Kitah Alef

I challenged each grade to decorate a mini sukkah with unconventional materials (think Project Runway). The Alef class received craft store clearance items and had to get creative with their decor! Not only was this a fun and engaging way to celebrate the holiday, but students participated in the mitzvah of decorating a sukkah as well as learning you can decorate a sukkah with anything! Students also enjoyed walking around sukkahs decorated by other grades and discovering the materials they had to work with!

We are so lucky to have so many students return to A.R.T.S to help as a madrich or madricha. Malachai graduated and had his bar mitzvah last year and is back this year helping out Kitah Alef. Here he is seen helping students with their Hebrew. Not only are our madrichim helpful to the teachers, but they are an amazing asset and resource for the children as well!

Music with Bar is one of the highlights of Sunday for all A.R.T.S. students. They love coming together with another grade and singing songs as well as blessings in a way that allows them to practice and become familiar with the Hebrew without even realizing it!

As students become more familiar with letters, they become more familiar with their shapes. While of course they practice writing, we also love to think outside of the box for ways that the children can practice without using a pencil and paper. This is why this geoboard activity planned by Ms. Amethyst is such a great idea! Not only are they reviewing their letters, but they have to problem solve along the way as well.

Kehillah Tefillah is our once a month tefillah with Rabbi Dorsch and Bar. We have been doing Havdalah together and it is a great way to engage the students in the process of starting a new week after Shabbat.

Family education days are a great way for parents to come together with their children and have a discussion about a specified topic. For the Gan and Alef family education day, our topic was tzedakah and we read a book called "A Heart Just Like My Mothers" by Lela Nargi. In the story, the little girl wants so badly to be just like her mother but feels like it is impossible, until she realizes they have the same giving heart. After the story, students created tzedakah boxes they were able to take home to give to a charity of their choice.

Do you have a minute? That is all you need for Kitah Alef to teach you all about Chanukah!

This is a student favorite! Taking out playdough to make snakes that turn into the various letters that have learned and reviewed thus far is an activity that never gets old! The children love to review their Hebrew and are eager to make each letter. This won't be the last time you see this activity!