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
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
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!)
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!)
Friday, November 10, 2006
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
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
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