Daled – Fourth Year – Tuesday (Reisberg)

12/17: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Today, the students gathered in the sanctuary, with Rabbi Prass, for tefillah. He pointed out that at this time of year in Chicago, the amount of sunlight is less and less, and asked the students what they do to feel the light and find the light.  They shared some lovely ideas.  He pointed out that one source of light for all of us is how much the students are able to participate more and more confidently in our t’fillah.
  2. Today we completed lesson 3 in our books- the K’dusha blessing.
  3. We practiced reading the Chanukah blessings together and played dreidel before joining the other classes for a surprise end of the semester pizza dinner.
  4. The entire school gathered in the main area for a festive Hanukkah dinner and end of semester celebration of pizza. A good time was had by all.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Enjoy your winter break and Happy Chanukah! 
  2. A worksheet was sent home today – students who bring it back completed after break will receive a prize.  You can download the worksheet here.
  3. Practice reading the K’dusha on page 28 in your book.
  4. Practice reading the G’vurot on page 16 in your book.
  5. Practice reading the Avot V’Imahot on page 5 in your book.

12/10: Today in class we worked on:

  1. School began with an all-school Tefiilah led by Rabbi Prass.  He started asking us who and what makes you feel safe? We then looked at our prayer avot v’imahot, and how the last line talks about God being the “Shield of Abraham and the Help of Sarah”, or in other words make us feel safe.  We also talked about how the Maccabees fought to make our ancestors feel safe.
  2. Today we started our wrap up of lesson 3- the K’dusha blessing.  We broke into two groups to practice reading the end of the blessing aloud.
  3. The class came back together to complete a worksheet that reinforced the blessing vocabulary and the root ‘koof-daled-shin’ (holy).
  4. We finished the afternoon with a Kahoot! K’dusha review game.
  5. We closed the session by joining all of the other classes to play Hebrew-Thru-Movement, Chanukah Style, led by Rabbi Prass.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the K’dusha (the whole blessing) on page 28 in your book.

12/3: Today in class we worked on:

  1. School began with an all-school Tefillah.  Rabbi Prass asked the students “What is something positive you caused to happen over Thanksgiving?” and “What is something good you did?” The students provided many excellent answers and examples to further our learning.  We then connected this to the gevuorot prayer and specifically the word “mechaye” which means “the one who causes..” and talked about the good things mentioned in the prayer.
  2. Today we took the aleph-bet assessment.  This is the same quiz we did in October, and will do again once or twice next semester.  The goal here is to reinforce the Hebrew letters and vowels and we’re aiming to see improved scores as the year progresses.
  3. We broke into two groups to practice reading the K’dusha – focusing on lines 3 and 4. 
  4. We came back together to play a vocabulary review game.
  5. Class ended in the sanctuary for Hebrew Through Movement with the other classes. Rabbi Prass brought out a hanukkiah, and he explained the difference between that and a menorah. Ask your student what the difference is. We also added on new verbs and vocabulary centered around Chanukah.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the K’dusha, lines 1-4 on page 28 in your book.

11/19: Today in class we worked on:

  1. We began with t’filah with Rabbi Bellows.
  2. Today we started lesson 3 – the K’dusha.  This is the third blessing in the Amidah section of prayers. The k’dusha speaks of the holiness of God. When we recite this blessing, we are publicly proclaiming God’s holiness. We read lines 1-2 of the new blessing.
  3. The students worked a K’dusha vocabulary activities in their workbooks (pg 29 and 31). These activities introduced new vocabulary words for this blessing and introduced the root letters Koof-Daled-Shin.  When we find words with these roots, k’dusha, kadosh, for example – the meaning of the word has something to do with ‘holy’.  There are 6 words in the K’dusha that share this root. We did a search through the blessing to find them all.
  4. The session ended in the sanctuary for Hebrew Through Movement with the other classes.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the K’dusha, lines 1 and 2 on page 28 in your book.
  2. This week we sent home a G’vurot review worksheet with each student.  This is optional homework for Thanksgiving break.  Students who complete it and bring it back to class on December 3 will receive a special prize.

11/12: Today in class we worked on:

  1. School began with an all-school Tefillah. Rabbi Prass led a discussion, asking the students how the word awesome can have both positive and negative attributes. Our students presented many thoughtful ideas and understood the complexities of the question.  He then pointed out that the word Hanorah, or Awesone One is in the Avot V’imahot prayer, and teaches us to praise those awesome things which are positive, holy, and beautiful.  We also talked about the word of the week, “eezoon” which means balance, and we shared the good and challenging things in our lives which balance our days.
  2. We talked about “How we are feeling?” in Hebrew
  3. We split into 2 reading groups and worked on the Gvurot on page 16 in our textbook.
  4. We worked on page 21, 22, 23 in our workbooks
  5. We played a G’vurot Blookit Review Game on booklet.
  6. Then we joined the entire Hebrew school for Hebrew thru movement, where we reviewed the words we learned last week, the body part words, by playing “Simon Says” and sharing personal “human tricks” in Hebrew to reinforce these words.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Finish and review what we went over in class.

11/5: Today in class we worked on:

  1. School began with an all school Tefillah and a Rabbi led discussion about who is the stronger person, someone who is kind, or someone who is mean. Our students presented many thoughtful ideas and understood the complexities of the question. Rabbi Prass connected this to the prayer in our amidah, the gevurot, which means strength.  It praises the type of strength which helps others, and gives several specifics. Rabbi Prass also connected this to the word(s) of the week “derech eretz”, and how our political climate is one demonstration of how we need more “derech eretz” Ask your student to explain it to you.
  2. We spent the first part of class today reading the G’vurot blessing, focusing in on lines 1-5 again and introducing lines 6-7.
  3. The students worked on G’vurot vocabulary and blessing theme activities in their workbooks (pg. 17, 18 and 19)
  4. For the last 30 minutes of class we played vocabulary BINGO using words we’ve learned from the Avot V’Imahot and G’vurot blessings.
  5. Then we joined the entire school for Hebrew Thru Movement led by Rabbi Prass and Ben G. Rabbi Prass introduced some new Ivrit vocabulary for body parts.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the G’vurot on page 16 in your book.

10/29: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Shana tova!
  2. School began with an all-school Tefillah and a Rabbi led discussion asking the learners how they tell time.  They had an amazing variety of answers.  We then learned how Jewish prayer also helps us tell time including in our Gevurot prayer where the words change during the summer and the winter.
  3. We spent the first part of class today on the G’vurot, the blessing speaks of God’s powers to help us when we’re in need; God’s powers to create, to save and to sustain life.  We started with reading lines 1-2 of the blessing last week and are working our way through the blessing.
  4. We joined kitah gimmel in the sanctuary to get an up close and personal look at the Torah.  Rabbi Prass cut an etrog and we had the opportunity to taste this lemony-citrus fruit!
  5. For the last 30 minutes of class, we played a Jeopardy game reviewing the Avot V’Imahot.
  6. This week, we sent home a note with three yellow cards.  Each Hebrew student at CBA is required to attend at least three Beth Am shabbat (Friday or Saturday) services.  When your student comes to services, they should bring a yellow card and hand it to either Rabbi Bellows or Rabbi Prass after services.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the G’vurot, lines 1-5 on page 16 in your book.
    •  If you need help with pronunciation, or if you want to follow along, use this website: https://www.behrmanhouse.com/hinfree/gvurot-prayer-page.html?uid=0&modid=3&activityid=19

10/22: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Shana tova!
  2. We enjoyed all-school T’Fillah with Rabbi Prass.  He showed us his ‘collection’ of an etrog from CBA over the last 18 Sukkot.  We also talked about the sounds and sights of sukkot from day 1 – day 8.
  3. This afternoon we started lesson 2- the G’vurot.  This blessing speaks of God’s powers to help us when we’re in need; God’s powers to create, to save and to sustain life.  We started with reading lines 1-2 of the blessing.
  4. We joined kitah gimmel in the sukkah and had a chance to shake the lulav and etrog. Next week we’ll have the opportunity to taste the etrog!  There we talked about what we can do and feel with our eyes, mouths backs, and heart.  We shook the etrog/lulav and the teaching that they symbolism the human heart, eyes, mouth, and spine.
  5. For the last 30 minutes, we split into two groups to play a football review reading game.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the G’vurot, lines 1-2 on page 16 in your book.
    •  If you need help with pronunciation, or if you want to follow along, use this website: https://www.behrmanhouse.com/hinfree/gvurot-prayer-page.html?uid=0&modid=3&activityid=19

10/15: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Today, the students gathered in the sanctuary with Rabbi Prass for for tefillah.  We talked about WHY we need to find some moments for joy.  We connected this to our upcoming holiday of Sukkot, which is called our time of joy.
  1. Today we split the class into two groups.  One group spent 20 minutes reading the Avot V’Imahot blessing together with me, while the other group worked on blessing vocabulary (making flashcards and completing workbook activities).  The flashcards went home with your students after class. We’ll add more words as we continue through the school year.  
  2. We joined kitah gimmel for Hebrew Through Movement outside.  Some of our students helped Rabbi Prass lead.
  3. When we returned to class, the groups split – the group reading before HTM worked on their vocabulary and the vocab group practiced reading.
  4. We ended class by reading the Avot V’Imahot together a few times as a group.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the Avot V’Imahot, lines 1-5 on page 5 in your textbook.

10/8: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Shana tova!
  2. We began in an all-school t’fillah with Rabbi Prass during which we honored the memories of the 1200 people killed in the Hamas terror attack in Israel on Oct 7, 2023 and prayed for the release of the 100+ hostages still being held in Gaza.  We listened to songs of hope, emphasizing the resilience of the Jewish people.
  3. Rabbi Prass introduced an art project that we participated in this afternoon.  The Israeli national flower is the red Anemone (ca-la-neat in Hebrew).  It blooms all over Israel, but particularly in the south during this time of year and its bloom reminds us of rebirth and rehealing of nature, and the Jewish people – despite the hardships.  Be sure to look for your students’ art in the sanctuary and in the sukkah next week.
  4. We took an alef-bet quiz that assessed students’ knowledge of letters and vowels.  This is an exam that we take periodically throughout the school year to refresh and mark progress.
  5. Class ended today with a few activities to review Avot V’imahot vocabulary.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the Avot V’Imahot, lines 1-3 on page 5 in your textbook.

9/24: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Participated in an all school Tefillah led by Rabbi Prass.  We shared ‘noises’ that distract us and things that help us quiet and focus our brains.  We talked about how t’fillah is one Jewish language/tool for quieting and focus.
  2. We continued with the Avot V’imahot blessing – the first blessing in the Amidah section of worship that reminds us of our ancestors and our connection to generations before us.  We continued to focus on lines 1-3, and everyone did a really nice job reading!
  3. after mapping out the Jewish matriarchs and patriarchs on a family tree, we spent time mapping out our own family trees to reinforce new vocabulary words:
    • Mishpacha (family), Ima (mom), Aba (dad), ach (brother), achot (sister), saba (grandfather), savta (grandmother), ani (me), dod (uncle), dodah (aunt), ben-dod (cousin-m), bat-dodah (cousin-f) … and of course, we couldn’t forget kelev (dog) and catool (cat).
  4. We ended class with the entire Hebrew school coming together for Hebrew Through Movement led by Rabbi Prass, and one of our own Daled students, Ben G.  We also heard the calls of the Shofar in celebration of Elul, the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah and the other High Holy Days.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Shana tova! Wishing you a sweet and healthy new year!
  2. Practice reading the Avot V’Imahot, lines 1-3 on page 5 in your textbook.  Keep your ears open for this blessing during services!

9/17: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Welcome back!
  2. We began with an all school assembly.  The 2 older grades (daled & gimmel) shared 3 things that are helpful to learn Hebrew and 3 things that used to make them nervous about learning Hebrew. 
  3. We jumped into a little Hebrew vocabulary and writing practice, sharing what Beit Sefer (school) we go to, our favorite seret (movie), sefer (book), and our favorite thing l’echol (to eat). We also shared what we did this kaytz (summer).
  4. Back in the classroom, we introduced the first bracha (blessing) we’re learning this year, Avot V’Imahot. This is the first blessing in the Amidah, the central prayer section of every service.  Avot means fathers and Imahot means mothers.  This blessing reminds us that our ancestors, Abraham, Issac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel each had a special and unique relationship with God. It asks God to watch over us, protect us, and bless us, just as God did for our ancestors. We read lines 1-3.
  5. We ended the session with all school assembly to do Hebrew Thru Movement.  Our kitah daled students helped lead it.  Parents were invited for this first session so they could meet the teachers. It was great to see so many parents and to have almost perfect attendance at Hebrew school! We also sounded the shofar in celebration of this month of Elul.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Practice reading the Avot V’Imahot, lines 1-3 on page 5 in your textbook.