Religious School Parent Bulletin, January 11, 2013
Welcome back from Winter Break! It is so good to see your children back in the building and I'm looking forward to a fun, activity-filled semester of learning.
Each grade in Religious School will be collecting tzedakah through the end of the year to go towards purchasing part of the newly-commissioned Anshei Israel Torah. We hope that you will join in this important mitzvah (commandment).
We have many volunteer opportunities with the Religious School. Upcoming opportunities include cooking for our K – 2nd Grade Dinner on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 4:00-5:00pm; setting up for the dinner on Friday, Jan. 25, 10:00-11:00am; and helping students put on tefillin at the "World Wide Wrap" on Sunday, Feb. 3, 9:30-11:00am. If you are interested in any of these opportunities to help, please contact Rabbi Ben Herman.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Saturday, January 12
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. Participants will lead services, discuss the meaning of prayers and determine how the teachings from our tradition apply to their lives.
Friday, January 25
K – 2nd Grade Shabbat Service and Dinner 5:45pm
I look forward to the students in K-2 helping lead Friday evening services, including some joyous Shabbat songs, followed by a festive dinner. Please RSVP for the dinner to Kim.
Saturday, January 26
Shabbat Shira Service 10:00am
The 3rd – 6th Grade students have been learning new Shabbat melodies in preparation for an upcoming special Shabbat. This Shabbat of Song will have new melodies to familiar prayers and will explore some of the varied music of our heritage.
Sunday, February 3
Men's Club "World Wide Wrap" 9:30-11:00am
As part of a national Men's Club initiative, the 5th and 6th Grade religious school students will be learning how to put on tefillin. Parents are encouraged to come and bring their tefillin (if they have) to help demonstrate to their children this important mitzvah (commandment). Please RSVP to Mark Levine to let him know that you will be attending.
Saturday, Feb. 9
Shabbat Family Experience 5:00 pm in the Epstein Chapel
Share in this interactive, spirit-filled and participatory service led by children in the Religious School and Tucson Hebrew Academy. Participants will lead the afternoon and evening Shabbat services with a delicious meal in between. Please RSVP for the dinner to Kim.
TEACHERS' CLASSROOM RECAPS:
Kindergarten/1st Grade-Renee Hulsey
This past Sunday, the students had a great time! We manipulated the Hebrew alphabet with giant foam letters. We practiced some of the prayers that we will be leading at our class Shabbat service on January 25. We are really excited to show some of what we've learned this year! We also sang with Moreh Dan and did some Israeli dancing with the second graders. Don't forget to bring tzedakah next Sunday!
2nd Grade – Natalie Guerin
The students reviewed the Hebrew words that we have learned and discussed what it means to be created in God's image. We are looking forward to our "good behavior" party this coming Tuesday.
3rd Grade – Laura Olesen
It was great being back to Religious School and seeing all our wonderful students! We began with learning about Tel-Aviv Yafo and jumped right into Hebrew, in which the students did a great job. I sent home with them Hebrew practice pages for which they can earn points. Also, each student has been given a packet for practicing for their 3rd grade Siddur Dedication Service. Please be sure they do not lose these sheets and that they are practicing their solo and prayers.
4th Grade – Sarah Artzi
It's so nice to have everyone back after the break! We jumped into Judaics with a new unit on Jewish history and a new book, The Atlas of Great Jewish Communities: A Voyage through History. In an effort to help set the stage for our studies, I've asked each student to bring in an official, not-in-their-own-words definition of the word "history." The definition(s) can come from any source source: on-line, an old-fashioned dictionary, etc. Please have your student jot it down and bring it to class on Sunday. In Hebrew, our class is beginning the semester with an "ulpan," an intensive review of writing in Hebrew script. Optional worksheets were handed out to accelerate our progress at home.
4th Grade – Rodin Molina
Our first week back went very well. In Hebrew we worked on script letter review. In Judaics, as an introduction to our curriculum on Jewish History, we discussed why learning about our history is important, and recognized different types of history (personal, national, religious, etc). Students put together their own personal Jewish histories and were encouraged to think about the way that the events of which they had written affected who they are and how they view the world.
5th Grade – Courtney DeYoung
The students discussed the Israeli army: who serves, for how long and what the term Tzahal means. Next week they will begin their unit on Israel's wars.
6th Grade – MeMe Aguila
It was wonderful to welcome everyone back after our winter break. On Sunday, since many of the 6th Graders were away at a Kadima event, the rest of the class brushed up on our Judaism by playing The Holygame. We had a lot of fun, and I learned that my students are as competitive as I am. On Tuesday, we continued to work on projects; the students will be creating either a play, story or poem about the day in the life of someone their own age in the late 1800's. They are working on this with a partner. The project is due Jan. 27. The class is moving forward in learning conversational Hebrew. We are enjoying the adventures of Daniel, Dinah and Ben who are visiting Israel.
7th – 8th Grade – Jacob Kotz
The students discussed the Israeli War for Independence, focusing on the eight countries that fought against Israel and the size of their armies.