Religious School Parent Bulletin October 11, 2013
Shalom! It was wonderful to see so many of you at our Blessing of the Pets this past Sunday. I saw dogs of all sizes, cats, rabbits, a hamster and a guinea pig! Thank you for helping make the event so successful.
Please remember to bring tzedakah so that each child will be able to have a letter in the Torah dedicated to them.
I look forward to seeing many of you at our Shabbat Family Experience later tonight. Please remember that we begin with dinner at 6:00pm, followed by the service at 7:15pm. If you haven’t already made dinner reservations, please contact Kim immediately!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Sunday, Oct. 13 – Parents are Teachers Too
Join Rabbis Robert Eisen and Ben Herman to learn about the laws of Kashrut and where Kashrut fits in the Religious School curriculum. Afterwards we will join Max (CAI’s Mashgiach) in the kitchen to make some tasty treats.
Tuesday, Oct. 22 – Camp Ramah Assembly
Join Ariella Moss Peterseil, Camp Ramah Assistant Director, at 5:30pm in the Cantor Falkow Lounge, 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 among campers and staff filled with spirit, friendships, celebration, ethics and Jewish values.
Sunday, Oct. 27 – Mitzvah Day at Congregation Or Chadash
Anshei Israel Religious School students will meet at Congregation Or Chadash for some joint service projects to improve our community and will do fun getting-to-know you activities with the students of 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 CAI Religious School shirts to this event. Parents are encouraged to join with their children in the fun activities!
Teachers’ Classroom Recaps:
Kindergarten – Renee Hulsey
This week we had a combined Kindergarten and 1st Grade class. Together we read a story called “The Shabbat Box” and learned about some of the items that could be in one. We also talked about the letter "hay" and walked around the synagogue finding items that were the color "kachol." Ask your student what color "kachol" is and they should be able to tell you it is BLUE. The highlight of the day, however, was the Blessing of the Pets! Most of the kids were excited to meet my dog, Molly, and her niece (my parents’ dog), Sophie. Have a great week, and I hope to see everyone on Sunday. Please remember to bring in tzedakah!
1st Grade – Nancy Auslander
First Grade met with Kindergarten this week. We will resume class with HaMorah Nancy this coming Sunday.
2nd Grade – Bryan Gordon
The 2nd Graders are learning quickly! This week they all quickly passed an assessment, matching up the handwritten and print versions of all of the 12 Hebrew letters we have studied so far. We also spent time learning about God's promise after the Flood, and the story of Sarah and Abraham. The students drew pictures of people resolving their differences, after we talked about the story of Abraham and Lot's separation. We have also begun collecting "mensch marbles" for good behavior; if we collect all of them, we might earn a special end-of-year party!
3rd Grade – Laura Olesen
Good job 3rd Graders on another wonderful week of Religious School! In Judaics, students completed their Galilee mapping and learned about areas in the Galil. They also received their solos in Tefillah for their 3rd grade Siddur Dedication (consecration). Please practice prayers and solo using the web site. The Hebrew class did an excellent job as well with Chapter 3 and took home practice pages to reiterate what they learned. Parents: Please encourage them to practice these. We enjoyed seeing all the pets at our "Blessing of the Pets" as well. Shavuah Tov! Morah Liora
4th Grade – Elana Israel
This week, the 4th graders continued talking about Jewish prophets and their stories. We presented our "Prophet Wanted" ads to each other, and decided upon some of their most important characteristics. We also began talking about important Jewish sages. We discovered their influence on the religion, and how they affect us in our everyday lives. The students have decided that they wish to do "Sage Wanted" ads to demonstrate the difference between prophets and sages. In Hebrew, we have been reading and learning new letters and vowels, practicing them with games like "Hebrew Hangman" and Charades.
5th Grade – Sarah Artzi & Courtney DeYoung
This week in Judaics, we continued down the "road of life" in our Life Cycles unit, leaving behind Brit Milah/Brit Bat and the relatively carefree world of childhood, and entering the significant Jewish milestone of Bar and Bat Mitzvah. As you can imagine, the introduction to this topic brought up lively discussion about what B'nai Mitzvah means and the feelings each student currently has about this event in his/her own life. Those who have had a sibling become a Bar/Bat Mitzvah shared with us their observations. This is clearly going to be an involved unit, and we hope to address as many different facets of it as possible. Please know that your students are always asked to do family interviews about our topics, so please share stories with them about your own Bar or Bat Mitzvah: Did you have one? Why or why not? When and where was it? Was it meaningful? What made it meaningful? Was there a celebration of some sort? Did you feel differently afterward? Sharing your personal experiences with your child will greatly enhance our classroom discussions, so we thank you in advance. Also, a reminder to those of you in orchestra to bring your instruments this Sunday for Electives. Shabbat Shalom!
6th Grade – MeMe Aguila
Sixth Grade was treated to another presentation in our prophet series: this time it was on Jeremiah. Emily Bregman did a great job! We are continuing work on our family immigration tree. It's been a lot of fun to see how much everyone has in common (in terms of from where their ancestors came), but at the same time, how many diverse locations there are. We will continue to create the tree in the classroom and will invite all the parents to check it out once it is completed. We will be moving on in our Jewish American History, as we begin to talk about the period in American history between World War I and the Great Depression. We’ll talk about the Jewish influences during that time. In Hebrew, we are expanding our vocabulary as we begin to develop our conversational abilities. We are having fun as we learn the names for areas of the house, as well as the names of family members.
7th – 8th Grade – Sivan Shahmoon
In this week's class, we discussed the topic of "Welcoming Change and Challenge." The students were able to picture themselves in situations where they had to consider change and how they would go about the scenario. The students got a chance to read over the story of the Burning Bush and reenact the story through their own skits.