$100!

Thanks to the generosity of our audience, our first effort raised $100 for the Abayudaya. We'll be investing this money in Abayudayan products to resell to the community, and hope that this kitty will grow and grow.

Were you at the concert? Why not post your comments here for the whole class to read?

Amy

Sweet music

Our performance of Ugandan Jewish music is finally coming together. The class knows the songs well and their voices sound lovely. I hope you will all be there to cheer them on.

In more musical highlights, our class led "Age-Old Story/They Would Not Bow Down" at all school sing today. It wasn't quite the same without their parents there to join in, but in the end it was almost as good as Sunday.

We reviewed the Chanukah blessings and Maoz Tzur and made some beeswax candles for your menorahs. I hope that everyone has a joyful first night of Chanukah tomorrow. Here's a link to a very touching, if somewhat schmaltzy video.

http://www.aish.com/movies/Chanukah_Miracles.asp

Amy

Parents, parents, everywhere

On Sunday parents were invited to join our classroom for "family education." With no particular guidance from above as to what that might mean, I thought I would give parents an opportunity to review the written work that students have been gathering in their Israel History folders since September.

After examining our class timeline, I asked parents to work with their children to write the "Story of Israel" from Abraham all the way to the Destruction of the Second Temple. And dicuss their work. In half an hour. Maybe you can see where I going with this......not quite enough time. Still, I saw some interesting conversations between parent and child about Ancient Israel. How often does that happen? So, I'll consider the morning a qualified success. Thanks to everyone who made it.

Morah Amy

Oh, Chanukah

All of the sudden Chanukah is sneaking right up on us. I imagine Christmas doesn't really ever sneak up on anyone. The music and lights seem to get going the day after Halloween, and they are anything but subtle. But Chanukah titpoes in, sometimes before it's even cold yet, and I'm not always ready.

Kitah Hay, however, will definitely be ready. Our history unit coincides so nicely with the calendar - we've just reached the period of the Maccabean rebellion and have been watching a great dvd that looks at the history of the era: Heritage: Civilization of the Jews. You can read about it at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/heritage/. We painted wooden dreidels yesterday, and will review some chanukah songs and berachot over the next week and a half.

In the meantime, we're practicing some Ugandan Jewish songs for our performance on December 17th. A flyer will come home on Sunday. The kids are sounding great!

I hope I'll most of you at our family education session on Sunday. We'll look at student potfolios and do a history activity together.

Morah Amy

All together now

After a short vacation, a bout of bronchitis and a trip to Atlanta, I'm happy to be back in the classroom with Kitah Hay. We are nearly finished the Gevurot section, the second paragraph, of the Amidah, and the class chants the Avot, the first paragraph, with confidence and accuracy.

In our Israel unit we looked at the reason some Israelites did return to Jerusalem after the fall of the Babylonian Empire, and some did not.

Our class will be organizing a small fundraiser along with Kitah Vav for the Abayudayan Ugandan Jewish Community. We'll be performing several songs on the last Sunday of Hebrew school before winter vacation. Parents are invited and asked to make a donation - more news to follow. So far, we have learned the Abayudayan melody for the Shema.

I hope everyone had a joyful Thanksgiving. Many thanks to Joan and Jane (the biggest fans of this blog - Hi!) who returned from their vacation with several Israel Guide Books for our classrom.

Amy

On-line in the classroom

Jan Levy graciously agreed to give me the sacred password to the wi-fi network at CBI. Consequently, we can now access the internet in our classroom. We've already put it to good use. Now, if only we could get our hands on an in-focus projector.

This year the class is repsonsible for learning the first 2 sections of the Amidah - the avot and the gevurot - as well as kedushah for both shacharit (the morning service) and musaf (the additional service.) I have a chart to record each student's progress and am in the process of getting every one "checked off" on the avot section. We have 2 cd's of the Amidah in our classroom and 2 personal cd players for students to use who need extra practice. If anyone wants a copy for home, just let me know.

Today we read about the destruction of the Holy Temple and the Babylonian exile. We looked at a map of the Jews' journey, and noted how it was essentially Abraham's journey in reverse. We talked about the impact of this period in history on the psyche of the Jewish people, and read an excerpt from Pslams:

By the rivers of Babylon - there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our harps.
For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?

I asked students to rewrite the Psalm in their own words. We also learned to sing a round, written by Don Mclean, of this passage. We listened to recording (on line) of this, and another version of the song by the contemporary reggae band, Sublime (also on line. See, we are really using it!)

The blog is back

My laptop was being serviced by Dell, so I haven't had a chance to update the blog.

On Halloween, the three students who joined me read the story of David and Goliath. They created a video that I've posted on the web for your (immense) enjoyment:

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=27c9601ed1969b9b238667a68a69d9de.1168120&vback=Studio&vdone=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.yahoo.com%2Fvideo%2Fstudio%3Fei%3DUTF-8

Yesterday Laura Wetzler gave a presentation to our class about the Abayudayan community of Jews in Uganda. We'll be planning a tzedakah project in the upcoming weeks.

Shabbat Shalom-
Amy

It's a Contest!!! With no prize!!!

I have added some new Israeli music to the blog. Can anyone name the artist?

Amy

CD is almost finished

We added 2 more tracks to our prayer cd today, and should have the whole thing finished by next week. We've got a few microphone hogs, though I certainly won't name names.....

We watched part of a video today about the Holy Temple.
We learned a little bit about the building of the Temple and the rites and rituals that took place there. We'll be studying the period in Israeli history from the time of the Kings through the rule of the Maccabbes, with a particular focus on Jerusalem.

Cartoons, CDs and Calendar

Today we created calendars for the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. This is a potentially complicated task, involving calculating the hebrew letter equivalent of each date, as well as writing the month, year and days of the week all in Hebrew. We have practiced this skill twice before, but I was really impressed with how easily and successfully everyone completed the work. Afterwards, we recorded two more prayers for our class tefillah cd. It seems there's nothing quite so powerful as a microphone to get everyone to really show off what they've learned.

After recess, we made a comic strip of the story of the showdown between Dagon, the Phillistine idol, and the Ark of the Covenant. I'll try to remember to scan one or two frames so that I can post them here. For now, the work is hanging up on the bulletin board in the hallway, so please check it out.

Remember that there is an Open House on Sunday. Last year it was in the evening, and not one parent from Kitah Hay showed up. Despite my best efforts, I haven't even met some of you yet, so I really hope to see most of you there.

Amy

More reading....

We're beginning to incorporate more Hebrew reading into our schedule. In addition to working our way through the Shabbat morning Amidah, we have added a Modern Hebrew component. We are working on reading with accuracy and basic comprehension. The vocabulary words we'll be emphasizing in our first story are colors and possessive pronouns.

We read an excerpt from the book of Samuel about a showdown between the Ark of the Covenant and the Phillistine god Dagon. Ask your child who won, and what unsightly affliction struck the Phillistines. We'll be making a comic strip about the story which I'll post on our bulletin board.

Please stop by and have a look at our class display on the bulletin board in the Religious school hallway. Our materials should be posted for the next three or four weeks.

Idol Worship in Northampton

When the Israelites settled in the land of Canaan, they were surrounded by polytheists. The Canaanites worshipped numerous Gods, including El, the father of the gods, the godess Asherah, and Baal, the God of lightning and thunder. Today, we learned about some of these deities, and considered what idols the Canaanites might worship if they lived amongst us. And yes, we created our own idols. But I promise, we didn't worship them. Really.

We're continuing to work on the Shabbat Amidah, and discussed why congregations and prayer books have varying traditions for including the names of the matriarchs. We also took a look at our Modern Hebrew text book, which we'll begin to work on regularly, now that the holidays are finally over.

Kitah Hay is responsible for the Hebrew School bulletin board for the next month. We'll have several assignments displayed by the end of the week, so please come take a look - with your child - so s/he can tell you a little bit about our work.

Walking in the Rain (well, not really)

The weather didn't look promising, but at the last minute the sun came out and rescued our sukkah trip. We headed up the bike path and enjoyed a snack in our damp but cozy sukkah. My daughters Ella and Zoe, my dog Zev and my husband Keith all popped in to say hi.

We made it back to school in time for recess and Shirah. We also recorded the first track for our prayer cd. I'll see if I can figure out how to post the recording on this site.

I hope I'll see some of you dancing on Simchat Torah~

Morah Amy

The Ark of the Covenant

Here are two artists' versions of what the Ark of the Covenant might have looked like. As we'll learn soon, no one really knows because no one knows what happened to the ark, except perhaps Steven Spielberg.

Today we read a description of the Ark from the Book of Exodus, and everyone attempted to draw what s/he imagined. Students - post your comments and let us know how you did! We also mapped out where the 12 tribes settled when they first entered the land of Canaan.

In Hebrew, we practiced the opening line of the Amidah, "Adonai Sifatai Tiftach, U-fi Yagid Tehillatecha" (Adonai, open up my lips that my mouth may declare your glory.) We worked on pronunciation, vocabulary and coreography.

We ended our day eating a snack in the sukkah and shaking the lulav and etrog. We celebrated the kashrut of Oreos, as I reminisced aloud about the days when they were made with pig fat. That was a hard time to be a Jew. If the weather is nice on Thursday we'll walk over to my house on Barrett Street and visit my family's sukkah.

Lastly, I'm posting one of the illustrations from my upcoming children's book, A Mezuzah on the Door, due out next Fall from Kar-Ben. The artist is Janice Fried, and I think she's great. Check out her website at www. janicefried.com .

Helping Hands

Today the first 20 minutes of Hebrew school was spent hand-delivering the hundreds of bags of food that were collected for the survival center. I'll report back when I find out how many pounds of food were collected this year.

I am pleased to report that everyone got at least a 100% on the map quiz today (I say "at least" because there was one extra credit question.) As the wife of a geography teacher, I can hold my head high at dinner tonight, knowing that at least a handful of children in Northampton know where the Euphrates River is.

After recess, it was time for art. I wish we had more time for art projects, but I do try to fit in one or two each month. Everyone illustrated a part of the story of the battle of Jericho, using the medium of torn-paper collage. In other words, no scissors were allowed - just glue sticks and construction paper. Precision is impossible; consequently, students often take greater risks, incorporating things in their pictures that they can't capture representationally.

Our class is responsible for the bulletin board next week, so you'll see these on display by Thursday.

Have a joyful Succot!

Morah Amy

Maps, maps, maps

In Hebrew we are focusing on solidifying everyone's phonetic skills. Every day begins with the same routine - letter of the day, independently preparing one or two pages in our prayer textbook, and reading practice with a partner. After everyone has finished we come together to review our work and read aloud together. I hope that in a few weeks we'll be ready to begin our modern Hebrew textbook with a room full of confident readers.

Our read-aloud today was the award winning High Holdiday book by Eric Kimmel, Gershon's Monster.

In our Israel unit we prepared for our first quiz - identifying the cities and bodies of water we have read about on a map of the Middle East. Students labeled the following: Ur, Haran, Jericho, the Tigris River, the Euphrates river, the Jordan River, the Red Sea, the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. I encourage everyone these points of interest on other maps you might have at home.

We re-read our skit recounting the story of Jericho, the first battle the Israelites fought in Canaan, and joined in a tentative chorus of "Johsua Fit de Battle of Jericho" which we'll share with the school at shirah on Thursday. Here's the chorus, so you can sing at home....

Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho
Joshua fit de battle of Jericho
And the walls come a-tumblin' down

Morah Amy

Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho

Thanks to Mikaela, who presented a very thorough report on animals in Ancient Canaan.

In Hebrew we plodded ahead in our machberot and our new text books (see the last post.) Usually we review the morning prayers on Sundays, but since we don't have school on Sundays for the next three weeks we reviewed some of our prayers, and paused for some "syllabification." (Yes, I made up this word. I'll explain more when it's not so late.)

After recess and a fire drill, we plotted the Israelites' journey out of Egypt into Canaan (via Mt. Sinai) on our maps. The class then acted out a skit based on the story of Jericho, the first battle waged by the Israelites when they entered the land of Canaan. We listened to a CD of the spiritual Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho, which we'll try to learn to sing on Tuesday.

Have an easy fast to all of you who are fasting-

Morah Amy

New Books!

Thanks to Rosie, Josh and Jonah who had their reports on Ancient Canaan ready today. They presented interesting information about weaving, warfare and writing while the rest of us took notes.

Today we began our machberot - copy books for practicing Hebrew script.
We also began our new prayer textbook "Shalom Ivrit" level 2. We will use this book to study the text and meaning of the Shabbat Amidah.


After an extended recess in the sun, we reviewed the passages from the Torah that we studied on Thursday. We talked about how the Israelites must have felt just before they were to enter the land of Canaan. Why did God want them to fight and defeat so many nations? Was it fair to everyone involved? What did the Israelites need to do to distunguish themselves from the Canaanites?

We ended with another selection of the dvd "Walking the Bible". I love this show, originally aired on PBS. Here's a link:
http://www.pbs.org/walkingthebible/

I hope everyone had a joyful and meaningful Rosh Hashanah. Hope to see some comments from students and parents-

Morah Amy

Homework

I hope everyone brought home the homework assignment. I've asked each student to prepare a brief oral report on life in Ancient Canaan, based on the website below. Each student was assigned a different topic - e-mail me if you've forgotten yours.

http://www.museum.upenn.edu/Canaan/index.html

Reports are due Tuesday.

L'Shana Tova: September 21, 2006

Welcome to the my blog, dedicated soley to students and parents of students in Kitah Hay at CBI in Northampton. Here's where you can find out what we've been doing in school, and what you may have missed if you weren't in class.

So far this year, we've been studying the Hebrew calendar. Today we made calendars for the first month of the Hebrew year, Tishrei. Students wrote in the dates, month and year in Hebrew. On Tuesday we'll add days of the week and the many holidays that fall this month.

We've begun our unit on Israel by looking at the significance of the land of Israel in the Torah. Last week we read and discussed God's promises to Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Today we read about what God told the Israelites to expect when they finally enter Canaan after 40 years in the desert.

I hope this blog is helpful. I'll try to update it within 24 hours of class. I hope I'll see some of you at family services on Saturday.

L'shana Tova-
Morah Amy