Yom Ha’atzmaut Week

Hello Fourth Grade Families!

What an amazing week at school! Fourth graders got to experience Yom HaZikaron (Israeli Memorial Day) and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day), with a little extra celebration for Israel’s 70th anniversary! Right now the whole grade is busy preparing for Oregon Trail Day next Friday. We are looking for parent volunteers to help with food preparation in the days leading up to our event. Please see Alisa for details.

Shabbat Shalom! -The Fourth Grade Team

This week the 4th grade worked in their workbook on a story. They had new vocabulary and a quiz. Also for Yom Ha’azmaut they created in the classes things that related to old Tel Aviv – coffee shop, and new Tel Aviv – beach, and had activities like yoga and movement to express Tel Aviv games and songs.

We had a very eventful and busy week in Judaic Studies! Our week started with our Sefirat HaOmer project, in which kids selected two days of the Omer and wrote about the lessons we traditionally learn from these days. Be sure to check out our bulletin board in the hallway to see a new lesson added for every day of the Omer! We also learned about Yom HaZikaron – Israeli Memorial Day – with a special Tefila and Tekes with the middle school, and with a lesson about 1976’s Operation Entebbe. We talked about the event’s historical context, what this rescue meant to Jews in Israel and worldwide, and what it continues to mean today.

On Yom Ha’atzmaut, the fourth grade joined middle school in the gym for a special Tefilla at the “Kotel”. Students got the option to wrap Tefillin with Yehuda, and to pray at either the men’s/women’s sections or the egalitarian section of the wall, and took part in a Torah reading together. The Tefilla was spirited and beautiful to watch, and the fourth grade greatly enjoyed it. Finally, we returned to our Chumash unit on Friday by continuing the story of Yakov’s marriage to Rachel and Leah. Shabbat Shalom!

It has been an exciting week in fourth grade! In Social Studies, students worked to complete their Oregon Trail journals. We used black tea to dye the covers of our journals – some students choosing to use the teabags as their brush, while others used paint brushes. The tea added an well-used feel to the covers (check out the Instagram page for photos of this project!). Fourth graders also learned a book binding technique involving wooden coffee stirrers and a rubber band. While the binding process was quite challenging, students persevered through it with a great sense of victory when they finished. Throughout next week, leading up to our culminating Oregon Trail Day on Friday, students will be writing journal entries, reflecting on the experience of traveling on the trail.