Dear First Grade Parents,

Sadly, the school year is coming to an end. It has been an absolute pleasure teaching your children this year! 

This past Sunday was Tzedakah Day at Temple Beth Shalom, and the children baked loaf cakes to help the Temple in its monthly effort to feed 200 men, women and children at The Sharing Community in Yonkers. In addition, the children made cards to go along with the cakes. 

The children have been working hard on completing their Alef, Bet books, finishing all of their letters in Hebrew. The kids were excited to bring their books home, and they were VERY excited about the bookmark that was on the back of the book, as they've been waiting all year to have it :) 

We recently discussed Passover in depth, acted out the story, read books and colored pictures. We practiced the four questions and the children learned the meaning of the items on the seder plate. 

For Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) last week, we read the book The Sneetches and talked about differences and accepting people for who they are. We did NOT talk about the Holocaust, as the children are too young at this age. However, we did discuss the moral of the story; how the characters wanted to be like everyone else and how the "star" sneetches were mean to the non-star sneetches simply because of how they looked. It was a very interesting conversation!

This week, we will be talking about Yom Ha-Atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day) and making a project, as we wrap up the school year.

Wishing you all a fun, relaxing summer!

Debra