Shalom Kitah Gimel Students and Families #12

Welcome back from winter vacation and welcome to second semester. We started off 2011 with every Kitah Gimel student present! After students led the Blessings for Torah Study and cookies, we launched into a review of the Hebrew vocabulary which students had practiced during their vacation. Students demonstrated good recall of word meanings and everyone had an opportunity to create and translate sentences.
Students are asking very perceptive questions regarding Hebrew grammar and word usage as they form known words into original sentences.

Following these review activities, we read a new story in Chapter 4 of Shalom Ivrit. Additional verbs, adjectives, and nouns were introduced including everyone's favorite Hebrew word, "uga" which means "cake." Students prepared 12 vocabulary cards for daily review at home. Daily vocabulary review really helps students to develop fluency and confidence in modern spoken Hebrew.

While we were on vacation, Torah Portions continued to unfold. We have entered the Book of Shemot (Exodus) which begins with the action-packed story of Moses and the flight of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Table groups read information packets about the last two Portions, Shemot and Va-Era, and this week's Portion, Bo. Each group described the details of their Portion - the tyrannical Pharaoh; baby Moses' rescue from the Nile by an Egyptian princess; Moses killing an Egyptian who was beating a Jewish slave; Moses fleeing to Midian and marrying; Moses' encounters with God; Moses and Aaron imploring Pharaoh to free the Israelites, and the PLAGUES! We even had a "replica" of Moses' snaky staff.
Students commented that God was very "creative."
One student asked the thought-provoking question, "What if when Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to free the Hebrew slaves, Pharaoh had just said, 'OK, Go!' " That is a super question and one which we'll discuss more extensively next week.

In T'fila, each class was responsible for leading a portion of the evening service. Students were eager to demonstrate their emerging synagogue skills and families were proud to watch.

We're off to a great second half of the school year.

See you soon - L'hitraot,
Morah Ronni