Taking Notes about Alexander and his No Good Day and Lag Ba Omer
Dear Kitah Dalet 1 (4th-grade) Parents,
Thank you for a wonderful school year of learning, celebrating, comforting and supporting each other at Talmud Torah! We had a productive, engaging end to the year!
Materials: Please hold on to The New Siddur Book and Handwriting book as they may be continued next year. We are encouraging students to review materials in these books over the summer to retain reading and writing skills.
Ivrit – Hebrew: The students have continued to work on Hebrew reading and writing in script. They have worked through page 48 in the Siddur Hebrew book and have worked in their writing books to learn all the Hebrew letters in script. We have worked on reading in a variety of modalities – individual reading, reading with partners, reading in small groups, and even reading in front of the class. The students have made great progress with their skills. It would be beneficial to have your students practice over the summer in order to retain their skills!
Holidays: Earlier in the month, students learned about Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut. For Yom HaShoah, students discussed the importance of remembering the Holocaust. They listened to Morah Schear’s father’s story, which was created by the University of Minnesota’s Vision Project. For Yom HaZikaron, students were introduced to Israel’s fight for independence and learned about the importance of remembering fallen soldiers. For Yom Ha’Atzmaut, students learned about the celebration in Israel, listened to Israeli music, and made brochures about Israel. We recently learned about Lag B'Omer by watching videos, drawing, and even making s’mores and mini bonfires! During our final hour of Talmud Torah our celebration continued with: open gym, basketball, parachute games, and popsicles. Have a happy Shavuot (June 4-6), as we celebrate receiving the Torah and listening to the 10 Commandments.
Israel: Along with learning about Yom Ha’Atzmaut and Israel’s independence, students learned more about Israel’s geography and culture. We discovered various Israeli cities and landmarks, discussed the cultural aspects of Israeli life, and listened to more Israeli music.
From the Etgar (Challenge) Curriculum: We delved into our unit about Blessings. We learned about the recitation of daily Blessings/Brachot as a way of recognizing the good in our lives. Students practiced reading these daily blessings independently, in pairs, and as a class. We focused on our daily actions and expressed gratitude for the mundane and awesome gifts we have been given. We did a match up activity connecting three things we are grateful for and matched the ideas with a verse in the Brachot Hashahar/Daily Blessings to support the relevance that the prayer has in our lives. We wrote personal blessings based on our daily experiences. We counted our blessings, responding to difficult circumstances. As we watched “Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”, we had a wonderful discussion about working through the challenging times and staying positive while looking for the good in our lives. We made a 100-link blessing chain, pop up cards, and did Torah text studies to learn about the Blessings in our lives.
Have a wonderful summer and Blessings,
Brianna Johnson briannalaya0122@gmail.com
Morah (Teacher) Schear nschear@talmudtorahmpls.org
Last day of school fun!
DALET/HEY:
Dear Dalet 3 and Hey 3 (4th/5th-grade) Families,
It’s hard for me to believe that our school year has ended. I am happy to say that, with your help, we not only made it through this challenging year, but our Dalet and Hey students learned and progressed in all areas of study! Additionally, they loved being back together in person and engaging with each other. Old friendships were rekindled and new friendships blossomed.
Our last month was filled with celebrations and commemorations: Pesach, Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha’atzmaut, and Lag BaOmer.
During our last several sessions we watched a great video which covered the Joseph stories. The students really enjoyed it.
Thank you for partnering with us and for entrusting your children to us.
It has been a pleasure working with your children this year.
I wish all of you a wonderful summer.
L’hitraot,
Mary