Here is a playlist of the songs for Zimriyah this year in case students and families want to practice at home!
All School: Shiru Shir, Shir Hachodashim, Rabbi Akiva, Nerot Shel Ahava, Mishe, Echad Mi Yode’a, Yom Huledet
Grades Pre-K, K, 1, 2: Basukkah shelanu, Shana Tova, Hashkediya Porachat, Letsan Katan
Grades 3,4,5: Bashana haba-a, Sukkat Shalom, Ki Tavou,
Alumni song: Yesh Li Chag
When we learned the letters kaf and lamed, we were busy with Purim, but it was a great opportunity to connect it with this special holiday.
First we learned the three ways that we can use the letter kaf and its placement in words. The children are able to recognize the words ken (yes), keter (crown), kol hakavod, kesef (silver/money), katom (the color orange), kachol (blue), and kis (pocket) for the letter kaf. For projects, we filled khaf with masechot (masks) and filled khaf sofit with a drawing of a melech (king). We couldn’t finish learning about Purim without filling in our kaf with glitter in the color of kesef (silver) or katom (the color orange), and we made a keter (crown) for Achashverosh. Lastly, we discovered that the word kis means pocket in Hebrew. After the kis (pocket) project, the children got a chocolate kiss from my kis (pocket).
We had so m
uch fun learning the letter lamed. First we got our faces painted as leitzanim (clowns) and we learned the song “leitzan katan sheli” (my little clown).
Then we had a beautiful discussion about what’s in our lev (heart). We not only had fun making a project about it, but also sharing our thoughts with our friends.
Once we finished learning the letter lamed, we realized we could string letters together and read many words from our excellent vocabulary.
We are so excited!
The main goal of our Hebrew classes for the last two weeks was to introduce the letters zayin and tet.
When we introduced the letter tet, we noticed that the sound of the letter tet is the same sound as the letter tav. We agreed that it’s a little bit confusing but as the children said, “even in English we have the letter ‘c’ that sometimes sounds like the letter ‘k’.”
Students are able to recognize the letter zayin in the words Zebra and Zachal (caterpillar), and the letter tet in the words Talit, Tavas (peacock), Telephone and Tractor.
We had a wonderful time learning about these two letters. For the letter zayin we read the story “HaZachal Haraev” (The Hungry Caterpillar). We were so excited to read this familiar story in Hebrew because we recognized so many words!
We then introduced the words Zeh (“this is,” masculine) and Zot (“this is,” feminine), and for the letter tet we learned the words Tov (“good,” masculine) and Tova (“good,” feminine”). This is a very complicated and sophisticated concept, and we will continue practicing these words. We also learned the verb Zocher (remember) and practiced making sentences!
For the letter zayin we had a great time turning the letter into the head of a Zebra and the letter tet into a Talit and Tavas (peacock). These projects will be part of our special book that will be coming home at the end of the year.
Finally we practiced writing these new letters with sand and chalk!
We have also had fun getting ready to celebrate Purim! We’ve heard and told the story, and talked about the four mitzvot of Purim. We will also be making hamantaschen to celebrate the holiday. We’ve been sure to practice being silly for Adar by wearing fun hats and hairstyles.
As always, it is such a pleasure to learn with and from your children.
We had such a wonderful time creating the letter CHet with blocks!
Students are able to recognize this letter in the words CHallah, CHalon (window), CHumus, CHanukiyah (menorah for Chanukah), CHatul (cat). Ask your kids to tell you more words they know that begin with the letter Chet!
After learning many new words, we then realized we could draw a CHatul (cat). With this new word we decided to introduce two verbs so that we could make actual sentences. The verbs we learned were CHoshev (to think) and CHolem ( to dream). For our final projects, we created pictures of the most beautiful cats inspired by different artists.
Finally we celebrated Shabbat with CHallah, CHumus and CHamutzim!
“We went on a search for the essence of life.” What is that? you may ask. . .
The second graders have the answer to this fundamental question! They found it in a place you have been many times. It may be green; it may be orange. It may be red; it may be purple. It may grow on a tree; it may grow in the ground; it may even grow on a vine. These fearless explorers stepped on our JCDSRI magic school bus, took a seat and headed out to the . . . EASTSIDE MARKETPLACE!
Once there, they began their mission to collect fruits of the trees and vegetables of the earth. The other shoppers may have wondered, “What is this beautiful language the children are speaking?” We answered in one voice. It is an ancient language; it is a modern language. It is the language of our people, the Jewish people. It’s the Hebrew language! We returned to school filled with the bounty of our mission, satisfied and eager to come together to enjoy a taste of the upcoming spring. This is just one of the ways that we celebrated TuB’Shevat at JCDSRI!
Lehitr
aot, Rotem and Rhonda