Jewish Life learning

Students in 5-7 grades have presented the first Zionist Congress as a final project of our Jewish Studies class about Zionism.

The students had a great learning experience and were really able to show how much they learned in an active and engaging way. Well done!

In Hebrew class, the 7th and 8th graders are almost done with Unit 9 of “Bishvil Haivrit”. In this unit, they learned a lot about food, Israeli food, names of different dishes and verbs from the kitchen area. We have also learned more about the use of prepositions. For the culmination of the unit, the students will serve breakfast in Hebrew on Jan. 6, the day after winter break. The students are already working on a Hebrew menu, Hebrew signs, and rehearsing Hebrew phrases for the pancake breakfast they will be serving on that day. Please join us!

Also, the students have hosted friends from the Indian community school, and they have shared Hebrew songs with them, and taught them how to write their name in Hebrew.

Lastly, today we had a special activity with our shin-shin Khen, Khen explained about the political system in Israel and why there are 3rd elections. The students participated in a demonstration of the political system and they represented different parties. Unfortunately, even our students were not able to get out of the political mess and they did not succeed in forming a government, but they had a lot of fun and got a better understanding of the Israeli society.

The students of 7/8th Hebrew class are continuing their learning about food. The students have learned a lot of new vocabulary. They described their favorite places to eat and have also presented skits of ordering from a menu- all in Hebrew!

Today we prepared in class Tahini (טחינה) from instructions that the students read. Everyone participated in the making process and enjoyed the result, even though some of the students found the new dish not exactly to their taste! Later, the students will write their own instructions for making favorite foods.

While learning the stories of Bereshit, many questions arise. When we read the stories in 3rd grade, we always make room for questioning.

Our routine includes reading the story in Hebrew and searching for familiar words that will help us understand; reading the English translation; and ask our questions about the text.

One of the students had a great idea that we adopted: having a “question box” where we can put all the questions that come to our mind while learning. This way, we can relate to some of the questions later, and we can also see if other students also came up with similar questions.

During the week, the students fill the box with their questions and on Fridays we take the questions our and discuss them.

Look at some of the thoughts that the 3rd graders had and the things they wondered about:

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On Sunday, the state of Israel commemorated the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin 24 years ago. On Monday we dedicated our Hebrew class to learn about this day. First, we read and listened to an Israeli song called “שווים” (=equal). We discussed the message of the song, that tells about different people and different opinions and wishes they can all come together. We asked what is the benefit of having different people and opinions in society? The students came up with impressive answers and it was even more impressive that they expressed themselves in Hebrew to their best ability. They connected the song to our core value- empathy.

Then, we talked about Yitzhak Rabin and the assassination and we have participated in an activity led by Omer and Khen our shinshinim. The students visited an exhibition telling about the life of Rabin and about the protests against him before the assassination. Oner and Khen led a conversation about how verbal violence can cross the limits and how we as a society and as individual should be careful with our words. The students asked a lot of questions and were fully  engaged in the activity.

In Jewish Studies, the 3rd graders are learning about the creation of the world. We are acquiring new skills of reading from the bible. We listen to the Hebrew reading, trying to recognize words that we already know and interpret them. Then we read in English and find out what was created in each day. The students ask questions about their reading and have already came up with some fascinating big questions that we will explore. They are also encouraged to think and give their own answers.

We are working on an art project that will reflect our learning about the days of creation. Every day the students complete an additional page in a mini-book that will show the evaluation of creation. The students are having a great time working on it and everyone has been very engaged. We are looking forward to learning about the creation of human beings and completing our art work.

This is a short school week but still it’s full of excitement. The 3rd graders spent time in the Sukkah, played a bingo game with terms of Sukkot that they all recognized really well, and said the blessing over the 4 species.

Then, we learned about the Jewish tradition of “Sweet Letters”- having the young children taste honey covered Hebrew letters before they start learning the Torah. This tradition existed in many communities in Eastern Europe as well as North Africa. We then renewed this tradition by baking “sweet letters”of our own: we baked Hebrew letter shaped cookies, and made the letters of our Hebrew names.

This is a wonderful way to get excited for our next step of learning- we will start learning the book of Bereshit (Genesis) right after Simchat Torah.

As we learned about the high holidays, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we have concentrated on the concept of forgiveness- Selicha in Hebrew (סליחה).

we talked about acknowledging our mistakes and starting over. We learned stories of people who made mistakes and how they overcame them.

The 3rd graders learned a lot of new Hebrew vocabulary connected with the high holidays. Then, we did Tashlich- a tradition that symbolizes throwing away our sins into the water. We did it both indoors and outdoors. On Friday before Yom Kippur, we walked to Klode park, where we had a beautiful Shabbat sing, sat in a group and discussed our process of Teshuva, and went near the water to throw small pebbles into the lake.

On Erev Yom Kippur, Tuesday morning, we used filter paper and markers and wrote the word “סליחה” on the paper. we then dipped our papers in water and we saw how the water washes the words away, leaving us with a clear new start.

I was also very lucky on the same day to join the 3rd graders on their repairing together program at Urban Ecology center where they met their partners from 3 different Milwaukee schools and had a beautiful program in nature together. It really brought us all into Yom Kippur with hearts full of friendship and a sense of community.

Wishing you Chag Sameach for the holiday of Sukkot which we will also celebrate together visiting the school Sukkah and with much more Jewish learning.

Here’s a Shana Tova blessing that we filmed in Hebrew class and sent to Shira’s friends in Israel. Enjoy!

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