by Yachad Staff

Shabbat, Torah Theater, and Tu B’Shvat!

This week our Second graders finished up their units on Shabbat and Tu B’shvat, and continued learning about Torah stories from the book of Genesis!

Saturday Jewish Studies

David’s Class

This past Shabbat we completed our study of Genesis through Torah Theater. Students created scripts and scenery, telling the story of the beginnings of the Jewish people. Next Shabbat, we begin our study of the book of Exodus, as we explore how the Jewish people were enslaved, and then redeemed from bondage at the Sea of Reeds.

Elie’s Class

This past week the second graders went over the Shabbat blessings. They made booklets with all the prayers and drew pictures of the prayers. This next week they will learn about Moses and the exodus story.

Tuesday Jewish Studies

This week to learn about Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, we acted out a play. We learned that Jacob worked for 7 years so he could marry Rachel but on the wedding day was tricked and married her older sister, Leah. Jacob had to work an additional 7 years to also marry Rachel. We also finished our Tu B’Shevat project by planting our lima bean sprouts that have been growing in the window into the pots that we painted last week. Next week we will learn about Joseph.

Wednesday Jewish Studies

Lauren’s Class

This week we learned about Joseph. We learned that Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son and that Jacob gave him a special coat. That made Joseph’s 11 brothers very jealous. As a class we discussed weather or not we though it was right for Jacob to give Joseph the special coat. We stopped at the part in Joseph’s story where his brothers throw him into a pit and then sell him to merchants going to Egypt. We will find out next week what happens when Joseph gets to Egypt.
We also finished our Tu B’Shevat project by planting our lima bean sprouts that have been growing in the window into the pots that we painted last week.

David’s Class

Dear Parents,
We completed the Tu Bishvat project this week, and the children took their decorated plants home [some of them preferred to wait for next week, in the hope that it would be less cold].
We continued in the stories of the Torah to the story of Joseph and his brothers [the sons of Jacob]. On Jacob’s preference for Joseph over the other children, we talked about the special coat he wore [a striped shirt], of his dreams, in which all the stars / beams of the field bow to him. These things led the brothers to hate him, until eventually they sold him to a slave in Egypt. We talked together about feelings of jealousy and anger, tried to share stories from our lives that included the same feelings, and to understand how we can deal with these emotions.
The children suggested that when we feel jealous, we should pay attention to the good things – that we have, not focus on what others have, understand that we are brothers – one unit and not separate and other great ideas. Among other things, we watched a small piece of a musical about Joseph.
Have a warm and pleasant week for all of you,
David

Hebrew Through Movement

Saturday

We learned all of these new words:
לשבת-lashevet- to sit down
לקום- lakum- to stand up
ללכת-lalechet-to walk
לרוץ- larutz- to run
לקפוץ- leekpotz-to jump

 

The kids moved around a lot and had fun! They got the words very quickly and responded to them, and at the end we played a game similar to musical chairs, but with Hebrew instruction instead of music! I was very impressed and had so much fun being in the class!

Tuesday

Shalom, this week in HTM, the 2nd graders had fun following Hebrew commands that described directions and took turns leading each other. Next week they will respond to these words while navigating an obstacle course!

קדימה – kadimah – forwards
אחורה – achora – backwards
ימינה – yamina – towards the right
שמאלה – smala – towards the left

Wednesday

This week we focused on the difference between:
Big – gadol – גדול
and,
Small – katan – קטן

We learned that, unlike in English, in Hebrew the adjective follows the verb, and composed various sentences using former and new vocabulary!

in Second Grade / What's New B'Yachad