Spring Fling

And finally, the big day came - our Spring Fling this past Sunday. Everyone dressed up for the occasion - in JQuest t-shirts. We began the morning in our classroom. I finished reading the final chapter (the Epilog) of "A Shout in the Sunshine," and then we played our end-of-the-year Shekel Game.

We had two teams, with 3 students on each team. The Goldfish crackers were still on the table, which the boys had been snacking on while I read the story.

David was the treasurer, Phin was the recorder (of the bets made), and Billy was the reporter of the answers on this team.

Once I told the group which category their question would come from, they had 30 seconds to come up with the correct answer.

For the Hebrew Through Movement category, the boys were given the option to only have the reporter carry out the commands, or for the entire group to do so. This team, made up of Brody, Callen and Josh, opted for the latter (Josh is just rounding the bend of the table out of camera range as they successfully performed the command, "la'lechet mee'saveev la'shoolchan. "Walk around the table.")

What I have enjoyed most about this game through the many, many years that I have played it in my classrooms (going back all the way to when I first introduced it as the "Stockbroker Game" in my 8th grade U.S. History class at Albany Middle School some 30 years ago!) is watching each team cooperatively work out how much they'll bet if they think they know the answer and then discussing the answer they will give me:

It's especially wonderful for me when they arrive at the correct answer!

As is the case every year, our classroom time together flew by faster than the wind, and it was time to clean up and head upstairs to the Sanctuary to join the rest of the school and parents and other guests. 

In past years, I've had to read more chapters to complete whichever novel we've been reading, leaving us much less time to play the Shekel Game. This year, with only one short chapter left to read, we had plenty of time for the game, and therefore we left the classroom on time. What I didn't figure on was that we would be going up to the Sanctuary during "rush hour," with every other class heading up there at the same time. This was one "rush hour" I actually enjoyed! And this time, my husband, Peter and daughter, Jannika, were there waiting for me to join them. 

This was the first year that we've ever had our Spring Fling on Shavuot (or ever had classes on Shavuot, for that matter!)

Rabbi Shanks, Ian (our 7th grade coordinator and youth group director) and I were each about to be given the great honor of carrying a Torah scroll, since all three of us are leaving JQuest.

I honestly didn't ask Peter and Jannika to join me just for them to take photos that I couldn't take. But this fringe benefit of having them come certainly paid off with the photos they took! Here, Rabbi Shanks, Ian and I, along with the rest of the congregation, are chanting the "Sh'ma" at the start of the Torah service. 

At this point, I have to make a confession - I have taught religious school for some 28 years, but have never had the chance to carry a Torah scroll. Needless to say, the great weight of this honor (both literally and figuratively) fell on me as I walked up and down the aisles with this most precious gift that I've been teaching to younger generations for so many years.

Rabbi Greninger called up all the teachers to chant the blessing before reading the Torah.

And Karen, our Yad b'Yad teacher, chanted the Torah portion so beautifully! Yasher Ko'ach, Karen!

And after Karen finished and the teachers chanted the blessing, another honor was bestowed upon me. Oh my goodness, another confession - I've never dressed a Torah scroll before. Thank goodness, I had expert guidance leading me through each step!

And then it was time for Rabbi Greninger to call up all the teachers, for teacher appreciation...

...followed by our TA appreciation - you can see 3 of my TA's this year in the front row, beginning with Aaron (fourth from the right in the front row), Ella and Kyra. YASHER KO'ACH to all my TA's this year and in past years - all but a few have been students in my class, and have not only helped me tremendously with the administrative aspects of running a classroom, but with working with students and sharing what they learned during our class discussions as well.

Rabbi Greninger also prepared a very warm and wonderful  "Thank-You" presentation for Rabbi Shanks. Karen's Yad b'Yad students came up to the beema, to present Rabbi Shanks with gifts and cards from all the JQuest classes (including the card we worked on the previous week day sessions in our Edot class). 

They and all the classes received a very big thank you from Rabbi Shanks!

And afterwards, I caught this wonderful shot of Rabbi Shanks enjoying some of the cards she received.

We rounded out the program in the Sanctuary with a slide show overview of highlights from each of the JQuest classes, including this one showing our Edot class at the Crypto-Jewish Seder on March 25th, and playing the Beta Yisrael (Ethiopian Jewish) game "Qileblebosh" a couple of weeks ago:

And I even caught a shot of our Edot class in one of our Hebrew Through Movement sessions:

Jojo, our Teva (Nature) track teacher led her students in a song on the beema:

This was followed by a video compilation made by our Y'tzira track teacher, Maimone, of skits his students performed (which my camera, sadly, didn't want to record clearly). And finally, our Shira teacher, Erin, shared her track's big project of the year with us - their musical video recounting the Passover story!

And with that, we all moved into the Social Hall for a wonderful barbeque lunch prepared by Bill,
who was constantly refilling the trays with hot dogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers, buns and all the trappings.  I was so busy eating and schmoozing, that I completely forgot to take any photos.

Just before it ended, Peter, Jannika and I went to my classroom, so I could show them what it looked like just before I had to take everything off the walls and begin to sort through all the materials I've collected over my years teaching at Isaiah. It's a bittersweet time for me, but I know that I don't have to say goodbye for good to everyone, since I'll be subbing when called upon to do so, during the coming years.

So for now, I'll say...

SHALOM V'L'HEETRA'OT (au revoir) to you all! 

Our Final Weekday Session

We're in countdown mode now to the last day of the 2017-2018 academic year. Our final day, the Spring Fling, is this coming Sunday, which also happens to be the first day of Shavuot.

This was quite an emotional week for me, since I'm about to retire from teaching my own class (though I will look forward to substituting and perhaps leading the Gold Rush field trip in November, which I've led in past years). When my husband, Peter, and I first decided that it would make sense for me to stop teaching my Edot class at the end of this academic year to allow us to travel more often, I had no idea that Rabbi Shanks was planning to retire this year as well.

During our Edot session on Tuesday and Wednesday, I led a discussion about the many duties of a congregational rabbi. I asked the students for their thoughts about what a rabbi does, and they all agreed that a rabbi is a teacher of Hebrew and Judaism for both children and adults. A rabbi is also the person who leads the congregation in prayers. What they were surprised to hear is that a rabbi is also a social worker of sorts - helping congregation members deal with some very serious issues at times. And there are happy duties - presiding over a brit milah (circumcision) ceremony, or a baby-naming ceremony, and Bar/Bat Mitzvah and weddings as well.They also were surprised to learn that a rabbi is a kind of tour guide of our Jewish world - showing the congregation's members how to lead a "Jewish" life. What is a "Jewish" life? I guess it's most easily described as "balancing on the timeline," a theme that has run through our Edot curriculum. How do we keep our balance? By following the commandments and doing whatever we can as individuals and as a community to bring justice to all living things.

We then talked about what Rabbi Shanks has done for our Temple Isaiah community for the many years she has served as our Rabbi. Then it was time to ask the students to write a thank you note to Rabbi Shanks on a card I brought in.

First, I asked the students to write a first draft of their note on a piece of scrap paper.

Some students had more specific questions to ask about Rabbi Shanks.

Once they felt comfortable with their draft, they copied it onto the card itself. (The photographs on the card are of each student, with his/her name under the photo.)

And while the students were waiting for their turn to write their note in the card, I continued reading from "A Shout in the Sunshine." We have one more chapter to read on Sunday, but already several students shared that they enjoyed listening to me read with my "accents" and enjoyed the story.

Our final weekday tefillah session each day included all the 3rd-6th grade students, so Rabbi Greninger decided to let each track introduce and lead one of the major prayers we chant or sing. Our Edot track was assigned the "Aleinu" prayer, so for 10-15 minutes just prior to tefillah, I asked the students to share with me what they could remember they were taught during the year about this prayer. They all recalled that we bend our knees and bow during it, and that it came near the end of the prayer service. They also recalled that there were several versions of the prayer. We read the English translation of the first paragraph, and it became apparent to them that this is a prayer praising God. We talked a little about the part that praises God for having "set us apart from the other families of the earth, giving us a destiny unique among the nations."One of the students recalled how we had been learning about "balancing on the timeline" to bring justice to the world, and other students then agreed that that's what the phrase was referring to - that we should be role models for other nations.

As you can hear in the video below, this is precisely what the students shared in their introduction to the Aleinu prayer during tefillah:

And immediately after the introduction to the prayer, we turned to the Ark, and led everyone in chanting it:

I'm looking forward to seeing my Edot students in our classroom on Sunday, at 10 a.m. I'll finish reading the story to them, and then we'll play our final Shekel Game of the year until it's time for us to go up to the Sanctuary to join the rest of the school and parents for a special Shavuot service, teacher appreciation, a special goodbye to Rabbi Shanks, and then a barbeque and concert by our own Mighty Kleztones band. Cary Nasatir, the Mighty Kleztones Director, will also be retiring this year!

Playing Dosa and Qileblebosh

On Tuesday and Wednesday this past week, I introduced the students in each session to two games played by members of two different Edot. The first game I introduced is a card game played by the Babylonian/Iraqi Jews every Purim, called DOSA.  

As you can tell from the photo, it's a betting game. No strategic skills are required - only a lot of luck. After all, according to the Book of Esther read on Purim, the Jews survived Haman's plot to kill them all because luck was on their side (or was it God?). First, the King chose Esther to be his queen from all the hundreds of women brought before him. Second, when Mordechai told Esther to tell the King about Haman's plot, she fasted and then took a chance that the King wouldn't have her executed, the punishment for anyone (even the queen!) who dared to approach the King without first being invited. And finally, when Esther accused Haman of the plot, the King could have decided to follow his chief advisor's advice, rather than executing Haman instead of the Jews.

One deck of cards is laid out on the table for each player, and another deck is the Dealer's deck. Each player is given a certain amount of money, and places part or all of the money on any one of the card decks on the table as the bet. 

Once all the bets have been made, the dealer turns over his/her deck to see what card is at the bottom. Then, one by one, each player identifies which deck they placed their bet on and turns  it over. The goal of each round of play is to have placed your bet on the deck with the highest value card. There are some "magic" cards involved which have a higher value than others. Numbers 1-9 are simple - if only those numbers are in play when the decks are turned over, whichever player placed the bet on the deck with the highest number card wins all the bets placed by the other players. If the dealer's deck wins, the dealer gets all the money (though dealer never bets any money).  A face card (Jack, Queen or King) wins over the number card, but is not "magic." A number 10 card is "magic," so it has a higher value than the number or face cards, and the player who wins gets 2x the amount of the initial bets of all the other players. An Ace card is "magic," and wins 3x the amount of the bets, and the Joker has the highest value of all the cards, winning 4x the amount of the bets.

The game was a roaring success with the students!

And when the Joker appears, someone gets very rich and happy!

The second game I taught is played by children in the Beta Yisrael (Ethiopian Jewish) edah, and resembles "Jacks."

The rules are simple, but it takes a lot of practice to play well. Each student is given 5 stones. I gave the students a choice between small pebbles (in the plastic bag) or larger oval-shaped glass stones used in gardens (in the plastic bowl). 

Ideally, one hand is held (or even tied) behind the back during play. The game begins with the 5 stones on the ground, then one is picked up and thrown in the air. As it comes down, the player has to quickly pick up another stone from the ground and catch the stone thrown in the air. With the two stones in the hand, the player throws one of them into the air and follows the same steps already described, until all 5 stones are in the player's hand. Much easier said than done!

Again, the faces light up with success!

For the second week in a row, the sixth graders and I went down to the Youth Lounge during tefillah, to learn more about what happens in JQuest's seventh grade program. Since a few students from each track had missed last week's visit, Ian quickly summarized what he had shared last week about what they would be learning and doing during the year. The focus for this week's session, was to emphasize to the students how important it was for them to build a strong sense of community - learning to work with and trust each other.   

To demonstrate how they would have to learn to rely on each other, Ian asked them all to stand on a boards he laid down on the floor. Then he explained what they would be doing.

The first reaction most of the students had after hearing what they were expected to do was to say, "That's easy!" But after a few attempts failed, Ian told them to take 30 seconds, to strategize together how they could achieve the task. 

Their strategy proved successful, and slowly, but surely, they saw positive results.

Just before we had to return to our classroom, Ian shared the point of the exercise one more time:

We finished each day's class with our final music session of the year with Ben. First, he reviewed a song we've been singing frequently during tefillah - "Heenay Mah Tov" ("How Good it is").

Then he taught us a new song in preparation for celebrating Shavuot on Sunday, May 20th (our Spring Fling final JQuest session!). Another name for Shavuot is "Z'man Matan Torataynoo" ("The Time of the Giving of our Torah) since the Rabbis taught that it was on Shavuot that we received the Torah from God on Mt. Sinai. The song is called "Torah Tzeeva Lanoo Moshe" (Moshe commanded us Torah," literally):

I'll miss our music sessions with Ben - I love singing!

We don't have school this coming Sunday, Mother's Day. I wish all our mothers a very happy day with your families, and I'm looking forward to seeing all my Edot students again next Tuesday and Wednesday, May 15th and 16th.

Counting the Omer and Shavuot

This past Thursday, Jews all over the world celebrated a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar called LAG BA'OMER. To provide a context for the holiday, I used a good part of our session yesterday to teach about the Biblical command to count 49 days (7 weeks) from the second day of Passover to the upcoming harvest holiday of Shavuot. It was on the second day of Passover that the ancient Israelites planted their barley seeds, and 7 weeks later it was ready to be harvested. During the harvesting, the cut grain would be gathered into sheaves (bundles), called "omer" in Hebrew. The best of the crop would then be taken to Jerusalem to be offered to God by the Kohaneem (the priests) in the Holy Temple. After the Romans conquered Judea and exiled many of its inhabitants to Rome, while many other Jews fled to Egypt and Mesopotamia, the agricultural aspect of the holiday was given a spiritual overlay by Talmudic era Rabbis. Thus, Shavuot was given a second name, "Z'man Matan Torateinoo" ("The Time of the Giving of our Torah"), and it was the Counting of the Omer (S'feerat ha'Omer) and the spiritual aspects of Shavuot that became focal points for fulfilling the commandments dealing with agriculture at this time of year.

I had already introduced the holiday of Shavuot to the students just prior to our Hebrew Through Movement sessions about 2 weeks ago, so that I could begin introducing vocabulary connected with the holiday. So most of our session yesterday was focused on the special calendar we use to count the Omer.

This is a simple calendar I made on my computer. However, some calendars can be pieces of art in and of themselves!

I used the opportunity to reinforce what I had previously taught about the numerical equivalents assigned to each Hebrew letter, using Roman numerals to introduce the topic. Each student was given a "Handy Hebrew Alphabet Chart," which described the sound of each letter, and also provided its numerical equivalent. Using this chart, I asked the students to fill in each of the 49 days of the Omer Calendar using the Hebrew letters.

During our Hebrew Through Movement Session, we had a lot of fun reviewing foundational vocabulary introduced over the course of the school year, as well as vocabulary specific to the Shavuot holiday. I introduced a new word during this session - rakevet (a train).

David, la'seem yada'eem al ha'k'tafa'eem shel Phin; Michael la'seem yada'eem al ha'k'tafa'eem shel David... (David, put hands on Phin's shoulders; Michael, put hands on David's shoulders...)

...v'achshav la'lechet mee'saveev la'keeta. (...and now walk around the classroom.)

Achshav, la'rootz maher mee'saveev la'keeta. (Now, run quickly around the classroom.)

La'atzor! (Stop!) Michael, l'heestakel l'mala; David, l'heestakel l'mata; Phin, la'seem et ha'rosh al ha'ketef ha'smolee. (Michael, look up; David, look down; Phin, put the head on the left shoulder.)

We reviewed vocabulary relating to the Map of Israel. Billy, la'seem et ha'rosh al ha'meelah ha'angleet shel Yeesra'el. (Billy, put the head on the English word for Israel.)

Justin, la'seem et ha'rosh al ha'meela "Edot." (Justin, put the head on the word "Edot.") Achshav, l'hachzeek et ha'rosh al ha'meela "Edot," v'leengo'a ba'meela ha'eevreet, "yeled" eem ha'yad ha'smolee. (Now, hold the head on the word "Edot, and touch the Hebrew word "boy" with the left hand.) U'va'sof, l'hachzeek et ha'rosh al ha'meelah "Edot," v'l' hachzeek et ha'yad ha'smolee al ha'meela ha'eevreet "yeled," v' achshav leengo'a ba'mezuza eem ha'yad ha'y'meenee. (And finally, hold the head on the word "Edot," and hold the left hand on the Hebrew word "boy," and now touch the mezuzah with the right hand.)

Gabby, la'seem sefer al ha'rosh. (Gabby, put a book on the head.)

Achshav,  l'horeed yada'eem m'ha'sefer, v'la'lechet mee'saveev la'keeta. (Now, lower hands from the book, and walk around the classroom.

Myles, l'horeed meeshka'fa'eem me'al ha'eyna'eem, v'l'hatzbee'a al ha't'moona shel seefrei Torah eem ha'meeshka'fa'eem. (Myles, take off glasses from the eyes, and point to the picture of Torah scrolls with the glasses.)

And at the end of each HTM session, we all clap hands for each other's efforts. Koolam leem'cho ka'pa'eem beeshveel koolam! (Everyone clap hands for everyone!)

As we entered the Sanctuary for our usual tefillah session together with the 3rd through 6th graders, I remarked to one of my students that it seemed to me that there were more people than usual. Little did I know that there was a special honor awaiting me after we had sung a few "warm-up" prayers. Rabbi Greninger was announcing something that she said all but one person in the Sanctuary knew about, and suddenly a photo of myself appeared on the screen onto which prayers are projected during tefillah. Rabbi Shanks came up to the microphone and shared wonderful words about my time at Isaiah, then Rabbi Greninger shared a very special video of Debbie Enelow (who was my principal both at Cong. Beth El in Berkeley where I first began teaching Religious School and then at Isaiah, until she retired in 2008) congratulating me on my retirement. Rabbi Greninger then shared my teaching biography and thanked me in so many wonderful ways for all I'd shared with my students. I wish I could remember everything that was said, but my heart was pumping so quickly that as hard as I tried to catch every word, I realized I missed so much of what was said. At one point, Rabbi Greninger presented me with two gifts, for which I will always be grateful!

A beautiful Infinity Shin Mezuzah, which was commissioned by Temple Isaiah in honor of Rabbi Shanks' retirement this year. This will be hanging by the end of the week on my office doorpost at home!

And this amazing book filled with notes to me from family members of students I've taught, as well as from fellow teachers and clergy members. I've been reading through each and every note, but am not even half way through the book, as there are also so many wonderful photos of my classroom filled with students going back so many years. I'm looking at each student, remembering who they are and trying to figure out how many years ago they were in my class. This book will be on the coffee table in our family room, where I can look at it over and over again. I can hardly wait to share it with my children and grandchildren (the first of which is due at the start of September!). Thank you to everyone who was involved in helping keep the surprise and put together the book and make yesterday a day I will never forget!

And now, we still have three class sessions together, during which we'll be continuing to learn about the Edot we studied during the year by playing games from the Beta Yisrael and Babylonian/Iraqi edot, finishing the novel I've been reading about the Romaniote and Sephardi Jewish communities, and playing one final Shekel Game!

Sixth Graders' Visit to the Youth Lounge

This past Tuesday and Wednesday, our Edot, Shira and Y'tzira sixth graders were given the opportunity to visit Ian, our seventh grade coordinator, in the Youth Lounge in the Temple House Building. This visit took place each day during what would have ordinarily been our half hour tefillah session. The goal of this visit was to find out what seventh grade at JQuest is all about - what they'll be learning and what they'll be doing during the coming school year.

As soon as the sixth graders entered the Youth Lounge, they realized that seventh grade would not be anything like the JQuest classes they had attended before. One very important difference is that in seventh grade, they'll be given plenty of opportunities to get to know their fellow seventh graders in a fun and relaxing environment!

After playing for 10 minutes or so, Ian invited them all to sit on the sofas, and had them introduce themselves, the school they attended, and asked them to answer what he called, "His most important question - what is your favorite kind of potato?!" Once this was accomplished, he introduced a game called "Jackbox" which required that they use their smart phones to draw images and create titles for these images, all of which would show up on the Lounge's TV set. Those students who didn't have smart phones paired up with those who did (which was most of the students!). 

The instructions were easy and fun to follow - the goal was to see which student/team could amass the most points by choosing the correct titles for pictures they were each asked to draw on their phones. 

Once everyone understood what they were supposed to do, Ian explained that this game was based upon what they would be learning and doing in seventh grade.

There were seven different subjects covered in the game:

Here's the first image. Can you guess what the subject is?

Within half a minute after the image was shown, the above title choices chosen by the students surrounded the image. The actual title would be revealed a few seconds later - JUDAISM. This, Ian explained, would be part of their Comparative Religions unit of study at the start of the year.

Here's the next subject drawing and the students' suggested titles. The actual title was the Anachnu (the 7th grade youth group) LA Trip.

The third subject they'd be studying in 7th grade related to the flag of Israel drawn above. There is a unit of study about modern Israel.

The fourth subject will be nonprofits. Students will be learning about tz'daka, and the many ways we can help the needy in our world. 

The dollar bills above represent "donating money." Seventh graders will raise money to donate to several organizations which they will research extensively before choosing, based upon a theme they all decide upon.

A lot of learning will also take place outside of the classroom. Most of our sixth graders have been participating in the Simcha youth group for 5th and 6th graders. Now, they'll be graduating to the Anachnu youth group for 7th graders, and there will be fun youth group trips (the title of the above drawing) arranged!

And finally, there will be field trips, part of the tz'daka unit of study, where they will go in teams to participate in various community service projects around the Bay Area.

Just before the half hour was up, Ian did his very best to sum up what 7th grade would involve:

Our sixth graders will meet with Ian in the Youth Lounge one more time next week to begin forming a tight-knit community by playing team games requiring them to trust and depend upon each other.

During our Hebrew Through Movement session these past two weekday sessions, we continued to practice vocabulary relating to the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, as well as reviewing other vocabulary we've learned to date.

Billy, la'lechet le'at eem sal shel beekooreem al ha'rosh. L'hachzeek et ha'sal eem ha'yada'eem. (Billy, walk slowly with a basket of first fruits on the head. Hold the basket with the hands.)

Billy, la'lechet le'at eem sal shel beekooreem al ha'rosh. LO L'HACHZEEK et ha'sal eem ha'yada'eem! (Billy, walk slowly with a basket of first fruits on the head. DON'T HOLD the basket with the hands!)

Myles, la'lechet l'Phin eem booba shel chalootz yisra'elee al ha'rosh. (Myles, walk to Phin with an Israeli pioneer doll on the head.)

This coming Sunday's session will be our final Sunday session before our Spring Fling (last day of JQuest) on May 20th, which also happens to be the first day of Shavuot. We will have our usual weekday sessions this coming week, and the following week. I'm hoping as many of my students as possible can attend these final few sessions!