Posted in Jewish Studies Reading

Hebrew Homework Begins

HOMEWORK IS HERE AND WE ARE EXCITED (and a little nervous)

laptop reading

Really! You should have seen the excitement when I told them they will be bringing homework home this coming week. 

Let’s do our best to 

keep up this kind of RUACH (SPIRIT). 

We have started working at school on our reading, and as of this week, I would like the children to begin practicing what we do in class at home.  I believe that to become a good reader you need to practice regularly, and reading at home allows for that.

Also, having some homework encourages the learning of how to be responsible, manage time and plan ahead; a skill that will assist them throughout their careers as students, and later in life.

THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT:

Now that we have practiced reading and recording on Classkick at school, we are ready to begin our homework. 

As mentioned during our Back to School Night, the homework this year will be on Classkick. On page 1 there is an attachment to a PDF file if your preference is for your child to read it from printed pages. You can print the 

booklet and use that for homework. If you do, please sign the page he/she read and send it to school with him/her. You can also email me and I am happy to print the booklet for your child to take home daily. If you are not a Hebrew reader and cannot support your child in reading correctly, I encourage you to use the classkick for them to listen and read along with me, while their eyes are on, and finger/pointer is under, the written word.  

The links for the homework will always be found in the Weekly Homework Slide on the blog.

This week we begin with 3 pages:

  • Tues: P. 7 (ב/ו)

  • Wednesday: P. 8 (ג)

  • Thursday: P. 9 (ד)

1A CLASSKICK Code: ZKWEFD

1B CLASSKICK Code: 54N25I

There is a recording at the bottom of the page to help review it. In order to use it best, encourage your child to use their finger to follow along as s/he listens and repeats the sounds and words. 

The children are encouraged to record themselves as they read daily; however, the requirement is to record twice a week.

Know that if it takes your child too long, they do not require to read the whole page, but rather a few lines. If that is the case, please mark up to where they read.

If your child does not record daily, I ask that you sign the page on the Classkick. Click on the T (Text) or use the pencil option. You bring it to the Signature line and type/sign with a stylus or finger. Once homework is done (includes recording or signature), remind your child to press on the green hand to show me it is complete. 

There is an explanation about using CLasskick under the Back to School Videos in our blog. 

Finally, I want to remind you, this should not take more than 5-10 minutes at the most. Please let me know if it is taking too long. 

Happy Reading,

Morah Ada. 🙂

Posted in 1A, 1B, Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading, Ruach

Where did my flag go?!

Hello everyone, it’s another interesting week here in the first grade.

As a part of our morning routine, we take notes about the weather, debating whether it’s rainy, sunny, cloudy, etc. outside… One of the different weather conditions we talk about is windy (רוח). Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago, a big storm tore away the flag from one of the businesses situated across the 417, leaving us completely lost when it comes to determining the level of wind outside.

That is why the first grade decided to spring into action and use their hard earned vocabulary into use. We sat down and wrote a stern, yet firm, letter to the Customs and Immigration Union (look it up, this is the real deal), asking them to bring their flag back. We also took the liberty of drawing some nice depictions of how the loss of the flag makes us feel, and these are some of the results:

 

Now we just have to hope that if they don’t bring the flag back for their own national pride, at the least they’ll do it for the children!

I hope that there will be updates to follow,

Saar.

Posted in Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading

Hanukkah is near…

Bitmoji ImageShalom Kitah Alef families,

As the second term of this interesting year begins, we are getting excited for Hanukkah that is getting near…

By the end of this week we will be recording our Hanukkah song (Banu Choshech Legaresh) and share it with our wider community during the Candle Lighting Ceremonies. I am not sure which date we will be on., but you will get to see it during our own candle lighting ceremony on Tuesday, Dec 15th at 7:00pm.

We are continuing with our daily reading homework (this week pages 9 to 12 in the choveret Kree-ah) and there are also fun stories to read (or listen to) in my bitmoji classroom, where I add books we read in class, or ones they are ready to read on their own.

Wednesday we will participate as one class following the Wednesday schedule from the distance learning page. Part of my lesson will be having the children find and show objects/foods that relate to Chanukah, so you may want to make sure you have a Chanukiya (Menorah), Sevivon (dreidle), candles, etc… out where they can find it… (please do not gather it ahead of time. The fun is in the search.

Also, I will be introducing this Wordwall game with an opening sound. You need to know what it is to know which is the opening sound… 😉 You can join your child in the fun.

 

Posted in Jewish Studies Reading

Reading HW Continues…

Hi everyone,

3 day weekend… it feels like we are back from a holiday…

More than during a regular week, it is important to keep routines when there is a change in the weekly schedule. Please make sure you check what the Thursday reading homework is even if you have a long weekend ahead of you. I love that the students take their reading seriously; however I do not want them feeling guilty or stressed if they did not do it. I tell them that it happens that we forget once in a while and that it is completely acceptable, but I would like to try and avoid the stress that it causes them when it happens.

If for any reason your child does not read please explain to them why it is and you can add a note in their booklet. It is empowering to them to have an explanation, and often when they do know, they come to tell me before we even get to reading the homework… avoiding the unpleasant feeling that I will notice the empty signature spot as I walk around the room, while we read (also, they receive a sticker for every read page and I don’t like not givng it 🙁 to them. Please support your child by signing their Choveret Kree-ah daily.

With all this in mind, following is this week’s HW:

Monday – P.5 Mee & Nee

Tuesday – P.6 Dee & Lee

Wednesday – P.7 Kee & Ree

Thursday – P.8 Shee & Bee

Choveret Kree-ah 2 with the recordings.

Posted in Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading

Moving on to a new “vowel”…

Finishing the first choveret kreeah is always very exciting. Now that we know all our א-ב we put together the puzzle we made at the start of the year (photo above)… they were so excited as they recognized the letters that were forming.

As we left school on Friday a few of the children tried to guess the next sound, the cover and  the colour of the pages… sooo exciting.

As you will see, in this next booklet we move a little faster, as they now recognize the letters with much less assistance… We will continue with our Monday to Thursday homework routine. I am reminding you that if it takes longer than 10 minutes, your child is not required to read the whole page. Please check  the lines s/he completed and have them read the rest with my recording (found in my bitmoji classroom).

This week we are starting with…

Monday – Eee (אי, יי)

Tuesday – Kee & Ghee (כי, גי)

Wednesday – See & Tzee (סי, צי)

Thursday – Tee & Ee (תי, עי)

Happy reading🙂

Posted in Jewish Studies Reading

Completeing ah sound this week

Shalom Kitah Alef families,

I am excited to let you know that as of today, we completed all of the Alef-Bet with the sound ah.  I am so very proud of my students for working so hard, together and independently, at becoming great readers. 

Bitmoji Image

This week’s homework includes the following (Recordings are in my Bitmoji Classroom):

Monday: p.19 Chaf Sofit

Tuesday: p.20 Story – Lines 1-5

Wednesday: p.20 Story – Lines 6-10

Thursday: p.20 Story – Lines 11-16

I always wonder how to better improve my teaching of reading and this past Sunday, I took part in an online zoom lecture from Israel about strategies for learning the Aleph Bet and their sounds (before getting into the vowels themselves) by Shimrit Mince – an expert for learning strategies. The lecture focused on memory supporters for letter recognition – focusing on the need to teach the letters and their sound in a way that supports both the visual and the auditory memory for the optimal recall.

It was reassuring to see that many of the strategies discussed went hand-in-hand with much of what I already do in our lessons – having the students listen to words and asking them for the opening sound (not letter), then writing/tracing the letter and finally, showing pictures of objects/animals/plants/etc  that begin with the sound learned.

Mince’s focus for students who struggle with letter recognition was to use pictures that both begin with the letter (any of the sounds/vowels at this point) and have a part that looks like it. For example for the letter Peh (פ), you show a פיל = PIL (elephant) where the trunk is rounded up into a פ.  An important aspect was that the child then needed to explain the connection (with leading questions by the teacher/parent), rather than simply told what it is. 

I like this strategy very much; however, it is a bit more complex when teaching it as second/third language, primarily because the students have an extra step – memorizing new vocabulary in order to memorize the sound AND what it looks like. I find that students remember the name of the letter faster than the name of the object, probably because their brain has only that one word for the letter but another (in English) for the object. 

For me, this is another strategy to try and incorporate when needed and when possible… something to think about… I am looking forward to her lecture about adding the voweks…

Don’t forget, a good way to practice recognizing the letters is to listen and look at the Alef-Bet song I have in my Bitmoji classroom (have your child sing it without the sound).  Repetition, repetition repetition. The song is a first step. Our aim is that they recognize the letters when not in order.

Have a lovely week.

 

Posted in Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading

Consistent Routines = Independent Students, Consistent Reading = Independent Readers

Shalom lovely Kitah Alef families,

It is so wonderful to see how all our students are becoming more and more comforable with our daily routines. Following these clear routines from the moment they enter the classroom promotes independence and in turn pride as each child is feeling responsible for his/her own learning. I am so proud of the gains I observe on a daily basis; from organizational skills, to patience, respect of one another’s space, thinking (staying quiet while another student’s brain is working to search for information) and different needs to be a succesful student, as well as their increased language acquisition of course. 😉  

One of my loves of teaching Ivrit to Grade 1 is seeing the aquired knowledge of the language on a daily basis. It is so exciting to see the student’s faces change from looking at me like I am speaking gibberish, to intent listening and big smiles as they participate and try their best to use not only a new word or sound, but full sentences.  It is a joy when I hear them correct each other (in a respectful manner of course).  

ta daAll this to say… routines work magic…  

As in years past, I believe a more regular routine will promote stronger readers, and I believe the students are ready… so… this week I will begin sending homework 4 days a week – Monday to Thursday. As I wrote last week, please assist your child to create a homework routine that suits your family’s schedule best. One where s/he will feel they have control over and can be independently successful.

 

This his week’s homework includes the following sounds: Monday – Mah (מ,ם),  Tuesday – Yah (י), Wednesday – Hah (ה), Thursday – Aah (ע). See “Choveret Kreeah” (reading booklet) with recordings in my Bitmoji Classroom. In there you will also find a new area for Stories in Ivrit (hanging on the back windows) – these will change with time, as we read/listen to our weekly story in class.

Posted in Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading

Hebrew Reading Homework (Oct19-23)

Hi everyone, 

laptop readingThis week We are introduced to the sounds Chah, Ch, Nah and Nh. 

Homework will come home this week on Monday (Chah) and Wednesday (Nah).

We spoke about our responsibility (with our parents’ help) to create a space and a time at home to do our homework, so it becomes part of the family routine. We came up with different ideas that may work for different families. For example, reading in the car on way home, or on way to school, reading before/after dinner, reading before/after breakfast, reading when we arrive home, etc… Whatever works best at your home will best fit your child. Please help your child in making this choice of when it works best for him/her.

Please remember to use my bitmoji classroom to listen to the reading – I do it in a pace that the children can repeat after me. It is a great tool for practicing and reviewing.

Do not forget to practice reading daily and sign at the bottom of each page.

Todah Rabah.

 

Posted in Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading

Practicing letter Recognition in a fun way

Shalom and Chag Sameach,

Last week I introduced the children to Wordwall – It is an educational App that I was introduced to by Morah Ruthie and Morah Sigal. It is free to download for you and you can search for different games on it; however, at this point I am creating very focused games that follow what we are learning in class. They are used as review, and the students are enjoying it very much (They are actually asking to use it – woohoo).

I will be adding (and regularly changing) the different links to my Bitmoji Classroom (at top of this blog page). I will usually post the practice from the week past and the one for the coming week (in which they will not know all the vocabulary yet, but can use the letter recognition one).

I will also add this week’s letter recognition practice bellow, for quick access and as a visual  introduction for our weekly sounds/letters – Rah (ר) and Vah (ב,ו).

I am adding a reminder to send a small box to school by tomorrow for our Sukkah creation this week. Toda.