Kitah Vav Update

Hello 6^th Grade Parents –
 
We have had a busy, busy week!  It’s been a productive time at CSZ.  We continue to work on our D’vrei Torah workshop on Tuesdays.  If your child has missed any Tuesdays, it is Imperative that he/she come to me before class/after class/email me/call me to catch up.  This workshop, which was led by Rabbi Starr, is now in the writing phase.  If your child has not studied the text with us over the last month, than he/she will need to do some guided studying at home.  I am 100% available via email:lgawel@shaareyzedek.org to answer questions.  Please share this email with your child.  The parsha that we are working on is Parsha Lech Lecha.  You can get the Torah text here: http://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2474599/jewish/Lech-Lecha-Torah-Reading.htm

The writing part will be done in class the next two weeks. This should be ample time to write a draft.  Your child will then need to type up a draft at home and spend no more than an hour total cleaning up the draft for a final copy.  Since we had a lot of absences, we have pushed the deadline for this back a week. We will spend December 6 th and 13^th writing our D’vrei Torahs.  A typed copy (emailed to me or handed in) is due on December 20^th.   We will present them to our 6^th-7^th grade Torah Service Workshop when we return to Hebrew school post Winter Break.  We will also schedule a parent day, so that you can come in hear the kids’ speeches. 

The kids have been working hard understanding the portion.  It is tough with 6^th graders, as they often are developmentally very concrete thinkers. Reading between the lines of Torah text and coming up with personal connections to the text is a new skill.  Our hope is that the kids 1) find some meaning in the Torah text 2) find personal connection to the torah text and 3) feel comfortable writing about and speaking about this connection. 

I have high hopes. This class is very bright; I have no doubt that these great minds will have some interesting ideas to share.  More information on dates relating to the D’var Torah Workshop will be coming. Stay Tuned!

In our Sunday class, we are continuing to learn about Kosher Laws.  I am using a teaching technique called :Question Formulation Technique. The purpose is to teach students how to ask meaningful questions with intentionality. The rules to the exercise are as follows: 1) ask as many questions as you can. 2) Don't discuss, judge or answer ?s 3) Write ?s as stated 4) change any statements to a ?. The prompt was: Keeping kosher brings us close to God. Look at the AMAZING questions these students generated fromthis prompt: * Why does eating kosher bring you closer to God? * How do you get close to God by eating kosher? *Do different types of kosher foods bring you closer to God than others? *Why do we keep kosher? * Does God keep kosher? * Why do animals have to die at all to keep kosher? *Why do we still keep kosher? *can you keep a little bit kosher? * Can you be close to God without keeping kosher? * What other benefits are there from keeping kosher? * Will God like you if you don't keep kosher? *Who created keeping kosher? Is there a mitzvah that gets you close to God without keeping kosher? *Are there foods that are kosher sometimes but not others? *Are there any instances in the Torah that command you NOT to keep kosher.

I was so impressed by their level of thinking. Next week we will learn how to classify our questions and how to reformulate our closed ended questions into open ended questions. 
We also played a quick game of Angry Birds.  The game consists of birds being tossed at pigs, so it lends itself quite nicely to the teaching of kashrut!

 Thank you for sharing your sweet kid(s) with me.  Looking forward to a great December and an even better second semester starting in January. 

Please block off your calendar for our December 18^th Chanukkah Happenings event for the entire family.  It runs from 10:30 – 12:15.

Warm regards,

Leah