Wednesday, November 23, 2022 | 29 Cheshvan, 5783

3-4 Grade Monthly Newsletter

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

For every Rosh Chodesh (Jewish new month), we will send a more detailed newsletter that supplements the weekly Remini updates.

Rosh Chodesh Kislev is November 24-25 - AKA Thanksgiving!

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 family table: Questions and conversation starters for the family Shabbat, holiday or weekday dinner about the 3-4 grade curriculum.
Student's Corner: Thoughts from one of our students.
Letter of the Week: The Hebrew letters student learned this month.
Coming Attractions: What you can expect from the next month at the JLL.

What did students learn?

Our main topic for the year is the story of the Exodus, the escape of the Israelites from Egypt. So far this year, students read about the new Pharaoh's rise to power, his enslavement of the Israelites, the birth of Moses, and Moses's escape from Egypt.

For many of of our students, this year is the first time they get to read the actual text of the Torah. They learn to become independent readers of the text, taking part in the long tradition of reading and interpreting the Torah for themselves.

We try to include many types of media to keep students engaged. Take a look at this thought provoking video about two often overlooked Torah characters.

What did students do?

Students made model baskets in the style that Baby Moses was placed in. In the baskets, students drew or wrote something in their lives that they want to protect, just like Moses's mom protected him. Their choices ranged from "friends and family" to "video games" to simply "pizza!". At the end of the day students let their baskets flow in water just outside the temple!

As a way to relate to the traditional story from a different angle, students experienced the ancient technique of brick making. According to the Torah, this was one of the main tasks of the Israelites in Egypt. Students mixed soil and sand together, added water to make clay, mixed in dry leaves to bind the materials together, and finally shaped the bricks in molds and left them to dry in the sun.

Torah Corner

Our ancestors wandered from a land called Babylon. They went down to Egypt to live there for a short time, with just a few people;

but there they became a great nation with a lot of people.

The Egyptians were harsh to us and made us suffer, and forced us to work very hard.

We cried to the God of our ancestors, and God heard our voice and saw our pain, our struggle, and our suffering.

God freed us from Egypt by a strong hand, by an outstretched arm, with great power, and by signs and wonders,

And God brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and gave us this land.

(Deuteronomy 26 5-9; adapted by the editors of “In Every Generation: A PJ Library Family Haggadah”. Further adaptation by Noam Vinokor-Meinrath).

Music Corner

Dreamer

Student have learned the song "dreamer" by Lorre Wyatt. Watch Emma teach the song and the hand movements!

The Family Table

Here are some conversation starters about what students learned:

Knowledge Questions:

What's the title of the king of Egypt? Who were the women who saved Moses and other Israelite babies?

Comprehension questions:

What did Moses' mom do to protect him? What happened to Moses when he went out of the Palace?

Analysis questions:

Why was Pharaoh afraid of the Israelites? Why did Moses run away from Egypt?

Opinion Questions:

Who are the "Israelite Slaves" in our society? How can we treat them?

Student's Corner

Alex Brenner, 3rd Grade:

"I liked doing the scavenger hunt we did at the beginning of the year, because we got to run around the building and be with our friends.

I like the JLL because we get to do activities as a way to learn"

Letter of the Week

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

Tav (ת) - as in Torah, Todah and T'fillah
Bet (בּ) - as in Boker Tov, B'vakasha, B'tzelem Elohim
Hey (ה) - as in Hakol B'seder Havdalah, Halacha
Tsadee (צ) - as in TZedakah, TZedek, TZizit

Coming Attractions

No classes this weekend - we're coming back from Thanksgiving break for the midweek classes of 11.29-30.
In the coming weeks, we will tell the story of Moses in exile, hearing God speaking through the burning bush, and going back to lead his people.
Students will make a burning bush craft project and will ponder what they feel called to do.
Next family T'filah is 12.18 - see you then!
We will finish the month by learning about Hannukah, followed by winter break on 12.23-01.02.

Happy Thanksgiving!