Religious School Parent Bulletin August 23, 2013
Shalom. What a great start to the school year! I was glad to see many of you at our Religious School Kick-off where students made fun art projects to celebrate the start of the New Year. We also had an excellent school assembly this past Sunday at which students chose electives: Creative Arts, Drama, Band/Orchestra or Israeli Dance.
The eldest child in each family brought home the Religious School Parent Handbook on Tuesday. If you only have a child in K – 1st Grade, they will bring it home on Sunday, August 25.
Beginning next Tuesday, each child in 3rd – 6th Grade will be assessed on his/her Hebrew level. After the assessment, you will receive a copy of your child’s Hebrew book if you ordered one.
Parents are encouraged to come to minyan (evening services) on Tuesdays from 5:30-6:00, especially those weeks when they may have “Jewry Duty.”
Please bring Tzedakah to Religious School! From now until Sukkot, the money you bring will go directly towards enhancing Religious School Programming as part of our congregational High Holy Days Appeal.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Sunday, Aug. 25 – Rabbi Eisen will blow shofar for K – 2nd Grade at 10:00am during minyan.
Tuesday, Aug. 27 – Rabbi Eisen will blow shofar for 3rd – 6th Grade at 4:00pm and for 7th – 8th Grade at 5:00pm. (Please be on time!)
Tuesday, Sept. 10 – All students and their families are expected to attend “Tashlich at the Park” at Reid Park Ramada 7 at 4:00pm. Please make reservations here. There will also be a community service project as part of this program.
Sunday, Sept. 15 – Save the date for “Tee Off” at Golf n’ Stuff from 10:00am – 12:00pm. Enjoy unlimited miniature golf, go-karts, bumper boats and laser tag, plus lots more fun things to do. $18 per person gets you everything! Please make reservations here.
Sunday, Sept. 22 – Religious School students will enjoy a delicious breakfast prepared by the Men’s Club and participate in a variety of fun learning stations. The program begins promptly at 9:00am, so please be on time and go straight to the Sukkah!
Thursday, Sept. 26 – Save the date for our “Triple Bar in the Midbar” Simhat Torah Dinner at 5:00pm. Enjoy salad, pasta and ice cream bars! The cost for CAI Members is $10 per adult and $6 per child (ages 3-11). Afterwards, join us for Hakafot to include Israeli singing, dancing, refreshments and a Torah roll.
Teachers’ Classroom Recaps:
Kindergarten – Renee Hulsey
The kindergarten class had a terrific first day of religious school! We spent time playing and getting to know each other. We talked about some of the Jewish holidays we enjoy and we made things that remind us of the holidays out of Play-Doh such as dreidels and challot. We prayed with Nichole, as well as the 1st and 2nd Graders. Don't forget to bring Tzedakah next Sunday!
1st Grade – Nancy Auslander
What a pleasure it was meeting and spending time with your students – they already know so much! We spent our morning getting to know each other, drawing, and making Play-Doh challot and apples. The children chose their Sunday electives: Creative Art or Dance; their interests split right down the middle. We played a memory game to learn each other's names, and then shook hands to help learn left from right, which also demonstrated the difference between reading English and Hebrew. We talked about the upcoming High Holy Days, and we plan to go on a tour of the sanctuary next week. We have much to cover, so I look forward to seeing all those smiling faces again on Sunday.
2nd Grade – Bryan Gordon
Second grade got off to a fantastic start for the New Year this week! We spent some time getting to know each other, and turned it into a Hebrew immersion opportunity by asking each other our English names and responding in Hebrew. We began learning the Shehecheyanu prayer and learned about Tzedakah. We spent some time talking about the Torah portion "Ki-Tetzé" and used what we learned from Torah, together with the Jewish perspective of Derekh Eretz (proper behavior) to come up with good classroom rules together. The class had an activity writing their names in Hebrew script letters and decorating their sheets of paper with each other's names and drawings, and got to bring home their new workbooks so they can practice writing their names as a way of entering into writing in Hebrew.
3rd Grade – Laura Olesen
It was wonderful meeting and welcoming the 3rd Graders this week! We had a good first week in class, and we have a wonderful year ahead of us. We will be using Kol Yisrael for our Hebrew Text and will be learning as well from the Siddur (prayerbook), all in preparation for their Kabbalat Siddur (Consecration) at the end of the school year. In Judaics, we are studying about Israel and using The Great Israel Scavenger Hunt as our text. Students will be given their own personal maps to chart as we go along. I will be sending each home with practice pages. Please encourage your children to go over these at home or go over it with them. Looking forward to our class on Sunday!
4th Grade – Elana Israel
The 4th graders are starting off with games, reading, and laughs! This week in Hebrew, we reviewed letter and word pronunciation in both block letters and cursive. The students used their bodies and minds to excel in Hebrew Letter Charades. In Judaics, they learned five different types of Mitzvot (commandments) and created wonderful one-minute plays that were based on these Mitzvot. They also began reading about the land of Israel and drawing pictures to tell the story of its history. What a great start to the year!
5th Grade – Sarah Artzi and Courtney DeYoung
Fifth Grade is off and running! I am truly excited to be spending another year with this great group of students. We spent our first week together catching up on each other's summers, discussing classroom expectations (kindness, positive attitude, and respect), and taking a peek at this semester's curriculum on Jewish life cycles. As we progress through this unit, I will be asking for your participation in sharing with your children memories, mementos, and photos from your family's own life-cycle celebrations. Also for this Sunday, I've asked everyone to bring in something to help decorate our classroom. It needs to be something that is meaningful and reflects some aspect of his/her own connection to being Jewish. Anything goes (with your permission) as long as it is not perishable or very fragile and can stay in our classroom until December. Please help guide your student with his/her selection. Many thanks!
6th Grade – MeMe Aguila
We jumped into looking at the Jewish experience in America, beginning with the first wave of immigration in the early colonial days. The focus of this year is on the 20th century Jewish American experience. Look for fun projects that the students will be doing! In Hebrew we have been learning new conversational vocabulary words while practicing our cursive writing. Please remember to bring Tzedakah… we would like 100% participation.
7th – 8th Grade – Sivan Shahmoon
What a wonderful beginning to the school year! After meeting one another, the 7th and 8th Graders showed one another family heirlooms and told the stories behind them. They also participated in a presentation on oral histories. There was a lively debate related to the George Zimmerman trial to illustrate how historical events have multiple interpretations, whereas an oral history is one person’s perspective. Later in the year our class will be conducting oral histories of long-time congregants. See you next week!
Rabbi Ben Herman