3rd and 4th grade will be at the MJCCA Ropes Course THIS Sunday, 10/27. Email with waiver, drop-off/pick-up information, and rain plan coming soon!
IMPORTANT: Please remember, if you need to check your child out early, notify the office as soon as possible. You will need to come to the office to sign your child out - teachers have been instructed not to let children leave the classroom unless someone from the office comes to pick them up. Please help us with this security measure.
The kids are encouraged to study their kippah level prayers, and ask to be tested when they are ready to move up a level. Additionally, the kids can attend office hours with their Hebrew teacher at 8:45 am on Sundays. Click HERE for Hebrew Skills practice pages.
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This week in...
Kindergarten In addition to our visit to the sukkah, today we learned about a mezuzah, Aron Ha Kodesh and Ner Tamid. We learned where a mezuzah is placed and how the Sh'ma is inside of it. We got a chance to make our own mezuzahs. We also took a tour in our temple to see where the Aron Ha Kodesh and Ner Tamid are and talked about their significance. Ask your child: 1. What direction does the mezuzah face? 2. What is a Ner Tamid? 3. What is Aron Ha Kodesh?
1st Grade Today we learned about sukkot. We discussed what a lulav and etrog are and what we do in a Sukkah. We did a magazine about sukkot. We will make fruits for the Sukkah and decorate it when we visit. We read The Very Crowded Sukkah. Ask your child: 1. What can we do in the Sukkah? 2. What is a lulav and etrog?
2nd Grade Now that we are ready to restart the Torah we learned how God created the world. Starting with light and ending with a day of rest. Our first Torah passages show us the beginning of humanity and our first trials in the Garden of Eden. Ask your child: 1. What are the days of creation? 2. What happened in the Garden of Eden?
3rd Grade Judaics - Students learned about the life of Theodor Hertzl and what he is famous for. They listen to the first part of the story "Hertzl's Cypress." Class was divided into two groups and each one discussed a question related to Hertzl's dream for the Jewish people. They then presented their thoughts to the class. Ask your child: 1. Why was Hertzl nervous about coming to meet with the Kaizer in Israel? 2. What did he want from Kaizer? Hebrew Skills - Sukkot is a seven-day harvest holiday that arrives during the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It starts four days after “Yom Kippur” and is followed by “Shmini Atzeret” and “Simchat Torah.” Sukkot is also known as the Festival of Booths. In class, we learned about Sukkot by reading a story, completing a word search and singing a song. We also learned about customs that happen both in America and in Israel. Ask your child: 1. Why do we celebrate Sukkot? 2. How many days do we celebrate Sukkot?
4th Grade Judaics - Gratitude is so important in Judaism that we have a holiday dedicated to it. Why does Sukkot happen right after the High Holy Days? Being gracious and displaying it, really does feel good. Ask your child: 1. What does the Etrog represent physically and symbolically? 2. Why do we hold the 4 species together and shake them in a certain way? Hebrew Skills - We will explore the holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. We will look at why we celebrate them and what do we do in each one. Ask your child: 1. Why do we celebrate the holiday of Sukkot? 2. What do we do in the Sukkah? 3. What do we do on Simchat Torah?
5th Grade Judaics - Students began their first major art project of the year. They are working on a tree of life piece. Hebrew Skills - Visiting the Sukkah and learning about the "Arbaat Haminim" the 4 species together with the Rabbi. In class we will dive into the meaning of every species understanding how the 4 species are relevant to our K'hilah and humanity. Ask your child: 1. What are the four species? 2. What species do you "wish to be" and why?
6th Grade The holidays are officially behind us, but on Sunday we still had a few things to celebrate! After Tefillah concluded, the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade stayed in the sanctuary to hear the leaders of our TEFTY (youth group) Teen Leadership Council present on why youth group is such an important part of their lives and why they’d love to see the 6th-8th graders get more involved in the year ahead. Although TEFTY is for 9th-12th grade, Temple Emanu-El runs lots of programs independently and with NFTY (our Reform Movement’s Youth Movement) for 6th-8th grade.
After the students heard from the teen leaders and had their questions answered they finally had the chance to learn from this year’s Israeli Shinshinit, Nicole. Nicole is with our Religious School students each and every week, moving from grade to grade and sharing her love of Israel. The Shinshinim program is for Israelis who have finished high school and are taking a gap year before going into the army. This week, Nicole played “get to know you” games so that she could get to know our students better and they could learn a little bit more about her! See if they remember the following: Where is Nicole from? (Tsfat) What was Nicole’s major in school? (Computer science) What will Nicole be doing in the army? (Unlike most Israelis, Nicole was selected to be in a special program for computer science, so she will be in a unit that specializes in using computer technology!)
Finally, Sunday was the last day of Sukkot, so we concluded the day in the Sukkah where the students had a refresher on the holiday of Sukkot with Rabbi Spike and everyone had the chance to shake the lulav and etrog!
7th Grade The students learned about Ushpizin (guests) that we invite to our sukkah. Traditionally, Ushpizin are biblical characters who we "invite" to our sukkah to remind us of their stories and the values they teach us. Then, the students considered who they would invite to their sukkah if they had the opportunity. Thinking about what values their guest brings, what middot (values/character traits) their guest lives by, and why they would want to spend time with this guest in the sukkah. Ask your child: 1. Who did you choose to be your Ushpizin (sukkah guest)? 2. What character traits do you learn from that person?
