Education – 3rd Grade (Wilgus)

11/2: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. At Tefillah, Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa led K – 3rd grade in t’fillah.  Rabbi Prass shared with us his experiences visiting the Jewish community of Prague last spring and told us the story of the Prague Golem, and how he was created to protect the Jews in times of need.  Rabbi Prass told us he was created thru the community’s leader studying and learning Jewish tradition and enough Hebrew so that he could attain this power.  Several of our students left t’fillah saying they would study together to figure it out.
  2. Today we moved on in our Torah study learning about Noah and the flood
  3. We began to study our 10 Commandments song. (Next week we will get songsheets with the words.)
  4. We enjoyed being with the 3rd grades for Shira led by Morah Alexa.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Keep looking for moments that remind you of God.
  2. Start practicing the 10 Commandments song. You can find it here: https://youtu.be/kq4h3Opy-Xc?feature=shared

10/26: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. We had such a busy day!
  2. We enjoyed being together for an all school T’Fillah- Havdalah service led by Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa.  Several of the 4th – 6th graders had the opportunity to help lead by holding the havdalah candle, spice box, and wine glass.
  3. Then we reviewed last week’s Torah portion about Cain and Abel and then drew the story. When we were done, we worked in our Game Books.
  4. We then joined the rest of the school for a fun shira.
  5. Then Will Rivlin, an assistant Camp Director from OSRUI, came and we enjoyed a presentation from him on the amazing opportunities for fun, learning, and Jewish community from Reform Judaism Summer camp in Wisconsin. The camp website is: OSRUI. It was great to see several parents come to join us in seeing the video and what our learners were excited about trying.  We also heard from some of our students who already attend OSRUI. We all left with some OSRUI swag and a bag of ingredients to make smores.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Continue to look for special moments that remind you that God is all around us and we are partners with God.
  2. Bring a small stuffed animal next week to class – it must be an animal!

10/19: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. What a busy day!
  2. Gan-3rd grade began with tefilah with Rabbi Bellows and Morah Alexa. It was great to see K-2nd grade parents there for Boker B’yachad. Rabbi Bellows told us of Noah’s wife, Nachama, and how she was responsible for gathering all the seeds of plants before the flood.
  3. Back in class, we learned our next parshat in the Torah about Cain and Abel, and how anger and jealousy can cause us to do bad things. We discussed the difference between a really well thought out gift and something that we might just give someone that we really didn’t think about and how it makes us feel to be both the giver and the receiver.
  4. Gan – 3rd grade, and the K-2 parents joined for Shira with Morah Alexa and sang a bunch of fun songs – our students even led the hand movements for two of the songs!
  5. We came back to class and decided on a tzedakah project for the rest of the year. We chose Sheva Medical Center in Israel that has been caring for Israeli soldiers who were injured in the recent war.
  6. We ended the day by talking about God and God’s creations.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Continue to look for special moments where you feel God around you or something that reminds you of God.
  2. If you haven’t finished the exercises in Chapter 2 of you Game Book, please do it by next week.

10/12: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Today was a packed and fun day!
  2. K – 3rd grade started with Rabbi Bellows and Morah Alexa in tefilot and learned about Simchat Torah.
  3. We went back to class and reviewed our last Torah parshat about the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Students then created their drawings of the parshat.
  4. We joined K-2 and Morah Alexa for Shirah and sang and learned songs.
  5. We then returned to class and learned of the ancient tradition of flags for Simchat Torah, how it is traditional to carry them on each hakafah (or circle) around the Torah. Students then joined in a global project to create Simchat Torah Flags that will be uploaded to their website in of the Torah, the Jewish people, and our next holiday of Simchat Torah (10/13- 10/14).

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Please finish any pages in chapter 2 of your Gamebook that you did not have a chance to complete in class.
  2. Continue to look for moments that remind you of God.
  3. Bring in ideas for a tzedakah project for the year.

10/5: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Today was Yom Sukkot in Religious School
  2. For this session, we met at the synagogue.  We began in the sanctuary for an all school t’fillah led by Rabbi Prass, Morah Alexa, and Luke K.  We lit a yahrtzeit candle for the 2nd anniversary of October 7th.  Then we joined together in making Havdalah. 
  3. After that we split into 4 Sukkot based rotations:
    • Making yellow paperchain to decorate the sukkah. We wrote the names of the remaining 48 hostages on each slip of paper.
    • We played charades with Sukkot and Simchat Torah themes/ideas.
    • We visited the sukkah with Rabbi Bellows, learned about the sukkah, lulav, and etrog.  We had the opportunity to shake the lulav & etrog.  We talked about what middot (values) we would invite into the sukkah this 5786 as our ushpizin (sukkot guests)
    • We did a sukkah ‘scavenger hunt’ to help us think about what we have/do at home that brings the sukkot lessons home.
  4. We came back together in the sanctuary for an all school shira led by Morah Alexa and 5th grader Luke K. 
  5. Then we celebrated the Auf Ruf of Morah Rachel (5th grade) and Moreh Aaron (6th grade) who are getting married next Sunday. 
  6. We ended with Sukkot trivia led by Rabbi Bellows.

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/28: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Today we learned a lot!
  2. We started with how we were feeling this morning in Hebrew.
  3. At Tefilla, Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa led Gan – 3rd graders in t’fillah. Rabbi Prass taught us about the importance of second chances as we get ready for Yom Kippur.
  4. We started our second chapter in the Torah, learning about the Garden of Eden and rules.
  5. At Shira, Morah Alexa taught Gan – 3rd grade a song “Tap Your Heart” to get us ready for Yom Kippur.
  6. We came back and talked more about God – who is God, what is God, questions students have, and while we can’t see God, we can see evidence of God all around us.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Look for moments where you can see evidence of God all around you.

9/21: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Today was a busy class!
  2. We started with tefilot with Rabbi Bellows and Morah Alexa. We learned why we bow during the Barchu. Emmy Shorr, Luke Kanter, and Landon Gehrke were the students who had mastered blowing the Shofar and helped us fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar during this month of Elul.
  3. We then reviewed last week’s parshat about how everything was created and drew it for our first drawing for our illustrated Torah scrolls.
  4. K – 3rd grades joined for Shirah with Morah Alexa and sang fun songs, including one about a train in Hebrew!
  5. We did a brief scavenger hunt around the school to see where things are.
  6. We then finished out drawings and worked in our GameBooks, doing crosswords, dot to dots, and seek and finds all about Creation.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Finish any pages you did not complete in your Gamebook. Keep looking for special moments when you see evidence of God around you.
  2. Come in with ideas for a tzedakah project for the year. We have a couple, but would like a few more before we vote.
  3. Shanah Tovah!

9/14: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. What a great 2nd class!
  2. K-3rd grade started with tefilah with Rabbi Bellows and Morah Alexa and began to learn about tefillot and talked about Rosh Hashanah.
  3. Students got their Torah texbooks and we learned the very first chapter of the Torah about how everything was created! We did some fun games in our books, including a dot-to-dot and seek and find, too.
  4. K-3rd grade then joined Morah Alexa for shira and learned and sang some fun songs, including ones for Rosh Hashahah, and heard Rabbi Prass blow the shofar for this Hebrew month of Elul.
  5. We then started our Partners with God books to discuss the idea of God what Judaism tells us about our relationship with God. We talked about how creation was not a one time thing, but something that happens all the time, and how when God created humans, we were given the job to work with God to make sure the world works well.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Finish the fill in sentences in chapter one of A Child’s Bible.
  2. Look for things that remind you that God is all around us. Just like we can’t see the wind, we can’t see God – but just like we can see the impact of the wind and what the wind touches, we can see God’s presence and presents all around us.

9/7: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. What a great start to the year!
  2. The whole school gathered to start off the year with a fun assembly which included prayer, hearing the shofar for Elul, minute to win it Jewish style, and confetti ‘canons’! It was lovely to have so many parents join us!
  3. Then, 3rd grade parents joined Morah Wilgus to learn what their students will be doing this year while the students stayed with Morah Alexa and the madrichim.
  4. Students came in and we said good bye to parents
  5. Students received their name cards for stickers
  6. We discussed rules and suggestions to make this year the best
  7. We talked about what we will learn this year
  8. We talked about cycles in our lives and how around all of them, God supports all
  9. We read the introduction to our Torah book, learning that Torah means teachings and how we will be learning about our history and how we came to be Jews
  10. We discussed our favorite Torah stories
  11. We listed questions we may have about God and what we will learn
  12. Students asked lots and lots of questions!
  13. Many stickers were earned today!
  14. We ended the day with shira with the rest of the school and Morah Alexa
  15. Students received lollipops on their way out to celebrate the tradition that Jewish learning should be sweet.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Talk with your parents about ideas for us to vote on a tzedakah project this year.