Kitah Zayin Update

Dear 7^th Grade Families,

We had a really great week of service and learning with our 7^th grade class. On Sunday we took a field trip to the Repair the World workshop on Bagley in Southwest Detroit. At the workshop we sorted and labeled children’s books donated to a new charter school starting up in a low-income neighborhood. The students learned about the mission of Repair the World, a Jewish organization that encourages and provides avenues for Jews to get active in social action in their communities. We also talked about the concept of charter schools in Detroit, why they are needed and how they operate and gain accreditation. The learners worked with a purpose on Sunday and felt really good about the impact they made on the community. On Tuesday, we started a six-part lesson plan on social action and responsibility that will promote acts of chesed (loving-kindness) as being strongly rooted in our Jewish heritage. We look forward to continuing to strengthen the idea of social responsibility throughout the remaining academic calendar. Next week we begin our unit on caring for the elderly which will include taking a trip to Coville nursing home on March 22^nd where we will prepare for Passover with the residents.

  

It is always a joy to work with your children and we look forward to seeing them this Sunday.

Shabbat Shalom, 

David and Erin

Morah Katz Hebrew Update

Dear 4-6th Grade Parents:

We enjoyed having tefilla all together this week.  Our young chazaneem and chazanyot are getting very fluent with the Shacharit, Ashrei and Amidah prayers and service.  

It was such a pleasure meeting with the parents who came out last Sunday for our conferences and am looking forward to meeting with those of you who signed up for this Sunday. We've begun teaching the children the Mah Nishtana or Four Questions in preparation for Pesach. 

We have so much positive feedback to give you about your students and their amazing progress in Hebrew.  

Shabbat Shalom!

Donna Katz

Morah Levinson Hebrew Update

Dear 4th - 6th grade families, 

Once again it was very nice to meet with the parents who signed up for conferences last Sunday. If you would still like to meet with us to discuss your child's reading progress, please sign up for a spot this coming Sunday, March 15th. We look forward to seeing you!

This past week we continued to read from our books in small groups. We also began reading and reviewing the מה השתנה  (Four Questions), since Pesach is just around the corner. At the end of the day on Tuesday, we showed the class a YouTube video from Israel of the Four Questions and the kids all sang along :)

Per the request of some of the parents, we sent home copies of our reading books with the kids. Keeping a copy at home will allow the students the opportunity to review what we learned in class as well as practice their reading over the summer.

Wishing you a peaceful Shabbat. Enjoy the beautiful sunny weather!

B'Shalom, 

Dona Levinson 

Edna Sable 

Aliza Zachor

Morah Schlussel Update

Dear Parents,

This past Sunday, the 4th,5th and 6th grade Hebrew teachers met with parents for conferences. We will be doing that again this coming Sunday and need be an additional Sunday. Please sign up if you haven't already.  Meeting with some of you was  very rewarding and a good opportunity to discuss your child with you in person.

One of the constructive ideas that the  parents and I came up with  is that I will be sending home a copy of one of the books we are using to sharpen our reading skills. Doing this will allow your children to review what we learn in school at home.

Please send a school bag with your child on Sunday, so that I can give him / her the book with the pages that we cover in school that day circled , This will help you  know which pages your child should review. The type of bag is not important. Just something that they can use to bring their books to and from school every time they come.

The students were in Tefillah with a perspective candidate for Rabbi of Shaarey Zedek while some of the teachers were meeting with parents.

In class we continued with our Hebrew reading. We also began reviewing the Four Questions (Ma Nishtana) for the upcoming holiday of Passover. You can hear a recording of the Four Questions here. 

We took a little time to play a Simon Says (Shimshon Omer) game with the classes as well. This gave the children an opportunity to move and stretch while they were learning a relearning the names of parts of the body. in Hebrew.

Tuesday, was a recap of Sunday without the conferences.

Hope to see everyone on Sunday .

 Have a Shabbat Shalom, Toby Schlussel

KITAH DALET TOP TEN

This week, our Kitah Dalet students finished our text study of Noah and we explored the Noahide laws established after the flood, and compared them to the Ten Commandments Moses brought down from Mt Sinai.   We talked about the commandments between man and GOD, and the commandments between man and the community.  We talked about what rules we need to make the world safe, and what we have to do to build a meaningful relationship with GOD and with others.  We also talked about the values and behaviors we need to establish as a society in order to be fully functioning, responsible members of our community. 

Students were asked to create their own Ten Commandments, five commandments between them and GOD, and five commandments between them and others.  We had some trouble wrapping our arms around the GOD relationships, but when we talked about finding ways to connect with others through GOD, the ideas flowed a bit easier.  Students created their own Top Ten List, and they were really quite thoughtful in thinking about the things they needed to do to build relationships with others through GOD.  We have posted the Top Ten lists in our room, and invite you stop in and take a look, and remind them to follow through on their commitments.  

Next week we dive into Passover, and look forward to hearing about some of your family traditions when we share our family stories.   Please help your student find a story, recipe, song, custom, or tradition your family observes during the holiday, and have them bring it to class.       

Morah Gawel Update

 Hi All -

We had another fun, great class, albeit small. Where are all of you? I miss your smiling faces.

Yesterday during mifgash we did the wall sit.  These kids need to work on the squats. They were dying! I bet a few had some trouble getting out of bed this morning. I did too, but that had nothing to do with sore muscles. This "slog forward" is killing me. The kids also put their 2 cents in on  how they felt about Rabbi Green during tefillah.  They had a lot to say. I am glad that they are observant and thinking :)

We then transitioned to our lesson to the day, which was about the burning bush scene in the Torah.  Basically, God says "Moses, Moses" and Moses eventually says"Hineini" which means "I am here" But it means a bit more.. it means to TRULY be present. Not to be distracted, or there in body but not mind, but to be FULLY there. I have never quite experienced this. I told the kids how when my husband asked me to marry him my first thought was "boy.. I don't think I brushed my teeth after I ate lunch."  I am still working on the Hineini thing… let's just say that mediation is not my forte :)

Alas, my favorite part of the story is that God has to call Moses twice. It reminds me of being a mom.. the kids don't listen until you get to their full name on yell #4. 

Anyway, we talked about how God appears to Moses is a thorn bush. There is a wonderful quote from Talmud that Says "No place is devoid of God's presence, not even a thorn bush."  God could have appeared in a rose bush or in a field of lilies, but he picks a craggy, sharp, tough shrub close to the desert floor.  What does this mean?

the kids talked about turning lemons into lemon aid.. How do we make a bad situation good? How do we find light where things seem dark?  I had a sheet that had the word Hineini written in HEbrew in lemon juice. The kids could only read it with a flashlight. This started them thinking of the metaphor.

The kids then broke up into groups for: Hunger Games, Divergent, Harry Potter and The Hobbit. The kids had to pick a character who was a leader who turned a bad situation into something good. We then discussed how Moses did the same thing.  He was in the desert, he had a bunch of whining Jews who would not listen to him or follow the rules, (sound familiar ? :)) but he had to "slog on" so to say and make it work.

How? Belief in God and working as a team.  We then had a lemon toss game where the only way it could work would be to FOCUS and work together and finally we made some lemon aid. We tasted lemons (sour) smelled them (sweet) and talked about how sometimes life is both. 

Interestingly, native  Israelis are called Sabras.. that is the Hebrew word for cactus. Beautiful, sweet inside and filled with life saving water, but prickly and tough on the outside.

We discussed changing our perspective to look at the positive and even when we slog along, to think of how our experience can be positive.  This can help us all get through the days. It worked for Moses, why not for us?

so tell your kid to turn off his/her phone, to stop daydreaming and BE PRESENT. I promise he/she knows what it means!

Mishloach Manot Mania