Religious School Parent Bulletin October 18, 2013
Please remember to bring tzedakkah so that each child will be able to have a letter in the Torah dedicated to him/her!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, Oct. 22 – Camp Ramah Assembly, 5:30pm, Cantor Falkow LoungeJoin Ariella Moss Peterseil, Camp Ramah Assistant Director, to learn all about Camp Ramah in Ojai, California. Ramah summer programs are packed with a wide range of activities including sports, aquatics, art, Israeli dance and Jewish music, cooking, media arts, drama, ropes course, camping trips and much more! More important is the Jewish community formed amongst campers and staff filled with spirit, friendships, celebration, ethics and Jewish values.
Saturday, Oct. 26 – USY-led Family Service, 10:30am-12:00pm, Epstein Chapel
USY will lead a special Family Service filled with RUACH (and a lot of love!). This is an opportunity for families to share Shabbat in a place that will be all their own. Our USYers have been working hard on polishing their parts, and preparing to bring their spirit (and even some of their special, lively melodies) with them.
Sunday, Oct. 27 – Mitzvah Day at Congregation Or Chadash, 9:30am-12:00pm
Anshei Israel Religious School students will meet at Congregation Or Chadash for some joint community service projects to improve our community and will do fun getting-to-know you activities with the students at Congregation Or Chadash. This is in part because Heshvan (the Jewish month we will be in) is Jewish Social Action Month. Students are encouraged to wear their religious school shirts on this date. Parents are encouraged to join with their children in the fun activities!
“Turkey” Drive 2013, Nov. 3 – 24
Every year, CAI collects money to purchase kosher turkeys and other support for Jewish Family & Children's Services to help enhance the Thanksgiving celebration of families in need. Food items may be dropped off in the marked box in the administrative office lobby. Monetary donations may be dropped off or mailed in. Please make checks payable to CAI and note "Turkey Drive" on the check. Let’s help enhance someone’s Thanksgiving dinner!
Teachers’ Classroom Recaps:
Kindergarten – Renee Hulsey
The class learned two new Hebrew letters: “Hey” and “Vav.” Hey is the first letter in “Havdalah,” which we learned is how we celebrate the end of Shabbat. Havdalah begins when we see three stars in the sky. We also learned two words that begin with vav-“vared,” which means rose, and “varod,” which means pink. Please remember tzedakah next week!
1st Grade – Nancy Auslander
This week we reviewed the Hebrew letters that spell Shabbat Shalom so that we could begin work on our Shabbat boxes. We started by decorating the candle holders: they the first part of welcoming in Shabbat! In music with Nicole, we learned three new songs, including L'Cha Dodi, which the children will lead during our Friday night K-2 Service on Nov. 22. See you in shul!
2nd Grade – Bryan Gordon
This week the students explored the word "avoteinu," which is in so many of our prayers. We learned about how we receive so much from our ancient ancestors and nearer relatives (parents and grandparents) alike. We have been progressing with our Hebrew lessons, learning how to tell each other where to go in the classroom and how to ask where we went. One of the students even greeted a visiting kindergartener in Hebrew!
3rd Grade – Laura Olesen
We had another great week, with the students starting studies about Jerusalem. We will map it out next week. We also continued learning Lecha Dodi and I was glad to hear some students began listening to, and practicing, their solos! Our Hebrew class really enjoyed "Hebrew computer" time. It's fun and helps reinforce what they've learned. See you all next week!
4th Grade – Elana Israel
This week, the 4th grade Judaics class had fun making advertisements for new Jewish Sages to study and teach about the Torah. We also spent time playing trivia games to review everything we've learned so far. The game was close in score, and all of the students did an excellent job of remembering an incredible amount of information. In Hebrew, we spent a day playing various reading games where students demonstrated some truly amazing reading skills! We learned about new letters "yud" and "hay," and the different ways of writing vowels to make an "oh" sound. Everybody is doing spectacular work!
5th Grade-Sarah Artzi & Courtney DeYoung
This week in Hebrew, we introduced a new exercise that will help the students get reacquainted with basic Hebrew vocabulary. Each week they will be given a list of five Hebrew words which they must translate, write a sentence using at least three of the words. The sentence must have more than five words. At the end of the exercise there is a place for a parent’s signature, just to signify they saw their child's work. Along with that we will continue practicing the reading of the prayers within our workbook. Please don't hesitate to contact me regarding the new exercise or about your child in general. We are so happy with their improvement thus far and can't wait to see their confidence in reading grow!
6th Grade – MeMe Aguila
The students continued study of American Jewish History.
7th – 8th Grade – Sivan Shahmoon
This week we discussed the meaning of ethics. The students looked at some Jewish ethics stated in the Torah and performed them in front of their fellow classmates. They took these ethics and related them to their daily lives and discussed as a class.