All Lit Up
Dear Parent,
I want to thank you for the thoughtful Chanukah gift I received from the class, but more importantly for the gift I’m given each day. People do say, “Wow! You have TEN children?!”, but the truth within myself is that one doesn’t “have” children. We “give” children. Each morning, you give me the opportunity to give to your children. I feel this responsibility. “Chanuka” stresses both education and dedication.
It’s so special that many of you were able to make it to our Chanuka gathering. Having the opportunity to learn and sing together solidifies our relationship and message to “our” children that the greatest gift of love we give them is the education that gives them the tools to build meaningful Jewish lives.

Hope you enjoy this last day of Chanukah! Morah Miriam

Look, Morah! No Hands! (Signs of Independence)

The past couple of weeks can be called anything but ordinary! While the Chumash studies have become clearer and are advancing at a nice pace, pre-Chanuka learning was brought to a stand-still due to snow and turkey. Although we did not advance in our TaL Am workbooks, there has still been plenty of opportunity to creatively move ahead in our Ivrit knowledge using the TaL Am model.

I have started to see students offer their own poetry in Hebrew, and in English based on what we learned in Hebrew. I am hearing more Hebrew in their questions and am sensing more understanding and ease in general. I am so proud of the many students who took their free time at home to write down their ideas for our performance. Some of them will perform their own works, now traslated into Hebrew (or Heblish, a mixture!). Others enjoyed writing, but prefered to have their friends be the acting "talent". Our kitah has great humore and originality!

We are in a pre-performance "panic" (The Show Must Go On!....as long as we are all having fun and learning!) to get all our scenes filmed and ready for our premiere. Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday, December 7th from 11:00 - 11:45 in our classroom. For those of you who requested the gathering first thing in the morning, the students begin with Chumash and Tefillah. I only get my hands on them at 9:50. I wanted to give ourselves an hour or so to greet you in calmness/readiness!

At snack each day of Chanuka, we have enjoyed a "show"; A Chanuka song or 2 minute video. I have a feeling most of the kids would like to see them again with their families!
Take a look at Youtube = Maccabeats Candlelight. That was their favorite!

If you are interested in a nice story, and an, unfortunately, very tragic true story, I invite you to read two that I wrote over the past many years. They can be found on http://www.aish.com/
One is called Chanuka in Iowa. The other is called Their light Remembered.
Chanuka Sameach and Shabbat Shalom, Morah Miriam