Curriculum night reminder

Dear parents,

I would like to remind you that we are having curriculum night on Tuesday, the 4th of November, at 6:00 pm.

Cant wait to see all of you! 

Have a great weekend!
Morah Yehudis

Challah baking at Morah's apartment

On Friday I took the 5th Grade girls to my apartment in Crown Heights.
The whole class baked delicious 6 braided Challahs and they did it all on their own!
I hope you enjoyed it with the family on Shabbat. :)
We also learnt about the mitzvah of taking Challah.  I didnt have a chance to take pictures of the girls actually braiding it but here are some pictures of them reciting the morning prayer in my apartment.
For those of you who havent heard about the mitzvah of taking Challah  here is a short explanation:

Taking Challah: A Deeper Look

"…the first of your kneading you shall set aside as challah …(so) shall you give a portion to Hashem for your generations" (Bamidbar 15:20-21)

What is challah? Challah is known to most of us at the two braided Shabbat loaves we delight in after Kiddush on Friday night. In halachicterms, challah is a mitzvah in the Torah to separate a portion of dough from the baker’s batch. Any dough meeting the requirements forhafrashat challah , taking challah, must have this portion removed, or the bread baked from this dough is not considered kosher.

In Temple times, the separated portion, the challah, was given to the Kohain . The Kohanim were deeply involved in their service in the Temple, and were therefore unable to fully provide for their families. Hashem commanded us to give His portion, challah, among other gifts, to the Kohanim. This ensured their sustenance as they performed their holy work on our behalf.

Today, the Temple remains central to our identity as a people. Observing the mitzvah of hafrashat challah, then and now, establishes a bond between the people and the Kohanim. We immortalize this interdependence when we remove this piece of challah dough, burn it and dispose it in an honorable way.

Hurricane Sandy project

The first few days of school we spoke about each students individual experience of Hurricane Sandy and then after that each students worked on her own project in Hebrew that was called "ANi veHuricane Sandy" which means "Me and Hurricane Sandy". They wrote about their expericence  before during and after the Hurricane and then Illustrated it. When the projects were ready each student stood in front of the class and presented it After each presentation the students had a chance to ask questions.

THis project taught us lots of important things. One of them was that even though we all wrote about the same Hurricane each and every one had a whole different story to share and viewed it in a very different way. Some even had a positive experience.

Back to school!

Dear parents ,
I hope you and your families are all doing well.
After a long break from school, we are all back together again. True, maybe we don't have our own building  supplies, furniture, but we do have the most important thing, and that is- each other.
The first 2 weeks of school after Hurricane Sandy I focused a lot  on talking about what happened in general and also about each and every one of the sutudents individual experience. We also spoke about Chessed- helping  others in this hard time. Even if they lost a lot themselves they could still help others that are in more need. In the next couple of posts you will see  a few activities and projects we did in these past 2 weeks.
This first one is a skit that we did  in hebrew in Chumash class about Yaakov meeting the Shepherds by the well.
ENjoy!

Enjoy!