First Grade Hebrew

1.13.2012

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

1.13.2012

Wow! We can write a lot of words using only cursive letters.

Cursive Hebrew letters:

First grade started to learn how to write cursive Hebrew letters. In this unit, we are focusing on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we were practicing the letters:

א=א, ב=ב, ג=ג, ד=ד, ה=ה, ו=ו, י=י, ן=ן, ס=ס

I know the students are very excited about writing their words in cursive, but it is extremely important not to let them write it yet! The students are allowed to use Hebrew cursive letters only for the letters we have learned in the class. The students may think they know how to form the letters, but if they are forming it incorrectly, it will be very hard to fix their mistakes later.

Sentence of the week:
“כתב יד”- cursive hand writing
We are so busy to write:”בכתב יד יפה” (to write with nice cursive hand writing)

We started “Ariot 2 workbook” and “Ariot 2 CD”:
We started “Ariot 2” workbook, and Ariot 2 program on the computers.
Even though “Ariot 2” is more challenging, it is even more fun to figure out the words in the “Hachtava” (the spelling test at the end of each unit) and we are still able to figure out the words without help.

”My family” and “My house” unit:
We are supposed to start learning about our family and about our house in Hebrew. I asked a few weeks ago that you should send two pictures about your family.
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).

Unfortunately, I’ve received pictures only from a few of the class and therefore I will have to push off teaching this unit for another two weeks. If you haven’t sent your pictures yet or you have sent only one of the pictures, please send your pictures this week!
At the end of this unit, the pictures will be posted in your child’s album. For your convenience you can send to school the SD card with your child (I promise to send it back the same day) or Email me the pictures and I will print it for you! (My Email is: iritkaravani@hotmail.com)

Parashat Hashavua-Parashat Shmot

The 1st grade began learning Sefer Shemot by studying the story of how the Jews became slaves in Egypt. They also learned about how Moshe was saved by the daughter of Paro and was raised in the house of Paro himself!

Homework:
First grade students are doing very well. We are ready to move to a higher level. We will have a small quiz every Thursday on the 5 words we have studied. Please look for our first list of words in the “Friday Hebrew Folder”. Please keep the words in an available place, sign the folder, and send the folder back.

To help your child study the words, each student will have a special notebook that he/she will take home on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with their homework assignment.
Every Monday, each student must write the words in Aleph-Bet order. Every Tuesday, they must write the words 3 times. And every Wednesday, they will have a word search puzzle with our week’s words.
This week because of the long weekend we will have our Homework on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The test will be on this Friday instead of Thursday.

For your convenience, I made flashcards to be practiced on line.

Please make sure your child is studying and doing his/her homework.

Please make sure your child is writing his/her homework with pencil only!

Please make sure the homework notebook is placed back into your child’s backpack.

Please make sure your child is using the cursive letter but make sure it is only cursive letter that we learned.

This is our first word list.

The test will be on Friday 1/18/12.

Pink וָרוֹד- 1

Bear- 2 דֹב

Come- 3 בּוֹא

Roof 4 גַג-

Mr. - 5 אֲדוֹן

You can practice with flash card at:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1109491/w57b

Shabbat Shalom from Morah Irit Karavani.

12.15.11

2011-12-15T12:41:00.000-08:00

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 “Holam” 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

2011-12-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

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.

11.18.11

2011-11-18T11:13:00.001-08:00

בס"ד

כ"א בחודש חשון

Dear Parents,

Thank you for coming for the parent/teacher conferences. It was very nice to share with you my joy teaching your child!

Ariot
This week we started learning from Ariot 1 and we are already completed up to the middle of the workbook.
We can read all the Hebrew in it! Most of us can also spell the Hebrew words in our “Hachtava” (the spelling test).
Once a week we will go to the computer lab and work on the Ariot I CD-ROM which includes the same stories and activities as in the workbook.
We will have a lot of כַּיף " “!

Our Hebrew workbook:

This week we finished learning about the vowel “Holam” the long O sound). We have learned to spell words using all three of the vowels we have covered so far: “Ah”, “Ei” and “O”.

We started a workbook with the sound Eh.

I’m very proud of everyone’s accomplishments! I am sending home the workbook for you to keep. Please encourage your child to go over the unit with you and read all the words.

Parashat Hashavua
This Friday you will find in their folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “חיי שרה” (Haye Sara). We learned that Sarah died when she was 127 years old and Avraham bought the Ma’arat HaMachpela to bury her. We learned that the word “Ma’ara” means “cave”. We also learned that there are four couples buried there: Adam and Chava, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchok and Rivkah, Yaakov and Leah. We also learned that Avraham sent Eliezer to find a wife for his son Yitzchok. Eliezer took 10 “gimalim” (“Gamal” means “camel”) and went to Charan, Avraham’s birthplace, to find one. There he finds Rivkah at a well.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah irit Karavani

Firrt grade 11.11.11

2011-11-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

First grade is doing very well. Last week we learn how to ask for things only in Hebrew. We can now ask for a pencil, an eraser or our work book! We can even ask to go to get a drink water or to go to the restroom. We always start asking politely by saying: “ אפשר בבקשה....” (May I please.) Please ask your child to ask you for things in Hebrew. I am sure you will be amazed at how much Hebrew your child can use!

Here are some things we learned this week:
Our Hebrew workbook:
This week we learned about the vowel “Holam” the long O sound) and we learned our letters up to the letter “ פּו "(. We have learned to spell words using all three of the vowels we have covered so far: “Ah”, “Ei” and “O”.

A Special story
In your child’s folder you will find a story called: “מה יש בכיתה שלי” (What is in my classroom). Each child wrote down in his/her book the items we have in our class in Hebrew. They also learned to change these words from the singular to the plural form. This story served as a good exercise for your child’s Hebrew reading and for practicing their vocabulary as well. Please review this story with your child. If your child brings a note from home that he/she read it with you will get a “דג” (fish)! Ask your child to tell you all about our fish! The children love to get the fish.

Ariot:
On Wednesday we played together using the “Ariot” Hebrew program on in our class computer.

The kids were so excited to use the Ariot Hebrew games and exercises on our computer!

Parashat Hashavua
This Friday you will find in their folder picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “ וירא” (Va yerah). We learned about two important Mitzvot that our Parasha teaches: Hachnasat Orchim and Bikur Cholim. The children also learned the story of how Avraham argued with Hashem to save the evil cities of Sodom and Amorah. They also learned the story of how Lot was saved and what happed to his wife. Please encourage your child to tell you the stories he/she learned using the pictures on the sheets.

Reading home work for רשות (optional assignment):
We have finished reading the entire “Ashrei” psalm and we are now practicing singing it together. I recommend that you practice reading a few lines from this psalm every night with your child to help him/her become more familiar with the words. I’m putting a page with the “Mizmor” and a chart for you to complete in your child’s folder. Please return it to school when you have filled it in and your child will receive a prize! I hope your child will enjoy this reading program. I know that the benefits will be incredible!

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Irit Karavani.

Reading home work for רשות (optional assignment):

2011-11-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

אשרי יושבי ביתך

אַשְׁרֵי יוֹשְׁבֵי בֵיתֶךָ עוֹד יְהַלְלוּךָ סֶּלָה. (תהלים פד, ה)

אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם שֶׁכָּכָה לּוֹ אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם שֶׁה' אֱלֹהָיו. (תהלים קמד, טו)

תְּהִלָּה לְדָוִד,

אֲרוֹמִמְךָ אֱלוֹהַי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַאֲבָרֲכָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד.

בְּכָל יוֹם אֲבָרֲכֶךָּ וַאֲהַלְלָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד.

גָּדוֹל ה’ וּמְהֻלָּל מְאֹד וְלִגְדֻלָּתוֹ אֵין חֵקֶר.

דּוֹר לְדוֹר יְשַׁבַּח מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וּגְבוּרֹתֶיךָ יַגִּידוּ.

הֲדַר כְּבוֹד הוֹדֶךָ וְדִבְרֵי נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ אָשִׂיחָה.

וֶעֱזוּז נוֹרְאֹתֶיךָ יֹאמֵרוּ וּגְדוּלָּתְךָ אֲסַפְּרֶנָּה.

זֵכֶר רַב טוּבְךָ יַבִּיעוּ וְצִדְקָתְךָ יְרַנֵּנוּ.

חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם ה’ אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וּגְדָל חָסֶד.

טוֹב ה’ לַכֹּל וְרַחֲמָיו עַל כָּל מַעֲשָׂיו.

יוֹדוּךָ ה’ כָּל מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וַחֲסִידֶיךָ יְבָרֲכוּכָה.

כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתְךָ יֹאמֵרוּ וּגְבוּרָתְךָ יְדַבֵּרוּ.

לְהוֹדִיעַ לִבְנֵי הָאָדָם גְּבוּרֹתָיו וּכְבוֹד הֲדַר מַלְכוּתוֹ.

מַלְכוּתְךָ מַלְכוּת כָּל עֹלָמִים וּמֶמְשֶׁלְתְּךָ בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר.

סוֹמֵךְ ה’ לְכָל הַנֹּפְלִים וְזוֹקֵף לְכָל הַכְּפוּפִים.

עֵינֵי כֹל אֵלֶיךָ יְשַׂבֵּרוּ וְאַתָּה נוֹתֵן לָהֶם אֶת אָכְלָם בְּעִתּוֹ.

פּוֹתֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכָל חַי רָצוֹן.

צַדִּיק ה’ בְּכָל דְּרָכָיו וְחָסִיד בְּכָל מַעֲשָׂיו.

קָרוֹב ה’ לְכָל קֹרְאָיו לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר יִקְרָאֻהוּ בֶאֱמֶת.

רְצוֹן יְרֵאָיו יַעֲשֶׂה וְאֶת שַׁוְעָתָם יִשְׁמַע וְיוֹשִׁיעֵם.

שׁוֹמֵר ה’ אֶת כָּל אֹהֲבָיו וְאֵת כָּל הָרְשָׁעִים יַשְׁמִיד.

תְּהִלַּת ה’ יְדַבֶּר פִּי וִיבָרֵךְ כָּל בָּשָׂר שֵׁם קָדְשׁוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד. (תהלים קמה)

וַאֲנַחְנוּ נְבָרֵךְ יָ-הּ מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם הַלְלוּ יָ-הּ. (תהלים קטו, יח)

Reading home work for רשות (optional assignment):
Please sign the chart included in your child’s folder every time you read the “Ashrey” prayer with your child. Please return this chart signed every Monday (please send it back only on Monday) in their Hebrew folder. Please make sure to finish the entire “Ashrey” prayer at least one time. There is no time limit to this assignment!

Student name:________________

Date:_____________ read up to the letter________________ Parent signature____________

Date:____________ read up to the letter_____________ Parent signature____________

Date:_____________ read up to the letter_______________ Parent signature____________

Date:_____________ read up to the letter________________ Parent signature____________

Date:____________ read up to the letter______________ Parent signature____________

Date:_____________ read up to the letter_______________ Parent signature____________

Date:_____________ read up to the letter________________ Parent signature____________

First grade 11-4-11

2011-11-06T13:15:00.001-08:00

Dear Parents,

First grade did an amazing job when they sang their two Hebrew songs today to welcome their special guests to “Special Persons day”. I know you where proud of them when they performed! I am so proud of them too!

SHALOM BAKITA (Shalom in the Classroom):

This week we learned the questions: “מי בכיתה?” and “?מי לא בכיתה” (Who is in the class? Who is not in the class?) We also read the story called “Shachar Ba’Kitah?” that told us that – שחר לא בכיתה שחר בבית כי שחר חולה“Shachar Lo Bakita Shachar Ba’Bayit Ki Shacar Hole’” (Shachar is not in the class. Shachar is at home because Shachar is sick!). We learned that you wish a " רפואה שלמה" (speedy recovery) to someone who sick. On the day we learned this, we had two students sick at home so we made phone calls from our class and we sang to them “Refuah Shelemah”! We all felt so good after doing this Mitzvah for our friends!

Hebrew workbook:

This week we finished our workbook about the vowel “Hirik” (the long E sound). We learned to spell words using both of the vowels we have learned (Ah and Ei). We also learned to follow Hebrew directions; identifying “ על יד “(“AL Yad”-next to) or “ מעל “ (“Me-Al” -above) and “Mi Tachat” (under) from pictures in our workbook. I’m very proud of everyone’s accomplishments! I am sending home the workbook for you to keep. Please encourage your child to go over the unit with you and read all the words.

Parashat Hashavua:

This Friday you will find a picture page in your child’s folder with a summary of the story of Parashat לך לך (Lech Lecha). We learned the story of the beginning of Avraham’s journeys. We learned the story of how Avraham discovered there was one G-d and what happened when he started to teach everyone about it. Please encourage your child to tell you the stories he/she learned about this Parasha using the pictures on the sheets.

Prayer:

This week we started learning about the “Ashrei” prayer in our morning dovening. We learned that the “Ashrei” is a psalm that is part of both the morning and afternoon prayer service. After the first two introductory verses, the first letter of each verse follows the order of the Hebrew alphabet, forming an acrostic. The students noticed that every letter of the alphabet is there except for the letter “Nun”. We have finished reading the entire “Ashrei” psalm and we are now practicing singing it together.

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Irit.

First grade 10.28.2011

2011-10-28T08:39:00.001-07:00

Dear Parents,

I’m very proud to introduce Ariot. Ariot is the “Lion” from the Tal-Am program.
Every Friday one of the 1^st grade students will get to have Ariot over for the weekend.
In the Ariot’s backpack you will find Ariot along with a binder.
Please take a picture of your child and Ariot together and help your child write about their experience spending time with Ariot during the weekend.
It can be in English, or English and Hebrew, or only Hebrew.

SHALOM BAKITA (Shalom in the Classroom):

This week we started the “Shalom 1- Shalom Bakita”. workbook from Tal-Am program.

The workbook deals with everyday life in the classroom at the beginning of the school year, and focuses on familiarization with the characters of a "virtual" classroom, the articles and the learning habits in the classroom.
Shalom Bakita is further organized into 3 subtopics:
(a) Who is in the class?
(b) What is in the class?
(C) How to study.
These topics will accompany the students throughout the year, since they deal with the everyday life of the students.

We read the story:”Shalom kitah Alef”- in this story the kids were excited to discover the lion named Ariot!

Hebrew workbook:

This week we finished our workbook “Mai’ot leot” Part 4! We reviewed the Aleph-Bet letter names with their sounds and the vowel sound “AH” up to the letter Tav. We also focused on: “Shin” and “sin”. We practiced writing words and placing the dot on the right place. (Shin- on the right Sin-on the left). I’m sending it home for you to keep and review.

We started a new Hoveret (workbook) with the vowel “Hirik” which sounds like a long E. We are learning to spell words with both vowels we have learned (Ah and Ei).

Parashat Hashavua

This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “"נח. We learned that Noach was 10 generations after Adam and Havah. Please look at the Hebrew words we learned in this Parasha as well.

Prayer

We are doing very well reading and singing to following new prayers: “Baruch Shamar”, “Ashrey” and “Anim zemirot”

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Irit.

Sukkot

2011-10-19T09:01:00.001-07:00

Dear Parents,
This week we completed the unit of Sukkot.
Your child is bringing home a workbook with activities in it.
We learned about the Hebrew calendar and we’ve colored the days of the holidays.
We talked about a kosher sukkah and a non- kosher sukkah. What do we need in order to have a kosher one? Ask your kids!
We got to know the 7 Ushpizin (guests) that coming to visit us in the sukkah on each night of sukkot.
We reviewed the names of the 4 species and we compared each one of them to our body parts:
Lulav= spine
Etrog= heart
Hadas= eye
Aravah= mouth
We also compared it to different kind of people by comparing the taste to people who learn Torah and smell to people who do Mitsvot (good deed)

I’m also sending home to keep our first Tal-Am workbook for the high holyday.

In this Festivals workbook we learned about “Rosh Hashana”, “Sukot” and “Simchat Torah”.

We learned new songs and read Hebrew stories for these festivals.

(The books are shown on the back of the festival workbook).

We are very exited to finish reading the entire torah on Simchat Torah and start reading it all over again. We are ready to dance and have a real Simcha (joy) with our “Degel” (flag) we made for that special event.

Please don’t forget to take it with you to Bet-Keneset (Synagogue).

חג שמח !

Happy Holyday.

Morah Irit Karavani

Rosh Hashanah

2011-09-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

ב"ה

9.23.2011

Dear Parents,

I’m sending home our Rosh –Hashanah workbook along with other projects we made during Judaic studies. Here are some of the things you will fined:

We learned a new song for the 12 Hebrew month, and we know that Rosh Hashanah starts on the first day of the first month of Tishri.

Rosh means "head" and Shanah means "year", together the two Hebrew words means: "head of the year". On Rosh Hashanah we go to "Bet-Keneset" (synagogue) and pray for a year of good health and peace. We need to think about the good things we did in the past year. We also promise to ourselves that in the year to come we will try to become better people by doing t'shuvah (repentance). We ask G-d to forgive us for any wrongs we have done.

- In "Bet-Kneset we pray from special prayer book call "Machzor".

-another name for Rosh Hashanah is Yom t'ruah, the day of blowing the shofar. The shofar is a ram's horn, and the sound reminds all Jews to return to Torah and to good deeds.

There are three types of shofar blasts blown on Rosh Hashanh, known as T'kee'ot:
T'kiah- a straight unbroken blast that ends sharply.
Shevarim- three broken sounds, like a shiver.
T'ruah- a group of nine short notes.

As you see we made a circle with the symbols and their meanings:
Round challah (challah agulah)- we pray that our coming year will be unending just like the round challah
Apple and Honey (tapuach be dvash)- we ask G-d to send us a year of sweetness.
Head of a fish (rosh shel dag) we ask G-d to be as the head and not as the tail.
Pomegranate (rimon)- we ask G-d that our merits increase like (the seed of) a pomegranate.

"שָנָה טוֹבָה וּמְתוּקָה" "May you have a sweet and happy new year."

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit.

First grade 9.16.2011

2011-09-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

ב"ה

8.16.2011

Dear Parents,

Thank you for coming to the open house!. It was a pleasure to meet all of you.

Here are some of the thing we have done this week:

Prayer:

We have been using the Artscroll Siddur during our daily Tefillah service. While singing the Tefillot, the children follow the words in their siddurim. This helps them become familiar with the words of the prayers. This week we added one new prayer to our service: “Ein ke elokenu” We love singing it with the music! We also bentch Berkat Hamazon every day using the siddur as well.

Hebrew:

This week we reviewed the Aleph-Bet letter names with their sounds as well as the “AH” vowel sound up to the letter “Kaf” “Chaf” and “Chaf Sofit.
We also learned that the letter “ו”added to a word means “and”. Please ask your child to explain this to you. I am sending the workbookwe are using home so you can review with your child. Please keep this workbook at home.

Parashat Hashavua-Parashat Ki Tavo

This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a Parasha sheet with pictures and a summary of what is in the Parasha. Please look inside each picture for the words your child wrote in the box. The first graders learned about the Mitzvah of “Bikurim”. “ביכורים”. We fulfill this Mitzvah by bringing the first fruits that our crops produce to the Kohein in the Bait Hamikdash. There, we said special verses from the Torah to praise Hashem for the all the bounty He has provided us . We also learned about the “curses “ and “blessings” that Hashem will give us. Wonderful blessings will come when we observe the Torah but if we do not observe the Torah, the Jews will receive curses.

Chagim (Holidays):

We continued working on our unit on Rosh Hashana. The students completed two projects during Hebrew class and I will send them home B”H next week along with our Rosh Hashana workbook.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit.

First grade - second week

2011-09-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

8.9.2011

Dear Parents,

We have been very busy learning this week! Here are some of the things we have accomplished:

Prayer:

We learned the whole “Alenu Leshabeach” at the end of the service. We are saying the entire “Birkat Hamazon”. Please encourage your child to follow with his/ her finger along the words while he/she is davening or benching.

Hebrew:

Our small groups are running very well. We are using a workbook called “Me Ot L’Ot”, where we learn to read, write, and sound out Hebrew words. This week we finished the first “חוברת"- work book- up to the letter “Hey”. We learned the meaning of some of the Hebrew words and learned how to spell them as well. We focused on “ ה” in the front of the Hebrew word which means “The”. We saw many examples of Hebrew sentences that start with “The”.

Ask your child to show you some of the sentences.
I’m sending the workbook home to review and keep at home.

Parashat Hashavua - Parashat Ki Teitzei

This Friday you will find in the folder a Parasha sheet with pictures and a summary of what is in the Parasha. The first graders learned about the Mitzvah of Hashavas Aveida. “השבת אבידה” which means we must return lost objects to their owner. A person cannot pretend that he does not see the object, and he must watch over the lost item until the owner returns for it. He/she also cannot use that object while it is in his/her possession. One must also ask the owner for signs in order to establish that the object is really his. We also learned about the Mitzvah of Tzitzit as well. We learned that there are 5 knots and 8 strings which add up to 13. We learned that there are 613 Mitzvot and looking at our Tzitzit reminds us to always be ready to follow the Mitzvot of Hashsem. Please encourage your child to explain to you what is in the other pictures as well.

Chagim (Holidays):

We continued learning our unit on Rosh Hashanna. We received our first “Tal Am” work book for the high holidays. We learned new songs and read a Hebrew book call “שנה טובה” Shannah Tovah.

When you come to visit the school, please feel free to come to the 1^st grade hallway, and see our bulleting board! The students have written about themselves.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit.

First Grade- first week

2011-09-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

ב"ה

8.2.2011

Dear Parents,

First grade is doing very well. In this week we started to learn how to ask for things only in Hebrew.

Here are some of the things we accomplished:

Prayer:

We are davening all together, reviewing what we already know.

We will be learning new prayer as the year goes on.

Hebrew:

We are working in 3 groups. Two groups work independently, and one group works with me. We are using a workbook called Me Ot L’Ot, where we learn to read, write, and sound out words.

This week we finished the letter Alef!

Parashat Hashavua

Every Friday you will find in the folder the Parasha in pictures, along with a summary. The first graders learned about the main ideas in the Parasha.

Please encourage your child to explain to you what in the pictures.

Chagim (Holidays):

We started with the month of Elul. We got to know all about the Shofar, and Moreh Dror has even come every morning to blow the Shofar for us.

We also started our unit on Rosh Hashanna.

Please Pass through the 1^st grade hallway, and see our bulleting board, were the students wrote in Hebrew about themselves.

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Irit.

Shalom from Morah Irit

2011-09-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

Dear parents,

My name is Irit Karavani and I’m glad be your child’s Hebrew teacher in 1st Grade.

I moved last year to Columbus from Charleston South Carolina, with my husband and our two (out of four) children. I’m thrilled to join the CTA family, and glad to teach your child.

The first grade students will learn Hebrew through the Tal Am curriculum. This wonderful program contains many songs and stories and all in Hebrew (“Ivrit b’Ivrit”). I’ve been trained to teach the program and have been teaching Tal Am in first Grade for 9 years. I participated in Tal Am conferences in the past and recently this summer.

As a teacher, as well as a mother, I strongly believe in open communication between teachers to parents. To reach this goal I invite you to check my blog at morahirit.blogspot.com, email me with any questions to: iritkaravani@hotmail.com or just call me at home at:
(614)338-0308 and leave me a message if I’m not home.

You will also receive Emails from me, as well as reminder emails before assignments, and First grade weekly letter.

Please respond to this e-mail to confirm that I have the correct e-mail address for you. For some families, I have an e-mail address for both parents. Please let me know if you want me to leave it that way.

Looking forward to a wonderful year.
Sincerely,
Morah Irit Karavani

5-27-11

2011-05-29T17:32:00.001-07:00

5-27-11
Dear Parents,
Chag HaSiddur was fabulous. I’m very proud of all my students. Thank you for coming.

“Chai Club”

Congratulations to another 5 students who joint the “Chai Club”! They are: Akiva, Michelle, Daniel, Madison and Brandon. They have finished reading all 18 books! So far we have 13 students in the club. Please encourage your child to read so they can also become members of our club.

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

“אני סופר/סופרת את ה______” – I’m counting the ________

Like: “אני סופר/סופרת את העומר”(I’m counting the Omer),

"אני סופר/סופרת את הספרים"(I’m counting the books).

Shalom:

This week we finished our unit on “Shalom Ba’Bayit U Ba’chots” (Shalom in the house and outside). The “Shalom at Home” workbook focuses on the daily life of a Jewish child at home from waking up in the morning until going to bed at night.

This week we focused on the 4 different seasons. We learned about hot days and how important it is to drink water. I’m sending home the completed workbook. Please go over it with your child and let him/her share with you all we’ve learned.

Ariot 4:

This week we learned 2 stories:”אנחנו לומדים בחוץ” – We are studing out side and the story “קולות בגן חיות” Sounds in the zoo.

Shavuot:

We learned in our “Tal-Am” Pesach-Shavuot workbook that from Passover until Shavout we count 49 days which is 7 weeks. Ask your child why we are count the days. We also learned that Beney Yisrael got the Torah on Har (Mt.) Sinai on “Vav Sivan” (6^th of the month of Sivan).We also learned a new song about the 5 books of the Torah.

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat :במדבר""
This Friday we learned about the Mitzvah of interest. We also learned about how the Jewish People traveled in the desert. We also learned that the Mishkan was set up in the center of the camp with the tribe of Levi surrounding it. The rest of the tribes camped around the camp of Levi.

Vocabulary words:

מְעָרָה cave

קוֹפְצִים Jumping

רוֹקְדִים Dancing

אָדוֹן Mr.

גְבֶרֶת Mrs.

5-13-11

2011-05-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

5-13-11
Dear Parents,
Thank you for coming to our Achievement fair. I was very proud to show you all our first grade projects from this year.

“Chai Club”

Congratulations to another 5 student who joint the “Chai Club”! They are: Channah, Samuel, Dani, Zack and Tovah who have finished reading all 18 books! Please encourage your child to read so they can also become members of our club.

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

“_____ עָף/עָפָה בּ____” –The _______ is flapping in the ______.

Like: “הציפור עפה בשמים”(the bird is flapping in the sky), "הַעֲפִיפוֹן עָף לְמַעלָה"(the kite flapping up).

Chag Hasiddur

We are continuing to practice our lines and our songs for our “Chag Hasiddur”.

I am sending home another copy of your child’s part to practice at home (in case you have lost it). Please make sure you child practices and learns his/her part by heart.

Please plan on attending this celebration on Friday, May 20^th at 2:00 p.m. See you there!

Yom Ha’ atzmaut:

This week we finished our unit on “Yom Ha’ atzmaut” (Independent day). Our new Tal-Am workbook “My Israel” (Yisrael Sheli) focuses on:
1. The tie between the People of Israel and the Land of Israel;
2. The identification of the People of Israel with the State of Israel and Jerusalem. We learned that this identification is acquired and internalized through celebrating these special days as well as through displaying the Israeli flag, symbol and emblem, singing the national anthem, and saying the prayer for the welfare of the State of Israel.

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat :בהר""
This Friday we learned about the Mitzvah of Shimitah. This Mitzvah happens in Israel every 7 years. The farmers do not work their land, plant on it or sell any foods that grow from it. After 7 Shimitot, we celebrate the “Yovel” year. This occurs every 50 years. We also learned about the Mitzvah of Tzedaka. We learned that the best way to give Tedaka is to give it secretly so that no one knows that the poor person is getting money. We also learned that there is a the Mitzvah to lend money to someone who needs money. We also learned that you cannot ask the person to pay you back more money than he borrowed. This is called “neshech” or interest.

Vocabulary words:

This week we will not have Homework or test.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit.

5-6-11

2011-05-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

5-6-11
Dear Parents,
Passover is over and we have already started the new month of “Iyar”. We have so many things coming up! On Monday we will have a special program with activities for “Yom Ha atzmaut” (Israel Independence Day). We are also preparing for the achievement fair and of course we are very busy preparing for our “Chag Hasiddur” celebration.

“Chai Club”

Congratulations to our first three members of the “Chai Club”! They are: Yakkov B. Yaki L and Samson J. who have finished reading all 18 books! Please encourage your child to read so they can also become members of our club.
Hebrew Sentence of the week:

“ה -------- בריא לגוף” –The _______ is healthy for the body. Like: “הסלט בריא לגוף”, "הספורט בריא לגוף(“Salad is healthy for the body, sports are healthy for the body”.)
Chag Hasiddur

We have started to practice our lines and our songs for our “Chag Hasiddur”.

I’m sending home your child’s part to practice at home. Please make sure you child practices and learns his/her part by heart.

Ariot 4: This week we started the Ariot 4 workbook. We read a story about “Salat shel Pilim” (An elephant salad). We learned that salad is very healthy for you. The story taught us that if the “pil Pilon” (the young elephant) wants to eat “pudding” he has to eat the salad first.

Yom Ha’ atzmaut:

This week we also started learning about “Yom Ha’ atzmaut” (Independent day). Our new Tal-Am workbook “ My Israel” (Yisrael Sheli) focuses on:
1. The tie between the People of Israel and the Land of Israel;
2. The identification of the People of Israel with the State of Israel and Jerusalem. We learned that this identification is acquired and internalized through celebrating these special days as well as through displaying the Israeli flag, symbol and emblem, singing the national anthem, and saying the prayer for the welfare of the State.

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat :אמור""
This Friday we learned about the special group - called the Kohanim. We learned that they are very special and must always be ready to serve Hashem in the Temple. We also did a project to remember the six Torah Chagaim: Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur.

Vocabulary words:
Our Hebrew vocabulary words for this week come from our next story in “Ariot 4” workbook:

Wing /wingsכָּנָף/ כְּנָפַיִם

Birdצִיפּוֹר

Benchסַפְסָל

Flyingעָף/ עָפָה

Kiteעֲפִיפוֹן

You can practice with flash card at:
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1351889/u64i

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First grade 4.8.11

2011-04-08T09:58:00.001-07:00

4.8.2011בס"ד
Dear Parents,
This week started with a cookie as a treat for “Rosh Chodesh “Nisan” !

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
בבקשה לסדר את ...!"”- Bevakasha Lesader Et… (Please clean up the… or please put things in order)

We learned that the first night of Pesach is called “Lel Haseder” because you have to do all the Mitzvot of the night in a certain order.

Pictures:

I’m still missing pictures from 7 families.

Chai Club:

We have started our “Chai Club” and it has already been a great success! We already have students that have finished reading 5 books! (If you don’t know what the “Chai Club” is you can go to my blog at: morahirit.blogspot.com) If you want your child to participate you must follow the following rules:

1. A student must read the entire book out loud to an adult before returning the book back to school.

2. A student does not have to read the book in one day! Once he/she finishing reading the book, he/she must return it to me. I will give him/her a new book then.

3 Parent must sign the slip that is attached the book. If there is no slip of paper, please sign on any piece of paper and send it back with you student. A book which doesn’t include a slip with a real parent signature will not be accepted!

4. I will only send home one book at a time!

I hope you will encourage your child to participate in the Chai club in order to help your child improve your child’s Hebrew reading skills. With your help and support we can make a real difference in your child’s Hebrew reading!

Ariot 3: This week we read the story called “Dan Ve Dina naganim” (The story is about children named Dan and Dina who play musical instruments). I brought to the class my own musical instrument in a big box. I asked the children to guess what musical instrument was in the box and only one student was able to guess correctly! (Ask your child what instrument it was!). I explained what the instrument was and I played some songs the students knew. We concluded with the “Hatikvah”.

Passover:

This week, we continued learning about “Pesach” (Passover). We have almost finished making our own interactive Haggadot. I will e-mail you the date when it will be coming home before Pesach. Please make sure to look for it then!

Prayers:

We add the second part of “Alenu Leshabeach” (“Al ken nekave”) to our daily prayers).

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat :מצורע""
This Friday we learned more about – לשון הרע"“ "Lashon hara” . We learned to speak only nice things about people.

Vocabulary words:

Our next word list comes from the next story in Ariot called: “Hasod” (“The Secret”)
The test will be on Thursday 4/12/11

Secretסוֹד

Partyמְסִיבָּה

Basketסַל

Lettuceחַסָה

Saladסָלַט

Horseסוּס

Squirrelסְנָאִי

You can practice with flash card at:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1292144/7li5Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

"Chay Club"

2011-04-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

Chai Club

Dear Parents,

I am very excited because we are starting a new program/project for the first grade called “Chai Club”! You ask: What is “Chai Club”? When you add up the letters for the word “חי” – (chai in Hebrew) it equals the number 18. I will be giving to each student a Hebrew book to practice reading at home. Once your student is finished reading the book to an adult, he should bring the book back to school with a signature from the parent and your child will get a new book to read. What does this have to do with the word “chai?” A student who reads 18 books will join the “Chai Club” and will receive a certificate and a special prize! This program will help create excitement about Hebrew reading and help improve their Hebrew reading skills. It will also give each student a real love for Hebrew reading when they see how well they read.

The first book is called: “Boker tov Bina Ve Dov” (Good morning Bina and Dov).

Please encourage your child to read it aloud to you over the weekend so they can receive a new one on Monday.

With your help and support we can make a real difference in your child’s Hebrew reading skills!

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Irit.

First grade 4.1.11

2011-04-01T10:09:00.001-07:00

4-1-11בס"ד
Dear Parents,
Spring has come and we can feel Pesach in the air!

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
יש לי שאלה ____ ..."”- Yesh li she’ elah (I have a question).

With all the question words we have learned “Mi? Ma? Lma? Kama?” we definitely can ask many questions and we are almost ready to ask the 4 questions on the “Seder”.

Pictures:

I still need your pictures!

Ariot 3: This week we read the story about “Hillel Hashoel” (The story is about a boy named Hillel who ask a lots of questions). We learned that asking questions always helps us to learn.

Passover:

This week, we continued learning about “Pesach” (Passover). We continued making our own interactive Haggadot. All students will bring one home before Pesach.

This week we learned the different between “Avadim” (slaves) and “Beney Chorine” (free people). We continued reviewed the entire order of the Seder night as written in the Haggadah. We also learned the names of the ten plagues in Hebrew and English. We have so much more to learn! We will be spending a lot of time over the next few weeks learning all the laws and customs surrounding the Seder night and Pesach.

Prayer:

We have finished practicing the words for the Shabbat song “Aneim Zemirot” and now we are practicing singing it.

We added the beginning part of the “Amidah” to our regular tefila service every day. I’m very proud of all my first graders when they pray in the morning!

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat :תזריע""
This Friday we learned about – לשון הרע"“- l"ashon hara” . we learn to speak only nice thing about people.

Shabbat Shalom, Morah Irit

Vocabulary words:

This is our next word list.
The test will be on Wednesday 4/5/11

Passover words

Egypt

מִצְרָיִם- 1

slave- 2 עֲבָדִים

Evil- 3 רָשָע

Plate 4 קְעָרָה-

Cup - 5 כּוֹס

Wine – 6 יָיִן

Spring אָבִיב- 7

Vegetable 8 יְרָקוֹת

Order- 9 סֶדֶר

Smart- 10 חָכַם

You can practice with flash card at:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/215961/d2r4

בהצלחה!

First grade 3.25.11

2011-04-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

3-25-11
Dear Parents,
Our Purim celebration was a big success! We had so much “simcha” (happiness) all day! We wore costumes, we saw an amazing performance of the Megilah story by the 6^th grade and we played games in the Purim carnival. At the end of the day, we received from PTO, Mishloach Manot " משלוח מנות" The whole day was such fun!
Hebrew Sentence of the week:
כואב לי ____ ..."”- Koev li (My ______ is hurt)

The student learned how to complain for any think that hurt them in Hebrew! Some examples are: “Koev li Harosh (I have a headache!) or “Koev li Hashen” (My teeth are hurting!).

”My family” and “My house” unit:
We are supposed to start learning about our family and about our house in Hebrew. I asked a few weeks ago that you should send two pictures about your family.

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).

Unfortunately, I’ve received pictures only from half of the class and therefore I will have to push off teaching this unit for another two weeks. If you haven’t sent your pictures yet or you have sent only one of the pictures, please send your pictures this week!

At the end of this unit, the pictures will be posted in your child’s album. For your convenience you can send to school the SD card with your child (I promise to send it back the same day) or Email me the pictures and I will print it for you! (My Email is: iritkaravani@hotmail.com)

Shalom Babayit Uavchutz (Shalom at Home and Outdoors)
This week we learned how much it is important to wash our hands with “sabon” (soup) and “Mayim” (water). Ask your child to sing for you our song: “Ani Rochets Yadayim Tri Li Li Li Li”

Ariot 3: This week we read the story about Glidah Le Gilah Hacholah ( An ice cream for Gilah who is sick) we connected that unit to our unit on cleaning in the Shalom Babayit Uavchutz workbook. We learned that washing our hands with soap we can prevent ourselves from getting sick.

Passover:

This week, we started learning about “Pesach” (Passover). We have starting making our own Haggadadot. Each of us will bring one home before Pesach.

We have learned the story of how the Jews became “Avadim” (slaves) in Egypt. We have reviewed the entire order of the Seder night as written in the Haggadah. We also learned the four names for Passover as well as the names of the four sons mentioned in the Haggadah. We also learned that the four cups of wine we drink at the Seder stand for the four different languages for redemption. Of course, there is still a lot to learn! We will be spending a lot of time over the next few weeks learning all the laws and customs surrounding the Seder night and Pesach.

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat :שמיני""
This Friday we learned about kosher and non-kosher animals, birds, and fish.

Vocabulary words:
Our Hebrew vocabulary words for this week come from our next story in the “Ariot 3” workbook. The theme of this story is: “She’ e’lot” (questions):

Questionשְׁאֵלָה

Who? מִי

What?מָה

Why?לָמָה

How many?כַּמָה

Where? אֵיפֹה

You can practice with flash card at:
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1265507/d77f

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First garde 3.11.2011

2011-03-11T08:02:00.001-08:00

3-11-11
Dear Parents,
Rosh Hodesh Adar 2 started with great “simcha” (happiness)! We wore funny hats and Moreh Dror gave us Hamantashen " אֹזֶן המן " to eat. We also danced with students from other grades. Even the tables in the lunch room were decorated. It was a lot of fun!

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
בְּאֲרוּחַת בּוֹקֵר אֲנִי אוֹכֵל/ אוֹכֶלֶת ___ וְשׁוֹתֶה/שׁוֹתָה ____ ..."”- Be arochat Boker Ani Ochel___ Ve’shote (for breakfast I’m eating____ and drinking______)
We ate breakfast in school to help us learn to identify all kind of foods we are eating in Hebrew. Please ask your child what he/she ate and drank in our class breakfast and what they are named in Hebrew.

Cursive Hebrew letters:
We continue to practice and review how to write all the cursive Hebrew letters. The students focus on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. Now it is required for all students to write only in cursive! Please make sure your child is writing his/her letters correctly.

Parashat Hashavua:
This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat :ויקרא"”. We learned that the Jews brought korbanot because the process of bringing a korban helped them become close to hashem.

Shalom Babayit Uavchutz (Shalom at Home and Outdoors)
This week we learned the Hebrew words for the different foods we eat. We learned that we thank Hashem for providing us with food by saying “Birkat Hamazon” every day after we eat.
We also focused on the “Bracha” (blessing) we saying before we eat the food. We practiced the different blessings by taking a quiz I created in the computer.
You can try it by your self by going to: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=blessing_1. Please type in your name and press “take the quiz” button.
Please encourage your child to go to that site and take the quiz over and over to practice the different “brachot”.
I would like to hear any comments you have about my new experiment with this quiz

Purim:
This week in our weekly computer lab time, each student viewed on his/her own computer a slideshow of the Purim story! Everyone really enjoyed it.
We are about to finish the story of the Megillah and place it in our “Pringels” can.
Thank you for sending a “Pringels” can. If you haven’t been able to send one yet, please do it ASAP. (I’m still need 5 more!)

First Grade Album:
We are working on a special album that includes all the subjects we are learning in “Tal-Am”. If you haven’t sent in your pictures yet, Please send them ASAP.
You can send in 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! If you have already sent in one, you don’t have to send any more.
You can also Email me the pictures and I will print them for you. (My Email is: iritkaravani@hotmail.com or ikaravani@torahacademy.org)

Vocabulary words:
Our Hebrew vocabulary words for this week come from our unit of Purim:

King מֶלֶךְ

Queen מַלְכָּה

Crown כֶּתֶר

Banquet מִשְׁתֶּה

Feast סְעֻדָּה

Writing (M) כּוֹתֵב

Writing (F) כּוֹתֶבֶת

You can practice with flash card at:
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1238396/x56v

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First grade 3.4.2011

2011-03-04T06:29:00.001-08:00

3-04-11
Dear Parents,
Rosh Hodesh Adar 2 is coming this Monday! As part of our special Rosh Chodesh program, please send your child with a funny hat to wear (it can be a special hat, funny hat or regular hat). Each student will receive a Hamantashen "אוזן המן" and we will be dancing with students from other grades.

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
היום אני לובש..."”- Hayom Ani Lo’Vesh…(today I’m wearing…)

Cursive Hebrew letters:
We finished learning how to write all the cursive Hebrew letters. The students have been focusing on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we will review all the letters. Now it is required for all students to write only in cursive! Please make sure your child is writing his/her letters correctly.

Homework:
The students are ready to write their homework in cursive. I know that for some students this transition will be hard so please courage your child to form the cursive Hebrew letters correctly. Please use the example of the script Hebrew letters that are posting on the inside of the homework notebook cover.

Parashat Hashavua:
This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat :פקודי"”. We reviewed the name of all the vessels of the Mishkan. We also learned that when Moshe put together the Mishkan, Hashem caused his special cloud to rest over the Mishkan. This told the Jewish People that Hashem accepted their Mishkan as his special house.

Shalom Babayit Uavchutz (Shalom at Home and Outdoors)
This week we focused on the Hebrew words for different the clothing we wear. We also focused on how we thank Hashem for giving us our clothing every day by saying in our morning prayers the blessing: “" מלביש ערומים. We labeled our self with notes on our body naming what we were wearing to learn what each part of our clothing is in Hebrew. Next week we will learn Hebrew words for foods. We will have a special breakfast in our classroom to learn the Hebrew words for all the foods we eat.

Vocabulary words:
Our Hebrew vocabulary words for this week come from our unit on food “Shalom 2” workbook:

Milk חָלָב-

Juice מִיץ-

Bread לֶחֶם-

Cheese גְבִינָה-

Chocolate milk שוֹקוֹ-

Jelly רִיבָּה-

Egg בֵּיצָה-

You can practice with flash card at:
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1222434/b95e

Purim:
We have started learning about Purim and the Megillah story!
Please send to school an empty big size “Pringels” can. ( If you can send more then one that will be great!) to put the Megillah in it.

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 by next week
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!
If you already send one you don’t have to send one.

You can Email me the picture and I will print it.(My Email is: iritkaravani@hotmail.com or ikaravani@torahacademy.org)

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First garde 2.25.2011

2011-02-25T08:11:00.001-08:00

2-25-11
Dear Parents,
Our first grade “Siddur Party” is not this week! It has been rescheduled for on May 20th B”H.

Purim:
We have started learning about Purim and the Megillah story!
Please send to school an empty “Pringels” can. ( If you can send more then one that will be great!)

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 by next week 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!

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
הפה אומר..." ”Ha’peh Omer (The mouth says….).
We learned that it is very important that our “Peh” will say “Todah” to everyone and this is very important to Hashem.

Cursive Hebrew letters:
We are almost finishing learning how to write all the cursive Hebrew letters. The students have been focusing on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we reviewed the letters up to “ש”. Please make sure your child is writing his/her letters correctly.

Homework:
The students are ready to write their homework in cursive. I know that for some students this transition will be hard so please courage your child to form the cursive Hebrew letters correctly. Please use the example of the script Hebrew letters that are posting on the inside of the homework notebook cover.

Parashat Hashavua:
This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat :ויקהל"”. We reviewed all the various vessels that are in the Mishkan and we learned that Bezalel was the one appointed by Hashem to build the Mishkan. We also learned that Moshe first warned them to keep the Shabbat before giving them the commandment to build the Mishkan. This told the Jewish People that even though the building of the Mishkan was important the still must rest on Shabbat are recognize that Hashem created the world.

Shalom Babayit Uavchutz (Shalom at Home and Outdoors)
We started our new Tal AM workbook called “Shalom at Home”. The “Shalom at Home” Workbook focuses on the daily life of a Jewish child at home from waking up in the morning until going to bed at sunset. This week we focused on body parts and how we thank Hashem for giving us a healthy body every day. Next week we will learn Hebrew words for the different clothing we wear.

Ariot 2:
This week we finished our workbook. We read and studied the following stories:
“Adon Balon” (Mr. Balloon) We learned the names of all the colors in Hebrew as well as the words: Dag (fish), Dov (bear), Gag (roof) and Vav (hook).
“ Zozo Ha avazon” (Zozo the goose) In this story we learned the words Zaz (moving), Bayit (a house) Har (a mountain) the goose family and Dag (fish).
In the process we learned to differentiate between animate and inanimate objects.
“Ach Bamishpacha” (“A Brother in the family”).
Our Hebrew vocabulary included words like: “Chagiga” (party), Mishpacha (family), Aba (dad), ima (mom) dod (uncle) doda (aunt) Saba (grandpa) Savta (Grandma) Ach Chadash (a new brother), Achot chadasha (a new sister), Buba (doll), B’dicha (joke).

We really liked reading the story “Oh Oh Hatoast”! (Yes, that’s how you also say toast in Hebrew!)
We learned the following Hebrew words: Tabach (chef), Oto (a car) Televiziya (T.V), Tov and Tova (good)
The chef likes (ohev) good toast, a yellow one and not black one.

-For the letter “Yud” we read the story:
“Yesh Chagiga” (“There is a Party”) We learned the Hebrew words: “Yoshev” and “Yoshvet”(“sitting” for boy and “sitting” for girls). We practiced these words by saying sentences in Hebrew about ourselves such as: “ Ani yoshev/yoshevet al ha keese”- “I’m sitting on the chair”).
We also learned that the word “yoyo” is the same word in Hebrew and in English.

Vocabulary words:

Our Hebrew vocabulary words for this week come from our unit on different clothing in “Shalom 2” workbook:

Shirt חוּלְצָה-

Pants מִכְנָסַיִם-

Socks גַרְבַיִם-

Shoes נַעֲלַיִם-

Skirt חֲצָאִית-

Pajamas פִּיגָ'מָה-
Dress שִׂמְלָה-

You can practice with flash card at:http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1203980/7ua5

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First garde 2.18.2011

2011-02-22T07:54:00.001-08:00

2-18-11

Dear Parents,
Hebrew Sentence of the week:
בבקשה לקום..." ”Be’vakasha La’koom (Please get up….).
We learned that Abba or Ima may wake us up and say: “בבקשה לקום”

Cursive Hebrew letters:

We are continuing to learn how to write cursive Hebrew letters. The students focused on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we reviewed the letters up to “ע”. Please make sure your child is perfuming “מ” and “ג” right.

Homework:
Next week, since we do not have school on Monday for President’s Day, we will do our Monday homework on Tuesday during class time.

Purim:

We are going to start learning about Purim and the Megillah story!

Please send to school an empty “Pringels” can.

Parashat Hashavua:

This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat :כי תשא"” we learned about the Mitzvah of giving a “Machtzet Hashekel” (1/2 shekel coin) to the Bait HaMikdash so they can count how many people there are in Bnei Yisrael . Ask your child to tell you why ½ and not whole Shekel? We learned that the Kohanim used this money to buy animals for the daily Korban (sacrifice) that was brought every morning and afternoon. We also reviewed the story of the “Aigel Hazahav” or the sin of the golden calf. Have your child tell you the story!

Shalom Babayit Uavchutz (Shalom at Home and Outdoors)

We started our new Tal AM workbook called “Shalom at Home”. The “Shalom at Home” Workbook focuses on the daily life of a Jewish child at home from waking up in the morning until going to bed at sunset. This week we focused on our morning routines. Next week we will learn about the body parts and how we thank Hashem for giving us a healthy body every day.

Vocabulary words:
The Hebrew vocabulary words for this week come from our unit on body parts in “Shalom 2” workbook.

Eye עֵינַיִם -

Ears אוֹזְנַיִם -

Hands יָדַיִם-

Legs רַגְלַיִם-

Belly בֶּטֶן-

Nose אַף-

Mothפֶּה -

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Irit

First grade 2.11.11

2011-02-11T09:27:00.001-08:00

2-11-11
Dear Parents,

This Wednesday was “100 day” in school! We made a big picture with 100 numbers- all written in Hebrew. We then practiced counting up to 100 in Hebrew while we jumped up and down. We were so tired that we rested for 100 seconds.

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

יש לי מאה..." ”Yesh Li Me’ah... (I have one hundred….).

Cursive Hebrew letters:

We are continuing to learn how to write cursive Hebrew letters. The students focused on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we reviewed the letters up to “מ”. We learned that there are 5 letters that do not start from the top and we now know that two of them are “ט”and “"ל.

Parashat Hashavua:

This Friday you will find in their folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat :תצווה"” we learn about the Cohen and Cohen Gadol (the Priest and the high priest) clothes. We did a project making two kohanim with all their special clothes out of paper and then we dressed them up. We learned that the regular Kohen wore 4 different kinds of clothes and the Kohen Gadol wore 8 different kinds of clothes.

Homework:
The children are still having trouble getting their homework notebook back to school on time. Please make sure the homework notebook is placed back into your child’s backpack. It is extremely important to have it in class on time. Otherwise, I can’t post their homework.
Vocabulary words:
This week’s words are taken from the story” Hagigah Ba’kitah” (a party in the classroom) from the “Ariot 2” workbook. We learned the word “Hagigah”(party) a few weeks ago. Please make sure your child knows the translation of this word.
The test will be on Thursday, 2-17-11.
Sitting (M) יוֹשַב -
Sitting (F)יוֹשֶבֶת-
Riddle.- חִידָה
Letters אוֹתִיוֹת-
Saying (M) אוֹמַר -
Saying (F) אוֹמֶרֶת –
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Irit

First garde 2.03.2011

2011-02-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

2-03-11

Dear Parents,

Even though it was an unexpectedly short week, we still got a lot done! Yesterday we had a birthday surprise for Ms. Tanenbaum and today we celebrated the new month of “Adar I” with a special treat of fruits. Thank you Moreh Dror for providing a special treat every Rosh Chodesh!

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

במשפחה שלי יֵשׁ..." ”

Bamishpach sheli yesh (In my family, there is….) Ask your child to sing our song.

Cursive Hebrew letters:
We are continuing to learn how to write cursive Hebrew letters. The students focused on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we reviewed the letters up to “כ”. We learned that there are 5 letters that do not start from the top and one of them is “ט”.

Parashat Hashavua:

This Friday you will find in their folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “תרומה” we learn that the Hebrew word "תרומה" -(Terumah) means to give a present (contribute). We went over all the different things that were in the Mishkan including: the Mizbayach, the kiyor, the menorah, the shulchan, the mizbayach haZahav. We learned about the different miracles that Hashem did in the Mishkan as well.

Homework:

This week we completed the homework for Tuesday and Wednesday during our class time. After we finished practicing, the students took their test. Everyone did very well!

Vocabulary words:

This week’s words are taken from the story” Oh, Oh Hatost” from “Ariot 2” workbook. The test will be on Thursday, 2-10-11.

Chef טַבָּח -

Carאוֹטוֹ -

T.V.- טֶלֶוִיזְיָה

Toast טוֹסְט

Good (M) טוֹב -

Good (F) טוֹבָה –

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First garde 1.28.2011

2011-01-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

1-28-11

Dear Parents,

This week at recess time, the students got to build a nice איש שלג –Snow man (Eish Sheleg) and a גדול כדור שלג- a huge snow ball (Kadur Shelg Gadol).

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

בילקוט שלי יֵשׁ..." ”

–Bayalkot sheli yesh (In my backpack, there is….) Ask your child to tell you what was in שחר(Shachar) and שרונה )Sharonah( "-ילקוט yalkot" (backpack) in the books we read.

SHALOM BAKITA (Shalom in the Classroom):

This week we finished our Tal –Am workbook “Shalom 1- Shalom Bakita”. The workbook deals with everyday life in the classroom at the beginning of the school year, and focuses on familiarization with the characters of a "virtual" classroom, the articles and the learning habits in the classroom.
Shalom Bakita is further organized into 3 subtopics:
(a) Who is in the class?
(b) What is in the class?
(C) How to study.
These topics will accompany the students throughout the year, since they deal with the everyday life of the students.

SHALOM BABAYIT UVACHUTZ (Shalom at Home and Outdoors)

Next week B”H we will start learning “Shalom at Home and Outdoors”. This unit deals with the everyday life of the students outside of school. “Shalom at Home” focuses on the Jewish daily life at home from wakeup until sunset. It contains such subtopics as: morning and evening routines, the body, clothing and nutrition, and combining the respective prayers and blessings.
“Shalom Outdoors” focuses on the world outside of the classroom and home. It is linked to the creation of the world and is organized according to the seasons of the year.

Cursive Hebrew letters:

We are continuing to learn how to write cursive Hebrew letters. The students focus on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we reviewed the letters: ז=ז, ח=ח, ט=ט

Some students are writing their homework words in cursive but it is extremely important not to let them write it yet! The students are allowed to use Hebrew cursive letters only for the letters we have learned in the class. The students may think they know how to form the letters, but if they are forming them incorrectly, it will be very hard to fix their mistakes later.

Enrichment program .

The students are all excited about having a special enrichment workbook! This workbook gives the student an opportunity to learn and practice more Hebrew whenever he/she finishes their classroom assignment. This workbook can go home for the weekend if your child would like to get advance at home.

Please send me a note in the Hebrew folder to let me know if you are interested in having your child take this workbook home for the weekend. This is an optional assignment.

Parashat Hashavua:

This Friday you will find in their folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “משפטים” We learned that Moses gave many of G-d's laws to the B’nai Yisrael such as “be careful not to lie” as well as the laws of paying for any damages you do to another’s property. We learned about the four ways a person can damage another’s property and have to pay: If he/she damages, if their animal damages, if they spill or leave out something where you can trip, and if your fire damages.

Homework:

Please make sure the homework notebook is placed back into your child’s backpack. It is extremely important to have it in class on time, otherwise I can’t post their homework.

Vocabulary words:

This week’s words will be from the story” Hagiga Ba’mishpacha” from “Ariot 2” workbook

The test will be on Thursday, 2-3-11.

Party, Celebration חֲגִיגָה -

Familyמִשְׁפָּחָה -

Brother- אָח

Sister אָחוֹת -

Uncle דּוֹד –

Aunt דּוֹדָה -

Grandfather סַבָּא –

Grandmother סָבְתָא -

You can practice with flash card at:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1145973/v49t

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First grade 1.21.2011

2011-01-26T07:41:00.001-08:00

1-21-11

Dear Parents,

Tu Bi’shvat is here!

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

אֲנִי אוהב/אוהבת עֵצִים כִּי לָעֵץ יֵשׁ..." ”

–Ani O’hev E’tsim ki La’etz yesh (I like the trees because a tree has….) Ask your child to tell you all the reason we came with and we read about.

Seder Tu Bi’shvat:

Yesterday 1A and 1B celebrated together Tu Bi’shvat. We went outside around our tree in the back yard (the tree with the bird feeder) and sang to the tree “יום הולדת שמח" Happy birthday. Then, we went back to the class and we had a “seder” over fruits from “שִׁבְעַת הַמִּינִים” – Shivat Haminim (the 7 species). We practiced the ברכות-Berachot (blessing) over the special fruits and learned which blessing we should say first.

Cursive Hebrew letters:

We are continuing to learn how to write cursive Hebrew letters. In this unit, we are focusing on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we reviewed the letters: א=א, ב=ב, ג=ג, ד=ד , and we learned the letters ה=ה and ו=ו

Enrichment program .

Last week we started working in a special enrichment workbook. This workbook gives the student an opportunity to learn and practice more Hebrew whenever he/she finishes their classroom assignment. This workbook can go home for the weekend if your child would like to get advance at home.

Please send me a note in the Hebrew folder to let me know if you are interested in having your child take this workbook home for the weekend. This is an optional assignment.

Parashat Hashavua:

This Friday you will find in their folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “יתרו” (Yitro). We learned that the whole Parasha is named after Yitro because he was the father-in-law of Moshe and he accepted that Hashem was G-d after hearing about all the miracles that Hashem did in

Egypt

saving the Jewish People.. We also learned about how the Jewish People received the Torah at Har Sinai. We learned about the 10 commandments which include honoring our Parents. We learned using 2^nd step how to properly interrupt our parents when they are doing something else. This is an important way to show respect to our parents! I’m encourage you to bring you child to “בית כנסת” (synagogue) so they can hear all the 10 commandments in the Torah reading.

Tu B’Shvat:

This week we finished learning about the tree parts, and we started learning of “שבעת המינים” – Shivat Haminim (the 7 species). We learned that there are two main things that we do on “Tu Bi’shvat”: 1) we plant a tree, or give money for planting a tree in Israel. 2.we eat the special fruits of the land of Israel.

Homework:

B”H the homework system is going well. Parents need to remember that the quiz on Thursday is only a vocabulary quiz. If there is a student that has a hard time writing the answer in Hebrew or in English, it’s O.K. I’ll ask him\her for the answer and if he/she knows it they will get a check for their answer. The test is posting every week in your child homework notebook at the end of the unit. Please make sure your child is writing his/her homework in pencil only! Please make sure the homework notebook in placed back into your child’s backpack. Please make sure your child is not writing the words in cursive.

Vocabulary words:

This week’s words will be from the story in “Ariot 2” workbook

The test will be on Thursday, 1-27-11.

Goose אַוָז-

Goldזָהָב-

Move (M)זָז -

Move (F) זָזָה-

Mountain הָר -

You can practice with flash card at:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1131922/2mg2

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First grade 1.14.2011

2011-01-14T06:27:00.001-08:00

1-14-11

Dear Parents,

This week we went outside and fed the birds. Please read about our parasha to understand why.

Hebrew Sentence of the week: לעץ יש..."” – La’etz yesh (the tree has….) Ask your child to sing and tell you all about the tree parts.

Cursive Hebrew letters:

On Monday, we started to learn how to write cursive Hebrew letters. In this unit, we are focusing on forming the letters correctly and reading words written in cursive script. This week, we were practicing the letters: א=א, ב=ב, ג=ג, ד=ד .

We finished our reading program .

This week, we finished our workbook with the last sound “OO”. This program has strengthened everyone’s reading skills and taught the important skill of sounding out and writing Hebrew words. Every student can now read any Hebrew word with all of the vowels as well as write any Hebrew word with any vowel! Wow!

We started “Ariot 2 workbook” and “Ariot 2 CD”:

We started “Ariot 2” workbook, and Ariot 2 program on the computers.

Even though “Ariot 2” is more challenging, it is even more fun to figure out the words in the “Hachtava” (the spelling test at the end of each unit) and we are still able to figure out the words without help.

Parashat Hashavua:

This Shabbat is Shabbat Shirah, (The Shabbat of Song). The Shabbat on which the parsha of Beshalach is read is called Shabbat Shirah, because it contains the song sung by Israel after the splitting of the Red Sea.

One of the customs associated with this Shabbat is to place crumbs outside for the birds to eat. We read in the Torah on this week about G-d giving the "מן" (“Maan”) to the nation of Israel, for their sustenance. Moshe told the nation of

Israel

that the Maan would not fall on Shabbat, and therefore they should collect a double portion on Friday. Datan and Aviram, who wanted to embarrass Moshe and weaken his authority, took Maan they had collected on Friday, and after dark placed it out on the ground. When morning came, they hoped that people would think that the Maan did indeed fall on Shabbat, and Moshe was wrong. However, no Maan was found on Shabbat morning. Why? Because the birds carried it away before the nation awoke. Therefore, the nation indeed trusted Moshe and respected the sanctity of the Shabbat. To reward the birds for this noble deed, we feed them the week on which we read of the surrounding incident, the week of Beshalach.

There is an additional reason why we feed the birds this week. The chirping of birds is not just idle song. It is the way that birds praise G-d for providing them with their needs. Because, this week, we too sing praises of G-d for providing for us in the desert, we recognize the constant song of praise chirped by the birds by providing for their needs.

Tu B’Shvat:

We are learning the Tal-Am unit for Tu-B’Shvat. We are singing songs and reading Hebrew stories. We started to learn the tree’s parts.

Homework:

Please make sure your child is writing his/her homework with pencil only!

Please make sure the homework notebook in placed back into your child’s backpack.

Please make sure your child is not writing the words in cursive.

Vocabulary words:

This week’s words will be on the tree parts.

The test will be on Thursday, 1-20-11.

Trunk גֶזַע-

Fruits – פֵּרוֹת

Fruit - פְּרִי

Flower פֶּרַח-

Roots- שוֹרָשִים

Branches- עֲנָפִים

You can practice with flash card at:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1121822/z2b8

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit

First word list

2011-01-08T18:16:00.001-08:00

This is our first word list.

The test will be on Thursday 1/13/11.

מילים למבחן

Pinkוָרוֹד-

Bear- דֹב

Come- בּוֹא

Roof גַג-

Mr. - אֲדוֹן

You can practice with flash card at:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1109491/w57b

בהצלחה!

Small quiz every Thursday and homeworks

2011-01-08T18:09:00.000-08:00

1.7.2011
Dear Parents,
First grade students are doing very well. We are ready to move to a higher level. We will have a small quiz every Thursday on the 5 words we have studied. I will send home a list of words on Friday in our “Friday Hebrew Folder”. Please keep the words in an available place, sign the folder, and send the folder back.

To help your child study the words, each student will have a special notebook that he/she will take home on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with their homework assignment.
Every Monday, each student must write the words in Aleph-Bet order. Every Tuesday, they must write the words 3 times. And every Wednesday, they will have a word search puzzle with our week’s words.

For your convenience, I’ll make flashcards to be practiced on line.

Parents may not know Hebrew, but the students do!
Parents don’t have to study for the test or do the homework!
Your child knows how to do that, we also will go over the words in class.
Please make sure your child is studying and doing his/her homework.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me:
338-0308
Thanks,
Mora Irit Karavani

Name: ___________________________Date:____________________________

I read the letter and I understand that my child will have homework every Monday ,Tuesday and Wednesday.
The quiz will be on Thursday.

Parent Signature: ____________________

1/07/2011

2011-01-08T17:54:00.001-08:00

1.07.2011

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! I hope you had a nice winter vacation. Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh Shevat. Each student enjoyed eating delicious fruits at recess to welcome the new month.

Next week (Monday) we will be having a special party with treats from Israel (thank you to Zachary!).

We have so many things to celebrate:

We are going to learn writing cursive Hebrew letters:

We are going to start to learn how to write cursive Hebrew letters. In this unit we are going to focus on forming the letters correctly and working on reading text with cursive.

We are going to make a “Keter” (crown) to open this big event.

When you see the crown, Please encourage your child to tell you all about it.

We are finishing the reading program next week:

This week we finished our workbook with the sound Eh. We started the last sound “OO”. This means that next week we will finish our reading program. This program has strengthened everyone’s reading skills and taught the important skill of sounding out and writing Hebrew words. This means every student can read any Hebrew word with all of the vowels as well as write any Hebrew word with any vowels! Wow!

We have finished “Ariot 1 workbook”:

That’s right! We started and finished the “Ariot 1” workbook.

It was very easy because we had already learned so many of the vocabulary words and writing skills while doing our reading program. “ Ariot 1” was so fun when we challenged ourselves to figure out the words in the “Hactava” (the spelling test at the end of each unit) and we were able to figure out the words without help.

We filled the marble jar!

We have had a reward jar in our class. Every time our class receives a compliment for our good behavior; we get 5 marbles. Because the first grade has received a lot of compliments, our jar is full and it’s time to have a party!

Hebrew Sentence of the week: שיעורי בית(shi urey bayit) – Home work. (Yes, we are going to start assigning Hebrew Homework- Please sign the Homework letter and send it back in the folder.)

Parashat Hashavua

This Friday you will find a picture page in the folder with a summary of the story of Parashat: “בא” (Bo). We learned the 10 makot (the Ten Plagues) names in English and in Hebrew.

We learn that “בא” in gematria is 3 and in our Parasha we have the last 3 Makot (plagues)

Tu Bishvat

We started to learn the Tal-Am unit for Tu-Bishvat. We used gematria again to find out that “Tu” is 15 and we celebrate Tu Bishvat on the 15^th of Shvat.

We also learned that this is a Rosh Hashana for the trees.

We all knew that tree in Hebrew is “Ets” but now we all know that another word for tree is “Elan”.

Prayer

We added more lines in the following prayers: “Ashrey”- up to the letter “ס” and “Anim zemirot”- up to the letter “י”

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit.

12.22.2010

2010-12-22T11:21:00.001-08:00

12.22.2010

Dear Parents,

Even though it is a short week, we still have been learning a lot every day! This week we were very excited to change our weather board:

“איך היום בחוץ?” ( How it is today outside?) to winter pictures.

We have been practicing saying the Hebrew word for different clothes by saying a Hebrew sentence: “שחר לובש מעיל" (Shachar is wearing a coat)

“שרונה נועלת מגפיים” (Sharonah is wearin boots) etc.

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

חופשה נעימה"” – Chofsha Ne’ima (Have a nice vacation).

I wish you all חופשה נעימה.

Hebrew workbook:

We started a workbook with the sound Eh. We have already learned the letter : “ע”

After winter break we will start learning how to write Hebrew cursive letters! Everyone is looking forward to begin!

Ariot

This week we continued learning from Ariot 1 and we have already completed 4 stories. We can read all the Hebrew in it! We are doing very well spelling Hebrew words for our “Hachtava” (spelling test). This Monday we went to the computer lab and work on the Ariot I CD-ROM which includes the same stories and activities as in the workbook.

Home work for the vecation:

I’m sending home a practice reading sheet with a combination of letters with all the 4 sounds we have learned so far. Please help your child review by reading it aloud to you. Your child’s reading should be smooth and without mistakes. For your convenience, I’m sending home a similar reading sheet with the pronunciations of the letters on top.

Chofsha Ne emah,

Morah Irit.

12.17.2010

2010-12-17T09:18:00.001-08:00

12.17.2010

Dear Parents,

The first grade is getting ready for theחורף (winter)!

We started to learn the Hebrew words for the clothing

we wear in the winter:

This week we played a game that helps us learn to build Hebrew sentences. We started out building Hebrew sentences with only 3 words such as: “" אני שותה שוקו (I’m drinking hot chocolate). We added one word at a time until we can build sentences with 8 words such as:

אני שותה שוקו חם ואוכל פיצה בבית בבוקר (I’m drinking hot chocolate and eating pizza in the morning at home).

Then we made the sentence even longer by adding:
אחרי שאני שותה שוקו חם ואוכל/ת פיצה בבית בבוקר, אני אומר/ת תודה. (After I drink hot chocolate and eat pizza in the morning at home, I say Thank you).
Wow! That’s 11 words in one sentence! First garde are amazing!

Hebrew Sentence of the week:
( בחוץ, בשלג, בבית, בכיתה וכו') כַּיף לִי- Kef Li (I have fun....)
The children had a lot ofכַּיף playing in the שלג (snow).

Hebrew workbook:
We started a workbook with the sound Eh.
We have already learned the letter “ז”

Parashat Hashavua
This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat “וחי” – Vayechi. From our Parasha we learned how important is a tzadik’s blessing.

Ariot
This week we started learning from Ariot 1 and we are already completed up to the middle of the workbook.
We can read all the Hebrew in it! Most of us can also spell the Hebrew words in our “Hachtava” (the spelling test).
Once a week we go to the computer lab and work on the Ariot I CD-ROM which includes the same stories and activities as in the workbook.
We have a lot of כַּיף " “!
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Irit.

Chanukah week

2010-12-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

12.10.2010

Dear Parents,

First Grade Chanukah show was fabulous. I’m very proud of them. Thank you for coming.

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

כַּמָה נֵרוֹת אֲנַחְנוּ מַדְלִיקִים בַּלַיְלָה הַ.......

(How many candles do we light on the _____ night).

We sang this song every day of Chanukah.

Hebrew workbook:

This week we finished our workbook which teaches about the vowel “Holam” (the long O sound). We learned to spell words with all three of the vowels we have learned (“Ah”, “Ei” and “O”). Next week we will start the next workbook with the sound Eh.

Parashat Hashavua

This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “ויגש” – Vayigash. From our Parasha we’ve learned how much it is important to be responsible for our siblings and for our family.

Hagim (Holidays)

This week we had an exciting time celebrating Chanukah!We lit the Chanukiah every day in our classroom. We said the B’racha and sang “Hanerot Halaloo” and “Ma oz tsor” every day.

We finished two workbooks. I’m sending home our Tal-Am workbook for Chanukah for you to keep. We also learned new songs and read Hebrew stories for Chanukah. (The books are shown on the back of the festival workbook). We also finished a review workbook in English for Chanukah as well. Please go over the two workbooks and encourage your child to tell you what we have learned!

Notbook: This week we started writing in our Hebrew מחברת (notebook).

The students are writing all their class work in their notebooks.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Irit.

12.3.2010

2010-12-03T08:09:00.001-08:00

12.3.2010
Dear Parents,
This week were very exited to change our Hebrew weather board to: היום יש שלג"” – today there is snow.
We got to play in the snow and we took some picture for our Album.

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 our Tefila (prayer). We were focusing on “מודה אני” (Modeh Ani)
Ani= I’m, Modeh= saying thanks.
אני אומרת תודהI would like to say thank you to the PTO for the wonderful bags with the candles, dreidel and gelt for Chanukah.

Hebrew workbook:
This week we continued our workbook which teaches about the vowel “Holam” (the long O sound). We learned to spell words with all three of the vowels we have learned (“Ah”, “Ei” and “O”).

Parashat Hashavua:
This Friday you will find in your child’s folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “מקץ” – Mikeitz . We learned how much Yosef was faithful in Hashem. When Paro asked him if he could interpret his dream, Yosef’s answer was that it’s not him, it is Hashem’s interpretation.

Hagim (Holidays):
This week we learned more about חנוכה “Chanukkah.” We got to color our own Chanukiya that I made out of plaster of paris.
In small groups we got to play with סביבון sevivun (dreidel) and we counted how many time it got on "נ" "ג" "ה" "ש":
We learned what these letters stand for.

Ariot: This week 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.

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Irit.

First garde 11.24.2010

2010-12-01T13:43:00.001-08:00

11.24.2010

Dear Parents,
this week we learned about חג ההודיה “Thanksgiving.” We found out that even the Hebrew name for a turkey is a meaningful name that connecst to the holiday.
Turkey = תרנגול הודו (Tarnegol hodoo). The word “Hodoo” in Hebrew is another word for thanks. So, what can be better then “Tarnegol Hodoo” to celabrate Thanksgiving.

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: Eight days in Chanukkah. Why?)

Hebrew workbook:
This week we started our workbook which teaches about the vowel “Holam” (the long O sound). We learned to spell words with all three of the vowels we have learned (“Ah”, “Ei” and “O”).

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 learned that Yosef’s story happened because Hashem wanted him to end in Egypt and to get into the palace.

Hagim (Holidays)
Each student got a turn to choose something to thank Hashem for.
Here is the list of what the children came up with all in Hebrew!
1B
Zach: “I’m saying thank you for the life” " אני אומר תודה על החיים" -
Madison: “I’m saying thank you for the Shabbat " אני אומרת תודה על השבת" -
Yaakov B: “I’m saying thank you for the food” - "אני אומר תודה על האוכל"
Dvora: “I’m saying thank you for the clothes” - "אני אומרת תודה על הבגדים"
Daniel: “I’m saying thank you for the house "אני אומר תודה על הבית"-
Eliyahu: “I’m saying thank you for the water and the rain” "אני אומר תודה על"- המים והגשם
Tovah: “I’m saying thank you for the good school” "אני אומרת תודה על בית"- הספר הטוב
Ari: “I’m saying thank you for the friends” "אני אומר תודה על החברים"-
Saul: “I’m saying thank for the games” - "אני אומר תודה על המשחקים"
Brandon: “I’m saying thank you for the animals” "אני אומר תודה על החיות"-
Sarah: “I’m saying thank you for the miracles” "אני אומרת תודה על הניסים"

1A
Samuel: “I’m saying thank you for the year and for the Torah” -
"אני אומר תודה על השנה והתורה"
Samson: “I’m saying thank you for the family” "אני אומר תודה על המשפחה" "
Yaki: “I’m saying thank you for getting out of Egypt” -
"אני אומר תודה על יציאת מצרים"
Chaya Shalva: “I’m saying thank you for my parents and my teachers"
אני אומרת תודה על אמא ואבא ועל המורים"”
Channah: “I’m saying thank you for the good people” –
"אני אומרת תודה על האנשים"
Akiva: “I’m saying thank you for the soldiers”- “ "אני אומר תודה על החיילים
Yaakov N. “I’m saying thank you for the jokes”- “"אני אומר תודה על הבדיחות
Yaakov W. “I’m saying thank you for the Holidays”- "אני אומר תודה על החגים
Dani: “I’m saying thank you for health”- “"אני אומר תודה על הבריאות
Michelle: “I’m saying thank you for the synagogue”-
“אני אומרת תודה על בית הכנסת”

I’m sending home the turkey with some of these thank you sentences.
I’m very proud of the first grade work!
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Irit.

11.19.2010

2010-11-19T09:35:00.001-08:00

11.19.2010
Dear Parents,
Thank you for coming for the parent/teacher conferences. It was very nice to share with you my joy teaching your child!
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 fine the answer.)

Hebrew workbook:
This week we finished our workbook which teaches about the vowel “Hirik” (the long E sound). We learned to spell words with both of the vowels we have learned (Ah and Ei). We learned to follow Hebrew directions by identifying על יד “AL Yad (next to) or מעל “ Me-Al” (above) and “Mi Tachat” (under) from pictures in our workbooks. I’m very proud of everyone! I’m sending home the workbook for you to keep. Please courage your child to go over the unit and read for you the words.

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.

Hagim (Holidays)
We continued learning from our workbook for Chanukah! 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,)

Prayer
We are practicing the blessings for lighting the “Chanukiyah” (Chanukah menorah). We have added the song “הַנֵרוֹת הַלָלוּ” (Hanerot Halalu) -the song that we sing after lighting the Chanukiya.

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Irit.

First garde 11.12.2010

2010-11-12T09:17:00.001-08:00

11.12.2010

Dear Parents,
This week we had a very nice time welcoming in the new month of “Kislev”. This “Rosh Chodesh” we received a special treat with lots of “Ribah” (jelly) in it! We also made nice “Happy Chanukah” cards for American Jewish soldiers.
Hebrew Sentence of the week: אֲנִי פֹּה (Ani Po) – I’m here. (While we learned about Chanukah we learned that the letter “Peh” is one of the letters on the dreidle in Israel. It stands for “Po”-“here”.)

Hebrew workbook:
This week we almost finished our workbook with the vowel “Hirik” which sounds like a long E. We are learning to spell words with both of the vowels we have learned (Ah and Ei). We learned to follow Hebrew directions by identifying על יד “AL Yad (next to) or מעל “ Me-Al” (above) and “Mi Tachat” (under) from pictures in our workbooks. I’m very proud of everyone!

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.

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).

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

Shabbat Shalom
Morah Irit.

First grade 11.4.2010

2010-11-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Parents,

The first grade can speak using so many Hebrew words. I’m so impressed!

This week we practiced Hebrew words that describe different kinds of weather using a special software program on our computer. The children had to choose the type of weather they wanted to watch by asking me in Hebrew for: “Ham”-hot “kar”-cold or “Hamim” –not hot and not cold, the type of

ru ach (strong or not strong) , “sheleg”-snow and “Geshem”-rain. It was a lot of fun.

Hebrew Sentence of the week: קר לִי (Kar Li) – I’m cold. (I’m going to use it a lot for the next few months.)

Hebrew workbook:

This week we finished our workbook “Mai’ot leot” Part 3! We reviewed the Aleph-Bet letter names with their sounds and the vowel sound “AH” up to the letter Tav. We also focused on: “Shin” and “sin”. We practiced writing words and placing the dot on the right place. (Shin- on the right Sin-on the left). I’m sending it home for you to keep and review.

We started a new Hoveret (workbook) with the vowel “Hirik” which sounds like a long E. We are learning to spell words with both vowels we have learned (Ah and Ei).

Parashat Hashavua

This Friday you will find in their folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “תולדות” (Toldot). We learned that Rivkah had twin boys: Esav and Yaakov. We learn about their differences. We learned the story of how Esav sold the birthright to Yaakov for a bowl of lentil soup.

Prayer

We are doing very well reading and singing to following new prayers: “Baruch Shamar”, “Ashrey” and “Anim zemirot”

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Irit.

10.29.2010

2010-10-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

10.29.2010

Dear Parents,

The first grade continues to learn a lot of Hebrew and Hebrew songs.

First grade was amazing when they sang their two Hebrew songs welcoming the special guests on the “Special Person day” on Monday. I’m know you where proud of them when they performed!

I am so proud of them!

Hebrew Sentence of the week: הַ___ עַל-יַד/עַל הַ___

(Ha_____ Al-yad / Al Ha____) –The______ is next to / on the ______

Hebrew workbook:

This week we have almost finished our workbook “Mai’ot leot” Part 3! We reviewed the Aleph-Bet letter names with their sounds and the vowel sound “AH” up to the letter Resh. We also focused on the Final letters: “Pay sofit” and “Tzadi sofit”. We practiced writing words and we learned when to use the final letters.

Parashat Hashavua

This Friday you will find in their folder a picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “חיי שרה” (Haye Sara). We learned that Sarah died when she was 127 years old and Avraham bought the Ma’arat HaMachpela to bury her. We learned that the word “Ma’ara” means “cave”. We also learned that there are four couples buried there: Adam and Chava, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchok and Rivkah, Yaakov and Leah. We also learned that Avraham sent Eliezer to find a wife for his son Yitzchok. Eliezer took 10 “gimalim” (“Gamal” means “camel”) and went to Charan, Avraham’s birthplace, to find one. There he finds Rivkah at a well.

Prayer

This week we started to learn the first few lines in the following prayers: “Baruch Shamar”, “Ashrey” and “Anim zemirot”

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Irit.

Friday note 10.22.2010

2010-10-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

10.22.2010

Dear Parents,

The first grade continues to learn a lot of Hebrew. I am so proud of them!

We learned a Hebrew song about the Hebrew days of the week. We also learned that we every day we say “Shalom” but on Shabbat we say “Shabbat Shalom”.

Hebrew Sentence of the week: אין לִי (En Li) –I don’t have.

Hebrew workbook:

This week we started our workbook “Mai’ot leot” Part 3. We reviewed the Aleph-Bet letter names with their sounds and the vowel sound “AH” up to the letter Nun. We also focused on the Final letters: “Mem sofit” and “Nun sofit”. We practice writing words and we learned when to use a final letter.

Parashat Hashavua

This Friday you will find in their folder picture page with a summary of the story of Parashat: “ וירא” (Va yerah). We learned about two important Mitzvot that our Parasha teaches us about: Hachnasat Orchim and Bikur Cholim. We also learned about other stories from the beginning of the Parasha. Please encourage your child to tell you the stories he/she learned about this Parasha using the pictures on the sheets.

Special story

In your child folder you will find a story named “חלה לשבת” (Hala for Shabbat). Each child had a turn to stand in front of the class and read his/her part. Boys were “אבא” the girls were “חוה”. This story is a good exercise for Hebrew reading and for practice understanding the word: “אוכל” (O’ chel) – eating.

Please read it again with your child. A child who brings a note from home that he read it will get a “דג” (fish- ask your child to tell you all about our fish).

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Irit.