Religious School Parent Bulletin November 16, 2012
I hope to see all 3rd – 5th Graders at our class Shabbat Service on Friday, Nov. 30. Please contact me to sign up for a part and RSVP to Kim for the Shabbat Dinner. For more information, please see the Upcoming Events section.
Please note that there will be no Parent Bulletin next week due to the Thanksgiving break. I wish everyone a happy, healthy Thanksgiving!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday, Nov. 30 – 3rd thru 5th Grade Shabbat Service and Dinner, 5:45pm
Join us for this energetic service led by the 3rd – 5th Graders in the Religious School and at Tucson Hebrew Academy. We’ll share a delicious Shabbat dinner after the service. We had 75 6th – 8th Graders at their service and dinner recently, and look forward to an equally good turnout at this one as well! A letter went home to all 3rd – 5th Grade students inviting them to sign up for parts in the service. Please complete the form at the bottom of the letter and return it to me. A flyer has been sent home. Please RSVP by Nov. 26 to Kim.
Saturday, Dec. 8 – Shabbat Family Experience. 10:30am in the Epstein Chapel
Share in this interactive, spirit-filled and participatory service led by children in the Religious School and Tucson Hebrew Academy. The service will feature K – 2nd Graders. A letter has been sent home inviting those students to sign up for a part in the service; however, everyone is welcome to join in this service. For more information and to RSVP, contact Kim.
Sunday, Dec. 9 – Family Hanukkah Workshop, 9:00am – 12:00pm, Schoolwing Entrance
Join us for a fun-filled morning for the entire family, featuring singing, age-appropriate art projects, an interactive play, decorating (and eating!) Hanukkah cookies, learning the story of Hanukkah, the symbols of Hanukkah and the Hanukkah blessings, and playing a rousing game of dreidel. Please contact Kim so that we know how many from your family will be attending. This event is open to preschool students as well!
Sunday, Dec. 16 – Adult Hebrew Marathon, 1:00 – 5:00pm, Library
Interested in learning how to read Hebrew? Join Rabbi Herman for this four hour crash course in Hebrew reading. There will be follow-up classes beginning in January 2013. The price is $18 for members; $25 for non-members, which includes all materials. For more information and to RSVP, contact Rabbi Ben Herman. (LINK)
TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM RECAPS:
Kindergarten/1st Grade – Renee Hulsey
Our class went on a "field trip" to the sanctuary. We opened the Aron Kodesh (ark) to look at the Torot and we discussed how to behave appropriately during services. We also noticed the differences between the Siddur (prayerbook) and the Chumash (the 5 Books of Moses). In art, we decorated tzedakah boxes (as a reminder to bring tzedakah each week). The kindergarteners went on an "aleph bet" scavenger hunt and used wiki stix to create some letters, while the 1st Graders learned two new letters: “alef” and “vav.”
2nd Grade – Natalie Guerin
The class had fun acting out the stories we had just read and discussed. On Sunday, we started a new series called "Let's Discover God" with the Creation story. On Tuesday, we read about "Joseph and his Brothers." It's a free-form style of acting where they all get to be all of the characters in the story. This wonderful, active group of students really enjoy it!
3rd Grade – Laura Olesen
Congratulations to the 3rd Graders for doing a terrific job finishing their Galilee Unit! We will continue with reviewing and playing Israel “Jewpardy” with all they have learned! My Hebrew class enjoyed using the Hebrew computer program that corresponds with their Hebrew book (Hineni 1). I am very proud of them for doing a wonderful job in minyan (prayers) as well. They are growing in this area through learning to focus and follow along with the prayers more and more.
4th Grade – Rodin Molina
In Hebrew, we went to the computer lab on Sunday. Students completed the first two chapters on the computer and all reported really enjoying the program. On Tuesday, I gave students a quiz to gauge their learning, did a quick review of some key concepts from the chapter (especially root letters), and then we finished station work. In Judaics, Morah Sarah and I combined our 4th grade classes this week to discuss Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). It was a major success. We taught a lesson on some of the main aspects of Tikkun Olam on Sunday, then split the class into two groups to take turns working on a Tikkun Olam poster and paragraphs to display in the hallway. We continued our projects on Tuesday.
4th Grade – Sarah Artzi
This week our class joined Morah Shifra's (Rodin’s) class for Judaics. Together we talked about Tikkun Olam and our responsibility "to heal the world" and what actions we can each take to make the world a better place. Our students made a poster illustrating their ideas and wrote paragraphs to go on a bulletin board that we are creating. In Hebrew, we finished our study of the "Avot" and moved on to the next section of the Amidah, "Givurot." Our class was surprised to learn that different synagogues use different prayer books, and, as a result, the Givurot section may contain different words and interpretations. I'm delighted that so many of our students are choosing to participate in the 3rd – 5th Grade Shabbat Service and Dinner on Friday, Nov. 30. Please make your reservations if you haven't done so already. It would be wonderful if our whole class could celebrate Shabbat together. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
5th Grade – Courtney DeYoung
On Sunday, my Judaics class made finishing touches on their mitzvah board. It looks awesome! On Tuesday, we went back into our Welcome to Israel textbook where we discussed the city of Tsfat and the surrounding areas. In Hebrew, the students continued in their Hineni textbook, and their improvement is remarkable. I had them copy new words in their notebooks, and we discussed what they want to improve in their Hebrew. I am happy to have such delightful students in my class.
6th Grade – MeMe Aguila
The 6th Graders are researching a project involving creating a story about the life of someone their age who lived between 1845 and 1875. They are focusing on what a typical day would have been like, as well as how a Jewish holiday would have been celebrated then. We are also continuing to fill out our family tree forms and are looking forward to our trip to Handmaker on Dec. 2nd to meet with residents to learn about their family lineages, as well as their families’ journeys to and/or in America. My Hebrew class is working on learning the flow of a conversation and is doing an excellent job! The vocabulary in their book (Let’s Talk Hebrew for Teens) focuses on teenagers who are taking a trip to Israel.
7th – 8th Grade – Jacob Kotz
The 7th and 8th Graders learned about the Gaza flotilla. We began by reading biased article excerpts. We discussed what we would think by reading only these excerpts, and then discussed what actually occurred.