Midweek October 17 & 18
HEBREW
Gimel:
The Gimel students learned to read with Hebrew letter Tet. The students read in small groups and completed an activity where they matched rhyming Hebrew words.
Dalet, Hey, Vav:
The Dalet, Hey, and Vav students are now divided into groups based on their Hebrew reading skills. Students who can read Hebrew well are working in the Mitkadem curriculum, where they are studying tefillot (prayers) that we recite in our services. The prayers that are being studied this year are the brachot (blessings for foods, lighting candles, and the shehecheyanu), Friday night Kiddush, the blessing for an aliyah to the Torah, Shema and V’ahavta, and Amidah. Students who working on sharpening their Hebrew reading skills for accuracy and speed are working in small groups and focusing on reading with letters and vowels that they need to master. This week, many of our students focused on reading with the Hebrew letter, Samech. There has been a positive feeling in the classes with students helping each other read Hebrew words and cheering each other on!
Experiential Education:
We had another great week in Experiential Education!
We started class reviewing Parashat Noach and how the rainbow (Keshet) is a reminder to us of God’s promise to not attempt to destroy the world again. This week in class we focused on Jewish diversity. Students were given 10 index cards and on one they wrote Jewish. On the other 9 cards, they wrote what makes them unique or is a part of them. After, each student would write how they feel about being Jewish and shared their feelings with their peers. Students then divided the cards up into very important, important, and not important and color-coded them. Students shared with the class what was important to their identity and what was similar and different from one another. We then discussed how the one thing that links us all together is our Judaism and one of our strengths as Jews is our diversity. With our diversity, we have different traditions and customs, views of halacha or Jewish law, and different experiences that make us stronger as a people.
