[1.9] 11/13/06

Gan - Morah Chana
We had perfect attendance today in Gan! We began the day by making Challah dough. Everybody had a chance to fell the flour, mix the dough, and make sure there was no blood spot in the egg. The Challah dough rose throughout class and at the end of class we all braided our Challahs. After davening (prayer) and recess, we watched our Aleph Bet video and learned the new letter “Vet.” While everybody was coloring their letter Vet, each student had a chance to sit individually with Morah Chana to review their letters Aleph, Bet & Vet. Lastly, we finished our six days of creation song book! Parents, please review the Aleph Bet every night, thanks!

Kita Aleph (1) - Morah Chava
Today in class we played a really fun game of Jeopardy, reviewing our Torah lessons, Brachot (food blessings) and Aleph Bet. We reviewed the story of Yosef and his brothers. Then the children learned all about the Mitzvah of Mezuzah. We discussed what a mezuzah is, how it is written, and watched a video all about the making of a mezuzah parchment and writing a kosher mezuzah. The children all listened to a story about the greatness of a mezuzah. Then Kita Aleph went on a mystery mezuzah hunt throughout the entire building! Onto Aleph-Bet – today we reviewed the letters with the vowels kamatz, patach, and tzeirei. The class split into groups and each group made an Aleph-Bet rap and glued letters and vowels onto paper and presented their creations to the rest of the class.

Kita Bet (2) - Morah Devorah Leah
Today in davening (prayer) we again searched for words we know in the Shema, and we learned a special prayer for the rebuilding of the Bet HaMikdash (holy temple in Jerusalem). We learned that every good deed we do is another brick in the holy temple. Then we learned all about the Jewish uniform that Jewish boys and girls wear. We learned that every person is a precious jewel that we must keep in a treasure box of proper clothing and dress. We discussed why a soldier wears a uniform in the army and we made boys & girls Jewish dolls complete with their Jewish uniform. The class then learned more about the 10 plagues and Moshe’s ongoing conversation with Paroh. Paroh kept saying “no” to Moshe and more and more plagues came. The children were very involved in several activities in this lesson. Parents, please send in a “Brick Note” with your child describing a mitzvah that they did this week. For homework each child should complete the worksheet by drawing or writing each thing in its proper box.

Kita Gimmel (3) - Morah Rivkah
The children davened (prayed) really well today in Kita Gimmel. Everyone enjoys going to the sink to wash our hands the Jewish way every day. We kept making good progress in our Hebrew writing, tackling the letters Dalet and Nun. Our Torah lesson today focused on the Shelosh Regalim (3 major Jewish festivals of Pesach, Shavuot & Sukkot). These festivals are based on the farm cycle & are special because they are all mentioned in the Torah. The students did a project in which we glued various pictures and objects illustrating the holidays. We then learned about the holidays through a musical group activity and by making and using fact cards. For homework students should complete the writing worksheets for letters Aleph-Dalet and Nun & Final Nun.

Kita Dalet (4) - Morah Ellana
Today in Kita Dalet we planted the roots of the Jewish family tree in order to get a good understanding of the Jewish people from the very beginning all the way to us. We began with Adam and went through the forefathers and foremothers, the 12 tribes, the various categories of Jewish people, etc. Each student made their own family tree. In our Torah-pedia curriculum, we explored the famous Jewish saying, “gam zu l’tova” – “this is also for the good.” The class did an activity that illustrated that sometimes in life we don’t see the big picture and things seem bad but turn out good. We all shared examples of this from our own lives. For homework, students are to complete the worksheet and to bring in Mitzvah Bricks of mitzvahs they do this week.

Kita Hay (5) - Morah Mushky
This week our chazan for davening was Oren! Way to go! We began learning the Barchu prayer this week and the first of the 12 pesukim that were designated especially to be said by Jewish children. We went over our Middos homework about how having good Middos will help us to be successful in career, as parents, and as people. We then learned the stories of Kayin & Hevel (Cain & Abel) and Noach and the flood. We did worksheets in class about appreciating what Hashem has given us, in distinction to the people of those times who were ungrateful. For Hebrew writing we worked on the letters Yud & Vov. Lastly we played a game in which we went around the room saying what we are grateful to Hashem for and repeating what everyone who came before us said they were grateful for. All girls in class who lit Shabbat candles this past week were rewarded with a Torah Dollar. For homework, students should complete the “I am grateful to _________ for _________” worksheet.

Kita Vav (6) - Morah Chaya
Davening (prayer) went very well today, with the students singing through Ashrei and Baruch She’amar. Our life cycle curriculum took us through the concepts of night and day. The Jewish day starts at nightfall the day before and that is significant in terms of Shabbat and holidays, but also on a deeper level that in life sometimes we are in the dark/night before the day and that is the process of overcoming challenges. We played a Basketball test-your-knowledge game about the book of Joshua that we’ve been learning. The class is making great progress in Aleph Champ, with Spencer moving up 3 levels! All of the students are working very hard!

Kita Zayin (7) - Morah Bracha
Again we davened (prayed) the entire morning prayers and washed our hands at the sink the Jewish way. The class took a quiz on last week’s lesson and we graded each other’s papers. In Hebrew writing we learned the letter Mem in script. For history we explored the concept of mesorah – the chain of Torah teaching as it was passed from Moshe to Yehoshua and through the elders and the sages in a pure, unchanged progression. The class discussed the value of the Torah and its role in life. Lastly we played Around the World in order to review the material we learned in class. For homework the students should complete the Hebrew Writing worksheets.