Parashat Bereshit

בס"ד

10..12.2012

Dear Parents,
Even though this week was very short here is what we learned:

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.
I am sending the workbook we are using home so you can review with your child. Please keep this workbook at home.

Parashat Hashavua-Parashat Bereshit
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 Hebrew words your child wrote in the box.  The first graders learned about the creation.
On our “Kabalat Shabbat” Moreh Dror highlighted 2 things that we can learn from the creation to our life:

1.    G-D could create the world in one day but he didn’t – here we learn that if we want to do something and get a better result we need to take our time and not rush through our work.

2.    G-D stopped at the end of every day to check his work – we need to also check our work at the end. For example when we finish an answer for a test we need to go over it and check if it is all right.

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Irit

Sukkot 2012

Dear Parents,

This week we completed the unit of Sukkot.
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 child!
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

שבת שובה

בס"ד

9.21.2012

Dear Parents,

Even though this  week was very short, we were very busy learning about Yom Kippur.

-We looked at the calendar and we saw that the date is Yud which means 10, and the month is Tishrei.

Calender:

When we came back to school we found out that it is a new month (Tishrei) and a new Hebrew year ( תשע"ג).

We also saw that we are in the middle of Aseret Yemei Teshuva and that this Shabbat is Shabbat Shuvah.

Aseret Yemei Teshuva”

-We counted 10 days from Rosh Hashanah and now we understand  why these days are called: Aseret Yemei Teshuva” the 10 days of Repentance.

-We learn about Selichot service.

Shabbat Shuvah

-After Rosh Hashanah ends and before Yom Kippur starts the next notable day is the special Shabbat (this Shabbat) that has its own name: Shabbat Shuvah ("Sabbath [of] Return") meaning the Sabbath devoted to "teshuva" which means "repentance" in Hebrew.

Tashlikh (תשליך‎, meaning "casting off")

This week first grade went to the stream that is next to our school and trew their “mistakes”. Now we are all ready for “Yom Kipur”.

9.7.2012

9.7.2012

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

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.

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.

Hebrew:
This week we reviewed the Aleph-Bet letter names with their sounds as well as the “AH” vowel sound up to the letter “Zayin”.
We also learned that the letter “ו”added to a word means “and”. Please ask your child to explain this to you.

Chagim (Holidays):
We continued working on our unit on Rosh Hashana. The students completed a project during Hebrew class and I will  send it home B”H next week along with our Rosh Hashana workbook.

Shabbat Shalom,
      Morah Irit.

8.31.2012

8.31.2012

Dear Parents,
We were very busy learning about the month of “Elul” and about Rosh Hashanah.
We learned a new song for the 12 Hebrew months, and we know that Rosh Hashnah starts on the first day of the first month of Tishri.
Prayer:
We learned the whole “Alenu  Leshabeach” at the end of the service. We added one more new prayer to our morning prayers:
“En ke elokenu” We love singing it with the music;
We are also 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”  at the end of the Hebrew word  and on “ ה”  at 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 week

24.8.2012

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

Here is some of our Subject 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 letters Alef, Bet and Vet!

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


Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Irit.

first grrade 5.24.12

5-24-12Dear Parents,
Chag HaSiddur was fabulous. I’m very proud of all my students. The students loved doing it so much that they want to continue practicing. Thank you for coming.

“Chai Club”

This week I’m sending home 2 books: “Od Chala Bevakasha” (More Chalah please) for reading on Shabbat, and “Haotiyot Batorah Shelanu” (the letter in our Torah) for reading on Shavuot. These are the last two books for some students since they have finished reading 16 books already. Please encourage your child to read so they can also become members of our club. Please don’t send any books back to school tomorrow. We will continue with the Chai Club next week and we come back to our vocabulary words in the following week.

Hebrew Sentence of the week:

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

 For example: “ אני סופר/סופרת את העומר”(I’m counting the Omer), and in our parasha:  ה' סופר את בני ישראל (G-D is counting B’nai Yisrael).

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 started Ariot 4 (the last book of Ariot).

We learned 2 stories:”פיל פילון” – (Pil Pilon) and “איפה העפיפון” (Where is the kite)

Shavuot:

This week we finished our Tal Am workbook unit on Pesach-Shavuot. We learned that from Passover until Shavout we count 49 days which is 7 weeks. Ask your child why we count these days.  We also learned that the B’nai Yisrael recieved the Torah on Har (Mt.) Sinai on “Vav Sivan” (6^th of the month of Sivan).We learned a new song about the 5 books of the Torah and the 4 names of “Shavuot”.

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.

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat :במדבר""
This Friday we 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.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach from Morah Irit.