This week we had a lot of learning done in Hebrew class. We learned how the different classes that we learn in school are called in Hebrew, and we were able to tell about our weekly school schedule, using Hebrew vocabulary. We also practiced male and female forms of different words. Using all of our vocabulary and skills, we were able to use more advanced sentences to express ourselves. Each group of students worked on a skit based on our learning and today presented them in class. One group is still working on a longer play based on the book “the giving tree”, a full-length book that they will present in Hebrew, and we’re looking forward to their product. Great learning this week, 3rd graders!

For the culmination of learning the stories of creation in Bereshit, the 3rd graders are working on a creative project that will sum up their learning.

The teams are working on 5 different stories: Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the ark, and tower of Babel. They are preparing slideshows, a Kahoot quiz, animated theater show, and more. They students will present the outcomes of their learning to their peers right before Purim.

We have also celebrated this week in class the new Hebrew month, Adar, and learned the phrase and song “משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה”- when Adar enters, we increase the happiness. We have talked about different ways to make ourselves happy and to make others around us happy. The students made beautiful connections between our happiness and the happiness of others and shared how they become happier when they help others. In the spirit of the holiday, the 3rd and 4th graders will visit an old-age home on Purim and we are working on a holiday related bingo that they will bring to the residents, as well as Mishloach Manot.

We had a special activity in celebration of the Jewish new year of trees- Tu Bishvat. We learned about the connection of the holiday to the land of Israel, and tasted together fruit from the 7 species that symbolize the land of Israel- שבעת המינים. we learned about the order of blessings over different foods in the Jewish tradition. We also made a tree out of recyclable materials- a brown paper bag became a beautiful tree. In Hebrew, we learned the names for the different parts of the tree: גזע, עלים, ענפים, פרחים ושורשים. We discussed how different Hebrew names come from nature and how some names that we know are actually names of trees, fruit or flowers! (שושנה, תמר)

We had a great time celebrating the birthday of the trees together. Happy Tu Bishvat!

Today we celebrated Tu Bishvat in Hebrew class with a special activity. We made a fruit salad together (Thank you for sending the fruits!), played Kahoot and talked about the metaphor of fruit salad as a multi cultural and accepting society; Just like in fruit salad, we can maintain our identity while being a part of a community based on variety of identities.

This week, the 3rd graders learned a lot about different languages in the world. We learned that there are about 6500 languages spoken in the world today. We checked ourselves to see how many languages we can think of in the class (19) and how many languages can we recognize in a YouTube quiz (3). We learned about Esperanto, a language created in the 19th century by Ludwig Zamenhoff who believed one simple language can help improve communication between all humans and bring world peace.

All of these fascinating facts came from our discussion of the story of the tower of Babel. We explored the questions: was mixing the languages of the people a curse or a blessing? What are the pros and cons of having different languages in the world? How can we communicate with people who speak different languages? Today in class, the students wrote down the lessons they learned from our discussions. They learned that communication is possible if you listen and care about the other, and that it’s not about the language but more about the human connection. I was very proud of their meaningful learning.

Next week in Jewish Studies we will celebrate Tu Bishvat and will also conclude our unit of Torah creation stories with a special project.

In the meantime you can try similar challenges to those we tried in 3rd grade, and guess which language you’re hearing:

http://https://youtu.be/lyGB4nDEVD4

http://https://youtu.be/jmgpo0ZqdRU