Since last week we learned the story of Chanukah, this week it was their turn to tell it. We had 10 cards, each with a piece of the Chanukah story. The class organized themselves to tell the story and they did a great job!
We did some vocabulary work with the holiday:
'ner' - fire/light
'Chanukiah' v. 'Menorah'
'tamid' - eternal
'nessa' - miracle
'shemen' - oil
We also discussed the meaning behind dreidels, which we now only play as a game but used to disguise Hebrew studies. We talked briefly about how "dreidel" is a Yiddish word. What's Yiddish? Why do Jews speak both Yiddish and Hebrew?
We learned what each side of the dreidel means, and that each letter not only stands for what you win or lose in the game, but Yiddish words.
For example, "hay" is also the Yiddish word for "halb", which means "half".
We did some Judah Maccabee and dreidel coloring and finished two familiar games: Old & New and Tov/Lo Tov.
We did a Chanukah version of Old & New:
They play one-on-one, while the rest of the class comes up with a scenario with me. It can be a person, place, event, or Jewish concept.
For example, "Learning Hebrew" is both Old and New in Judaism - to win the round, the student would hold up both cards which are labeled Old and New. To answer "Giving presents on Chanukah" correctly, a student would hold up just "New".
Tov/Lo Tov is our King Solomon game. This was also Chanukah themed. I held the sign "Lo Tov" and Lucy held "Tov" (Bad and Good).
The students start in the middle of the classroom with us on either side.
I say a scenario: "King Antiochus said that everyone had to practice his religion and Hebrew was against the law".
To stay in the round, a student would have to pick the "Lo Tov" side quickly.
See you next week!
Erica
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Happy Chanukah
Hello and Happy Chanukah!
This week was a Chanukah-filled class. We started off by reviewing vowels
and playing Quickdraw with different vowel/letter combinations.
After a few rounds against the teacher, we read two Chanukah stories -- one
folktale that takes place during Hannukah and the actual story of Chanukah.
We discussed all of the symbols, games and food associated with thr holiday
- it's not all about gifts!
But speaking of gifts, we took part in one of Ohabei's projects that had us
answer the question, 'what gift would you give to Ohabei Shalom?' And the
class decided a torah--which the students helped write out and draw our
answer.
This picture is GAN contributing to the Ohabei menorah project...very
enthusiastically! Bravo, K/1! See you next week!
This week was a Chanukah-filled class. We started off by reviewing vowels
and playing Quickdraw with different vowel/letter combinations.
After a few rounds against the teacher, we read two Chanukah stories -- one
folktale that takes place during Hannukah and the actual story of Chanukah.
We discussed all of the symbols, games and food associated with thr holiday
- it's not all about gifts!
But speaking of gifts, we took part in one of Ohabei's projects that had us
answer the question, 'what gift would you give to Ohabei Shalom?' And the
class decided a torah--which the students helped write out and draw our
answer.
This picture is GAN contributing to the Ohabei menorah project...very
enthusiastically! Bravo, K/1! See you next week!
Monday, November 29, 2010
In the spirit of thanks...
Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!
In the spirit of 'thanks' we learned the word toda this week in K-1 Gan. 'Toda' means 'thank you' and we made 'toda' cards for members of our family. We talked about forgiveness and the importance of forgiving family members like Joseph and his brothers. We talked about having a positive attitude and what a difference it's made for Jews as a culture.
Because of holiday traveling, we didn't have many students in class this week so instead of learning new letters, we practiced vowel sounds. We combined all vowel sounds with a few of the letters we've already learned and played memory and recognition games. We had a very special Hanukah-themed song (and dance!) led by Cantor Schloss before T'fillah and it was a great treat to get up and move around.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Erica
In the spirit of 'thanks' we learned the word toda this week in K-1 Gan. 'Toda' means 'thank you' and we made 'toda' cards for members of our family. We talked about forgiveness and the importance of forgiving family members like Joseph and his brothers. We talked about having a positive attitude and what a difference it's made for Jews as a culture.
Because of holiday traveling, we didn't have many students in class this week so instead of learning new letters, we practiced vowel sounds. We combined all vowel sounds with a few of the letters we've already learned and played memory and recognition games. We had a very special Hanukah-themed song (and dance!) led by Cantor Schloss before T'fillah and it was a great treat to get up and move around.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Erica
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Story of King Solomon
Hello from Gan K/1!
This week, we learned the story of King Solomon and his ability to tell between tov (good) and lo tov (bad). We made King and Queen Solomon crowns. One side of the room was labeled "tov" and the other "lo tov". With my back to them, I told them a brief story--mostly ones we've learned like Joseph forgiving his brothers. They had to pick a side before I turned around. It was a great way to stretch our legs on a rainy day and talk about how certain decisions aren't always clear between "tov" and "lo tov" like when Moses' mother was forced to send her child down the Nile.
We learned the letter "Hay" and practiced it. From there we learned the word "haggadah" and that we use one during Passover. Then we talked about "tov" and "lo tov" in the Passover story. We talked about how it's hard to decide whether the plagues were "tov" or "lo tov" because they caused so much suffering, but we decided that the suffering of the Hebrew slaves had been far, far worse.
They are really understanding what a mitzvah is and why we do them, now. That doing good deeds can be very easy but also it can be a hard decision. After we discussed the fact that we are always learning new things in Judaism. We talked about Moses bringing the 10 Commandments down from Mount Sinai but they immediately knew that there was more to the Torah and to Judaism than those ten things. And it's a mitzvah to learn!
See you next week!
Here is a picture of the class this week in their Solomon crowns.
This week, we learned the story of King Solomon and his ability to tell between tov (good) and lo tov (bad). We made King and Queen Solomon crowns. One side of the room was labeled "tov" and the other "lo tov". With my back to them, I told them a brief story--mostly ones we've learned like Joseph forgiving his brothers. They had to pick a side before I turned around. It was a great way to stretch our legs on a rainy day and talk about how certain decisions aren't always clear between "tov" and "lo tov" like when Moses' mother was forced to send her child down the Nile.
We learned the letter "Hay" and practiced it. From there we learned the word "haggadah" and that we use one during Passover. Then we talked about "tov" and "lo tov" in the Passover story. We talked about how it's hard to decide whether the plagues were "tov" or "lo tov" because they caused so much suffering, but we decided that the suffering of the Hebrew slaves had been far, far worse.
They are really understanding what a mitzvah is and why we do them, now. That doing good deeds can be very easy but also it can be a hard decision. After we discussed the fact that we are always learning new things in Judaism. We talked about Moses bringing the 10 Commandments down from Mount Sinai but they immediately knew that there was more to the Torah and to Judaism than those ten things. And it's a mitzvah to learn!
See you next week!
Here is a picture of the class this week in their Solomon crowns.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
10/26/10
We read and discussed the story of Joseph and his wonderful colored coat - and made our own. We talked Joseph's forgiveness of his brothers and why forgiveness is a mitzvah.
We learned and practiced "nun" and learned a few new words: "ner" is candle and "nin" means "grandchildren". "nehesh" means snake/serpent and we turned our nuns into snakes.
We began discussing miracles "nas" like all of those that occurred in Eygpt for and by Moses.
Each child was responsible for drawing one part of the synagogue: for example, the rabbi, the torah, the Shabbos candles. Then, they attached them to our drawing of an empty synagogue and we discussed why each component is important.
We learned the meaning of the word "tov," or, "good". Joseph was a "tov" man and his brothers were "lo tov" (not good). We talked about why mitzvahs are tov, and what makes a tov Jew, family member and student.
That's all for this week! Enjoy the break!
As always, e-mail me with any questions about the curriculum at: ELubitz@brandeis.edu
-Erica
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
10/19/10
Today we discussed the story of Jacob and his dream about the ladder. We have one, big ladder now hanging in the room with the class' angels on it.
We learned "dalet," practiced new vocabulary, and did a review of all of our letters so far with a game.
The game:
We have all the letters we've learned so far on cards: lamed, bet, dalet shin, mem, tav, chet.
I say a word or a phrase and they hold up all of the letter sounds they hear.
For example: "shalom" and working in groups, they collect the shin, lamed and mem cards to quickly hold up.
This was great for auditory learning and reinforcing letters and vocabulary. Try it at home with one or two letters! They've retained all of their hebrew alphabet wonderfully so far.
A few vocabulary favorites today were "dov" - the word for bear and teddy bear - ask, "what is a bird in English and a bear in Hebrew?"
"deleg" is flag and "d'vrash" is honey we also learned "d'vorah" for honey bee.
With these vocabulary words, we decorated one, big dalet and they made their own - which are the pictures you'll see on their classwork.
We talked about Israel. We added two things to our map of Israel: the Israeli flag and the Western Wall. We talked about what it means if something is "holy" or "sacred" and other things we treat with respect in Judaism - synagogues, the Torah, talit.
We practiced dalet in our text books.
To premise next week's class, we started the story of Joseph and his amazing coat.
Have a wonderful week! See you next Tuesday!
Erica
We learned "dalet," practiced new vocabulary, and did a review of all of our letters so far with a game.
The game:
We have all the letters we've learned so far on cards: lamed, bet, dalet shin, mem, tav, chet.
I say a word or a phrase and they hold up all of the letter sounds they hear.
For example: "shalom" and working in groups, they collect the shin, lamed and mem cards to quickly hold up.
This was great for auditory learning and reinforcing letters and vocabulary. Try it at home with one or two letters! They've retained all of their hebrew alphabet wonderfully so far.
A few vocabulary favorites today were "dov" - the word for bear and teddy bear - ask, "what is a bird in English and a bear in Hebrew?"
"deleg" is flag and "d'vrash" is honey we also learned "d'vorah" for honey bee.
With these vocabulary words, we decorated one, big dalet and they made their own - which are the pictures you'll see on their classwork.
We talked about Israel. We added two things to our map of Israel: the Israeli flag and the Western Wall. We talked about what it means if something is "holy" or "sacred" and other things we treat with respect in Judaism - synagogues, the Torah, talit.
We practiced dalet in our text books.
To premise next week's class, we started the story of Joseph and his amazing coat.
Have a wonderful week! See you next Tuesday!
Erica
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
This week in K/1!
Hello and welcome to Kindergarten & Grade 1 at ARS! If you have any questions about the topics covered in our class, feel free to e-mail me at ELubitz@Brandeis.edu. Remember that Shabbat B'yahad is required for all students Kindergarten - 7th grade. It takes place monthly - come any time starting at 9:15 AM! There will be activities for all ages.
What we've covered until now...
1. Hebrew letters 'shin' and 'bet'
2. In the spirit of Sukkot, we transformed our 'bet' into a Sukkah and learned about the practices and traditions of Sukkot.
3. Our "Mitzvah Museum" is a growing collection of Mitzvahs - all created by your kids! Each week we contribute more Mitzvahs to the museum as they learn about good deeds, the concept of charity, and observing Jewish law. We've made Mitzvah Fruit to decorate our alphabet Sukkah.
4. We have read "Something from Nothing" and we discuss reoccurring concepts in Jewish folklore: family, tradition and heirlooms and creating things ourselves. We put lots of emphasis on keeping Judaism alive through family.
5. In the spirit of creating, we have read the Creation Story and we often refer back to it. We learned what it means to be created "In G-d's image" and "where do we find G-d?". They are all very intelligent and have been very receptive to all of the concepts we've covered!
We are focusing this week and next week on sharing religious experiences. We are covering "synagogues" - why is it important to worship together? And why some holidays like Simchat Torah are large, group celebrations and other observations like Yom Kippur are more personal. We talk about personal goals and dreams versus group ideas and why we are better at doing some things on our own, and some things together. Of course, Mitzvahs can be shared or done on our own.
Hebrew letters have been practiced during class so far and we are starting our textbook work Today, Tuesday October 5th. We are keeping the textbooks in our classroom and the students are encouraged to bring their practice work and Hebrew letter crafts home for you!
Also, while I will not be at back to school night on Tuesday due to a midterm exam at school, free free to reach me via email at elubitz@brandeis.edu with any questions that you might have.
As always, visit www.Ohabei.org for updates and details of all events at Temple Ohabei Shalom!!
As always, visit www.Ohabei.org for updates and details of all events at Temple Ohabei Shalom!!
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