New Information Calendar Changes!!! Attention K/1/2 parents- We have a plan to reschedule the havdalah that was, unfortunately, cancelled due to weather. And in exciting news, Morah JoJo has been chosen to go on a Birthright trip to Israel so we are moving the grade-level service, too. Here is our plan: March 1 at 10:15am- 2nd/3rd grade Shabbat-led service March 2- NO SCHOOL FOR GRADES 2nd/3rd March 29 at 9am- K/1st grade Shabbat-led service March 30- NO SCHOOL FOR GRADES K/1st May 3 at 5:30pm- K/1st/2nd Havdalah May 4- SCHOOL FOR ALL GRADES
Attention 3/4/5/6 parents- We have decided to cancel our Friday evening student led services for this school year. We will be having a guest rabbi here on March 7 to lead services and needed to do some adjustments!
Previous Sent Information
Attending Services It was absolutely wonderful seeing so many students at High Holiday services. Don't forget that we have "Service Attendance Recommendations". One of the best ways to feel confident and prepared for leading Saturday morning services is by watching others lead. It is suggested that our Kinder/1st graders attend 1 service over the course of the year, 2nd grade attends 2 services, 3rd grade attends 3 services, and so on. These can be attended virtually, at other synagogues, at a classmate's bar/bat mitzvah, at one of our grade level Shabbats, etc. High Holiday services count towards this goal!
Important Dates & Upcoming Events February 15- 3rd/4th/5th grade Havdalah from 5:30-7:30pm February 16- NO SCHOOL FOR GRADES Third, Fourth and Fifth March 1- 2nd/3rd grade Saturday morning Shabbat Service at 10:15am March 2- NO SCHOOL FOR GRADES Second and Third March 2- Beresheet Day 5 from 10:30-12pm March 7- Purim Shabbat Jr at 5:30-6:30pm March 9- Purim Celebrated at HSRS. COSTUMES ENCOURAGED!!!! March 29 at 9am- K/1st grade Shabbat-led service March 30- NO SCHOOL FOR GRADES K/1st March 30- Beresheet Day 6 from 10:30-12pm
BBYO & Teen Things Teen of the Week! Each week, we will be recognizing one of our amazing teen volunteers who went above and beyond to help. Lilah is the madricha of the week! She always comes with a smile on her face and shows up for her students in such a positive way. She responds well to instructions and is a leader in the classroom. We are so grateful for her positive and helpful can do attitude
Synagogue & Community News
From Our Teachers Beresheet (Preschool) from Morah Kyla and Morah Joanie See you in March for day 5!
Kitah Gan (Kindergarten) from Morah JoJo This week was filled with excitement and fun activities! As always, we kicked off class with a bit of Hebrew, working through worksheets, reviewing the letters, and practicing sounds and penmanship. We then transitioned into Hebrew Yoga, where we focused on the shapes and sounds of the Hebrew letters while also improving our flexibility. After a quick snack, we dove into our main lesson of the day: preparing for our year-end presentation. We discussed how we could showcase all the fun things we’ve learned this year to our parents and friends, and practiced the prayers we’ll be sharing during the presentation. Next, we headed to Israeli dance class with Judy. The students had a blast learning a new step and switching partners. Afterward, we celebrated the upcoming holiday, Tu B'Shvat, by making chocolate trees with pretzels, delicious and creative! To wrap up the day, the kids made Valentine’s Day butterflies for someone special in their lives. They did an amazing job, and I can't wait to see you all next week!
Kitah Alef (First Grade) from Morah Becky, subbing for Morah Laura After a great tu b’shvat themed shira, we had fun cooking and making our own edible trees. We also had Israeli dance with Judy, and read some stories about trees. We talked about how we can help take care of the earth (gemilut chasadim) in our Chai lesson. Finally we learned about the letter Ayin, played a game, and did some coloring.
Kitah Bet (Second Grade) from Morah Anne Hello Kita Bet Families! Sunday flew by with all sorts of activities happening. After shira, we had a few minutes to review Hebrew before heading off to learn some Israeli dancing with Judy. A fun activity that was much more difficult than I had originally imagined! After dancing, we had a few minutes for our madrichim to read us a story introducing the holiday of Tu B'shvat. After break and snack, we resumed learning about Tu B'shavt before meeting with the Rabbi to discuss speaking parts for Saturday service. All in all a very busy but productive day. I hope you all have a great week!
Kitah Gimmel (Third Grade) from Morah Robin Wednesday- Kitah Gimmel enjoyed talking about the upcoming Jewish holiday, Tu Bish'vat. Tu Bish’vat is called “The Birthday of the Trees” and is celebrated on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, which is on February 13, 2025, this year. We read “ Be a Friend to Trees” which discusses the importance of trees as sources of food, oxygen, and other essential things. We discussed why trees are so important and the fruits that grow on trees that are mentioned in the Torah (dates, olives, almonds, pomegranates, etc.). The students then had the opportunity to work on Tu Bish’vat related word searches, coloring pages, and mazes. After a short break outside, we discussed Leviticus Parashat B’Har: The Sabbatical Year - Holiness of the Earth. Since Tu Bish’vat focuses on the environment, we discussed this lesson in conjunction with the holiday. Sh’nat Shabbaton - Sabbatical year - according to the Talmud, states that we are to work on land for six years, but in the seventh year, the land takes a complete rest, a Shabbat (similar to Shabbat, our day of rest). Finally, the students answered questions related to this topic in their Chai workbooks.
Sunday- Kitah Gimmel enjoyed celebrating the upcoming Jewish holiday again - Tu Bish’vat - by doing a Tu Bish’vat Word scramble game and making Tu Bish’vat trees out of paper bags and colored construction paper. We also had Israeli Dance with Judy and the second graders. After snack and a fun break outside, the 2nd graders joined us again with Rabbi Finestone to go over our upcoming Shabbat service on March 1, 2025. The students will be doing a modified Saturday morning Shabbat service and will also be presenting a short Devar about something they learned this year thus far. Stay tuned!
Kitah Dalet (Fourth Grade) from Morah Merav Wednesday- After pizza and T’filah, We took time to connect and share with our Kitah. Everyone chose to share something with the Kitah. We spent time working on Hebrew as a Kitah, and all the Tal-me-deem (תלמידים) had a chance at the Aleph Bet board. We focused on words that begin with מ (mem). We are going to keep it up, keep practicing our aleph bets and keep putting them together to read words in Hebrew (עברית). (Students = תלמידים)
Sunday- Sunday was our party day!!! What a fun and delicious time we all had! We almost finished the movie. We will finish it another time.
Kitah Hay (Fifth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Karri, subbing for Morah Lauren- We decorated our "tolkens" for the Prayer Path. Each 5th grader will begin working their way down the path by learning the prayers that are said during Shabbat services. When they demonstrate that they can read the prayer to themselves, to a partner, and then to a teacher, they will earn a prize and move to the next spot on the path. They will begin with Mah Tovu. We also reviewed some of the Hebrew words we have learned this year by completing some of the dictionary section in our Hebrew books. Wednesday from Morah Sophie-We are taking a break from learning about prophets, so we learned about Jewish agencies today. The students were given some problems in the Jewish community along with a list of agencies that could potentially help. They were able to decide which agency would fit each problem.
Sunday from Morah Lauren- Kita Hay on Sunday was full of activities. We Started with Shira Josh, and had cooking class, Israeli dancing, and outdoor recess Sunday. Students also got their new Hebrew books, we set up the prayer path game board, and read a lot of review in our new books. Kita Hayers are doing a great job reading Hebrew.
Sunday from Morah Sophie- We did a team building activity where the students learned that they action affect one another. They also had cooking and Israeli dance!
Kitah Vav (Sixth Grade) from Morah Aviva Wednesday and Sunday- For Hebrew this week, the students continued to master their hebrew grammar with worksheets and games. The students are finishing up reading the gvrurot prayer on their own, with some starting to read the next prayer in the Amidah as well.
For Chai, we started the gimilot chasadim value of peace. The students enacted quotes from psalms discussing god and peace, then searched for quotes of their own by looking for the word Shalom in siddurim. We finished the lesson with a meditation on inner peace discussing how inner peace and worldly peace are intertwined.
Kitah Zayin (Seventh Grade) Wednesday from Morah Debbie, subbing for Rabbi Finestone- I got to spend the evening with Kitah Zayin. Unfortunately, it was because Rabbi was unwell. So, the first thing we did was make Get Well cards for her. Then we reviewed the Aleinu prayer and recited it together. Finally, we debated an ethical dilemma about name calling. Ask your student what their opinion was. Thanks for sharing your students with me!
Sunday from Rabbi Finestone- We are beginning our study of the mourners Kaddish, and we discussed why this particular prayer was chosen by the early rabbis as the prayer to say after we’ve lost someone we loved.
Sunday from Morah Michelle- After Israeli Dance, I led the students in a discussion on propaganda. They then went around the classroom looking at different examples of Nazi propaganda. After snack, we watched a short video from Yad Vashem that is a photo album from Auschwitz. Then we had cooking where the kids made chocolate trees for Tu Bshvat. We ended class with me reading Yuvi's Candy Tree, which is about a young Jewish girl's journey from Ethiopia to Israel. See everyone next week!
From our Specials (chuggim חגים)
News from the Sifriyah (Library) Reading Challenge: 14 more students earned prizes today, and 3 of them earned their $5 Target gift card. Keep up the great work!
Rikuday Am: (Israeli Fold Dance): We had a great time learning new dances!
Kinder and 1st learned "Simi Yadech", a partner dance in which we changed partners each time we did the dancde and made new friends.
2nd and 3rd learned "Bim Bam Bom", also a partner dance.
4th grade took a quick break from their movie to learn "Od Lo Ahavti Dai", a circle dance.
5th grade read verses from the prophet Joshua (Yehoshua) and saw that they could understand many of the words, like "elohim" (G-d), "melech" (king), "shofar truah gedolah" (a big shofar blast) and "shloshim v'echad" (31). Then they helped me with the sound effects of this dance, so if your student comes home saying things like "hey, hoppa", "ha-hu", or "ssssss" you'll know why!
6th and 7th had fun with "Yesh Lanu Tayish" a reel in which the head couple changes each time through the dance.
News from the Kitchen with Morah Missy and Moreh Mark Kitot Gan, Alef, Hay, and Zayin visited the kitchen to make tubeshvat pretzel trees. The rest of the classes will make these on February 23. Thank you, Zia, for helping in the kitchen.
News from Teffillah (Prayer Session) with Deb Tefillah is going well with most Tefillot in the first half of the Shabbat morning service well learned. We will begin focusing now on the second half of the service, from the Hatzi Kaddish through the Amidah and the concluding prayers. Deb is being assisted on guitar for some of the Tefillot by seventh grade student Rigby Ruffer. Thanks, Rigby!!
News from Small Group with Deb Small Group Hebrew is proceeding extremely well with all students now on page 37 of the 49 page book! They should all be able to finish the book with solid Hebrew reading skills within the next month or so.
