This week in...
Kindergarten
Today we talked bout being thankful in the spirit of Thanksgiving. We read the story Something from Nothing, which talks about a boy whose favorite piece of clothing becomes more worn, however he is grateful for it and makes it into something better. We then got to play a game to talk about what we are thankful for. Each student had to close their eyes and choose a skittle from a bowl. The color of the skittle coordinated with a question of what type of thing/place/person they are thankful for. Lastly, we created Thankful Pumpkins to write our ideas out as a rememberance during this time of year. Ask your child: What does it mean to be thankful? What are 3 things you are thankful for?
1st Grade
We learned that welcoming guests is a mitzvah. We made invitations to come to our house for thanksgiving dinner. We also read Not This Turkey! and Oy, Feh, So? We read and discussed Lets Discover Mitzvot: "Welcome Guests." Making people feel at home is Hachnasat Orchim. Ask your child: How can you welcome guests to your home? How can you put your guests at ease?
2nd Grade
This week we began our unit on Hanukkah. We learned about the miracles of Hanukkah. We spoke about how the Maccabees drove their oppressors out of Jeruselum. Despite their efforts, the Temple was still destroyed. Many miracles happened during this story but we focused on how one day's worth of oil lasted for eight; enough time to make more. Ask your child: Who were the Maccabees? Why do we celebrate for 8 days?
3rd Grade
Judaics
Judaics classes visited Morah Laura today to work on their art projects.
Applied Hebrew
During class, the students explored Abram and Sarai’s journey in depth and reflected on journeys they or their family have taken in their lives. We started the lesson by writing about a time the students tried something new and the challenges that were involved in doing so. We then had a class discussion about the difficult journey Abram and Sarai had from Haran. The students all gave their opinions and we concluded that Abram and Sarai showed tremendous faith in God as well as courage. Ask your child: What was the journey that Abraham and Sarah went on? How does having bitachon help shape the way you live your life?
4th Grade
Judaics
We are learning Jewish Values, a kids version of Mussar. Your children are sharing so much while we explore being a good listener, keeping our cool (slow to anger), healing the sick and supporting the fallen, and our latest topics of gratitude, humility and empathy.
For our last topic, empathy, we started with an art project with Miss Laura (Sunday before last). Some of you saw their art work and some of the art work will soon go up on our bulletin board for all to see. In yesterday’s class, we defined empathy and then did dynamic partner activity. Each pair of students (and this time I assigned the pairs-so our twins had to pair with someone other than their sibling and our sets of best friends were also split up), were given a scenario of ‘ What should you do?’ . They discussed their scenario (from bullying to being left off the team to being singled out because of physical difference and others) with their partner, and then came in front of the class to present their scenario and what they could do to rectify or solve the problem. The interaction was really fantastic. I sat in the student’s chair so they were ‘teaching’ the class. The amount of thought and empathy that went into the discussions, is truly special. Every single student participated, even those who don’t like coming up in front of the group! Now this is a change from the beginning of year for sure. Our shy kids are comfortable sharing and standing and reading in front of everyone. This shows me that the environment that we are trying to build is succeeding! Your children whether they know it or not, are practicing Middot, our Jewish values every day.
5th Grade
Judaics
Today we learned about Parshah Chayei Sarah (Gen. 23:1-25:18)! We discussed the purchase of land in the Caves of Machpelah by Abraham, which served as burial grounds from him and his family. We talked about the significance of the first purchase of land in modern Israel by our ancestors. Ask your child: What were the names of Abraham’s two sons? What act by Rebekah made her stand out to Abraham’s servant?
Applied Hebrew
As Thanksgiving approaches our Madricha, Eli, will teach a lesson about Hakarat Hatoda - Gratitude. Eli will have some quotes related to gratitude. Every student will have on quote explaining the importance of being thankful. Later, students will build their own Alef bet "thank you" and will finish the session writing a "Thank you" note to their parents. Ask your child: I would like to read your "Thank you note"! Happy Thanksgiving :)
6th Grade
As mentioned a number of weeks back, the 6th-grade curriculum no longer focuses on the Holocaust in the first semester, followed by Israel in the second. Instead, we’ve been integrating both topics based on a historical timeline. That said, we’ve had several lessons on the Holocaust in recent weeks. However, today, we jumped back to the story of Israel (which of course, included conversations still relevant to the Holocaust, as we’re only to around the 1939–1949 time period).
We briefly spoke about the British White Paper (May 1939) - which limited Jewish entry into the land of Israel (at the time: British Mandated Palestine). The students were able to draw connections between this border closing and its impact on Jews trying to escape Europe.
We transitioned from this date and discussed a little bit about what was happening in the interim years and then jumped to May 1948 and introduced the establishment of the State of Israel, the War of Independence, and Israel’s creation of a Declaration of Independence. Ask your child what happened immediately after the State of Israel was declared, which countries went to war with Israel, and what happened after the war.
We concluded the class with the students writing their own Declarations of Independence, focusing on how they would treat the people who live in their land.
7th/8th Grade
On November 17 we then had the privilege to learn from another fantastic member of Temple Emanu-El, Allison Padilla-Goodman, the regional director of ADL (Anti-Defamation League). This class was a combined 7th and 8th-grade lesson. Together, both grades discussed the hard questions about what to do when we face antisemitism and how we, as Jews, can prevent further prejudice and bias that other groups face. Allison shared about her own Jewish journey through growing up in New Orleans, traveling around the world, and how she uses her Judaism and Jewish values on a daily basis with ADL. Ask your child: What is one strategy you can use when faced with antisemitism?
