Rockwern Academy Kindergarten Hebrew Blog

Parents "Pop-In" Day

2007-10-14T19:51:00.000-04:00

Thank you to all the parents that came to visit our classroom on parents "pop-in" day. It was wonderful to have you with us!

2007-06-13T21:56:00.000-04:00

The festival of Matan Torah, the Giving of the Torah

2007-05-13T08:21:00.000-04:00

We have been learning about the festival Shavuot. "Shavuot" means "weeks" because it falls exactly seven weeks after the second day of Passover. Seven weeks is counted because after leaving Egypt, the Israelites reached Mt. Sinai and camped there. The holiday celebrates 3 different events.

First is the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Based on this aspect of the festival, we talked about the Ten Commandments in class. I told the kids the biblical story of Moses's assent to the peak of Mt. Sinai, and his receipt there of the Ten Commandments written on two tablets. And about those tablets, we made replicas in class, which the kids already brought home and which are also shown in the photographs below.

Second is the harvesting of wheat in Israel. We talked about the wheat harvest in Israel, and how in ancient times wheat was brought to the Temple as part of the Shavuot festival.

Third is the ripening of the fruits in Israel. Like the wheat, in ancient Israel, the best fruit was also brought to the Temple during Shavuot. I also showed the kids pictures of the "seven species" (shevat ha'minim) of fruit and grains that were primarily grown and consumed in ancient Israel. The traditional shevat ha'minim are:

Olives (zayit in Hebrew)

Grapes (geffen)

Figs (te'enah)

Pomegranates (reemon)

Dates (tamar)

Wheat (cheeyta)

Barley (se'ora)

Maccabiah Games and 8th Grade Farewell!!!

2007-05-06T19:32:00.000-04:00

What an exciting week we had! The children had a great time throwing a going away party for the 8th graders, their "bigs", who are leaving for their class trip to Israel soon. We made them chamsas as gifts, which are traditional Jewish good luck charms with a travelling prayer on the back. We had a great time putting them together.

We also had fun getting ready for and cheering on the teams in Yavneh's annual Maccabiah games on Friday, May 4th. The first through eighth grades were divided into 6 teams, with each team designated by a different color.

Yom Ha'atzmaut Continued

2007-04-24T22:10:00.000-04:00

We have been continuing our lessons on Israel Independence Day. The vocabulary words that we are learning are all related to Yom Ha’atzmaut. Some of the words are:

-- Degel – flag

-- Kachol – blue

-- Lavan – white

-- Magen David – Star of David

-- Yonah - dove

-- Passim – stripes or lines

We had our classroom celebration for Israel's 59th birthday, and two special guests joined us: Lee and Ori, chaverot (friends) from Israel. They told the kids about Israel and the city of Netanya, where they are from. Netanya happens to be a sister city to Cincinnati! They brought 3-D pictures and 3-D glasses to give the kids a virtual tour of Israel.

We danced, we sang, and we ended the party with a rendition of happy birthday, and blue and white cupcakes.

We will continue learning about Israel and special places in Israel, and share the items in our Israel exhibit. Thanks to all for sending pieces for the exhibit.

Also, thanks to everyone for coming to the Israel Memorial Day ceremony. The kids performed beautifully. I was so proud of them.

Israel Independence Day 2007- Yom Ha'atzmaut 5767

2007-04-15T15:40:00.000-04:00

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great Passover holiday.

● Now that we are back, our focus will be Israel Independence Day, Yom Ha’atzmaut in Hebrew. Yom Ha’atzmaut is next Monday, April 23rd, at sundown. This is what I will teach the children about Yom Ha’atzmaut:

-- Israel proclaimed its independence in 1948. This year is Israel’s 59th year of independence.

-- The Israeli flag is white with two blue stripes and a Star of David in the middle. The Star of David was chosen because of the significance of King David in Jewish history. It was King David who proclaimed Jerusalem the capital of Israel over 3000 years ago. The colors and use of stripes were chosen to make the flag resemble a Jewish prayer shawl, a tallit.

-- The official symbol of the state of Israel is a menorah with an olive branch on each side. The menorah resembles the menorah that stood in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and the olive branches symbolize peace.

-- We will look at the Israeli currency, the shekel.

-- And of course, I will show the kids pictures of me when I served in the Israeli Air Force!

● And because we love to dance, we will learn some new dances to celebrate Israel Independence Day.

As part of the Hebrew classes, the kindergarten will have a celebration on Tuesday, April 24th in honor of Israel’s 59th birthday. The party will include games, songs, an art project and blue and white cupcakes with candles. We will sing a happy birthday song for Israel.

● Please dress the children in blue bottoms (jeans OK) and white tops on Tuesday, April 24th for the party.

● As always, feel free to contact me with any questions that you have. Happy Yom Ha’atzmaut!

Pesach Activities

2007-03-25T11:14:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in the last update, we are learning about Pesach (Passover). We have a desert tent in the classroom, and we have been learning new words related to the Passover story and holiday. Some of those words are:

--Matz’ah – the unleavened bread of Pesach

--Seder Pesach – the Passover ceremonial meal

--Hagadah – the book we use at the Seder Pesach. The word means “telling of a tale.”

--Avadeem – slaves

--Meetzrayim - Egypt

--Binay Yisrael - Israelites

Aside from some new vocabulary words, we learned the Passover story, and many Passover songs and dances. The kids particularly enjoyed three of my Passover lessons. First, we pretended we were slaves to learn the value of freedom. I gave them big wooden blocks and we walked around to music carrying them as if we were slaves building an Egyptian city.

Second, we used blue streamers to recreate a scene by the Nile River in Egypt. The children held the streamers pretending to be the water around the basket holding baby Moses.

Third, we discussed Egypt, and I showed the children how to write their names using the hieroglyphic symbols used in Egypt around the time of the Exodus story. The kids were very excited about this and we really had fun.

Here are some pictures of our Passover classroom activities, including one where Ms. Moss's first grade class came to sing Passover songs with us. Have a happy Passover holiday and a fun Passover break.

It's Spring time! Pesach is coming...

2007-03-13T16:13:00.000-04:00

Shalom everyone. We are very busy talking and learning about the Aviv season (Spring) and getting into the excitement of the upcoming Pesach holiday.

Some of the vocabulary words we learned for Aviv are:

--Par Par – butterfly
--Tzipor– bird
--Perach – flower

I told the children the story of Pesach; about Pharaoh and Moses, the enslavement of the Jews, and the events leading to the Jewish exodus from Egypt.

We talked about the customs of Pesach:

--Pesach Seder: The word “seder” means order. The seder is done in a special order. We read the Passover story from the Hagadah, and one of the first things we do is recite the Four Questions, which we have been practicing.

--cup of Elijah: this is an extra cup of wine we put on the Seder table. We put it there hoping that the special guest Elijah will join the Seder and usher in a time of peace and freedom for all. We open the door during the Seder to invite Elijah to join us.

--Seder plate: holds five foods (a lamb bone, a green herb, bitter herbs, haroset, and a roasted egg) that are symbolic of Pesach.

--Afikoman: one of three special pieces of matz’ah that is hidden before the meal. The child who finds it wins a prize.

We will continue learning new songs and dances for the upcoming Pesach holiday and transforming our Purim Palace into a Desert Tent! I will post some pictures soon.

P.S. Don't forget to click on the Pesach family to see the animation!

More Purim Pictures

2007-03-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Here are more pictures from our Purim fun. What a great time of year for the children. Thanks to all for sending the goodies for the mishloach manot. I hope everyone enjoyed them.

Now that Purim is over, we are getting ready to start our lesson about the spring season and the Passover holiday. I will post an update on the spring and Passover units shortly.

We Love Purim - Pictures

2007-02-28T21:29:00.000-05:00

Purim has been our theme this week, and the kids had so much fun that I thought I'd post some photographs. We had some visitors, our Dor l'Dor volunteer, Mr. Gildenblatt, and some of the Yavneh eighth graders, who entertained us with a Purim puppet show. You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

Kindergarten Mishloach Manot

2007-02-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

We will be celebrating Purim in school this Friday, March 2nd. There are four mitzvot (good deeds) that traditionally have been associated with this holiday. One of those mitzvot, and a traditional way to celebrate Purim, is to exchange gifts of food to friends and family (mishloach manot).

To enjoy this custom, I am asking the children to bring one item of food, enough to distribute to each child in their class (individually packed cookies or candy, boxed drink, pretzels, humantashen, etc.). All baked goods should be store bought, and kosher. We will use this to prepare mishloach manot for the respective classes.

We are going to prepare the mishloach manot on Thursday, March 1st. Accordingly, please send the food items to school before that day.

If you have any questions, please call me at 766-3133, or email me at etscheier@yavneh.org.

Thank you for your help and Purim samayach!

Toda Raba,

Etti