Sunday, December 11th - Getting ready for Winter Break!

For our K-3 students today was the last day of classes for 2011! That meant lots of Chanukah parties in anticipation of the Festival of Lights. Don't forget Chanukah starts the night of December 20th. Here's what all of our classes were up to this Sunday.

Kindergarten

Today was our wonderful Chanukah party. We wrapped presents, painted dreidels and heard a story, "Mrs. Greenberg’s Messy Chanukah." We had bagels and cream cheese, latkes and applesauce! Yum! Then we made edible dreidals, yum-yum! We also played pin–the–candle on the Menorah. The day was filled with fun and games. Thanks to everyone for the generous gift card (which was not necessary, but greatly appreciated). I hope everyone has a happy Chanukah and healthy, Happy New Year. See you all back on Sunday, January 8, 2012!

1^st Grade

Chanukiot, dreidels, gelt, latkes and sufganiot helped bring the joy of Chanukah to our classroom. We began the morning recounting the story of chanukah. We reviewed Judah the Maccabee and the Jewish people’s fight for religious freedom. We also talked about the miracle of the bottle of oil that lasted for eight days and nights . We went over the meaning of

the different symbols of Chanukah and how they relate to story of Chanukah. The best part of the day was our Chanukah party and eating our edible chanukiot and dreidels. A big thank you to all the parents for their help and participation. Chag Sameach / Happy Chanukah!

2^nd Grade

We recited the Chanukah Candle Blessings. We watched the Rugrats Chanukah video with Mrs. Rodriguez's class. We took part in a student/parent Chanukah Party, where there were latkes, sufganyinot, bagels and lots of gelt! During the party, we played dreidel and spoke about upcoming class events occuring in the Spring of 2012.

3rd Grade

We continued our Hebrew study by adding the vav to the ever growing list of letters and vowels students are working with.  Our Israel study involved a short detour outside of Jerusalem to the suburban city of Modiin, near where the Macabees lived.  We finished our day with a class Chanukah party.  Thanks to the 3rd grade families for providing so much food and fun!

4^th Grade

In Hebrew we sang Chanukah songs and each student sang the blessings to demonstrate mastery. We learned the Hebrew letter final fay and reviewed many Hebrew vowel combinations. We finished with a Hebrew matching game. In Judaic Studies, the class completed the story of Noah. We discussed God’s statement of one's responsibility to another and flashed back to Cain’s question “Am I my brother keeper” The class had the choice of drawing an ark as if they were God describing the appearance of the ark or completing an acrostic of NOAHS ARK. 

5^th Grade

Today in class we talked about our favorite courageous leaders like Esther, Abraham, Moses, Jacob and others. Then, we broke into groups and made posters about our favorite figures. Finally, we switched groups and the students compared and contrasted the different ways these characters showed courage. In Hebrew we went over the Chanukah blessings and the singing of Maoz Tsur.

6^th Grade

Today in 6th grade we participated in the Jewish Lens program examining what a photograph is for. We then played review games for our quiz on Wednesday.