HSRS Announcements (Hodaahot הוֹדָוֹת) A few families have asked how they can help their children learn Hebrew and the prayers at home. This is a great resource for online Alef-Bet games. Also, I suggest you have student listen to the prayers using Soundcloud. These recordings are our tunes, sung slowly, by one of our congregants.
Is your child interested in going to sleepaway camp for the first time? We are thrilled to announce that applications are now open for Jewish Overnight Summer Camp Grants! JEWISHcolorado One Happy Camper (OHC) Program, in partnership with The Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC), awards grants of between $700 and $1000 to eligible families sending their children to Jewish overnight camps for the first time.
Important Dates & Upcoming Events
November 19, 22, 26- NO HSRS November 29- BBYO meeting from 6:30-7:30pm, feel free to come as early as 5:15 to hang/do homework/bring your own meat-free dinner. December 2- Kindergarten/1st grade Havdalah at 5:30pm December 3- NO SCHOOL FOR KINDERGARTEN/1ST GRADE ONLY December 3- Mitzvah Day with Or Hadash from 1-2:30pm December 8- Shabbat Jr at 5:30pm (oneg to follow) December 10- Hanukkah celebrated at HSRS December 16- 7th grade Saturday Morning Shabbat Service DECEMBER 17- NO SCHOOL FOR 7TH GRADE ONLY December 17- Beresheet Day 2 from 10:30-12pm
BBYO & Teens The long-awaited BBYO memberships for your teens are now available! We have been working hard to get you a discounted membership price and were able to get them down from $249 to $180. Click on this link to pay for your child's membership through Har Shalom. Once purchased, you will receive a code to register your teen through the BBYO website for free!
Synagogue & Community News
From Our Teachers
Beresheet (Preschool) Sunday from Morah Nicki- Welcome to Har Shalom Religious School! We enjoyed our first day of our creation class which was all about light and dark. We made "let there be light" lightswitch covers, lanterns and kaliedoscopes, experimented by separating milk/food coloring, and even had a yummy light/dark snack! Looking forward to see you on December 17 when we learn about the sky and clouds separating from the oceans.
Kitah Gan (Kindergarten) Sunday from Morah JoJo-Hey everyone! We had so many activities and so much fun on Sunday, we almost didn’t fit everything in, but the kids worked hard and we prevailed. As always, we started with Hebrew, everyone worked on their Gimels and Dalets. Writing in their books, on the board until they were perfect. We then had a fire drill, the class was excellent. They marched outside, stayed together and listened like champs! To unwind from our drill, we headed for snack. After that we made our way back to the classroom for Book Bingo. It was a close game and a lot of fun, with Judy’s help we had two winners. We then went over our year end project and how we would like to show what we have learned so far in class. They had great ideas and we have a rough plan for our presentation. Finally, we made our Mitzvot Turtles. These turtles are a little reminder to make the word a better place, starting with family. They all created, named and talked about how their turtle will remind them to do good this week. Everyone did great, see you next week.
Kitah Alef (First Grade) Sunday from Morah Katie- Judy came in and we got to play book bingo with her. We then went over the letters in the Hebrew alphabet we had already learned and added the letter dalet. After that we talked about the story of Adam and Eve and the creation of the world according to the torah. We also talked about why the torah and its stories are important to the Jewish people. We finished off by doing a coloring sheet of Adam and Eve!
Kitah Bet (Second Grade) Sunday from Morah Anne- Sunday was such a busy day for us! After shira we settled down into a little classroom “house-keeping.” We took care of unfinished business and spent the time finishing up some of our work. (Ask to have them read their Noah’s Ark books to you.) Everyone was super excited to visit the shuk. Students were able to spend the shekels they earned and all came away with smiles. We played a great game of book bingo with safren Judy and finished up our morning working on our Hebrew. Have a great week! I look forward to seeing you next week.
Kitah Gimel (Third Grade) Wednesday from Morah Robin- We made challah French toast with Shoshanna in the kitchen. The students had a great time prepping and eating this Shabbat treat! So delicious!! After a quick break outside, we reviewed last week’s Chai lesson – Parashat K’doshim. We are created by God, so we need to accept others, and ourselves, for who we each are. God told us “k’doshim t’hiyu”(you should be holy). This refers not only to our behavior toward God, but also toward other people. We then reviewed all the Hebrew letters, vowels, and words we have learned thus far before moving on to Lesson 6.
Sunday from Morah Robin- Hi Everyone! On Sunday, we finalized Hebrew Lesson 5 (very long lesson) which involved speaking complete Hebrew sentences and began practice with words that are in the Siddur. Then the students had the great opportunity to shop with their earned sheckels at the first Shuk of the school year. What great fun! After a short break outside, to introduce the next Parashat, our Madrichim performed a quick Skit to demonstrate the inappropriate way of Tochecha (rebuking others). According to this Parashat, “We are required to tell someone when s/he has done something wrong, but incur no guilt because of him/her.” We spent the rest of the morning working in our Chai workbooks doing activities to reinforce this sensitive Holiness Code. The students did an amazing job giving written examples of how to they would tell someone they did something wrong.
Kitah Dalet (Fourth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Merav and Morah Sophie- After T’filah with Josh we had time with Judy Petersen. Judy talked with the Kitah about mosaics in Israel and shared photos. She read them a short story. Afterwards the Kitah had an opportunity to make their own mosaics. Everyone enjoyed this activity very much. We had a little bit of time to spend on Hebrew. We worked in small groups and helped make Aleph Bet cards for the students who are needing a little extra help.
Sunday from Morah Merav- We continue work on Aleph-Bet and reading our words. We are trying to speak in Hebrew as much as possible. Our Madricha, Linden led one of the classes in an Aleph Bet flash cards game. Thank you Linden! We also got to go to the HSRS Shuk! Everyone scored something they were happy with.
Sunday from Morah Sophie- We continued learning about Israel and made our own Western Wall!
Kitah Hay (Fifth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Lauren- Kita Hay had a special Wednesday night class. After Teffilah Josh, we studied Hebrew and then had a mosaic project led by Librarian Judy. We learned why synagogues use tile floors instead of walls for writing. It was wonderful to have all students in class. Sunday from Morah Laura, subbing for Morah Laurel- Students each learned about different prophets. They compared traits and characteristics of a prophet. They decided that it was too much responsibility to be a prophet. We also read a book about Deborah and learned that she could see into the future, was the first woman judge, and she helped the Jews prepare for a battle. The students had fun shopping in the Shuk.
Kitah Vav (Sixth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Leah- After T’filah we had a Hebrew language sandwich night - Hebrew, cooking, break and then closed the night with Hebrew. In cooking we made challah French toast - a wonderful option for some left over challah.
Sunday from Morah Leah- Kitah Vav had a very busy Sunday! After Shira in the sanctuary we went to the classroom and worked on Hebrew, then we were joined by Judy for a game of Book Bingo - November is Jewish Book Month! We also learned about the school-year long reading challenge. Ask you student if they are able to cross off a BINGO space yet. After Break we came back and read the play Book of Ruth from K’tuviim (writings). This was a fun way to have your student read aloud and learn about how G-d is revealed in acts of kindness. Shavua Tov!
Kitah Zayin (Seventh Grade) Wednesday from Rabbi Finestone- On Wednesday, we worked on the Aleinu prayer, one of the concluding prayers of the service. Each student practiced reading and singing the prayer individually, and then as a group. After break, we continued our chapter on personal responsibility in the Topical Bible.
Sunday from Morah Michelle- After Rabbi’s Hebrew class, we walked to Starbucks and enjoyed some winter drinks. Upon our return, students were able to cash in some of their shekels at the shuk. We then discussed our third antisemitic myth: Jews control the media and government. Kids were great during discussion. See you next week!
From Our Specials
Shira News There was a lot of energy and ruach during Shira on Sunday. We sang some favorites, plus learned a new song called "Arctic Menta". Take a listen to this catchy tune!
News from the Sifriyah (Library) Storytime Thank you Nicki for rescheduling Storytime for 4th and 5th grade for Wednesday since Sunday classes were cancelled. And thank you Merav, Sophie and Lauren for letting me share your students on a Wednesday evening! In 4th and 5th grade we visited synagogues in 1st-7th century Israel and looked at the wonderful mosaic floors. We discussed what kinds of things happen in a synagogue--what are appropriate uses of synagogue space and what are not. I told them a short story about 3 Rabbis who figured out a creative way to use a synagogue for something that ordinarily wouldn't have been done. See if your student can tell you what that was. Then we made our mosaic tiles and it was so fun to see all the students' creativity!
Book Bingo Reading Challenge: A huge thank you to Stephanie Luzuriaga for creating our Reading Challenge bulletin board! It looks phenomenal and will be a great way for the students to keep track of their Reading Challenge bingo cards.
Jewish Book Month: We always celebrate Jewish Book Month (November) by playing Jewish Book Bingo. On Sunday, we played Book Bingo with Kitas Gan, Alef, Bet, and Vav. The classroom winners and the books they chose are:
Gan: Ruth--"It's a Mitzvah, Grover" AND Maya--"Sammy Spider's First Shabbat
Alef: Eli--"It Could Always Be Worse"
Bet: Reese--"Starlight and Candles"
Vav: Lila--"A Faraway Island"
As always, we discuss both what makes a Jewish book as well as ways to get books (check out from the library, save up allowance money to buy, etc.) other than winning at bingo. We also passed out the Reading Challenge bingo cards. Students get credit for reading books with Jewish content according to subjects, such as holidays, Israel, Torah, etc. They will keep the cards the entire school year and every time they get bingo they get a prize.
News from the Kitchen Todah Rabah to Morah Ellen for planning a delicious cooking class for our students. Challah French Toast! Morah Shoshanna came on Wednesday and students in grades 3, 6, and 7 helped with cooking the french toast, making honey butter, and more! They even had the opportunity to try Israeli chocolate spread.
