Temple Chai Sunday School

From Ms. Ruth (Madilyn's Class):

Dear Parents,

Today was all about the celebration and learning about the joyous Jewish Holiday/Festival of Sukkot.  We started our day working on our Sukkot worksheets, and then during circle time went into more detail learning about this Jewish Holiday and discussing the wonderful traditions.  We spoke about the Sukkah "Booth", the harvest festival, the building of the Sukkah, the Lulav and the Etrog, etc., etc.  We also read "Sammy Spider's First Sukkot" and "The Sukkah that I Built".  Thereafter it was time for snack and we again pretended it was Shabbat.  We chose our Abba (Benjamin) and Eema (Addison) and said the Shabbat Blessings for the candles, wine and the Challah, which we so enjoyed together with our yummy snacks today.  Thank you so much to Benjamin Wieland's and Addison Spatola's families for the snacks supplied today.

We managed to do some revision of the Aleph Bet and were excited to learn more about GIMMEL and DALET, and worked on our pages for our Aleph Bet "Books".  

It was then time for us to transition to the Social Hall.  Thank you to all our parents who attended and made it so special for our children.  We all had so much fun working on our special decorations for our courtyard Sukkah.  Thank you so much to Malka Wolman,  Ariela Ben-Dor, and Amanda Campbell for all their hard work in making it so successful.  We all then went into the Sukkah and sang songs with Cantor Wolman, had fun being together, and of course, then having an opportunity to learn more about the Lulav and Etrog with Rabbi Mari, saying the Blessings, and then some of us enjoyed the mitzvah of shaking the actual Lulav and Etrog.  

After this fun-filled morning the children returned to the classroom for a little revision, went outside for some fresh air, and to have some free time with our friends.  We came back to the classroom to wind down the day, say our farewells, wish each other Shavuah Tov, and of course, Chag Sameach for the holiday of Sukkot.

Thank you once again for attending today and taking this opportunity of wishing you and your families a good week ahead, and Chag Sameach.  Look forward to seeing you again next week.

From Ms. Julia (Aiden's Class):
Dear Parents,

Today we experienced Sukkot and had such a lovely and exciting morning

Our class joined with the first graders and kindergarteners in the social hall, where we decorated felt squares to create a tapestry that we then hung in the sukkah.  We were aided by Melka Wolman, Ariela, Amanda, and our parents.  While we were in the sukkah we sang songs about Sukkot.

Our Shabbat eema and abba were Dakota and Aiden.   

Our Hebrew letter for today was GIMEL for “g’milut hasadim” (acts of love and kindness) as well as “gadol” (big).  We also discovered that GIMEL is one of the letters on the Chanukah dreidel.  If you get GIMEL you win the pot!

We were able to bring the real lulav and etrog to the classroom so we could experience them with the class.   We discovered that the lulav has one palm, two willow leaves, and three myrtle.

Enjoy the fun sheet on GIMEL that I sent home.

See you next week.