Religious School Parent Bulletin April 11, 2014
Thank you to all who attended the Passover Family Workshop. Hope you had as much fun as I did!
Friendly reminders:
Looking for a great way to spend Shabbat? Try Shabbat Family Experience, an interactive, spirit-filled and participatory service on Saturday, April 12, at 10:30am in the Epstein Chapel led by children in the Religious School and Tucson Hebrew Academy. Participants will lead services, discuss the meaning of prayers and determine how the teachings from our tradition apply to their lives.
Want to attend an inspiring event? Then join us at Siddur Dedication on Friday, April 25 at 5:45pm in the Epstein Chapel. CAI’s Religious School 3rd Graders will lead the entire Friday night service and give short talks about why Judaism is meaningful to them. Each student will be presented with a certificate and personalized Siddur. The service will be followed by a delicious Shabbat dinner ($12/adult, $8/child). Please RSVP by April 18 to Kim.
All families are invited to join us on Sunday, May 4, 10:30am-12:00pm in Cantor Falkow Lounge as we end the year strong with our Electives Assembly and Talent Show! This event will also feature Teacher Appreciation and the raffle for the Shabbat Incentive IPod. STUDENTS: Please wear your Anshei Israel Religious School T-shirts on this date!
NOTE: There will be no Parent Bulletin for the next two weeks due to the Passover Break. The next and final bulletin of the year will be on May 2.
TEACHERS' CLASSROOM RECAPS:
Kindergarten and 1st Grade – Renee Hulsey
The kindergarten and 1st Grade class had a great time at the Passover Family Workshop on Sunday. We read two cute Passover stories and participated in the fun Religious School Seder led by Rabbi Herman and HaMorah Nichole. I look forward to seeing everyone this Sunday!
2nd Grade – Bryan Gordon
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Passover Family Workshop! Second graders took part in the 3rd-6th Grade minyan for the first time and were excited to hold full Siddurim (prayerbooks) and hear longer versions of the prayers they've been learning. We have also worked hard on learning the meanings of the Four Questions, and we had a fun art activity where we drew pictures that interpret the early morning blessing "She'asani Ben/Bat Chorin" (who has made me free). Even more exciting, we have only 18 “mensch marbles” left to earn an end-of-year party. The students are brimming with ideas, from ice cream and pizza to planting and games.
3rd Grade – Laura Olesen
We had a very good week! The 3rd Graders rehearsed for their Siddur Dedication which will be held April 25. We will have only one more rehearsal this coming Sunday. The kids had a great time and all participated in our school model Seder with lots of good singing and fun. In Hebrew, our class has been reviewing translating prayer words and we had a taste of our new book Kol Yisrael 2. Everyone is doing a great job!
4th Grade – Elana Israel
The 4th Grade has even having a lot of fun with Passover. On Sunday we participated in the Passover workshop, and on Tuesday we discussed how the story of Passover affects our lives and traditions today. The Hebrew class is having great success, as we will begin the final lesson in our book on Sunday. Great work!
5th Grade – Courtney DeYoung & Sarah Artzi
On Tuesday in Judaics, we focused on the major cities in Israel. The students were split into groups and each assigned a city. They did an excellent job teaching their classmates about Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In Hebrew, Morah Courtney and Morah Sarah's classes were combined and we played an amazing game of Israel/Hebrew vocabulary “Jeopardy.” They did incredibly well! ON SUNDAY, WE WILL BE TIE-DYING, SO WE HOPE THAT ALL YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE THERE!
6th Grade – MeMe Aguila
What a great week at Religious School! Sunday was our wonderful Passover Family Workshop. We enjoyed our Readers’ Theatre play, and of course, making matzah and haroset. The Model Seder was a lot of fun; the 6th Graders led the Birkat HaMazon (prayer after meals), which they had been working on with Nicole during Tefilah. The best part of the seder was all the ruach (spirit) shown during the singing. Tuesday was an equally busy day with student presentations on Helena Rubenstein and Robert Oppenheimer. Rabbi Eisen also taught the class about being a good host and a good guest for a Seder. My Hebrew Class took their much-anticipated field trip to 5th Street Deli to try out their Hebrew ordering skills. They did a fantastic job and were able to order soup, fries, pita, hummus and drinks. It was a lot of fun and a memorable experience for them.
7th – 8th Grade – Sivan Shahmoon
The 7th and 8th graders put together their booklet for the Yom HaShoah service on April 29.