealed God’s self to our ancestors and how God reveals God’s self to us today. We looked at examples of art and listened to music that was inspired by God. I read the book In God’s Name by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and we discussed all the different names people have for God; healer, comforter, Ancient One, mother, father and friend to name a few. Their
homework this week is to consider how and if they experience God in their daily lives. Lots of great discussion and participation today! Keep up the great work!
Kitah Zayin (7th grade)From Morah Jennifer (Wednesday): Through the magic carpet technology of Google Earth, the 7th graders took a trip to the Western Wall. We started at Congregation Har Shalom and learned a little about the history of our synagogue, then took off for New York where we stopped at the Eldridge Street Synagogue -- a historical landmark built by Jewish immigrants in the late 1800s. From there we flew to Tel Aviv and explored the beaches and Carmel Market. We hopped over to the Old City and entered through the Jaffa Gate. We virtually walked through narrow stone passageways, peeking in the shops as we went. Finally, we saw an aerial view of the Temple Mount and the Western wall before moving in for an "on the ground" experience in front of the Kotel -- looking around at the people who were there, the notes and prayers in the cracks, and the ancient stones in the Wall itself.
From Rabbi Finestone (Sunday):
We finished reviewing the morning blessings of gratitude, with each student taking a line and reading the Hebrew without errors. We then looked at the translation of this prayer and the students suggested additional items for which we should express gratitude each day. We studied a story about two men stranded on an island, and the efficacy of prayer for them both. The lesson of the story is that we should take care of other people’s physical needs, and let God worry about their soul. There is no homework this week, and we look forward to being together next Sunday.
TeensClass will be held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of MOST months. Next class sessions will be
Tuesday, November 24, December 8 and 15
