Sunday, October 21, 2012

The leaves are changing color!

During Tefilah today, Rabbi Offner spoke about praying for peace, peace among people, having a peaceful mind, and being at peace with the world.  In doing so, she mentioned that being thankful for the world around us and seeing miracles in everyday occurrences can bring us towards a more reflective and peaceful appreciation of the world.  On a beautiful autumn day like today, it's easy to see divine work all around us!  I hope that everyone is off enjoying the beautiful day!  I'm writing this blog post from my porch so I can be surrounded by the beautiful colors of the trees as the leaves change before they fall to the ground.


Each of our classes were busy today, though attendance was sparse.  If your child is going to be absent from Religious School, please email the classroom teacher ahead of time so that they can plan class accordingly and provide your child with make-up work. Also, please note that Religious School begins at 9:30 and for class to begin on time, all students need to be present.  Please aim to have your child in the building and ready to go by 9:30.

First graders continued to talk about Shabbat and colored pictures depicting Shabbat activities like lighting the candles and reading Torah.  Miss Greenberg read about Havdalah to the students, helped them construct Noah's Ark, and read the story, Jacob who Loved the Sabbath by Marilyn Hirsch.  Ask your child about the ruby from the story and where it ended up!






Our second graders also heard the story of Noah this week and made arks complete with many animals!  They read "Noah's Ark" by Peter Spier in which the kids are able to help construct the story and "Two by Two" a poem by Barbara Reid.  Students also continued their exploration of the Hebrew alphabet by learning about bet!








The third and fourth graders spent time reviewing the Hebrew letters they have been working on and then set up their Hebrew notebooks, paying special attention to setting them up so that the pages were arranged from right to left like Hebrew writing/reading.  They reviewed and listened to bible stories, reviewing the creation story, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, and Noah Ark and then listened to the story of Abram and Sarai and why their names changed to Abraham and Sarah.   They also heard about Ishmael and Itzhak.  Ask you children to share the stories with you!




Fifth and sixth graders participated in a program run by ADL on the book Julia's Star.  This book was written by a Jewish girl named Johanna Justin-Jinich, who was sadly murdered as a college student because she was Jewish and deals with young Jewish children confronting and addressing questions about their Jewish identity among their non-Jewish peers.  To learn more about this story, Johanna, or the education that her family continues in her memory, please visit juliasstar.org.


Thank you to the parents of the fifth and sixth graders that were able to meet to discuss these issues with members of ADL.


Sixth graders have a quiz on Wednesday on the script letters and have homework to complete pages 4-6 in the prayer companion workbook.

Seventh graders are always hard at work.  Students continue to practice and master the Friday evening Kiddush, identifying the words they know using their study of root words.  They reviewed the portion of the week, Lech Lacha, and have homework to complete the worksheet on Lech Lacha for Wednesday.

Eighth graders were lucky to have David Fleischman sub for them as they discussed cheating, lying and related it to the recent SAT scandal in which students were paid to take the SATs for others.  The students were introspective and spoke about the motivations for cheating and being dishonest and discussed instances in which lying is necessary or recommended for the benefit of saving a life, ultimately doing the right thing or avoiding a dangerous situation.

The ninth grade confirmation class met and talked about their trip to NYC last week, recalling what they did and the things they learned.  They thoughtfully conversed about a variety of topics, touching upon Buddah, proselytizing, and conversion in mere minutes.  One ninth grader later commented to me that she especially enjoyed today's class because she felt she was able to share and reaffirm the ways in which her personal beliefs mirrored those of Reform Judaism.  It was a pleasure to join this class for a bit.

The silliest highlight of my day was joining the first and second graders at music in which they sang about Noah and the many animals he had join him on the ark!





Thank you to the seventh graders for joining Rabbi Offner and Mr. Calvert on the bimah for the V'Ahavtah during Tefilah today!

-Miss Nancy Kahrimanis

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