HSRS Announcements (Hodaahot הוֹדָוֹת) New Information We hope you will join us for a showcase of Hanukkah plays on Wednesday, December 18 at 6:30pm. While the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are our performers, all are invited to attend.
Previous Sent Information
Shuk Donations Extra Halloween Candy? Party Favors laying around? We can use all of these for our shuk! We also have an Amazon wish list full of items that your children have suggested be available for purchase. Take a look!
Tzedakah for Jewish Book Month Jewish Book Month is here! Tzedakah money collected this month will be used to help buy books for 2 libraries in Israel. The first is at Neve Hanna, a residential children's home with an after school care program in Kiryat Gat, serving children from underprivileged and unsafe home environments. They recently built a library and we are helping them buy books. The other library is on a moshav called Mitzpeh Netofa west of Tiverya (Tiberius) in the Lower Galilee. They also are in need of books, which they say provide learning opportunities and fun activities and are a great source of comfort for families in these difficult times. Thank you so much for its support!
Attending Services It was absolutely wonderful seeing so many students at High Holiday services. Don't forget that we have "Service Attendance Recommendations". One of the best ways to feel confident and prepared for leading Saturday morning services is by watching others lead. It is suggested that our Kinder/1st graders attend 1 service over the course of the year, 2nd grade attends 2 services, 3rd grade attends 3 services, and so on. These can be attended virtually, at other synagogues, at a classmate's bar/bat mitzvah, at one of our grade level Shabbats, etc. High Holiday services count towards this goal!
Har Shalom's Phones! Har Shalom has a new phone system. To call the religious school, please dial 970-223-5191, ext. 103.
November 24, 27, and December 1- NO HSRS December 13- Shabbat Jr at 5:30pm December 15- Hanukkah Celebration at HSRS, Community Hanukkah event to follow! Register at https://www.nocoharshalom.org/event/latke December 18- 3rd, 4th, 5th grade Hanukkah plays from 6:30-7:30pm, all families are invited to watch December 22-January 7- NO HSRS January 10- Shabbat Jr at 5:30pm January 12- Beresheet Day 3 from 10:30am-12pm January 25- Kinder/1st/2nd grade Havdalah from 5:30-7:30pm January 26- NO SCHOOL FOR GRADES Kinder, First, and Second
BBYO & Teen Things Teen of the Week! Each week, we will be recognizing one of our amazing teen volunteers who went above and beyond to help. Hailey is our Madricha of the week. She is great at helping lead activity stations and the kids love learning with her. She works with our First grade students and is incredibly kind, motivating, and involved in the classroom.
Synagogue & Community News
From Our Teachers Beresheet (Preschool) from Morah Kyla and Morah Joanie We had a super fun day in Beresheet with the second day of creation, the separate of the sky and clouds from the water. We made fizzy lava lamps and cotton ball clouds. The kids got to roll their sleeves up and play with shaving cream and water beads and search for treasures in blue dried rice. They got to do a sink float experiment and there were lots of surprises! We had a delicious snack of sky blue blueberries with whipped cream clouds and fluffy popcorn. See you for our next Beresheet in January!
Kitah Gan (Kindergarten) from Morah JoJo We started with our Hebrew lesson, practicing the letter we’re working on. Then, we had a fun “quickfire” game on the whiteboard where we wrote Hebrew letters as fast and neatly as we could! We ended the lesson with some Hebrew yoga, stretching and moving our bodies while we practiced our letters. After snack time outside, we learned about the word Kadosh, which means “holy” or “special.” We talked about how some things, places, and moments feel extra special, like nature or prayers. Then, we read the story of Moses and the Burning Bush. In the story, Moses sees a bush that’s burning but not burning up. He stops and listens to God, realizing he’s standing on holy ground. Next, we took a fun break for story time with Judy! She read a story about a dinosaur who is making Shabbat dinner and celebrating with its friends. It was a sweet and silly story that got us thinking about how we celebrate special moments with others. After the story, we made Kadosh canvas paintings. Each child painted something that feels special or holy to them, like a peaceful moment or a beautiful place. The children thought about what makes them feel connected to something bigger than themselves. All the paintings are drying in the classroom and will be ready to take home after our next class. See you all after break!
Kitah Alef (First Grade) from Morah Laura The students were excited to lead the stretching during Shirah. Once back in the classroom, we discussed what we are thankful for. The students had so many great ideas. We then read a book about Hebrew blessings. We then made a list of blessings that we already know. After recess and snack, we went back to class for centers. The students glued Jacob into their mini Torres, learned about the letter lamed, Laura’s favorite letter, and we also played two game boards to help us review letters and holidays. Finally, we read a great story about a family that found out it could always be worse. Happy Thanksgiving!
Kitah Bet (Second Grade) from Morah Anne Hello Kita Bet! What a great day we had! We were so busy, the morning seemed to fly by. After shira, we dove straight into reviewing our Hebrew. We worked on reviewing the vowels patach and kamatz (both making the “ah” sound). We took a quick break before returning for story hour with Safranit Judy. She read us a story about George Washington visiting the first synagogue in Rhode Island. The childen of the town made him candles to welcome him and show their appreciation. Safranit Judy showed us how to make sand-art votives to represent the story. The kids had a great time experimenting with different colors. After story time, Rabbi Finestone came in for a quick chat and a round of “stump the rabbi”. The kids asked the rabbi some great questions! We wrapped up the morning by finishing some work before dismissal…and that was our busy day! I hope you all have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving break.
Kitah Gimmel (Third Grade) from Morah Robin Wednesday- Kitah Gimmel started the evening by deciding how to celebrate our upcoming class party. We have a full cotton ball jar! Great job class! We then took our break outside where everyone ran around to keep warm and release lots of energy. When we came back inside we talked about how our bodies are a gift from God. We talked about the prayer Asher Yatzar, we say in morning services, which thanks God for keeping our bodies working. We learned the Jewish phrase Shmirat HaGuf which means taking care of your body. We explored ways we can take care of our bodies, including eating healthy foods, getting appropriate exercise, and protecting bodies from injuries. The students drew pictures of themselves and labeled how to take care of different parts of their body. We discussed that we are responsible for taking care of our bodies because “God made people b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.” From Genesis 9:6.
Sunday from Morah Robin- What a fun morning! Kitah Gimmel had their class party as a result of filling their cotton ball jars from great behavior and participation this year thus far. We had open-ended arts & crafts, and everyone’s creations were so colorful and imaginative!!! I hope you were impressed with what your kiddos brought home! The students then had drama – working hard on learning their lines for their upcoming Chanukah play. We then had an extended outdoor recess as part of their class party reward. Finally, Rabbi Finestone visited our classroom for “Stump the Rabbi” which we did with “Who was your predecessor at Har Shalom?” What a great morning!
Kitah Dalet (Fourth Grade) from Morah Merav Wednesday- We spent most of our time working on our set for the upcoming Hanukkah play. The students had some great ideas and implemented them beautifully. We will be finishing up this project on Wednesday. Keep in mind paint was involved, and will be again this week. With all the painting we still found time to practice the ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ song. It’s becoming a loved song by all.
Sunday from Morah Karri, subbing for Morah Merav- We started the morning with everyone sharing something with the class, and the teacher learning everyone's name. Next Lana came in to work on the Hanukkah play, and we painted one of the props. After snack and recess, we cut out some Hebrew flash cards that will be used for a later lesson. Students who finished early took turns reciting the Hebrew alphabet and reading the Hebrew vocabulary posted throughout the room. Rabbi Finestone came in and answered a list of questions the students had brainstormed in a previous class. Congratulations to Abi for stumping the Rabbi! Next, one of our madrich read a story to the class. At the end of class, each student was asked to tell something new they had learned before lining up to leave.
Kitah Hay (Fifth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Debbie, subbing for Morah Lauren- I had the pleasure of subbing tonight for Kitah Hay. We continued their study of the Shema and V'ahavta by playing some V'ahavta bingo. We also got a head start on our next big holiday, Hanukkah, by reviewing the Hanukkah candle blessings. Thanks for sharing your students with me!
Wednesday from Morah Sophie- we started learning about Jonah and Jeremiah, the rebellious prophets. The classes was split in two and each group got assigned a prophet to read their story and answer questions based on it. Each group shared the story of their prophet with one another.
Sunday from Morah Lauren- On Sunday, we practiced reading Hebrew and learned the verb "listen" as well as "yes" and "no" in Hebrew. We finished the morning with Chanukah drama.
Sunday from Morah Sophie- We continued learning about Jonah by reading a short story and watching a video. We then played four corners based on how the students would react to situations similar to those that Jonah and Jeremiah went through.
Kitah Vav (Sixth Grade) from Morah Aviva Wednesday- The students started to write scripts for their skits in hebrew using possesive forms and family. All together, we practiced the Avot Prayer and finished our dvar torahs.
Kitah Zayin (Seventh Grade) Wednesday from Rabbi Finestone- We strengthened our Hebrew reading skills by practicing sight reading. The students worked in groups of two, and then chose different lines from unfamiliar prayers and sight read as many lines as possible. During the second half of class, we looked at chapter 2 of the Topical Bible. This chapter focuses on the story of Adam and Eve, and on the importance of accepting responsibility for one’s actions.
Sunday Hebrew from Rabbi Finestone- We finished learning the prayers for the opening of the Torah service, and practiced the special threepart Shema. We then played "stump the rabbi" for a fun 10 minutes.
Sunday from Morah Michelle- The students learned that Jewish writers and artists played an important role in the creation of the modern comic book industry. In fact, nearly all the great superheroes were created by Jews: Jerry Siegel and Joe (Joseph) Shuster created Superman, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg) created Captain America, Bob Kane (Robert Kahn) and Bill Finger invented Batman, while Kirby, together with Stan Lee (Stanley Martin Lieber) produced a particularly impressive line of heroes such as Spider-Man, The Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Ironman, the X-men, Thor and the Avengers. We discussed whether there is a certain Jewish sensibility embedded in Superhero stories. Traumatic backstories and dual identities, common tropes in comics, can be seen to mirror the Jewish immigrant experience. I then introduced them to the graphic novel Maus, which was the first comic to win the Pulitzer Prize. We learned about The Thing, who is part of the Fantastic Four, and how his character recently had a bar mitzvah. Have a great Thanksgiving Break!
From our Specials (chuggim חגים) News from Drama! Our third, fourth, and fifth graders continued working on their Hanukkah plays. Reading lines, working on sets and props, and talking about stage directions was the theme of the morning. Please save the evening of Wednesday, December 18 in your calendars for our performances.
News from the Sifriyah (Library) Jewish Book Month Tzedakah: Earlier this year I sent a small box of duplicate books from our library to Mitzpeh Netofa. In addition, some of the collected tzedakah money for Jewish Book Month (November) will go to help them buy additional books. Thank you in advance for your generosity!
Storytime: In Gan, we read "Dinosaur on Shabbat". Many of the students were already familiar with the story, which was great!
In 1st grade we read "Modeh Ani" a story about gratitude for the parts of our body. We acted out the different body parts ("elbows that bend", "eyes that squint"). The students added their own ideas, like teeth to chew, fingers to write with, hair that keeps our head and neck warm, and stomachs for our food.
In 2nd grade we're now in the Colonial era of American history. We read "A Mitzvah for George Washington" based on the true story about President Washington's visit to the Touro synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. The residents welcomed him with song and lit candles and we made our own sand votive candles.
In Kita Zayin we also read "A Mitzvah for George Washington" and did the same votive sand candle craft, but went into greater depth about the Touro synagogue and the famous letter the congregation wrote to President Washington about being grateful for religious freedom in the United States, giving "bigotry no sanction and to persecution no assistance". For more information about the original letter and President Washington's response, you can find it here: “To Bigotry No Sanction; to Persecution No Assistance”
News from Shira (Sunday Morning Song Session) We started our morning with wonderful energy as we gathered together and sang. Shira Josh sang an energetic song called "Ameh Yisrael Chai". Take a listen! We also sang AAAAY OHHHHH/Don't Walk in Front of me. Take a listen!
News from Small Group with Deb In Small Group Hebrew this week, we reviewed the letters Mem and Nun, and learned the silence letter Ayin. The seventh graders began a periodic review of all letters and vowels learned so far, which we will continue next week. The sixth graders were not in class on Sunday as they had helped lead Shabbat services this Saturday and did an awesome job!!
