Peek Through Our Window
A glimpse into our week at YLS
December 4, 2015
22 Kislev 5776
Dear Parents,
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Chana, Morah Rachael and Morah Butsie
Explored
- We explored different examples of chanukiot and menorot to identify the differences between the two types of candelabras. Some friends pointed out that the seven-branch menorah was used in the Beit Hamikdash. We learned that, although we talk about the oil for the menorah when learning the Chanukah story, we light a chanukiah with eight candles and a shamash to remember that the oil miraculously lasted for eight days. We also reviewed what a chanukiah needs in order to be kosher.
We explored rhyming words by seeing how many versions of “I Had A Little Dreidel” we could create. For example, we thought it would be funny to sing “Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of cheese. And when it’s dry and ready, can I eat it, please?” We will continue to think of similar rhymes and hope to send home a list of all of the versions of the song during Chanukah!
Discovered
When learning about Thanksgiving, we discovered that we can learn different things about the same topic from different sources. We broke into groups and each listened to a different book about Thanksgiving. We took notes to remember the facts we had learned. We then compared the facts we learned with friends who had listened to a different book. Finally, we made a book to compile the results of our research.
- We discovered that there is a lot more we can learn about Yaakov’s sons! We acted out parshat Vayeishev. We learned about Yosef’s dreams, his jealous brothers, and his ability to interpret dreams.
Created
Using our knowledge of the features of a kosher chanukiah, we created our own chanukiot. We were excited to use glitter paint and gems so that they would really sparkle!
We created graphs to track how many times we spun each letter on the dreidel as we played. Afterwards, we combined all of our data to make a large class graph showing how many times we spun nun, gimmel, hey, or shin. We continued to create graphs as the week went on with other kinds of data as well.
We created bowls and plates to use at our Thanksgiving meals. We completed our “china” by painting the papier-mache objects we had created.
Celebrated
- We celebrated the completion of our Chanukah books! Since last week, we have worked on our Chanukah books. We started by creating pages to show what we already know about Chanukah and what our families do for Chanukah. We continued to both edit these pages and add new pages as we learned more about the story of Chanukah and our minhagim and their meanings. On Friday, we shared our books with a partner. Some friends plan on using their books to teach their younger siblings about Chanukah!
Wondered
Who lived longer ago- Avraham or the Pilgrims? We learned that Avraham was alive many hundreds of years before the Pilgrims. Even though both lived long ago, we learned that the story of Thanksgiving happened long after the stories that we learn studying Torah.
What would happen when Yaakov encountered Esav again after fleeing his home? We discussed how Yaakov felt before he met his brother, but how ultimately Esav embraced his brother.
What questions do we have about the Parsha? We all found Rashi in a chumash, and then proceeded to be Rashi and ask many, many questions that we had about the Torah text we were learning.
Where did the Jews get gold to restore the Beit HaMikdash? Was the Kohen Gadol the same person at the beginning and end of the Maccabee’s fight? We made a list of all of the questions we have about the Chanukah story for further research.
Ivrit at YLS
Dear Parents,
This week we continued to learn about Chanukah. In the beginning of the week we learned the recipe for sufganiot while working in small groups. We discussed who in our families likes sufganiot and who in our families likes latkes. We learned the difference between 1 sufganiah
(סופגניה אחת) and many sufganiot (סופגניות). Later on in the week we learned the difference between the light from candles and the light from a chanukiah. We counted how many candles we use in a chanukiah and we called each candle by its name- נר ראשון, נר שני etc. After reading the story “איזה נר מתאים” we discussed the different sizes of different candles. We then learned the song “באנו חושך לגרש “ and we said light chases away the darkness (האור מגרש את החושך) while we danced in the dark to the music while holding flashlights.
Yesterday I sent home a game that I made for your children for Chanukah. We have been playing this game in school and I wanted you to be able to enjoy the game as well. Below please find directions. I hope you enjoy!
Words and phrases we learned this week:
mother eats sufganiot/latkes- אמא אוכלת סופגניה / לביבה
father eats sufganiot/latkes- אבא אוכל סופגניה / לביבה
grandfather eats sufganiot/latkes- סבא אוכל סופגניה/ לביבה
grandmother eats sufganiot/latkes- סבתא אוכלת סופגניה / לביבה
brother eats sufganiot/latkes- אח שלי אוכל סופגניה / לביבה
sister eats sufganinot/latkes- אחות שלי אוכלת סופגניה/ לביבה
sufganiah recipe- מתכון לסופגניה
flour- קמח
water- מים
sugar- סוכר
eggs- ביצים
oil- שמן
big candle- נר גדול
small candle- נר קטן
Songs we learned this week:
Morah Chana’s Dreidel Game
Items included:
Board with velcro
Aleph- Bet pieces with velcro on the back
Dreidel
Aleph- Bet chart
Directions:
Each letter on the driedel corresponds to a number:
נ -1
ג-2
ה-3
ש- 4
2. Spin the dreidel
3. When the dreidel lands put that many letter of the aleph bet in the correct order onto the board.
Example:
If the dreidel lands on ש- you need to put א ב ג ד on the board. Then if the next person who spins gets a ה they need to put on ה ו ז on the board.
You continue to play until the whole board is filled with the Aleph-Bet.