So much happens in each session of religious school, our teachers keep things active and moving. See pages 2-6 to read all about it! There are many opportunities for families to participate together in everything from childrens services, programs and dinners. See pages 7 & 10 for details. The Youth and Family Program Department has a variety of events for all ages. See page 8 for information on upcoming events.
JARSON EDUCATION CENTER HAPPENINGS The Teachers and Madrichim keep things moving and active in the classrooms. Take this opportunity to read about some of the things that have happened during this past month. SHERRY COHEN PRE-GAN (PRE-KINDERGARTEN) Lulav and Etrog were the focus this month during Sukkot. Sadie painted with a faux Lulav (ornamental grass and other foliage), and Miriam shook her newspaper Lulav in all directions to remind us that G-d is everywhere. Everyone decorated our classroom Sukkah by painting leaves, and making pine cone decorations. Washing and measuring faux Etrogs (lemons and gourds) was a huge hit. Next we learned about Simchat Torah. Nadav feather painted like a scribe and wrote his own Torah. We learned the different parts of the Torah. Henry made his wearable Torah mantel fancy with sparkly gems, stickers and flowers, because we learned the mantel protects and beautifies the Torah. Everyone got to see a real Torah, got to hold the yad, and point to the Hebrew words in the Torah. As a preview for Noah's Ark, Sunrock Farm came with goats, sheep, chicks and a bunny. Avi brushed the goat until its coat was shiny and clean. If you think preschool is nothing but playtime remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. (taken from heartwarmingstories.net) VICKI SPECTOR PRE-GAN (PRE-KINDERGARTEN) During this past month the Pre-Gan students have been learning about several Jewish holidays. We started the month learning about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We learned about how important it is to say you are sorry when we do something that is not kind, hurts someone, or is not what G-d wants us to do. We read the story The Hardest Word. The students celebrated Sukkot by making fun decorations at the sukkah raising and creating their own sukkah craft in class. Samantha was very creative making a paper sukkah. Ruth enjoyed shaking the lulav and etrog. Simchat Torah is a fun holiday where the students were able to learn about the importance of the Torah to the Jewish people. The children were able to look at a real Torah and use the yad. During this past week, we began our unit on Noah's Ark and the Hebrew names for colors. The children discovered that a rainbow is G-d's promise that there will never be a big flood that covers the Earth again. David and Bailey made beautiful rainbows using fruit loops. The class learned about primary colors and how they combine to make secondary colors. They had fun mixing the primary colors using finger-paints to create new colors. 2
CLASS HAPPENINGS DEBBIE LEMPERT GAN (KINDERGARTEN) The Kindergarten class has been hard at work, learning so much so early in the year. The students enjoyed eating edible Torah s in the synagogue sukkah, along with shaking the lulav and etrog. Liam was quite a shaker in the sukkah and shook the lulav all around. The children made edible Torah s out of fruit leather, pretzels, icing and sprinkles in honor of Simchat Torah! They also enjoyed looking inside a Torah and holding the yad to touch the letters. Elan loved holding the yad and pretending to read the Torah. The students were also introduced to the concept of Mitzvot through stories. Then each child made his/her own tzedakah necklace to bring tzedakah to class each week. Nadav and Jacob proudly brought their tzedakah and put it into our class tzedakah box. The children also looked at a table full of Judaica to discuss what makes someone Jewish. They sorted items that go together to discover that Jewish people have special foods, things they wear and items they use to celebrate Jewish holidays. We began our discussion about G-d. It is amazing what five and six year olds have already thought about G-d, including that G-d made the world, people, animals, plants, stars, the sun and moon, food and much more. We compared G-d to the air inside a balloon, in that we can t see air but we know it exists as we can see how it changes the balloon: We can t see the air but we know it s there. We can t see G-d but we know G -d s there. We have also talked about that fact that if G-d is invisible, G-d is just G-d, a concept that is still hard for many adults to understand! Meyer loved the G-d Talk and had so many thoughts to share on things that G-d does. Tyler also shared his ideas with the class. In addition to these very high level conversations, the students have been introduced to 6 alef bet letters in some fun ways, including making them with cheddar whale crackers and playdough, playing games with spinners, color activities and more. Blake liked using his letter recognition skills to build a car with pattern blocks that matched the letters. It s fun to learn in Kindergarten! DEENA ABERNATHY ALEF (FIRST GRADE) So far, we have learned how to celebrate some of our important Jewish holidays and now we are going to focus on celebrating our own Jewish identities. As the school year has progressed, I have enjoyed getting to know the class better. Simon has a great grasp of the Alef Bet and Ari s super speed is very impressive. Small bios of all the students are posted outside of our classroom. I encourage you all to take a minute to have a look. 3
CLASS HAPPENINGS ALLISON LESTER BET (SECOND GRADE) The Flood is Coming! During these last couple of weeks we have been diving into our Noah's Ark Project as we transform our sukkah into an ark. We've been scholars and researchers as we debate the truth, science, and history of the Great Flood and Noah. We've been engineers as we construct a stable ark, drawing on the mathematical blueprint in the Torah. We've been scientists as we study the weather and geological conditions for flooding. And soon to be zoologists, as we study life aboard the ark--with a possible upcoming trip to the zoo (will keep you posted!). Our Bet Scholars have been hard at work! ZAHAVA RENDLER GIMEL (THIRD GRADE) So many exciting things are happening in our class. We started our book Yisrael Sheli- My Israel! People & Places. We finished the first three chapters. We studied about Abraham & Sarah, the first Jews, and the promise G-d made to them I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. The second chapter we learned about Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. He lived in the land near the Negev Desert. We talked about how to make the desert bloom, and learned that Israel invented machines to take the salt out of sea water. Israel leads the world in desalination technology. In Hebrew, we made sentences with new vocabulary words. We practiced writing letters in cursive. Hebrew script writing is becoming easier. Julia said she has more fun writing Hebrew letters in script. For vocabulary, we played games, sang songs, and had fun! In the Siddur, we are learning the prayers; Modeh Ani, Adon Olam and Ma Tovu. Our Prayer Companion has work pages and translations to the prayers. ZAK LEMPERT DALED (FOURTH GRADE) What color is that tree? How many flowers do you have? Over the past few weeks, fourth grade has been working on our Hebrew vocabulary. Students really enjoyed becoming wizards for the day, all the while learning how to make nouns and verbs plural, masculine, and feminine. Aaron and Avi really enjoyed using food coloring to make "potions. Remi and Samone really excelled in making artistic family trees to talk about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Our Hebrew skills are growing fast, as is our knowledge of Israel. What is Israel, and why is it important? I hope fourth graders can now begin to answer these questions. Looking ahead, get excited for a model Israeli shuk, zoo projects, and more Jewish songs. Which songs are your students singing? We've learned quite a few in class and with Mitch, our music teacher. I'm looking forward to more fun and learning together as the year progresses! 4
CLASS HAPPENINGS CHELSEA SIMON & MICHAEL EVERS: HEI (FIFTHGRADE) This month, Kitah Hei finished celebrating the high holidays together, began the Torah cycle again, and continued learning about Hebrew. We reviewed the traditions and vocabulary of Yom Kippur using crossword puzzles, celebrated Sukkot in Adath's community sukkah where we smelled the etrog and shook the lulav, and made miniature scrolls (using paper glued to pencils) to remember why we celebrate Simchat Torah. Katie really enjoyed drawing the story of creation as we talked about Bereshit that week in class. During each class, we are learning a little bit more about the Torah and taking some of our new Hebrew vocabulary from the stories we read. In addition, we are talking about grammatical concepts like pronouns and prepositions in order to connect our vocabulary and continue practicing making sentences. In class this week, Noah was a star at remembering the pronouns! Finally, we have a new teacher on Sundays, Michael Evers. RAND BURKE & LESLEE LISNEK : VAV (SIXTH GRADE) Shalom from Kitah Vav, where we have been ramping up our Jewish learning with fantastic projects, and earning 77 points for the class, just 3 points away from Gold level! Kitah Vav has been studying Jewish history, Israel, and Hebrew vocabulary as a group. Students have shown their love for Kahoot - online quiz software that makes any lesson fun - and remember their history facts from week to week. They are even making their own Kahoot quizzes to quiz their classmates, in addition to the poster boards and Google Slide presentations which are very popular in our class. Jacob R. will soon be presenting his finger puppet show, which will engage his classmates in practicing Hebrew pronouns. Sam W. and Philip just started rewriting the lyrics to the Gummy Bear song to practice facts about our holy books, which we've learned in our history studies. We're excited to see where Kitah Vav's creativity leads our learning! BRETT SCHWARTZ: ZAYIN (SEVENTH GRADE) Over the last several weeks we started to focus on the importance of tzedakah. Did you know there are different ways to give tzedakah then just to bring money into class? We discovered over 30 different ways anyone can make a difference in someone s life. We studied Rambam's levels of tzedakah and tried to understand how tzedakah could fit into our own personal lives on a daily basis. Along with the theme of tzedakah we volunteered at French Park and Crayons to Computers. In conjunction with tzedakah we discussed the concept of random acts of love and kindness. Kitah Zayin has been given a weekly homework assignment of gimilut chasdim (acts of love and kindness/benevolence) or tzedakah (justice/ righteousness). Then they share what they have performed. As a seventh grade class we started looking at our obligations, and one of those obligations is pidyon shvuyim, the obligation of redeeming captives. To understand this obligation better, we discussed the Jews who were held captive in the Soviet Union and the SSSJ s (Student Struggle For Soviet Jewry) efforts to help their fellow brothers and sisters in need. 5
CLASS HAPPENINGS TOBY SAMET HEBREW RESOURCE ROOM Since we're having regularly scheduled weeks, students have been working steadily on advancing their reading skills. Using a multitude of activities, they move from one to the other during their time with Leah, Josh, Hannah or myself responding to the challenges of each experience. Letters have similar appearances, yet different sounds; vowels make a difference in the way a letter is pronounced. Ask your student about the tricks that they have learned to help them remember! Change CHANA WOLFSON HEBREW RESOURCE ROOM Enrichment and 7th grade students are on e-media tours of Israel this year. They're collecting information on different cities and landmarks and learning Hebrew vocabulary that goes with them. Stop by the bulletin board opposite room 322 to watch their Israel map develop over the next few months. 1st grade Hebrew is working on a project that will not be revealed until it's complete. Please make sure the 1st grade teacher Miss Deena knows your student's Hebrew name. We need it for our project. Thank you. MITCH COHEN MUSIC & TROPE TEACHER Music: As we started the new month, the school decorated the sukkah while we sang, "Come and have a looka in my sukkah and have yourself something to eat", which is a line from a popular Judy Caplan Ginsburgh song. The students and parents had fun doing a hula dance to The Lulav Shake under the sukkah. The children also enjoyed Simchat Torah songs such as Torah Ora. As the High Holy Day season ended, we sang about Noah's Ark. The Unicorn Song tells a story about Noah's ark and was very popular again this year with everyone. Our 3rd-5th grade music class enjoyed a number of non-holiday interactive songs, including Rick Recht's The Hope and Halleluyah. Trope: Our 5th graders are doing a nice job learning the Haftarah trope melodies. We worked on using dots to draw out the fancier melodies. Both 5th and 6th graders are enjoying using hand motions for each of the trope symbols. The hand motions are similar to the shape of the trope symbol in many cases. They receive bonus points for singing the tune and doing the hand motions. The 6th graders began working in small groups to practice their skills. 6th graders worked on both Torah and Haftarah tropes this month. We also focused on continuing to learn the longer blessings after the Haftarah. 6
UPCOMING FAMILY EVENTS 7
UPCOMING FAMILY EVENTS 8
Picture It! 9
YOUTH & FAMILY INFORMATION If you would like more information or to help plan events please contact Dara at school@adath-israel.org 10
YOUTH PROGRAM PHOTOS 11
NOVEMBER 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 10:30am Family Service 4 Religious School & Mercaz 12:30 USY Lounge Day 5 6 7 Religious School 8 9 5:00pm Friday Night Live Service & Congregational Dinner 10 6:15pm Kadima Mystery Bus Ride 11 Mercaz & Religious School 9am Mazel Tots 12:30pm J. Stars & Atid Bowling 5pm Confirmation 12 13 14 Religious School 15 16 Fall Kinnus 17 10:30am Mini- Minyan Fall Kinnus 18 Religious School & Mercaz 19 20 21 NO RELIGIOUS SCHOOL 22 THANKSGIVING 23 24 Fall Kinnus 25 NO RELIGIOUS SCHOOL OR MERCAZ 26 27 28 Religious School 29 30 NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS Samantha Ackerman 11/25 Harel Mellman 11/11 Samantha Brant 11/7 Arthur Newman 11/24 Isabel Ginns 11/2 Samantha Rosen 11/5 Juda Guttman 11/14 Joseph Samuel 11/30 Kai Guttman 11/16 Henry Seigel 11/30 Jaylen Hall 11/26 Liam Stalvey 11/22 Noah Hiudt 11/16 Leo Webber 11/5 Spencer Kahn 11/29 Noah Weeden 11/26 Meyer Lerer 11/28 Isadore Wolfson 11/21 Jack Levine 11/2 12