After students led the Blessings for Torah Study and cookies, we zipped through the attendance conversation, which students now know quite well.
In order to review the words which students had studied at home over the past week, we played a game called “Back-Words.” Each student received a Hebrew word attached to a ribbon. The ribbons were placed around the students’ necks, so that the words hung down their backs. Students couldn’t see their own words. The object of the game was for students to guess the word on their backs by having their classmates pantomime it. No speaking allowed! Even though the first two letters of each word were written on the chalkboard as remezim (clues), this activity proved to be quite a challenge.
As soon as a student guessed his/her word, he/she wrote it on a slip of paper. Students had three minutes to pantomime and guess.
When time was up, students lined up and compared the words they had guessed with the words on their backs. Those who had guessed correctly received a candy prize. Students then made sentences from the words to reinforce their ability to understand and apply the vocabulary. They quickly discovered the importance of studying their vocabulary words during the week. I reminded them that Hebrew vocabulary needs lots of review and practice at home in order to develop and expand. Each class will have some activities which depend on the words reviewed for homework.
We began Chapter 5 in our modern Hebrew text, Shalom Ivrit. This chapter centers around the classroom. We read the chapter aloud and noted the different forms of verbs and adjectives. Students made vocabulary cards for the eleven new words. and were strongly encouraged to set aside at least ten minutes a day for vocabulary study.
We briefly discussed this week’s Torah Portion, Mishpatim, in which God reveals many more rules for the Israelites to follow. Because certain rules may not seem relevant today, we considered a midrash which states that our souls were at Sinai and we, in a spiritual way, experienced the revelation along with the ancient Israelites. From this, we may understand that it’s our responsibility to interpret God’s rules and to discover how they might apply to us modern Jews – a complex task!
As students lined up, we looked one more time at the vocabulary on the board from the Back-Words game. Students individually translated a word as their “ticket” to leave the class for T’fila.
In Tfila, the Cantor chose Kitah Gimel to lead the Barchu and the V’ Ahavta prayers. The service included silent prayer and the Aleinu prayer, which we’ll continue to study and practice. Tfila concluded with one of the students’ favorite songs, Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu.
L’Hitraot – see you soon.
Morah Ronni
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