KitahGimel (3rdgrade)
Week of November 19
The Gimel class was hard at work this pastSundayexploring the Book of Genesis. Our first discussion was on the sad Tale of Sodom and the second discussion was on the Abraham’s Gift to God. Your children are so intuitive and deep in their thought process, which makes it so much fun to have discussions. While reading, the class made the observation that the stories we read can be very dramatic, while also teaching us lessons. We talked about why we felt each story was so dramatic, why it captured our attention and what we could take away and learn from each story. Please take a moment and ask your child some of these questions from this past week’s discussions:
Why did God tell Abraham to name his son Isaac?
What does the name Isaac mean?
Why did God save Lot and his family from the city of Sodom?
Why was Lot’s wife turned into a rock of salt?
I hope these questions spur some discussion of what was talked about this pastSunday! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the time spent together.
Week of November 12th
This week the Gimel Judaic Studies class read about Abram, Sarai and Lot and centered our class discussion on the concept of Shalom Bayit (Peace at Home). We took the time to share times when we felt something was not fair, but did it anyway to keep peace within the house/ with family or friends. We also discussed how hard it is to make decisions to be fair to everyone when we may not think the outcome is fair. We compared this to the story of Abram's decision to give Lot the choice of land and how Abram made this decision to keep peace within his family.
The class received homework this week: They were asked to find a time to promote Shalom Bayit within their household by doing something that will help to keep peace within the home, school or with friends. I can’t wait to hear their stories next week.
Next week we will continue our discussions on Shalom Bayit with in class activities I know all will enjoy.
Week of November 5th
We had a super fun lesson this pastSundayand sweets to go along with it. As a class we discussed the Tower of Babel. We first read the story and then discussed the ideas detailed in the story - pride and objects becoming more important than people. We also mentioned how hard it would have been to talk with someone who didn't speak our same language as happened in the story of the Tower of Babel. This idea bridged over to our everyday life - times when we may not know someone or find we may not have a lot in common with someone we will need to work with.
To bring home this idea - I partnered up groups who were not allowed to talk to each other at all. The only instruction given was to build one tower out of kosher marshmallows and toothpicks - three toothpicks high. They had a great time trying to build together, however, they were frustrated that they weren’t able to build the best structure possible. The second time each group was allowed to plan, discuss and build their structures again. They definitely found it easier to discuss and plan so they could have the same idea rather than trying to put guess what others wanted to do. During all of this – a lot of marshmallow eating happened :)Take a look at pictures from our activities at the Gimelshutterfly site: