April 18 recap

A. Tefillah time - the class tried to move the water bottle today by saying "Move!" no luck. I asked them to think of how I can change the world using just my words - one student figured out the riddle. We did Think, Pair, Share to think of positive things we can say to others to change the world.

B. Chumash:


Acting out the shorashim was a huge hit.

 Future note: the students will be MIMES (no sound) and must remain seated to qualify. After the first round of teaching, we did a rapid fire round of MIME shorashim.  The students filled out their linear translation independently or with me depending on skill level.

Some awesome questions (from third graders!) (Yes, I did have a timer on because otherwise the kids see it as a free for all and less inquisitive kids know there is an end to this time: 1) if Sefer Bereishis is supposed to teach us how to act based on  the Avos, how come it would say that Rochel was jealous?

Important Concepts: I introduced a very important concept - that of הוי דן את כל האדם לכף זכות. The halacha is that is obligatory to judge a tzaddik even in the face of very negative evidence, it is a good thing (but not obligatory) to judge a beinoni (average) person meritoriously, and a known sinner can be judged by appearances. The Avos are the ultimate in tzaddikim so it is obligatory for us to understand how it is possible for a great person to do something when it appears superficially to be wrong. Jealousy - קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה. Rashi 30:1

C. Ivrit - The journal writing was great. Some students wrote a whole dialogue.


Future note: Have the sheet projected on the board so that I can show each step of the directions.   I also used an Ipod App that allowed me to type in a word in english and it would Translate it on the spot for the students. Saves time and is fun.

D. Limudei Kodesh. 
 We only had time to read about Rabbi Akiva's initial learning and then his leaving for yeshiva. I read the story and acted out or gave alternate hebrew definitions for the harder words. I translated a few words to speed things up.


Follow up exercise to test reading comprehension of the story: Draw a picture of Rabbi Akiva learning when he first started to learn in a school and then when he was in yeshiva. The students wrote sentences about what they know how to do to contrast with what R' Akiva doesn't know what to do.

Homework: Review for פרק ל:א-ג