June 11-19

It's a week after school let out and I realized in all the excitement I didn't post anything online. So I will hit the highlights of an awesome end of school year. Things really came together in a big way.

Monday June 11
The General Studies teacher, a parent, an aide and I took the kids to Corning Museum of Glass. Mrs. S. is an awesome teacher. Back in January, the kids wrote her persuasive letters about what they would like changed in the classroom. One student wanted to go on a field trip. She helped the class organize an ice cream sale and they raised over $100. They then took a series of votes narrowing the field trip down to a realistic option of Corning - the students get in free and the adults are chaperones. Each student got to make one glass project and we had a docent that gave us a free tour for an hour.

The kids were great. They asked a million questions and were as equally enthusiastic at the museum as in the classroom. There is one part of the museum that was devoted to the history of glass. There is a large map next to each time period section. Somehow, as the docent was talking the kids were studying the map more than the glass. "Mrs. H... do you see France was called Gaul!!!!" Look here's Rome!" The gedolim unit has made them very aware about the change in Europe.

We drove straight home from the museum. The one downer - I forgot benchers and water. Thank G-d for Ipods.

Tuesday June 12
We finished Vayeitzei. We did an inner/outer review

Here is how I set up my inner/outer reviews.  The desks are set up as a U. Every other student takes his chair puts it on the inside of the U  and sits with his chumash facing his neighbor facing . I set my stopwatch for 2 minutes. The outer student reads the hebrew, the inner student translates. If either of them don't know a work, they put a light pencil dot next to the word. After two minutes, I poll the class about what is the average pasuk completed. We start from there with the inner student reading and the outer student translating. After two minutes the inner student gets up and moves to the left. They now have a new partner to read with.

If the class has an odd partner, I am the partner. This gives me a chance to test a number of students.



Wednesday June 13
Our last test of the year! After the test we had our major nightmare. The students went to their portfolios to compile all of their linear translation sheets. I forgot I was dealing with third graders. Papers went flying everywhere. After some stress, I managed to help all the students compile their work in easily referenced packets.

Each student was assigned one perek for which they would create a summer review packet. The class brainstormed what should be in the packet and how students should review over the summer. Man, were they strict. They said students needed to read and translate from a chumash for 10 minutes a day, complete a perek a week minimum, complete one section of the review packet daily, and try not to ask an adult for help.

Each student was responsible for writing a summary of the perek, including events, characters and location, 5-10 על מי נאמר, מי אמר למי, fill in the blank, riddles and minimum of 15 level 2 and up שרשים and עבר הווה עתיד questions.


The class also cleaned out their binders and began to take some of their things home.


Thursday June 14


After davening, we went on our siyum trip. The sky was a gorgeous blue and the weather could not have been better for a trop to Springdale Farms.

After learning all about Yaakov and his sheep and goats, what could be better than seeing live sheep and goats, donkeys and horses  during the spring. The farm is run as a day hab for developmentally disable adults who work there. It is free with a small fee for a petting zoo. We started the day by touring the farm. We were introduced to spotted!! and speckled! goats. We saw brown! sheep, a black sheep with a white mother, a black goat with a brown mother and other combinations mentioned in the chumash. We saw a pig with his hooves stretched out proclaiming that he was kosher. We saw turkeys and chickens with their four toes.  We went to a barn where the students got to feed the goats. We saw sheared sheep.

Then we went to the petting zoo. There were the cutest kid goats and their mothers. Our kids got to climb this three level hay structure with the kids. They held them and petted them. They got to play with sheep.

After the kids and kids got tired of each other, we went to the pond where the students caught frogs. Did I mention that my class is 3/4 boys? The frogs were in the process of changing from tadpoles so it was cool to catch frogs with tails, without tails, on the ground and in the water. Luckily, we convinced the kids that they couldn't bring the frogs home. The pond was also filled with fish and waater fowl. We even  found a goose egg hiding in the grass next to the pond.

We then went on a nature trail in the woods nearby. The general studies teacher came and the students saw decomposers and a years worth of science come to life.

After the hike, and hearing a few growling stomaches, we headed to the lunch pavilion. Of course, our class found a garter snake in the grass - if you are counting, that means they saw mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects, and fish in one day.

To cap off the day, I made my sheep cupcakes using big and small marshmallows. We got back to school in time for the afternoon class.


Friday June 15
In the morning, the class worked on writing their end of year packet. After the students finished their summary, they put their name on the board and I checked over their work.

We then learned the parshas Shelach. Parsha Cakes shelach

Monday June 18
The students finished writing their review packets. They also worked on their chayenu, we reviewed vocabulary words to earn extra dollars and read the last few stories in our ivrit book. They packed up their chayenu and ivrit books to bring home

Tuesday 19
The last day of school. We started the day by davening to themselves. I explained to the class how during the summer I wouldn't be there to tell them to daven. We practiced staying focused on the words by davening the whole tefilla to themselves.


We then learned Parshas Korach followed by the big faculty/student game of machanayim (girls) or baseball (boys) When we got back, it was time to pack up. I had my final store and final raffle. I gave out the review booklets. To end off the year, we said the first perek of tehillim together which talks about the results of good choices.  


Chazak, Chazak, V'nischazeik!

June 8, 2011 recap

Today was one of those days that teachers dream about. A chance to see all my efforts over the year come full circle.

Here is how it happened.  

We only had three pesukim left to learn in Parshas Vayeitzei. I had the class read the pasukim aloud without teaching them at all. Of course, as we were reading about Yaakov meeting up with the melachim, the class exploded with questions. Was Yaakov in Eretz Yisrael? How could the melachim of Eretz Yisrael come to greet him as Rashi says? Which malachim did he send to Har Seir? Surely not the melachim of Eretz Yisrael. In the beginning of Vayeitzei, he saw the melachim in a dream. Was this in a dream?  The class started flipping forward to Vayishlach to discover more information about the melachim and their journey. 

Finally, we finished the parsha with fifteen minutes to spare before recess. I was in a quandary. The day before, I had quizzed the class on the 30 shorashim in the perek, and they had done review work. I figured we could squeeze in the exciting parsha of behaalosecha in the extra time. Unfortunately, my parsha worksheets were in the office. 

When I told the class my plan they asked if they could learn the next parsha while I was out of the room. I agreed if they kept the noise to a dull roar. I left and got sidetracked at the copier for a few minutes.  When I returned, the students were sitting at the table and at their desks with chavrusas. They excitedly shouted "We finished to Pasuk יא - the eleventh verse!" I asked what that meant. They informed me that they had read and translated seven pasukim and were now asking questions about those pasukim. 

Their eyes shone. They love to learn and know how to learn.

What nachas! 

One of my theories of education is that students need to do the real thing. They don't have Chumash class. They learn Chumash - just like their fathers and mothers do.  As a teacher, my job is to provide them with supports so they can act like the adults. 

A perfect model for this method of education is training wheels on a bicycle. With training wheels, a child learns to ride his bike and the feel of bike riding. Then the training wheels come off, and the parent holds on to the back, providing less support, but still helping the child learn how to ride. Finally, the parent lets go. The child begins to peddle on his own. He may fall a few times, he may wobble at first, but very quickly he rides off on his own. His legs are strong enough, and his sense of balance has been developed so he no longer needs his parents to help him at all. And then a wonderful thing happens, the child begins to bike ride with the parents and they explore new paths together. 

The same thing happens in school. My students know what it means to learn Torah. They see their  parents do it, they see older students do it and they want to do it too. Nebach, they don't have the vocabulary or the maturity  to learn as their parents do. So like the training wheels, they learn with a little help keeping them upright and moving forward.  At first, they got a lot of help with vocabulary and reading. Later, in the year, once they had mastered the basic vocabulary, they only need help with the hard words. Then, the training wheels can come off so they can learn on their own. The final stage is when parent and child, teacher and student begin to learn together as partners in discovering the Torah. The progression must be gradual and deliberate to ensure that the child will get stronger and stronger until they are ready to be independent. 

Today, I saw my theory vindicated. These kids are learning like real masmidim acting like they are sitting in a beis Medrash. They approach learning Torah with a sense of ownership and pride. 

Teaching like this requires a change of mindset.  A teacher can view himself like he is pulling a horse to water, as if he is doing all the hard work in the relationship. But with this attitude, when he is not around, his students won't want to learn. He can view himself like the driver of a car, who determines the roads yet to be travelled. But again, no student wants to go down a path that is determined by others. 

Or, a teacher can view himself like he is that parent, holding on to the back of a bicycle without training wheels. His most fervent hope is that the child will pedal off, leaving the parent waving as he watches his child disappear around the corner with new-found independence. When a teacher teaches with this mindset, the child senses that he is the master of his learning. The child will take ownership for his learning as he is able to set his own course in life and blaze new trails. 

List of Biographies

List of Biographies
Why teach Gedolim?

Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel
Rav Aharon Kotler
Rav Henoch Leibowitz
Chofetz Chaim
The Rambam
R' Irving Bunim
Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv
The Ramban
Rav Moshe Feinstein
Baal HaTurim
Rav Ovadiah Yosef
Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg

Sarah Schnerir
Rav Chaim Soloveitchik
Chazon Ish

April 26 recap

It will be a busy day

Intro: let the kids know the modified schedule.
Tefillah: We went straight into davening




Chumash:  Review: 
Shorashim - kids act out shorashim
Game - Prep: Filled a bag with yellow, orange and green papers.
Put kids in two lines in front of the felt boards for two teams
Round 1: Each kid put their hand in a bag and picked out a colored paper. They had to choose a flashcard from the felt board and translate. They had to identify the names (in orange). For the Imahos, they had to list their sons. For the Shevatim, they had to list the reason for their names. They write their name on a piece of paper and put it in my raffle box which will be picked next week.
Round 2: Each kid got 1 orange, 2 yellow and 1 green paper to "spend" They wrote down their initials first
on the papers. They went down the line and got to choose a word and try to translate.

Activities we didn't get to: Chavrusa time: Half the students move their chairs to inside of the U of desks facing a classmate. They take turns reading the hebrew, and their classmate translates into English. They switch for the next pasuk. After a buzzer rings after two minutes, everyone in the inner circles moves over one seat leaving their chumashim on the desk. I poll to see which pasuk everyone is up to and take the average. They read the pasukim with their new partner until the buzzer sounds.  If there are an odd number of students, the teacher gets to be a partner. Otherwise, I walk around and join different groups.


Gedolim unit: Chazon Ish - Many of my biographies were chosen because a student or a sibling was named after a gadol. I have a student name Avraham Yeshaya and it is his turn to be featured. PDF of biography

The Store: I give out Tip-Top dollars every day if certain objectives are met. Students also get paid for certain extras - such as learning over Yom Tov, davening over vacation, saying tehillim at home, and doing independent enrichment work. Every other Rosh Chodesh, we have a store. where they can pay for various prized. Today was the store - I had a student finish the whole sefer tehillim so he really raked it in!

Biography of the Chazon Ish

PDF of biography

Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz (Chazon Ish)

(1878 -1953)

Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz was born in Kosava, Lithuania to Rav Shmaryahu Yosef and Rasha Leah Karelitz. His parents had 6 children who died. His mother davened that she should have a son who would be a great tzaddik. He also had a brother Rav Meir Karelitz and a sister, Miriam. His sister married Rav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, the Steipler Gaon. His nephew is y”blc Rav Chaim Kanievsky. He did not have any children

Rav Avraham Yeshaya was remarkable because he was able to learn for many hours at a time. He learned all of Torah. He also studied science and math and used all his knowledge to pasken halacha. During World War I, he never left the Beis Medrash even though there were battles going on close to where he was living. His wife ran a store, and he learned in the Beis Medrash. The non-Jews who shopped in the store would wait for him to come to the store to give them blessings.

Rav Avraham Yeshaya wanted to be private. When he was 13, he made a neder to learn Torah L’shma and not take money for it. Whenever he wrote Torah thoughts, he published his ideas anonymously and simply signed them “איש.” In 1912, he wrote a Sefer on Shulchan Aruch called Chazon Ish with no author. Soon, people discovered he was a Talmid Chacham and the author.

In 1913, there was the trial of Mendel Beilus who was accused of being a murderer in a blood libel. The Russian government also hed another trail to prove that Jews are murderers. The Chazon Ish ignored his wish to be anonymous and wrote a 24 page letter proving how much Jews value life.

By 1920, the Chazon Ish moved to Vilna and learned from the gaon Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, Although the Chazon Ish wanted to live quietly, there was much that needed to be done for the Jewish community after World War I and before World War II. Despite his lack of interest in power, he did as much as he could to help Vilna be run according to Torah.

The Chazon Ish wanted to perform the Mitzvos of Eretz Yisrael such as shemitta and teruma and maser that could only be done there. He said that the halacha is that a Jew must live in Israel if he can afford to do so. He thought that Jews should live in every and any part of Eretz Yisrael. He felt that a person’s neshama could become the greatest in Eretz Yisrael and that Jews needed to act with as much kedusha as possible when in the house of Hashem – Eretz Yisrael. In 1933, he, his wife and mother came to Tel Aviv. He planned to live in the same simple and anonymous way he tried in Vilna.

Rav Chaim Ozer, the Gadol haDor, had a different plan. Rav Chaim Ozer wrote to Rav Kook that ארי עלה מבבל, a lion has come up from Galus. The Jews of Eretz Yisrael should now ask all their shaylos to the Chazon Ish.

He first moved to Tel Aviv and was very upset that most homes did not have a mezuzah. He found a sponsor and arranged for 2,000 mezuzos to be sent from Vilna to Tel Aviv. He went around putting up mezuzos all over Tel Aviv.

He was asked to move to Bnei Brak which was just being built. Someone offered him a job as a mashgiach, but he refused. He only wanted to live from the income of selling his sefarim. The Chazon Ish refused to take any extra money for the sale of his sefarim and would mail back any extra money people gave him. The Chazon Ish rented a very simple apartment with no running water. He was so poor he didn’t even own a Shas. A Jew from Chicago, Baruch Meyers,asked if he could build a house for the Chazon Ish. The Chazon Ish refused. Mr. Meyers built the house anyway and convinced the Chazon Ish to live there. The Chazon Ish agreed on the condition he pay rent. The Chazon Ish moved in with all his broken, old furniture. Each month, Mr. Meyers refused to take the rent, so the Chazon Ish gave the rent money on his behalf to tzedaka. Now, the house is used for a Talmid Torah.

The Chazon Ish only spoke publicly two times. The first time, he was asked to speak on Rosh Hashana. The Chazon Ish agreed to speak in a side room. He quoted a Mishna in Pirkei Avos that says one should online live in a place of Torah- אינני דר אלא במקום תורה . The Chazon Ish repeated the Mishna and sat down. That was the whole speech. He helped guide Bnei Brak to live according to the highest standards in halacha. He made sure that Bnei Brak would have a cemetery, elementary schools, girls schools, yeshivos,  and everything a Jewish community needs to live according to the highest halachic standard.

The second time he spoke was when the Chazon Ish found out that the pump that supplied Bnai Brak with water was fixed on Shabbos by a Jew. One Jew may not benefit from the work done by another Jew on Shabbos. That Shabbos, the Chazon Ish went to the shul and said, “The water may not be used this Shabbos except for medical needs.” The next week, he funded the fixing of the pump so it would not break down again.

The Chazon Ish also answered many medical shailos. A man had a lung condition and asked if he should go outside Israel to an expert for a special surgery. The Chazon Ish told him that he would live if he stayed in Israel, and he would die if he left. When asked why, the Chazon Ish explained that there is a debate what the halacha is for an animal with a similar lung issue. According to the Mechaber, the posek of E”Y, the animal will live and is kosher. According to the Rama, the posek outside of E”Y, the animal is a traifa and will die. The Chazon Ish told him to stay in the place where it was paskened that he would live.

An American once asked him “How do you live?” He replied, “I live from doing others favors.”

In 1940, Rav Chaim Ozer died and had no children. The Chazon Ish then changed from a private person to helping all the Jews in Israel. The Chazon Ish felt he had to take over the job that Rav Chaim Ozer had done. He also lived at a time when Jewish life changed so much. The Holocaust ended in 1945 which was followed by the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The Chazon Ish was impacted greatly by these events. He had a heart attack at the kosel when he found out how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust. He felt he needed to take care of the Jews that remained.

He led Klal Yisrael even though he didn’t have any wealth or position. He helped build over 500 Mikvaos, and sent  many rabbis to secular communities to build Torah by building schools, kashrus, and shuls. He said that the chareidi community should participate in the elections for the Israel government even though it was run  by secular Jews. He also paskened some very important shailos such as where is the International Date Line, how large is a kzayis, how to keep shmitta and many other practical halachos.

In 1952, David Ben Gurion was the prime minister. There were issues that needed to be worked out that impacted the chareidi community. Ben Gurion met with Chazon Ish. The Chazon Ish was able to explain what the sensitivities of the Torah community are so that a compromise could be reached.

In the 1940s, people thought that Torah Jews would disappear. By the time the Chazon Ish died in 1953, because of his leadership, the Torah community was growning and blossoming. 

April 25 recap

Tefillah: We reviewed the  idea that ה'  gives us  eternal עולם הבא for the smallest Mitzva. I asked the students what was their easiest Mitzvah. One said tzitzis, another shouted out "I love You, Hashem" etc.

Today, we spoke about all the praises we give ה' at the end of ברוך שאמר. This is based on an idea I found on a great website Praying With Fire -  http://www.prayingwithfire.org/images/Newsletter52.pdf .
Activity: 

1. Ask each student how he would describe his grandmother in 1 word.
2. Get a big list
3. Asked would this word be enough to praise her if she was being praised at a dinner?
4. How would you describe her at a dinner? (Many words)
5. With Hashem, we praise ה' many ways and still can't fully appreciate His greatness.

Review: During ברוך שאמר we paused when we said  ברוך שכר טוב ליראיו , closed our eyes, and imagined that Hashem is putting away all our enjoyment in עולם הבא.

Chumash:  Review: First, we reviewed yesterday's pesukim. I read the translation incorrectly and the class had to correct them. is a little bit of a change. Then we did a worksheet that had the same words with different endings. The kids worked in self chosen groups and some worked with me.


פסוקים יט-כד - We learned פסוק יט by looking in Onkelos.
We learned the content of the Rashi's
We were running really short on time so we filled out the linear translation for pesukim כ-כב.
Best questions of the day: Why did יוסף's naming have a different structure?

Ivrit: Today we went back to using our text for the year Mikra'ah Migdalor Part II

1. I wrote the hard words that were in red on the board and using pictures, acting and other hebrew words got the kids to translate them. The students wrote the english of the words they needed over the hard words.
The story was a dialogue, so I split up the parts and had 4 different kids read the story. The exercise in the book was on חשב ש. . .

2. The students wrote sentence about what each one thought. By making the work more personal, they were more involved in the activity.
3. Students shared their sentences

4. We did the workbook exercises orally.

Limudei Kodesh.  We finally  read the story in hebrew about the students of Rabbi Akiva a great series called מעגל השנה written by צ רוזנברג. It is a 4 volume set on the Jewish year that was adapted to the English series Round and Round the Jewish year by Feldheim.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day - the Rosh chodesh store (a few days late because of technical difficulties, review for the Chumash test on Friday, gedolim, finishing up halachos of Sefira.

april 24 recap

Tefillah: Reviewed the  idea from ברוך שאמר  that ה's does miracles   every day. This was a theme we really delved into with אדון עולם. Every day, before Tefilla, I asked each child to write one thing that was incredible that ה'  until we came up with 100 things. I think asking a similar question again will be over kill.

Today we are focusing on ברוך שכר טוב ליראיו based on an idea I found on a great website Praying With Fire - http://www.prayingwithfire.org/images/Newsletter50.pdf.
Activity: 

1. Ask each student to list a favorite thing and rate it on the scale of 1-10
2. Close your eyes and imagine that you get everything you enjoy x 1000.  
3. Ask what is the smallest easiest mitzvah they can do. 
4. Note that when they say  ברוך שכר טוב ליראיו  they will just have done a מצווה. We will pause, close our eyes, and imagine that Hashem is putting away all our enjoyment in עולם הבא.

Chumash:  Review: Today is a little bit of a change. We filled out the translation of yesterday's pesukim today instead of immediately after the lesson. With the video, some technology trouble and recess indoors,  I couldn't print off the translation sheets in time. It will be interesting to see how many students could do their homework without this writing exercise. I use the writing of the translation as guided practice/independent practice for translating the pasukim so the students are able to do the homework with little parental help. I'll chalk this up to action research

I asked 3 students to join me at the back table and gave the other students the option to work alone, with me, or in a group. There is a column for Shorashim, Pronoun and tense so when the students finished reviewing what we learned yesterday, they could do skill building exercises. When they were done with that, I let them translate the upcoming pesukim for today as much as possible. Go, Differentiated instruction


פסוקים יד-יח - Uh, Oh, cool pesukim alert - the story of the Dudaim and Reuven, Leah and Rochel.
Since our translation sheets were out, we learned by filling out out the sheets first. Most of the students were far less engaged when the English was there and analyzed the hebrew text less. Some weaker students actually were able to come up with more questions

Hard words: 
nouns:  קְצִיר חִטִּ֗ים דֽוּדָאִים֙ אֹתָ֔ם  חֲמִישִֽׁי שְׂכָרִ֔י
לָכֵן֙ הַֽמְעַט֙ שִׁפְחָתִ֖י דּֽוּדָאֵ֖י     בִּימֵ֣י
שרשים: מצא, שכר, שכב
וַיָּבֵ֣א   קַחְתֵּ֣ךְ שָׂכֹ֣ר שְׂכַרְתִּ֔יךָ נָתַ֥תִּי
 יִשְׁכַּ֤ב תָּב֔וֹא
לִקְרָאת֗וֹ

The kids love to have "Bais Medrash time" so when we finished learning the translation there was time for questions.
Best questions of the day: Pasuk 14 says that Reuven found dudaim in THE FIELD. Which field?
Rochel took Leah's husband? Isn't it the other way around
Best thought of the day: Leah must be davening for Rochel because that is why she got answered first.

Ivrit/: Limudei Kodesh. Since it is library day and long recess day, we will, do the grammar exercises at the end of the story. I wrote examples for Past Tense for he, she, and they in both kal and piel . We did one together and the rest independently. I was so proud that the students could conjugate II-י and III-ה with no problems

;Rabbi Akiva Story

As an introduction to sefira - I asked each student to write ;"How I can be like Rabbi Akiva." and then
     "What my students will be like when I am a תלמיד/ה חכם

We put a list of answers on the board

This was a spring board  into the story of the Aveilus of the students dying during sefira. I found the story in hebrew in a great series called מעגל השנה written by צ רוזנברג. It is a 4 volume set on the Jewish year that was adapted to the English series Round and Round the Jewish year by Feldheim.

online resources: Science Curricular materials

Are you looking for some hands-on science curricular materials

Free: check out http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=Carolina+Biological+Supply+Co&btnG= for older versions of hands on science units that still have what to offer.

Also, you can go to http://www.caboces.org/mst/science-kits for some free science kits that meet NY State standards.

inexpensive: Finally, http://www.espsciencetime.org/ who have science kits which are relatively inexpensive. It might cost you more to print out the science units on your own printer than to order theirs online.

April 23 plans

I know I won't have time to keep this daily blogging up but a few more posts won't kill me.

A. Tefillah time - It's Rosh Chodesh! So we will not have much time for the pre tefillah talks since the boys daven with the older boys and the girls join the older girls to sing hallel.

B. Chumash: פרק ל:ט-יד: translationThese pesukim have some difficult words with the continuation of the birth of the shevatim. Before the class - review who has been born, reason for the names. See if students can remember all shevatim and with partner remember reason for names.

Then we will do our "note taking" system. We will look at a pasuk, write down hard words, read Pasuk, and then at then end of 2 pesukim, each student will read those pesukim to himself 2x quietly.

Post learning - Why is Leah so happy?
Why did does it not say that זלפה was pregnant.


C: Rosh Chodesh Video: DHR had a great video presentation on bullying today from Torah UMesorah - It was a short story acted most ably by a few yeshiva students. The kids were spell bound. The movie led to a great springboard conversation about having witnessed bullying (who knew they had so much to say!), what could make a bully, who is considered a bully. This was an hour of time well spent.

D. Limudei Kodesh. 

We finished reading the Rabbi Akiva story and answered questions

Homework: Review of Perek so far

April 19 recap

I know I won't have time to keep this daily blogging up but a few more posts won't kill me.


A. Tefillah time - Reviewed yesterdays ideas. ברוך שאמר.  I had the class try to figure out what was similar about the words אומר, עושה, מרחם etc. Once they got they were הווה words, we had a conversation about ה's ongoing presence, the מכות, Rav Chanina Ben Dosa lighting vinegar instead of oil.

B. Chumash: פרק ל: ד-ט. These were much easier pesukim. No deep questions. I had students read it without any preteaching since the kids knew at least 94% of the words and grammar rules as tested before on the Pre Perek Prep for פרק ל. I did pre-teach the Shoresh ד.ו.ן I drew a judge on the board and asked them what a בית דין is and what a דיין is.

Post learning - we discussed  how נפתולי אלקים are  tefilla. We reviewed how powerful לאה's tefillos were. with the proof being she got the Leviim, Kings, Kohanim and Talmidei Chachamim (this concept REALLY impresses third graders because kohanim in the beis Hamikdash are just so cool! ) and filled out our linear translation


Questions from the class: 
What is the difference between an אמה  as רחל calls בלהה and a שפחה as the Torah calls her?
Why does it say ותהר but then quantifies that בלהה was the one giving birth?
Why does it say with בלהה, and זלפה a 2nd son without mentioning there was a first and later with לאה that it was a 5th & 6th son but not a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th son?
Why is בלהה written with a B and a V sound?

C. Ivrit - More journal writing. 

I reviewed the concept of אני אוהבת לכתוב  (Makor, transitive for regular verbs & III-ה

עבר  for all singular verbs
עבר for all singular verbs with a II-י or a II-ו (such as ב.ו.א or ש.י.ם).


All the rules were written on the board. A sample שרש was written in blue and the conjugations were written in red to make it easy to use as a reference for the writing. I used a separate black board to list their requested words. No one wrote about vomit today. Baruch Hashem!


They had to write 4 sentences minimum because we only had 5 minutes

1. what a boy did
2. what a girl did
3. a sentence using verbs with II-י or II-ו
4. What they see that they enjoy doing

Their picture prompt was

D. Limudei Kodesh. 
We read about Rabbi Akiva's leaving for Yeshiva, his return and subsequent immediate leav taking. The kids found this part of the story very moving. Rabbi Akiva Story

E. Gedolim - Rav Chaim Brisker - I started off by drawing my very crude European map and showing where Lithuania was. I explained how the period from post-Civil War to World War I was a time of big changes. I didn't mention the industrial revolution because it wasn't important today but I did explain the rise of nationalism and the interest in the common man on a third grade level. (Nationalism: Imagine if every street thought they were the best - I say Go Oakdale - B.G. says "Go Commonwealth" etc. Now imagine that we have airplanes and machine guns. Now imagine that we need to prove we are the best and get really insulted when you say you're better. Now imagine that different streets gang up with each other to stockpile weapons to fight the other streets. What is going to happen?   Csars vs. Communists: Imagine if on your street there was a family who could walk into your kitchen any time and take your stuff, what would you feel? How would you fight this (1st. convince others its not fair, discuss it and then 2. fight) Then we spoke about why a dormitory yeshiva was a new idea. We also talked about how scientist classify information so they can communicate and research (talking about a mammal vs. a reptile is more useful than just talking about animals) and how the Brisker Method of classifying halachos could have the same results.


Homework was just reading and translating. 

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

Updates from the Classroom: April 17 recap and 4/18 lesson plans

I have so many ideas I'd love to write about but 1. I don't have time, 2. it would be a waste of other peoples time. So here is a short post of what I may be doing tomorrow in school.

A. Tefillah time - After brachos, we do an activity to make few words in tefilla come alive. We just began ברוך שאמר.


Today: I asked the class today to try to move a pencil by looking at it. Then, the class said, "Move!" but the pencil didn't move.  how amazing it is that Hashem said and the world came from nothing into something.
Tomorrow: I will ask the class to think of a time when a few words  created or destroyed something

B. Chumash:


Today we did Post Perek Play - a game on shorashim. I showed a שרש and one student from each team  ran up to the board and wrote down its translation. The team of whoever wrote it first got the point. We also did  a Pre Perek Prep for פרק ל The kids had the word lists for the upcoming perek and had to fill out the basic words first, get them checked and then could use their reference lists Vayeitzei Shorashim List  Vayeitzei Noun Word List to fill out all the hard words. Lowest score on level 1 words 27/30! I have to review prefixes though - Students didn't know the difference between בְּ and בַּ

 Tomorrow: פרק ל פסוקים א-ג. (I'll be lucky to complete the  first two pesukim before being deluged with questions.). These pesukim are VERY interesting.  I need to do the heavy lifting of teaching the translation before the students actually understand the pesukim. Otherwise, they will be too excited to learn to translate the pesukim independently.

1.  Give out blank lined paper to each student for notes and questions. 
2.  pre teach  the shorashim  , שרשים   קנא, בנה, מנע, מות, הבה  and בטן ברכיים by acting out these words (gross motor skills) 
3.  Have students look for challenging words in the pesukim.  
4.  Write all words asked on the board with translations. 
5.  Ask the students to try to read the pasuk independently or with a partner and tell their partner what they think ishappening. Have them write any questions on the paper. 
6. answer questions in 5 minute increments using timer to keep on track. Intersperse rest of lesson with skill work and questions
7. Call on volunteers to read. Have  students continue to jot down thoughts on notes. 
8. teacher read pesukim 
9. class read pesukim 
10. Fill in the linear translation as a review and to incorporate fine motor skills into lesson.

Questions to explore based on classes interest:

1. How could Rochel be jealous? 
2. When can jealousy be good or bad?
3.  How do Chazal look at this jealousy?
4.  Why did Rochel say she would die?
5.  Why did Yaakov get angry? 
6. Why did he answer her this way? 
7. How do Chazal view this anger? 
8. Why did Rochel give Yaakov Bilhah as a wife?

C. Ivrit: I learned from the second grade secular studies teacher, Ms. Leo, who is getting a masters in literacy, how important it is to journal. The students use all their skills talking, writing, listening and speaking when a journaling lesson is done correctly.  The students get a 5 minute pre lesson on grammar or vocabulary. We practice the skill by having conversations. Then they must  incorporate the lesson into their 15 minutes of journal writing. There is a prompt to start them off but the rest is up to their creativity.

Today, I had the class in their editor-in-chief mode. I gave out some sentences the students had written yesterday to correct. We were working on writing first person sentences in past tense - עבר, אני. We start our עברית עבר lessons by taking a shoresh, conjugating it in past tense while clapping the syllables. The rhythm helps the students self correct their own work.

Tomorrow, we will be writing using second person past tense. Here is the picture prompt. There is a full page of lines to finish the story for the more advanced students.

D. Limudei Kodesh. 
Yesterday, we had a great cooperative learning lesson on the Omer using the Jigsaw method. The class was split into groups of three. They read the story as a group with each student taking one paragraph. Then, they illustrated the comics based on the story. They answered one section of the questions. Then they joined with students from other groups to complete the answers to the other questions.  Omer Story



Today we learned about R' Akiva.  I wrote a story about Rochel and R' Akiva in hebrew based on a similar story found on chinuch.org. I typed up the story and added some details. The students all know that  R' Akivas students die so it is meaningless to them. Hopefully, becoming attached to R' Akiva as a man who worked so hard to become a teacher will make the story fresh.We read a bit of the story and discussed it in hebrew using basic question prompts.

Tomorrow Continue with the part of the story where R' Akiva leaves to learn Torah, his return, his leaving again.

Rabbi Akiva Story


End of Day: Write Homework in Yoman. RT (Read & Translate) פרק ל: א-ג R (Read only) ד-י. Written homework TBD tomorrow.


On tap for Thursday: Tefillah, Chumash, Gadol of the week biography . . . I'm thinking about writing about the Vilna Gaon and the Baal Shem Tov next week. We pretty much did the early 20th century in the different cultures, It's time to rewind to pre American Revolution times.  Plus, some Pirkei Avos. Hopefully some Ivrit journaling if there is time.

Friday: Tefillah, Chumash & Parsha time