Thursday, January 28, 2016

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Dear Parents,

Our Sunday morning started with Art.  The children made disappearing snowflakes.  The project will go home when finished.

The Rabbi spoke about Tu B'Shevat and continued the story of the Jewish people.  The class heard the story of Joseph and Esau.

Spencer did a musical Tu B'Shevat story,  It was lots of fun!

Hebrew through Movement is going very well!  Our class is understanding some of the directions and objects in Hebrew!

Looking forward to a good week!

See you Sunday!

Shalom,
Morah Cindy



Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Hebrew Through Movement

Hi Parents,
This past Sunday we had a Tu B'Shevat lesson, since the holiday began that day at sundown.  Our new vocabulary words are:
aytz=tree
p'ree=fruit
l'ntoah=to plant
This is because, as you may know, Tu B'Shevat is known as the birthday of the trees, the Jewish equivalent of Arbor Day.   We practiced walking, jumping, spinning, and running both to pieces of fruit and a little replica of a tree, and doing the same to pictures of an Israeli acacia tree, a pomegranate tree, and one of President Obama planting a tree in Israel alongside former Israeli president and prime minister Shimon Peres.

Think about taking your children outside one day and saying lalechet el aytz--walk to the tree.  Or if you'd rather be inside, you could put a piece of fruit on the table and say l'hatzbeeah el p'ree, point to the fruit.  I'm going to try and work with them for longer now that their vocabulary has increased.  I see tremendous gains in their confidence in following Hebrew commands.  Working with them is great fun!
Have a great week!
Emily

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year!

Our day started with Art.  Tu B'Shevat (New Year for the Trees) was our theme.  The holiday starts the evening of January 24.  The class made their own tree in honor of the holiday.

The service with Rabbi Meyer is always interesting.  The children were surprised with a new children's prayer book for the service.  We really liked the new prayer book!

Reading the book Sammy the Spider taught the students about Tu B'Shevat.  I explained that we celebrate planting of the trees in the winter here but in Israel it is the start of Spring.

Hebrew through Movement class was a group class with Alef and Bet classes.  We were on the bimah with plenty of room to find the Ark and the Torah.

Music is always joyful!  Our class loves to sing!

No Religious next week. (Jan 17, 2016)

See everyone on the 245th!

Shalom,
Morah Cindy

Monday, January 11, 2016

Hebrew Through Movement

Hi Parents,

Yesterday I taught the Gan, Alef, and Bet classes together.  We focused on synagogue objects--specifically the bimah (platform from which the service is conducted), ner tamid (eternal light), aron hakokesh (holy ark), and Torah.  During the lesson I reinforced some of our basic verbs by having students pick up pictures of these things, and either walk toward the ark, sit on one of the chairs on the bimah, or point to the eternal light.  You can try some at home, if you'd like:
lakachat=to pick up
lahtet=to put down
l'hatzbeeah el=to point to something far away
l'hatzbeeah al=to point to something and touch it
lashevet al keesay=to sit on a chair

No class next week because of MLK Weekend.  I look forward to seeing your children in two weeks!
Emily