April 2024 | Nisan 5784

3rd-4th Grade Newsletter Nisan Edition

Welcome to the monthly 3rd/4th grade newsletter!

As we begin the Hebrew month of Nisan, we share with you this detailed newsletter, supplementing the regular Remini updates.

What's in this newsletter?

What did students learn: Content and values from this month's curriculum.
What did students do: Crafts, games, songs and other classroom experiences.
Torah corner: A selected text students learned this month.
Music corner: A taste of the great music experience students get every session.
The Shabbat table: Questions and conversation starters for the family Shabbat or weekday dinner table about the 3-4 grade curriculum.
Letter of the Week: The Hebrew letters introduced this month.
Coming Attractions: What you can expect from the next month at the JLL.

What did students

learn?

This Month, students started learning the stories of Joseph. They learned about Joseph's coat of many colors, and read about Joseph's brothers selling him to slavery. This past weekend, they learned about Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dreams, and his meteoric rise from prisoner to Egypt's second in command.

What did students do?

In preparation for Passover, 3rd grade students learned about the science behind the rising of dough. Led by Rachel, our great Madricha, they experimented to see what "rising" really looks like. Students experimented with different amounts of sugar to see how that impacted the rate at which it rises. Students can now better appreciate how their food is made, as well as gaining a new perspective on the Israelites not waiting for their dough to rise.

Students began exploring the Haggadah with a special scavenger hunt activity throughout the JLL. Each student received a paper copy of a Seder plate and had to fill in information on the meaning of each symbol, found in posters hung around the JLL hallway.

Torah Corner

You shall love The Eternal your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day.

Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.

Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead;

inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

(Deuteronomy 6, 5-9)

Thus you shall be reminded to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God.

I, The Eternal, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I, The Eternal your God.

(Numbers 15, 40-41)

Music Corner

For Purim, students sang a number of Hebrew songs including Chag Purim, Mi Sh'nichnas Adar, and HaCova Sheli. With HaCova Sheli, it was particularly fun to do the hand motions and leave out certain words in the song!

Now, students are practicing for various songs of the Haggadah.

Click above to see them working on the Four Questions with Cantor Rodnizki!

The Shabbat Table

Here are some conversation starters about what students learned:

Knowledge Questions:

Which two brothers speak up when Joseph was being sold? What did they say? What were the dreams told by the cupbearer and the baker?

Comprehension questions:

What were the meanings of the six dreams described in the Joseph story?

Opinion Questions:

Joseph advises Pharaoh to store food during the seven years of plenty in preparation for the seven years of famine. How can we plan ahead for our futures?

Letter of the Week

Every week, we explore one letter of the Alef-Bet, the Hebrew Alphabet. This is the first taste many of our students get to decode Hebrew. Over the last few weeks, our letters have been:

צ (tzadee) - as in Tzedakah, Tzedek and Tzitzit,
ו (vav) - as in Vayikra and V'ahavta
שׂ (sin) - as in Simcha, Simchat Bat, and Sameach
פּ (pey) - as in Purim, Parasha, and Pri
ז (zayin) - as in Zroah and Zikaron

Coming Attractions

In the coming weeks, students will wrap the stories of Joseph, as well as the book of Genesis, with the reunification of Joseph with his brothers and the Israelites going down to Egypt.

Our next family T’filah will be on this Sunday April 14th!

Please join us at 11:30am for the WRT Mitvah Fair right after JLL ends. Learn about the many different ways your family can help others in need!

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