12.15.11

Please don’t forget to come and see the 1^st grade recite the ברכות (blessings) for lighting the Hanukiyah and perform a play about the Hanukkah story! Our Hanukah performance will be next Tuesday in the school shul.

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
כִּי, נֵס גָדוֹל הָיָה! (Ki nes gadol haya) “because a big miracle happened”. (This is the answer for last week’s sentence: There are eight days of Hanukkah. Why?)

Hagim (Holidays):
We colored our own chart of the blessings for lighting the Chanukiyah. This chart is shaped like  a"סביבון" (driedel)/ Please use it for Chanukah and put it on the fridge for a decoration.
We have almost finished learning our Tal –At workbook for חנוכה Hanukkah! Every day we also practice asking:
כַּמָה נֵרוֹת אנחנו מַדְלִיקִים בַּלַיְלָה הַ____  (“How many candles do we light on the _____ night?”)
After we say each number, we light the Chanukiyah with the right number of candles.
In this way we practice the blessings for lighting the “Chanukiyah” (Chanukah menorah) and the song “הַנֵרוֹת הַלָלוּ” (Hanerot Halalu) -the song that we sing after lighting the Chanukiya as well.
We have also started a new workbook in English that teaches the students even more details about Chanukkah. I’m will send both workbooks B”H home on Wednesday with all the other art work we did (a chanukiyah, a sevivon box and the sevivon blessing.)

Parashat Hashavua:
This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “וישב” – Vayeshev . We began learning the story of Yosef and his brothers and how Yosef was sold down to Egypt. We learned that Yosef is called a “Tzadik” because he always trusted in Hashem. He was able to keep his emotions inside himself and trust that Hashem had a special plan for him.  We learned that all the fights between Yosef and his brothers happened because Hashem wanted him to go to Egypt in order to save everyone from the terrible famine that would come.

Hebrew workbook:
This week we finished the workbook that teaches about the vowel sound “Segol” and “Tsereh”. We learned to spell words with all four of the vowels we have learned (“Ah”, “Ei” ,“O” and “Eh”). We also started learning the last vowel sound “Shoorook” sound “OO”.

First Grade Album:
We are working on a special album that reviews all the material we are learning in “Tal-Am” curriculum. Please send to school two of the following pictures (4”x6”):
1. A picture of the outside of your child’s house.
2. A picture of your child’s family (a group picture of as many members of the family as possible).
These pictures are very important for our learning in the class! You can e-mail me the picture and I will print it.
The due date is right after the winter break!


Coming after winter break:
I will be teaching a new unit on Hebrew script letters.
I will be adding a new weekly Hebrew homework and vocabulary test.
I will be starting a new unit on home & family (this is why the students need pictures of their home and family!)

Shabbat Shalom and have a great winter break!
Morah Irit

12.9.11

This week we learned more about חנוכה “Chanukkah.” We got to color our own Chanukiya that I made out of plaster of paris. We also made a “Sevivon” (Dreidel).

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
? שְמוֹנָה יָמִים בַּחֲנֻכָּה. לָמָה? (shmonah yamim ba Hanukkah. Lama?) – Eight days in Chanukkah. Why? (Ask your child to sing it to you. Next week you’ll find the answer.)

Hagim (Holidays):
We continued learning from our workbook for Hanukkah! We learned that we celebrate Chanukkah to remember the great miracles that Hashem did for us during that time. We are saying thank you to Hashem! “תוֹדָה, תוֹדָה אֱלוֹקִים. תוֹדָה עַל הַנִיסִים” (Todah, Todah Elokim. Todah al hanisim,)

Since Hanukkah is not going to be during school time we are pretending that Hanukkah is right now and we are lighting the candle every day. In this way we get to practice the blessings for lighting the “Chanukiyah” (Chanukah menorah) and the song “הַנֵרוֹת הַלָלוּ” (Hanerot Halalu) -the song that we sing after lighting the Chanukiya.

Parashat Hashavua:
This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “וישלח” – Vayishlach . We learned that Yaakov prepared to meet Esav in 3 ways: 1- Shalom (peace- he send a מתנה present). 2-Tefilah (prayers to Hashem) and 3- Milchamah (war).
-Yaakov returned to the other side of the river to get the small כָּד –Kad (jar) that he had forgotten to take with him. Yaakov teaches us that we need to be responsibility for our things even if it is something not so expensive.

The “Asherey” Homework:

I’m very pleased to see that some of the students chose to participate in this activity.

I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear enough, but the signature paper need to come back in the Hebrew folder on Monday only after it is all signed! (only after your child read it to you at least nine times on a diffrent days).

First Grade Album:

We are working on a special album that includes all the subjects we are learning in “Tal-Am”. Please send to school (soon is better  - the latest time is after winter break).

two of the following pictures (4”x6”)

1. A picture of the outside of your child’s house.

2. A picture of your child’s family (a group picture of as many members of the family as possible).

These pictures are very important for our learning in the class!

You can Email me the picture and I will print it.

Shabbat Shalom, Morah Irit

12.2.11

Dear parents
This week we were busy studying about Chanukah.

Hagim (Holidays):
We started our new work book for Chanukah! We learned the story of Chanukah and we learned the Hebrew words: “Yehudim” (Jews) and “Yevanim” (Greeks).

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
אֲנִי אוֹמֵר/אוֹמֶרֶת תוֹדָה עַל...(Ani omer/omeret todah al…)
I’m saying thank you for …..
We learned last week (Thanksgiving week) to say thank you. This week we connected it to the Chanukah story. We learned the song: “Todah Elokim, Todah al Hanisim” (thank you G-d, thank you for the miracles.

Ariot: we started going to the computer lab and got to learn with the Ariot program on the computer.
We got to read stories listen to songs and practice skills by using games.

Hebrew workbook:
This week we continued our workbook which teaches about the vowel “Segol” and “Tsereh” (the short E sound). We learned to spell words with all four of the vowels we have learned (“Ah”, “Ei” ,“O” and “Eh”).

Parashat Hashavua:
This Friday you will find in their folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “ויצא” (Vayeitzei). We learned that the 3 prayer services we say every day were established by each of our forefathers. We also learned the stories of Yaakov’s dream, how Lavan tricked Yaakov into marrying Leah and Rachel as well as the birth of the 12 sons of Yaakov.


Prayer:
We started to practice the blessing for lighting the “Chanukiyah” (Chanukah menorah).

Shabbat Shalom
Morah Irit.