Grade 2: Bet Class Update

Shalom Bet Families,

The Bet Class has had a very busy beginning of January! 

We began the week on Tuesday and Wednesday by learning three new letters, the Resh, Pey and Final Mem.  We very briefly discussed that by adding a final Mem to many words we make the plural form of the word.  Many of the students have reached the goal of earning ten homework stickers and have been rewarded with choosing a prize from the basket. What a “win win” situation, their reading is improving through practice, they have a great sense of achievement and they earn a prize!  If a student misses a reading assignment it can always be made up.  If anyone is finding the reading too challenging or the logistics of doing the work at home has become an issue please let us know.

During the week we read the story “Finding the Fruits of Peace, Cain & Abel” by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso.  For many of the students this was a Torah story they were not familiar with, and a difficult one at that.  The students came to the conclusion that it would have been better for Cain to talk to Abel about his feelings (anger, jealously, and embarrassment) rather than to take physical action.  We also discussed what we thought that the answer to Cain’s question of “Am I my brother’s keeper?” could be.

On Sunday Cantor Ken introduced the class to the V’Ahvta prayer; where it comes from in the Torah, where it is physically found other than in the Torah, and explained that the melody to which we sing it is Torah trope.  We began to learn it and to create hand motions to help explain the meaning of the words.

In honor of MLK Day we read the story “As Good as Anybody” by Richard Michelson, in which we learn about Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Joshua Heschel and their friendship.  The class then discussed how we each one of us can be an “upstander”.

The students were all mesmerized by Eli Dershwitz’s presentation.  Eli shared a slide presentation about his experiences as a member of the US fencing team and participating in the Rio Olympics.  They also had fun learning how to advance, retreat and lunge in a mini-fencing lesson.