Class Action

G'mar Chatimah Tova!  May you have been sealed in the Book of Life. This is the greeting Jews traditionally use during the 10 days between Rosh Ha'Shana and Yom Kippur (commonly referred to as the High Holy Days).  As part of our studies relating to the spiritual aspect of the start of a new year (5773),  Edot students were introduced this week to the Rabbinic concept of "T'Shuva" (repentence). They learned that there are 4 steps required by the Talmudic era Rabbis to be able to achieve "full t'shuva." These steps are:
1.  Realize that you have made a mistake, and be sure you understand what it is;
2.  Ask forgiveness of yourself and everyone involved;
3.  Correct the immediate situation caused by your mistake, if possible; and
4.  Create a plan to prevent the error and situation resulting from the error from occurring again.

I have informed the students that if anyone is unable to take full responsibility for his/her actions in class during the course of the school year, after two warnings I'll assign a "T'Shuva Essay." This will be an assignment for home, which will force the student to reflect on his/her actions, and write one or two sentences relating to each of the four t'shuva steps listed above. This has proven to be a very effective tool in previous years for helping the students to understand what taking full responsibility for their actions means, and thinking carefully about how they behave in the classroom.

As a closing activity for this lesson, each student was asked to fill out a "T'Shuva Worksheet," which involved setting out a series of personal goals which might be reasonably achieved by the end of the year. The completed worksheet was then folded and placed in an envelope, then sealed, with a balloon sticker placed on the back flap to be sure no one opened the envelope.  I will keep these envelopes in a safe place, and will hand them back to each student during the last week of Religious School. The students will be able to "break open" the seal then, and recall the goals made, and see if they achieved any of them, or were in the process of achieving them. 

This past week we also began to build a working Hebrew vocabulary, using the total physical response (TPR) method. The specific program we are using is called "Hebrew Through Movement." Its goal is to first build a basic Hebrew vocabulary using the command form of verbs, then eventually begin to introduce Siddur (prayer book) vocabulary - all through movement. We'll be using this program each weekday and Sunday session - each lesson takes 10-15 minutes. The rest of the time devoted to Hebrew will be used to build basic Hebrew decoding skills. More on that in a later post.

We had a lot of fun during our first TPR session. After I demonstrated a move described by the command several times, the students followed the command, then two volunteers helped to demonstrate the commands, and finally we all followed the commands. I focused this week on three commands - get up (la'koom), sit down (la'shevet), and walk (la'lechet). A big thank you goes to Danielle, my Wednesday TA, for capturing the fun we had - not an easy job with a still camera!

Back to School

Summers always go by so quickly!  If you're like me, then by the time summer vacation draws to a close, you're looking forward to the new school year - new friends to make, new things to learn, lots of fun activities to look forward to.

Our first day back to school for our Edot class was certainly interesting. Imagine 53 (out of the 61 registered) students, all in one classroom. It's hard not to meet at least a few new classmates when you're squeezed together. Fortunately, everyone seems to have had a good time (check some of the faces below).

During the first 20 minutes of our hour together,  students went on a "Get to Know Your Edot Classrooms" treasure hunt. This is my sneaky way of ensuring that they will get to know where everything is in the two classrooms we use. This activity was followed by "The Shekel Game," a very popular betting game in our class. Students were divided into 9 groups, and each group had to bet a certain number of shekels (Israeli currency) that they would be able to answer a question posed to them. The questions came from material that our Temple Isaiah 4th and 5th graders learned last year in four categories: Hebrew, Siddur (Prayerbook)/B'rachot (Blessings), Torah, and Holidays.

Just before we left the classroom to go to the Sanctuary for the all-school T'fila (prayer service), I introduced the students to our classroom tz'daka box and briefly shared with them the importance of giving tz'daka in the Jewish culture (it's a commandment!). Sometime during this academic year, our 6th graders will be making the very important decision as to where all the money raised by our K-6th graders will be sent.

We finished our first day back to school with a very spirited t'fila. Just before the end, Rabbi Greninger shared that during our usual t'fila service on Sunday, September 30th, everyone in attendance will become part of a "flash mob," in celebration of the Sukkot holiday which begins that evening. We are commanded in the Torah to rejoice during Sukkot, and the dancing flash mob experience will be a wonderful way to rejoice!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone SHANA TOVA U'METUKA (A good and sweet year). May 5773 prove to be a year filled with joy, good health, and success for us all. Roll up your sleeves, and get ready for our Edot adventures in learning.