5 no class Spring break
12 No class Passover
19 Observe Yom HaShoah grades 5-7 Wax Museum- Reconstructionism with the Rabbi K-4 only
25 Saturday k-7 class service with breakfast
26 Observe Yom Haatzmaut all grades

This past few weeks has seen so much activity in our halls it is hard to know where to begin.

We celebrated Tu B’shbat with crafts led by Ariel Kramer. The Kiddush cups made by the seventh graders were displayed proudly in the gift shop for the week after Tu B’shvat.

Marissa Applegate volunteered to head up our tutoring, bringing all students to a higher level of reading by assessing what errors they made when they read on an individual basis and then addressing those errors.

Ariel Kramer and Jeremy Bilotti took a leadership role in teaching Darga, the fifth trope symbol of the year.

Debbie Grauer came in and taught our third and fourth grade class a new song with a game.

The fifth graders wowed us with their reading ability and understanding of the wedding ceremony in a mock wedding created and taught by Robynn Mann.

Morah Shari had the children make a “Mizrach” decoration for their homes and explained that it is intended to be put on the eastern wall of the home so that we always remember the direction of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Susan taught all classes about values through a Reconstructionist lens. She also led us in Mock Shabbat. Helping us to learn about the rituals associated with the coming in and the going out of Sabbath.

1 Mock Shabbat Adult Ed
8 Purim last hour
15 cooking
22 music k-4/trope 5-7
29 Reconstructionist Passover Seder

Fifth through Seventh graders helped Bat Mitzvah student, Katie Roe, complete part of her Mitzvah project of donating trays of baked ziti to a local Soup kitchen.

Students in Morah Shari’s third/fourth grade class learned about the tradition of creating a wall hanging to mark the east called a Mizrach. They reviewed the letters in Mizrach (Mem, zayin, resh, and Chet). They were able to tell me that the east is marked as it is the direction to Jerusalem. They told me that is important because that is the location of the Western Wall (or Wailing Wall), which was once part of the Holy Temple, is in Jerusalem, to the east.

Seventh Graders reviewed the Torah Blessings and the Reconstructionist ideal that Choseness does not reflect acceptance of other approaches to G-d. They learned that
this is why the liturgy has changed from “Bachar” to “Kayrav” (“chose” to “brought”).
Rabbi Susan sat in on this lesson.

Kindergarten, First and Second Graders learned the story of Moses being afraid of telling Pharoh to “Let My People Go”. They also learned a new tune for the blessing over the bread. They continue to learn Hebrew letters with many modalities including shaping them in playdoh, writing on the blackboard, and working with flashcards.

Dori Daus

1art Adult Ed
6 Friday K-4 class service with dinner
8 music k-4/trope 5-7
15 No class President’s weekend
22 Reconstructionism with the Rabbi

January was a very short month.

The students in K-4 learned new songs with Debbie Grauer. The third and fourth graders learned a song that Debbie wrote in Hebrew that taught the words, “The cups go to the right, to the right. The cups go to the right, left, right.” Students were given cups which they had to pass to the beat in the proper direction. It was a lot of fun. The K-2 class also learned a new song that had associated actions teaching the words for “sit down” and “stand up”.

The fifth, sixth and seventh graders learned the trope, Pazer. It is a very difficult trope with lots of notes, but all of the students were able to sing it to its name, the word “watermelon” and the word, “Baboker” which occurs in the story of the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael and means “in the morning”. Kehiloft students Marissa Applegate, Jeremy Bilotti, and Ariel Kramer took a very active role in teaching this trope. Jeremy brought his guitar, figured out the correct notes for our congregation (with the help of Marissa), and played the notes for Pazer over and over until the students were able to sing it properly.

Report cards went out at the end of January. The following students had 100% attendance as of January 11:

Matthew Kent ( K), Vivien Milich( 2), Andrew Galkin(3), Kaela Milich(3), Kelly Anderson( 4), Melissa Javeline(4), Ian Murphy(5), Zachary Anderson(6), Paul Galkin (6), and Joanna Javeline(7).

Yasher Koach to the students and parents who helped make this possible.