Mitzvot and Morals

Our first big unit in 5th grade is all about Mitzvot(commandments). We introduced the topic this week with some lively discussions and debates. We posed the question of whether humans are naturally good or bad. A debate on this led students to form opinions on whether we need mitzvot to guide us. We talked about whether or not we believe people had a moral compass guiding them to know right from wrong even before they received the commandments from God. I encourage you to ask your children what their thoughts were on these topics and continue this discussion at home.

We are also starting to work in our small leveled Hebrew groups this week. Most students are using a program called Let’s Learn Hebrew Side by Side. This uses online lessons to teach/review one letter at a time and build reading skills as the year goes on. Students will be going through the lessons in their small groups with a teacher one day a week and doing hands-on activities and games the other day of the week to reinforce the letters and vowels that were learned. The great thing about this program is that if a student misses a class, they can log in at home and do the lesson on their own so they can be caught up to where their group is when they return. This is really important since consistency is key when learning a new language. More updates on this and login info to come soon!

Students who already have experience reading Hebrew will also be working in small groups with teachers and using some Hebrew storybooks to practice their decoding skills, build a bank of sight works and learn new vocabulary.