Posted in General Studies, Jewish Studies, Ruach

Yom Ha’atzmaut!

It was a special week at school. On Yom Hazikaron, we remembered the brave Israeli soldiers who fought for Israel.
Yom Ha’atzmaut was a day full of celebration on Israel’s 75th birthday. We started by decorating our classroom doors and lockers in blue and white. We think we did a pretty good job, don’t you?

All the classes had the opportunity to visit different stations. We learned a special dance, played Twister with JNF, sang karaoke, played musical chairs, and did Israeli Just Dance.

At lunch, we ate delicious falafel. Special Thanks to the parents for helping make the falafel!

We finished the day with the whole school in the gym doing the special dance we learned in the morning. A birthday cupcake was the special treat we got to eat. It was such a fun day!

 

JNF Art Contest

The Jewish National Fund has created an art contest that students and families may participate in. Check out the pamphlet below to learn more about it!

Contest:

  • Draw or paint a picture (8-1/2” X 11” and suitable for framing) following the story A Tree in the Desert by Avirama Golan.
  • Watch the story on YouTube (https://youtu.be/FbevCoM9_2U).
  • The artwork can be of the Negev, Ben Gurion, or a tree in the desert.

 

Posted in 1B, Jewish Studies, Ruach

A Model Seder to Remember

Kitah Alef’s Model Seder took place this past Monday. It was a memorable day: many children said it was their favourite day of the school year. Moreh Saar and Morah Ada were so proud of the children. They read and sang so beautifully. We hope the children sing beautifully as they celebrate together with family at the Seder tonight.

 

Wishing everyone a Chag Pesach Sameach!

The Grade One Team

 

 

 

We found the afikomen!

 

Posted in 1B, Jewish Studies, Ruach

Cheekiness, Chutzpah and whatever is between.

Hey there Grade 1,

It’s almost Pesach and I figured a bit of showing off our conversational skills is in order.

As a part of my methodology I find it extremely important to anchor the learning in real life, as language is a “use it or lose it” skill. That’s why I decided to connect Hebrew studies with Israeli culture. As you might know, the students surely realized it by now, Israelis are loving, passionate and welcoming, however they are also loud and full of Chutzpah!!

Taking this into consideration I decided to teach the kids several different ways to ask and answer people “how are you doing?”, some are formal, some are good old fashion cheeky!! Please feel free to listen to them answer about their day and ask me how I’m doing. It was a calculated risk, but boy am I bad at math, the kids can definitely talk, but now I got a classroom full of cheeky Israeli sounding kids.

Have a great Pesach vacation,

Saar

Posted in French, General Studies, Jewish Studies

Purim,la joie du carnaval

A different week Rush Week full of happy faces, fun, smiles, and dazzling colours has finished. Purim allowed me, along with my kiddos discover what this celebration means and symbolizes. Through fun activities, we watched, heard, and told the story of Purim in French. We discussed the good and bad main characters of the story. We learned new vocabulary and hid by dressing up in costumes, appearing as something else, while our true selves remained hidden underneath the masquerade. It was an incredible experience for ME and a fun time for THEM!

 

Both classes got together on Purim to have Ruach filled day. We made graggers. We loved listening to the Megillah Reading Rabbi Kenter. We had a fabulous fashion show. It was amazing how everyone got the same overall score from our judges. Moreh Saar, Ms. Karissa, and Mrs. Bennett claim all participants gave their best performance, so they had to give everyone the best possible score.

 

 

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 1A, 1B, Homework, Jewish Studies

Economics 101

Dear grade 1 parents,

As I’m getting used to the hardships of winter (clearing the snow from my car, every, single, morning, is a new one for me), I had the pleasure of sitting in my car for 15 minutes straight waiting for my fingers to thaw. During that time I came across a meme that really reflects my way of thinking about how school should be.

 

 

It reminded me that while my “I believe” is heavily influenced by this idea, I still need to communicate that to my surrounding. So here it goes:

Since I encountered this phenomena many, many times in the various jobs I had, I believe in the power of incentivizing and fear the impact of dicentivizing. Therefore, I try my best to include the former, not the latter, in my teaching.

That is why I added a new, 100% optional, incentive to do the homework, a game. The game reinforces only some of the words in the homework, offering sound and translations to several words. Please only play the game if the kids have done their readings and still have some time and energy to play the game.

I hope this makes the homework experience more enjoyable,

Saar.

Posted in 1A, 1B, Jewish Studies

We tried so hard, and got so far….

In the end, it was all that really mattered!

Grade 1 has been working so hard on their Hebrew skills for almost four whole months now, last Monday they got to put  those skills to use in real life. We had our second meeting with a group of Israeli children who got to practice their English, while we practiced our Hebrew. We spoke about how old we are, what are our favourite sports and colours, what we like to eat and drink, it was a blast.

It was an amazing experience for the kids, who got to see how quickly they could use the Hebrew they know to express themselves in a coherent manner. Lastly, it was an amazing time for us Hebrew teachers, we got to see the fruits of our labor grow right in front of us. Trust me when I say, I’m one happy gardener…

From everyone in the grade 1 team.

Posted in Jewish Studies

A little taste of November

We, at last, finished the puzzle we created with 1A… and are excited to put it up…

 

We completed the Ah sound of all the Alef Bet and were able to follow along a story as we listened to a recording of it…

 

 Our class was filled with giggles as we practiced the Hebrew words for on, under and in –  Al, Tachat & Bah…

 

We continue leading our morning routine … and we are getting better every day… 

Posted in Jewish Studies

A Peak into a Language Detour

We have been just over 30 days at school now and when I think of the Hebrew my students knew when walking into my room the first day and how much they know now, I feel so proud of them. It is the immediate feedback that I get/give from/to them as we travel this language learning/teaching road that continues to evolve and stop at both foreseen and unforeseen intersections; planned and unplanned interactions. The light in their eyes and the smiles on their faces when they get the connection between words, which in turn allows for greater comprehension and recall, is one of the best feelings when teaching a language.

One such intersection happened this week, as we spoke about Seffer Bereshit, before reading the Parashat Shavuah. As we began to review the first two Parashot from the past weeks, I knew most of them could tell (if asked) that bereshit is at the beginning/the start… but I wanted them to understand the why and to be able to connect this word to other words we have used/learned… so… I wrote the word בראשית (BERESHIT) on the board and circled 3 letters ראש (ROSH) knowing that we used it during different parts of our learning already (Rosh Hashannah, Rosh Chodesh, Body part, Front of line etc…)

Then I asked (the way I do every day during our daily quiz): Mee Yodeah, mee Yoda’at Mah Zeh Rosh? (Who knows what is Rosh?)

I need to digress, to explain that during our daily quiz, students are allowed to call out the answer – the person I hear first, sits down and is not allowed to answer aloud any more – this way, everyone gets to shine, and everyone gets to hear correct answers even if they do not remember… so it is a wonderful and fun way to review our increasing vocabulary.

The second the question was asked, a collection of voices called out happy to share their knowledge: “head!”  While some pointing to their own Rosh – saying the word in Hebrew. What a wonderful feeling! Then we moved to the challenging question, where else did we meet this word before? Now the room was still abuzz… but the answers were with question marks at the end of them and went in different directions… not really understanding what I was looking for…. They were thinking in English… searching for ideas from their past knowledge in the language they are more proficient in….  So I had to refocus them and remind them we need to search our brain for the Hebrew we know, and that I am actually looking for the word ROSH to be part of the memory (not only the meaning itself)… I gave a hint to think of our Tishrei holidays… now someone called: “ROSH HASHANNAH!” This got someone else association going as she called: “ROSH CHODESH!”

YES! they are in their Hebrew brain drawer now… 😉

The challenge was not over… now I asked them to look around the room and think what other word has a similar meaning (it also has the letters ראש in it). Curiosity peaked…. it was actually very quiet…. and again, they needed some hints – it is part of a routine song we sing daily… it is part of of the shavuah (week). A few more seconds… and as they were searching around the room, few students called at once: ראשון! (Rishon! Sunday!)  WOOHOO!

Now I added ראשון  to the board, beside the word בראשית and with their help circled the same 3 letters – ראש!

This discovery of course begged for more questions:

Me: Mah zeh RISHON?

Students:  FIRST!

Me: Lama Sunday Zeh Yom Rishon?

Students: Because it is the FIRST day in the week! It is the start of the week! It is like a number!

Me: Nachon! (True)! Mah od milah Le’RISHON? (What’s another word for Rishon?)

Students: ROSH! ROSH! ROSH!

Me: Lama yesh ראש be’Rosh Hashanah? (Why does Rosh Hashannah has the word ROSH in it?) (raised hand please)

Student: Because it is the first holiday of the year.

Me: Be’Ivrit?

Student: Rosh Hashanah RISHON ba’shanah!

Me: Yofi! Lama Yesh ראש Be’Rosh Chodesh?

Students: It is the first day of the month. It is Alef like ONE!

Me (not letting them get away with it ;): Be’Ivrit?

This is not an easy recall… we give time to think… to struggle… to search…

student: Yom ….  Rishon ….. ba… Chodesh (a bit hesitant…)

Me: METZUYAN! (excellent)! Lama yesh ראש be’Bereshit?

Students: “Because it is the first!” “It is the Rishon!” “It is the start of everything…”

Me: Az mee yodeah Mee Yodaat, Mah Rosh Hatorah?

Students: BERESHIT!

Connections made… for now! Successful detour! We will definitely need to return to this road again and again in order to not require a guide!

This is one example of the importance of digging into the language we learn. Learning a language is understanding it, not only memorizing words! We use many words throughout our day – a lot of routine words that the students are getting used to and understand more and more. it is these opportunities, to take words out of the familiar context and together discover it’s meaning(s) that allows our students to more easily fill up that ‘other language drawer’ and open it when needed.

This takes me back, to our daily quiz (חידון יומי)… as it provides the opportunity to work on the quick recall of a word, which one can only do once one knows the meaning with no context.  NOT AN EASY TASK! …and guess what… The students LOVE this challenge! If I forget to do it, they ALWAYS remind me.

Posted in Homework, Jewish Studies

Happy Hanukkah

We want to wish everyone a very Happy Hanukkah!

We can’t wait to have a fun filled week celebrating together at school and at home.

Remember to wear your Chanukkah clothes for Monday… (PJ, Shirt, Sweater, Ribbons, or blue and white).

Bellow is a Slide show with the Brachot and songs for Hanukkah if you wish to enjoy together.

…and finally, THERE IS NO HOMEWORK THIS COMING WEEK! Light up the world with Kindness…

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