CHANUKAH SELFIE

Our first Chanukah Selfie is in! Keep em coming!

HAPPY CHANUKAH

Chanukah

Hello Parents,

The past two weeks in Hebrew School we have been getting ourselves ready for Chanukah!

We learned all about the history of Chanukah, how the Greeks tried to force us to drop the spirituality and meaning of our beliefs and just do what we felt like, and how the Maccabees saved the day!
We disused how we too can stay proud to be who we are, even when it means not following the trends of others. As I say, "if you were meant to stand out, why are you trying to fit in?"

We prepared two special crafts for Chanukah.
1) A Message Menorah
Inside each glass bottle is a message for you and your family. Each night that you light a candle, share the message and do what it says. You can use the glass jars as candle holders but please wrap the bottom of the candle in tin-foil first just in case the glass breaks from the heat.

2) A Framed Blessing Guide
Please use these guides when lighting the Menorah. For the first night we say all three blessings, for the rest of the nights we only say two!

Have a very happy Chanukah,

Rabbi B

      

Shabbat Week 2

SHABBAT BOOK MAKING
The Boys made Kiddush blessing books and the Girls made Candle Lighting books

    

Shabbat Unit

SHABBAT CANDLE AND KIDDUSH CUP DECORATING

      

    

   

   

Shabbat Shalom

Today was a wonderful day in Hebrew School as we began getting ready for our upcoming Family Shabbat Dinner. I hope you have received the email/flyer by now and are considering joining us as this has been an extremely uplifting and wonderful experience for the families who have taken part in the past. It also gives your child(ren) a first hand Shabbat experience.

We learned that there are two aspects to keeping Shabbat: 1) To Remember Shabbat and 2) To Protect Shabbat. Remembering Shabbat includes all the things we do for Shabbat. We brainstormed the things we already know that we do on Shabbat, some of the suggestions from the class were: Making Kiddush and Eating Challah (Noach), Spending time with Family (Leah), Going to Shul (Benyamin) and Reading and Resting (Eliyahu).  Protecting Shabbat includes all the things we do not do on Shabbat. For our class purposes we are really only going to focus on the positive things we do on Shabbat.

I encouraged your children to do something special on Shabbat like have a family dinner, add an extra delicacy to dinner, invite a guest to dinner, etc. There are so many things we can do to honour the Shabbat and keep it holy. Every little thing we do in Honour of Shabbat can bring great blessing tour families and homes.

In Hebrew, we continued working on our hebrew script writing. We have thus far learned Aleph, Bet, Vet, Gimmel, Daled, Hei and Vov. Everyone is doing their work and completing their daily tasks. I encourage you, parents, to ask your child to show you these letters and how to write them.

In addition, we completed our Hebrew name artwork canvases. These should be kept and displayed in order to encourage your child to be proud of their Jewish identity and name. They all did a fabulous job on their project.

Next week we will be doing a Shabbat craft and learning a new list of vocabulary words that are relevant to Shabbat. Stay tuned.

Once again, almost everybody has a binder and writing utensils, if your child is the one that does not have these things PLEASE PLEASE get them the appropriate materials for school. Binder, subject dividers, pencils, pens, markers, scissors, gluestick, etc. The easiest thing to do is buy these things from Dollarama, put them in their hebrew school bag and leave it there from week to week.

Thank you and have an amazing week!

Rabbi B

Who Knows One?

Hello Grade 4 Parents and Students,

We had a great day at Hebrew School today.

Our day began as usual, with Tefillah (prayer). Right now, we say Modeh Ani, morning Blessings (read one at a time by each student), Harieni, Adon Olam and Shema. After each day of Prayer, we also practice reciting the Birkat HaMazon (blessing after eating) which is one of our Tefillah fluency goals for grade four.

I, Rabbi B, then write the Hebrew date on the board and discuss anything significant about the date. Today was the 11th of Cheshvan which is the anniversary of passing (the Yahrzeit) of Rachel our foremother. Rachel was the mother of Joseph, wife of Yaakov and is an extremely special mother to all Jewish people. You can even say that would make today a sort of Jewish mother's day.

Next comes Aleph Champ, our incredible Hebrew reading and fluency program. Each level of Aleph champ corresponds to a level of reading and ability. Hebrew school has hired reading specialist to take charge of you child(ren)'s Hebrew reading. Once their fluency is quite good, they can begin learning Hebrew language and grammar skills with me in the Grey/Black level. SO far, I have two students in my group and form the looks and sounds of it, I will have a few more very soon.

Following Aleph champ is recess. Kosher snacks are available for sale during this time, if instead you wish to send snacks with your child, please ensure it is Kosher and nut-free.

Upon return from recess, we learn a weekly Jewish song. Last week, we learned a funny song called "Because I'm a Jew". Today, we sang "Who Knows One?" In this song, various general Jewish knowledge is reviewed through a fun and repetitive tune. Some of the kids already knew the song and were more than happy to share their knowledge with the others who did not. It was a hoot.

Next, we learn a new Hebrew letter, or two, in script. Today we practices Bet and Gimmel. Perhaps ask your child to show you how to make a script aleph, bet and gimmel. You can use their review page in their binder for reference.

Today we spent some time focusing on the Forefather and Mothers of Judaism as this is very important general knowledge. The three forefathers were Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov and the four foremothers were Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah.

We ended our day with some Hebrew vocabulary. Each week, or bi-weekly, we willlearn a new list of Hebrew vocabulary words. These words will be used in classroom conversation throughout the year by me. As new words are learned, I use them in place of the english word. Today, we learned how to count to ten in Hebrew. Please review these numbers with your child to enhance their retention. Each week we will be having a POP-Quiz (in which is give pop or popcorn etc to those who do well) on last weeks vocabulary words. To assist with review, I have prepared and given out an index card with the words in Hebrew, English transliteration and English translation. They are in your child's bag/binder.

Thank you for entrusting me with your precious ones and I hope to see you all in good health next week,

L'Hitraot (until next time)

Rabbi B