This Shabbat we continued to learn about Purim and the story of Queen Esther, and discussed why we dress up in costume on this holiday. In addition, we continued our discussion on personal hygiene, and the importance of washing our hands. Furthermore, we had a teamwork activity, and discussed how working together is the best tool to reach a common goal, like Queen Esther who worked together with Mordechai throughout the story to reach their common goal.
This past week we continued to learn about Purim and performed a series of skits where we acted out the story of Purim. We talked about how important it is to stand up for what you believe in even if it is hard. Then we made our own masks!
This Shabbat we had an unusual class. Samantha, our madricha, was leading as part of the training in Yachad’s madrichim program!
I was so excited to be back with the kids this past Saturday. In class, we began to learn about Purim and what it means to stand up for yourself and
stand up for others. We read some Purim stories and colored in pictures of Esther and Haman while trying to imagine what their thoughts were at the time. In HTM we learned how to say Apple- tapooach, lemon -limon , banana- banana, and strawberry – toot in Hebrew while snacking on some delicious fruit (minus the lemon of course).
(Announcements/upcoming events at the end of this post.)
4th Grade has been enjoying the story of Purim. We were troubled, though, that the end of the story includes Haman getting hanged — and Haman’s kids, too! Haman’s kids might not have even known about the bad choices that Haman was making at work, they didn’t do anything. We wrestled with the idea that, historically, Purim is probably a fairytale that Jews told each other when we didn’t have any power, when it was comforting to imagine that we could totally hurt anyone who might want to hurt us.
But, now we DO have power: we have our own country, and we know more things (like that people aren’t bad inside; they sometimes make bad choices). Now that we’re more powerful, we could do something radical: we could rewrite the ending of the story, to be less bloodthirsty and more fair.
We were so grateful on Thursday to welcome so many families this week! During Tikkun Olam class, Lori Chajet and Leslie Lewin organized an all-star team of parents who dedicated their time to facilitate amazing sessions with our kids guiding them through the process of deciding collectively where to donate the $300 allocated from the 7th grade family fund. Special thanks to: Joanna Pressman, Amy Rutkin, Nick Lewin, Debbie Brukman, Ben Wides, and Lori Chajet for leading sessions! We also had a great family session
Yes, another post from 4th Grade – there’s just so much going on.
Did you know, our own Morah Rose has put out an album of beautiful Jewish music!
https://open.spotify.com/album/33ihqk4mzr1cP7IrkON0jt?si=O60bXOlTQBWCOetdFfwgUw
The Mon/Wed students are especially curious to hear it, since Morah Rose teaches/leads MW T’fillah for us here. Tues/Sat kids will surely enjoy it, too, because it’s great. Enjoy!
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And don’t forget Purim celebrations. And the pool party. Gosh!
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Also, to put on your radar: Save the Date for April 24, Shabbat in the Home. As we are in the midst of our third theme of the year, kesher/connection, we are excited to share that each grade has a Friday evening where families can host each other for Shabbat dinner. This is a wonderful way for students and parents to get to know each other outside of the walls of Yachad and to share in the joy of Shabbat together at home. You don’t have to be “good at” Shabbat. More info coming soon. In the meantime, we of course encourage all playdates between the students and families.
This week in class, we began our 4th unit: “Nazi Germany and the Holocaust”. In this series of lessons, students will dive deeply into a historical case study about the Holocaust, practicing historical thinking skills while finding links to the universal themes of human behavior they examined in the last 3 units.
We are excited to invite you to a 3rd/4th Grade Family Havdalah Pool Party on Saturday March 21 from 3-5pm!
The event will include free time to swim in the CBE pool, a brief havdalah ceremony to separate Shabbat from the rest of the week, fun crafts, and pizza dinner. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with other Yachad families and we hope to see you all there!
Parents are encouraged to swim as well, and are required to be in the water with any children who cannot swim on their own. The event is $10 for adults and $8 for children.
Please RSVP here by Monday March 16, to ensure we have enough lifeguards on duty. Looking forward!
L’Shalom,
Hannah Grossman
Yachad Assistant Director
Highlight: We can’t wait to celebrate Purim with you! Check out all of our events at this link! We’re particularly looking forward to our Purim Carnival Sunday March 8th where there will be fun for all Yachad students.
On Wednesday and this coming Saturday, 4th Grade scholars put an imaginary bookmark in our Torah stories, and skipped forward 1300 years, to Persia, so that we can dive into the story of Purim. It’s a great story, featuring two queens, long before Frozen made it cool.
