Daled – Fourth Year – Tuesday (Reisberg)

11/4: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Our school day began with an all school Tefillah lead by Rabbi Prass. He asked us who has your back? And how does it feel when that person has your back? He then showed us that the Avot v’imahot prayer is about our ancestors, and by extension us, being in relationship with God.  Or in other words God having our back. 
  2. Today we continued with lesson two – the G’vurot, a blessing all about God’s powers.  We reviewed lines 1-2 that we learned last week and read lines 3 and 4 together.
  3. Students made flashcards for key vocabulary words in this blessing and worked on a vocabulary activity in our workbooks.
  4. With the last fifteen minutes of class, we played a few flashcard vocabulary review games with the words from lesson 1 and 2.
  5. We joined the other kitot in the sanctuary for Hebrew Through Movement with Rabbi Prass. We reviewed the new words we learned last week

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the G’vurot, lines 1-4 on page 16 in your textbook.
  2. Finish pages 17 and 18 in your workbook (if you didn’t complete it in class)
  3. Please bring a phone or tablet to class next week – we’ll be playing an online review game.

10/28: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Our school day began with an all-school Tefillah led by Rabbi Prass. He led a discussion about what makes them feel safe and why it is important to feel safe.  He then pointed out that the end of the Avot v’imahot prayer talks about God being the Magen (or shield of our ancestors).
  2. We began Chapter 2 – G’vurot. (page 16 in our book)
    • We talked about the powers in nature that most impress or inspire them and a time when they acted to make the world a better place for their parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, or even a stranger. We then saw how the prayer brings up how God has similar powers.
    • We created a poster about this. 
  3. We read the Hebrew of the prayer on page 16. Read lines 1-2 of the g’vurot, pg 16. 
  4. They did the activities on pages 13, 14, and 17
  5. Gimmel and Daled then went outside for a rousing round of Hebrew Thru Movement. Several students led this session, and we had a fun time.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Reading practice, G’vurot lines 1-2 on page 16
  2. Pg 18 “powerful words” in their books

10/21: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Welcome back! It was so nice being together again after the chaggim (holidays).
  2. We joined the rest of the school and Rabbi Prass for tefillot.  In addition to our ‘regular’ t’fillot, we reviewed the recent holidays thru by looking at the symbols of the shofar, white Torah mantel, lulav, and etrog. We heard how the dried lulav sounds like rain, since the rainy season in Israel has now begun and some of the prayers we say ask for bountiful rain. We also spoke of the recent release of several hostages from Hamas and answered students’ questions.  We concluded with singing Hatikvah.
  3. After reviewing the homework assigned when we met last, we started to wrap up lesson 1, the Avot V’imahot.  We spent a good amount of time on reading practice.  Students took turns spinning a virtual wheel and reading the line or lines that the wheel indicated. 
  4. At the end of every lesson, there are two worksheets we’ll complete that review blessings themes, vocabulary, etc.  We spent time in class working on those. If students did not finish, it was assigned as homework.
  5. We joined kitah gimel and Rabbi Prass for a look at the Torah scroll – exploring the parchment and handwritten letters. Each student had the opportunity to read a word directly out of the scroll and hold the torah.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the Avot V’Imahot, lines 1-7 on page 5 in your textbook.
  2. Finish lesson 1 worksheet (click here to download it)

9/30: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Shana tova!
  2. All classes joined together for t’filah led by Rabbi Prass.
  3. This afternoon we took the alef-bet quiz.  This is the same assessment students took in Bet and Gimel Hebrew – it’s a review of the names of the Hebrew letters and the sounds the vowels make.  We will retake this a few more times during the year.  The goal of the quiz is to keep this information fresh and see incremental improvements each time.  As of this year/grade, we expect the students to have mastered the letters/vowels
  4. We’re continuing with lesson 1, the Avot V’imahot.  We broke off into two groups; one group doing reading practice and the other group was working on vocabulary flashcards, switching activities halfway through
  5. At the end of class, we took a few minutes to learn a tool to help decode longer Hebrew words – looking at the consonants in the word and the vowels attached to them, we drew lines in the words breaking them up. Those lines represent the syllables in the word and when we read it, slowing down , taking breaths between syllables helps us get through the word a bit easier. For example: 
    • וּמוֹשִֽׁיעַ -> וּ|מוֹ|שִֽׁי|עַ
  6. We joined kitah gimel outside for Hebrew through movement.
  7. G’mar chatima tova!

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the Avot V’Imahot, lines 1-5 on page 5 in your textbook.
  2. Complete the activities on pages 8 and 9 in your textbook.

9/17: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. Welcome back!
  2. Our session began with an all-school Tefillah where Rabbi Prass reviewed how our services are structured. We discussed why we are wearing kippot during Hebrew School t’fillot. We then prayed the avot v’imahot and sang the Israeli National Anthem.
  3. We continued with the Avot V’imahot blessing – the first blessing in the Amidah section of worship that reminds us of our ancestors and our connection to generations before us.  We focused on lines 1-3, and everyone did a really nice job reading!
  4. After mapping out the Jewish matriarchs and patriarchs on a family tree, we spent time mapping out our own family trees to reinforce new vocabulary words:
  5. Mishpacha (family), Ima (mom), Aba (dad), ach (brother), achot (sister), saba (grandfather), savta (grandmother), ani (me), dod (uncle), dodah (aunt), ben-dod (cousin-m), bat-dodah (cousin-f).
  6. Gimmel & Daled students went outside to have a lesson in how to blow the shofar with Rabbi Prass. It was fun to listen to the students try their best. I heard some impressive sounds!
  7. Shana tova! Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the Avot V’Imahot, lines 1-3 on page 5 in your textbook.
  2. Complete the activities on pages 6 and 7 in your textbook.

9/10: Today in class, we worked on:

  1. All students met in the sanctuary with Rabbi Prass. He explained how the Hebrew school day will typically run. Rabbi explained since it is the month of Elul, the shofar is blown every day. Ask your student if they remember how many sounds the shofar makes.
  2. We did introductions of our names (English & Hebrew) and then introduced some Hebrew ‘school vocab”
    • בֵּית סֵפֶר (School)
    • סֶרֶט (Movie)
    • סֵפֶר (Book)
    • לֶאֱכוֹל (to eat)
    • קַיִץ (summer)
  3. We worked on our first prayer: Avot V’Imahot Introduction reading and understanding it.
  4. The students gathered back in the sanctuary with Rabbi Prass for Hebrew through Movement.
  5. Tzedakah will be collected every week.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the avot v’imahot