Religious School Parent Bulletin December 6, 2013
Yasher Koach to our Kindergarten – 2nd Grade students for a wonderful Friday night service. You made us proud!
For the MITZVAH 613 Torah Project, we collected $142.80 since the High Holy Days Appeal. This puts our total amount collected as a school at $478.63. Remember that we also gave $100.21 for the High Holy Days Appeal, so the total amount we have collected in tzedakah since January 2013 is $578.85. Yasher Koach to all who gave!
Please be a part of our Torah Dedication Ceremony as we make history this Sunday! This is an event for the entire family. Parents: If you cannot make it, please drop off your child at 9:00am at the regular classroom entrance, but pick up your child at 12noon by the main sanctuary doors. Students: Please wear your blue Religious School t-shirts.
If your student brought home any art projects that they made for their art elective, please bring them back this Sunday so that we can showcase them in our Religious School Assembly & Talent Show at 10:30am on December 15.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Sunday, Dec. 8 – Mitzvah 613 Torah Siyum (Completion)
Religious School will be participating in this culminating event where we dedicate our new Torah! For all of 2013, we have been raising money so that each child will have a letter of the Torah in his/her name. Now we will get to see the fruits of our labors as the new Torah will be dedicated for us in our congregation (including at your child or grandchild’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah!) This event will also feature our Youth Choir (Grades 3-6). Please wear your Religious School t-shirts on this date!
Saturday, Dec. 14 – Shabbat Family Experience, 10:30am, Cantor Falkow Lounge
Share in this interactive, spirit-filled and participatory service led by children in the Religious School and Tucson Hebrew Academy, followed by a free lunch and singing led by Cantorial Soloist Nichole Chorny. Please RSVP for the lunch to Kim by Dec. 11.
Sunday, Dec. 15, Religious School Assembly & Talent Show, 10:30am, Cantor Falkow Lounge
Parents: See what your children have been learning in their electives including Israeli dance, creative arts, drama, music & band/orchestra. Refreshments served. Parents are encouraged to stay for this event!
TEACHERS' CLASSROOM RECAPS:
Kindergarten – Renee Hulsey
Our Friday night service was excellent and the children did a great job! On Sunday, we had fun playing the dreidel game and making dreidels out of clay. Please remember to attend our MITZVAH 613 celebration on December 8 … a day we’ve been waiting for: to see our new Torah!
1st Grade – Nancy Auslander
Last week we read and talked about the brave Maccabees. The children discussed brave adventures they've had themselves (snakes being a recurring theme!). I brought in my Hanukkiah from home (it's really big), along with some candles, and we all practiced loading the candles (left to right), the blessings (3 on the first night, 2 on all subsequent nights) and lighting the candles (right to left, just like we read Hebrew). Our electives went well, and the children are getting ready to show off their talents on December 15! In Hebrew, we learned a new letter that looks familiar, Vet (what happens when we drop the dot in Bet?).
2nd Grade – Bryan Gordon
The students are engaged in an end-of-term reflection about what they've learned so far and what they'd like to learn in the spring. We have spent some time learning songs and prayers of Hanukkah, and are learning the names of the Hebrew vowels using fun mixed competitive/cooperative tools like "Hebrew team tic-tac-toe."
3rd Grade – Laura Olesen
Third Grade continued its study of Israel and Hanukkah.
4th Grade – Elana Israel
Before the Thanksgiving break, the Hebrew class learned various Hanukkah-themed vocabulary words, and used them to write out Hanukkah cards. In Judaics, we reviewed the story of Hanukkah, finished our Hanukkah picture book, and made gifts and decorations for our families. On Tuesday, we celebrated through a Hanukkah workshop, where we decorated cookies, made Hanukkiot and sang songs!
5th Grade – Courtney DeYoung & Sarah Artzi
Fifth Grade continued its study of life cycle events. We focused on marriage; in particular what needs to be in a ketubah In celebration of Hanukkah, we made candles, decorated cookies and discussed the "real" story of Hanukkah during Tuesday's holiday workshop. This Sunday is also a special schedule for religious school as we welcome the arrival of our synagogue's new Torah. Please remind your students to wear their school t-shirts for this community celebration.
6th Grade – MeMe Aguila
The students spent some time discussing tzedakah, the needs in our Jewish community, and those in our community as a whole. Next semester we get to decide where we want to donate tzedakah. Everyone has wonderful ideas! I will update you on their decision. In Hebrew, we finished our sentences using all of our vocabulary words, and began reading them to each other. It is great to see how far they've come since our first class.
7th – 8th Grade – Sivan Shahmoon
We watched a short film on ethics, “For Goodness Sake,” then discussed what it means to be an ethical Jew.