March 29, 2024 |

Grade 1/KITAH ALEF—November 1, 2015

Posted on November 1, 2015

KITAH ALEF—November 1, 2015
Dear kitah alef families:
At breakfast, we talked about the genizah, the special burial place for holy objects and books.  We sorted pictures of what would go into the genizah—tefillin, a Torah, a parochet (Ark curtain)– and what would not—Seder plate, G-d’s name in English, matzah, among others.  We also examined some written materials which will be buried.  Some of our students went with their parents on the Temple Israel trip this morning.
Cantor Ken sang the shema with us, and I talked about how anything with the shema written is holy. 
We continued to learn about Shabbat, focusing on menuchah “rest,” to make Shabbat a special day.
STORY:  We read THE SABBATH LION, about a poor Algerian boy who keeps the Sabbath even in the desert.  Because he will not travel on Shabbat, a caravan abandons him.  Scared and alone, he encounters a lion.  He and the lion spend a restful Shabbat. Ask your child what happens next.
CRAFT: The children created a door hanger to use for Shabbat.  On it are the ways that they can enjoy menuchah—Sabbath rest and refreshing.  It can also mean: “Do not disturb.  I am refreshing myself.”
HEBREW: Our lesson today is the vowel sound “ah” represented two ways under a letter.  We looked at the word “Shabbat,” which has both versions.  We also learned the letter מ “mem,” the first letter in mezuzah, matzah, melech (king), and menorah.  We began to decode words like Shabbat, shamash, bat, etc.
The class sang some Shabbat songs like “I Did Very Good Work today.”   The children also enjoyed “The Color Song.”  At the end of class, everyone received a mem sticker and we shook hands on “Mem goes over the mountain.”
Shavua tov!

Esther and Tzipporah (Judy and Cheryl)