Grade 1

Morah Talia

This week at Sunday school was particularly hands on. Students began their day by decorating puzzle pieces with symbols of peace and Shabbat. Next week, we will put the puzzle together to remind us of how the wholeness of our community brings peace into our lives. Students spent most of the day today rotating through three stations in order to complete their own Shabbat sets; they braided challah dough, they decorated their own challah covers, and they painted kiddush cups (the special cups which hold the grape juice on Shabbat and holidays) and candlestick holders. The Shabbat sets they took home also include one pair of white candles that can be lit on Shabbat. I hope that the students' pride in their work and learning on this topic all year long inspires you to put these objects to use and set some time aside for a special Shabbat dinner on Friday night. We ended our day learning about Havdallah, the ceremony at the end of Shabbat, by discussing how it feels to say goodbye and learning about the special items we use during the Havdallahservice (we drink more grape juice, smell the spices, and light a special braided candle). We had already learned the blessings over these items during our music class last week, and today during our last music class of the year, we learned a song that uses the phrase "Shavua Tov," meaning "may you have a good week," which we say during Havdallah. Finally, we considered how we could take the phrase "Shavua Tov" to heart by brainstorming some ways that we can do good this week to make the world a better place.

Next week is our last week of Sunday school for the year! I am excited for the students to review their learning from all year long, especially on the topics of Hebrew letters and Shabbat. They should also look forward to their "step up" time next week, when they will get a preview of second grade Hebrew school class.

Also: we are still hoping to bring ourtzedakah(money to donate to charity) total for the year up to $100! We need everyone to pitch in next week so that we can work together to collect the remaining $8 to meet our goal.

I want to let you know that next week will be my last week at TST before I begin graduate school in June, so it will be a bittersweet occasion for me. I hope to see each of the wonderful first graders I've had the pleasure of working with this year next week so that I have a chance to say goodbye.

Homework:

I encourage you to spend some time this week on each of the following activities:

  1. Make plans to have a special Shabbat dinner this Friday night that includes candle lighting, drinking grape juice, and eating challah. Students should help lead the blessings for each of these components of the Shabbat dinner, and they should use their newly made Shabbat set. They may also want to say the Shehechiyanu, a blessing over doing new things, which we have been practicing all year.
  2. Complete additional activities in the Shabbat packet we used today about saying goodbye. Students may share their knowledge of what we learned about Havdallahalready, discuss the questions in the packet with families, read the story in the packet, and complete the maze on the back.
  3. Make TodahRabah(Thank You) cards to our wonderful madrichim(middle school/high school student teachers):Jennie, Mel, Stuart, and Jessica. These madrichim have gone above and beyond in their jobs this year by taking on leadership roles in running class activities, preparing materials to use for special programs like today's crafts, and most importantly, really getting to know the students well and working with them one-on-one to assist with any of their needs during Sunday school.