Drumroll Please...Our New Letter is DALET

ד makes a "d" sound and has a diving board. Once again, we had to use our eagle eyes to make sure that we didn't miss the diving board and mistake it for a ר (reish).

Words we learned that start with the letter ד:

Honey     D-vash       דבש

Door        Deh-let      דלת

Bee          D-vo-rah  דבורה

Flag         Deh-gel      דגל

Bear         Dov            דב

Fish         Dag             דג

Glue        Deh-vek      דבק

"5 Book Strut" by Noam Katz

Oh Yeah! More New Letters!

More New Letters

This week, the letter ב (vet) will be our focus.  Just like several other Hebrew letters, vet is a fraternal twin! Yep, ב (vet) is בּ (bet)'s twin.  It is very easy to tell they are in the same family because the only difference is that vet has no belly button.  A great way to remember the difference, is to say:

  A  בּ (bet)  WITHOUT a bellybutton is a ב (vet).

In the past few weeks Mechina has also learned the letters

 כ (chaf) and ר (reish).

• כ (chaf) is a fraternal twin to the letter  כּ (kaf).  כ makes a "ch" sound, think of l'CHaim.  The sound is created at the back of the throat.

• ר (reish) makes a "r" sound and has a round roof. The fact that its roof is round will be important later on.

Judaics: Mitzvot

Along with all the Hebrew we are learning, we have also been learning about several mitzvot.

Bikur Cholim (Visiting the Sick)

To learn about this mitzvah we read the book Get Well Soon . It tells the story of a young boy that is eager to do the mitzvah of Bikur Cholim.  It shows all the ways that we can help those that are sick. Here are some examples we discussed:

1.) Making a card

2.) Bringing them food

3.) Visiting them and keeping them company

4.) Reading them a book

5.) Sending Flowers

In class we decided to create Refuah Sh'lema (Get Better) cards for patients at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. It was amazing seeing them so excited to help brighten another child's day.

TALMUD TORAH (Studying Torah)

For the past couple of week's we have focused on this mitzvah. Talmud Torah is the mitzvah of studying Torah. To do this Mitzvah, we learned the blessing for the study of Torah and began to read from a child's Torah. Much of our conversations have been  about why we study Torah. Torah study is important because the Torah teaches us lessons.  In addition, we are in the process of creating a beautiful Torah art project, complete with the blessing. It will be coming home next week.

Oh, and did I mention they are learning that the Torah has 5 books and that they are learning their names.

Saying Thank You to Our Veterans.

Mechina & Kindergarten created special posters for our Veteran's day Shabbat.

You Can Never Have Enough Pictures

Shabbat Helpers

Can you make a Hebrew Maze?

It's been a minute since our last update, but that's because we have been having so much fun. From Sukkot to 2 new letters we have been Hebrew Fun, Hebrew Fun, Hebrew Fun!!!!

SUKKOT סוכות & SIMCHAT TORAH שמחת תורה

We visited the sukkah, learned about the lulav and etrog, made decorations for our sukkah and more!! Learning about Sukkot was very exciting.

Mechina also learned all about Simchat Torah and the traditions we have on the holiday.

1.) Finishing the Torah and then starting the Torah all over again.

2.) Unrolling the scroll completely.

3.) Dancing with the Torah.

HEBREW NEWS:

The letter KAF

Mechina met the letter כּ (kaf), כּ makes a “k” sound like the “k” in kangaroo. This letter can be confusing because it looks a lot like a bet בּ. It is very special in that it has had an interesting day at school.  He had a very sore throat so he went to see Nurse Wendy.  When he got there the nurse gave him a "kaf" drop.  This helped a lot, so he was able to go around all day and say his name clearly, Kaf.  In class I was careful to point out that kaf does not have a bench in the back. If it did, it would be a Bet. We enjoyed using and practicing the following words:

Yes     kehn       כּן

Kippah             כּיפה

Dog     Ke-lev  כּלב

Soccer      Ka-door-regel      כּדורגל

Wall      Ko-tel      כּתל

Star     Ko-kav    כּוכב

Chair   Key-say    כּסא

The letter HAY

Our letter this week was ה (hay). This letter is extra fun because of the silly way you can remember its "h" sound. Imagine that the letter is a horse stall. The gap on the left is where you throw the hay to the horses. Note: the key words in English also make a "h" sound. Also, you can think of hay as only having half of a side. When ה shows up at the end of a word it  is silent. Here are some words that start with a hay:

Mountain Har הר

Parents Ho-reem הורים

Haggadah Ha-ga-dah הגדה

She Hee היא

He Hoo הוא

Along with our Hebrew learning this week we continued to focus on Rosh HaShanah.  We made wonderful cards and crafts for the chag (holiday).  Most importantly, each child learned the meaning and the traditions of the Jewish New Year.

The Pomegranate: רִמּוֹן (re-mon)

Said to contain 613 seeds, just as the Torah as 613 mitzvot.  Symbolizes hoping our new year is filled with mitzvot.

Apple & Honey:  תַּפּוּחַ (ta-poo-ach)  דְּבַשׁ  (d'vash)  

We dip apples and challah into honey so that we may have a Sweet New Year.

Fish:  רֹאשׁ דָּג  (rosh dag)

We want to be the head of the fish (a leader) in the New Year, not the tail (a follower).

Shofar  שׁוֹפָר

The shofar is blown throughout the month of Elul.  It is a reminder that the Days of Awe are coming and that it is time to reflect on our behavior.  It is a mitzvah to hear the shofar.  On Rosh Hashanah, in some synagogues, the shofar is sounded as many as 100 times throughout the 2 days.

Round Challah  חלה עגולה (cha-lah a-go-la)

On Rosh Hashanah we eat round challah to remind us of the cycle of life.

Card    כַּרְטִיס בְּרָכָה  (kar-tes b-ra-cha)

We send cards of blessing to our friends and family on Rosh Hashanah because we would like them to have a sweet new year.

Wishing you all a healthy and happy new year!

To learn to read Hebrew, I have taught Mechina that we take the letter sound PLUS the vowel sound and that gives us the WHOLE sound.  They have learned 2 vowels, both make an "ah".  I am amazed at how well they are blending sounds!  We will continue this week with the letter ל LAMED.
 In Judaics, we will continue learning about Rosh Hashanah.

In the word Shabbat below, you see both of our new vowels.

THE LETTER ל (LAMED):

This week we will be learning the letter ל (lamed). Lamed  makes a "l" sound. Lamed also looks like a lightening bolt. Here are some  ל (lamed) words.

Why               La-mah            למה

Heart              Lehv                  לב

Lulav                                       לולב

Lemon             Lee-mon         לימון

Bread               Le-chem         לחם

Pancakes       Leh-vee-vot      לביבות

THE LETTER מ (MEM)

The letter מ (mem) makes a "m" sound. The fact that מ (mem) looks like a mountain, helps us to remember both its name and sound. Here are some words that we learned that start with מ (mem).

Teacher Mo-rah מורה

Juice Me-itz מיץ

King / Ruler meh-lech מלך

Matzah מצה

Mezzuzah מְזוּזָה

The LETTER  שׁ (SHIN)

 שׁ (shin) makes a "sh" sound and can be found in words like שלום (Shalom). Notice that the dot is on the right.

Words we learned that start with a שׁ:

Seven Sheh-va שׁבע

Year Sha-nah שׁנה

Shofar Sho-far שׁופר

Shabbat שׁבּת

THE LETTER ת (TAV)

THE LETTER בּ  (BET)

Bet makes a "b" sound and has a belly button and a bench in the back.  Here are some בּ (Bet) words:

House          Ba-yit          בַּיִת   

Baby Doll    Bu-ba          בֻּבָּה

Daughter      Bat             בַּת

Welcome to THE BEEHIVE! 

THE BEEHIVE is your up to date blog for Mechina's Hebrew and Judaics.  As we learn new letters, I will be posting the letter and some helpful tips for remembering them.  I will also share with you any mitzvah or chag (holiday) that we may be studying.  Oh, and of course lots and lots of pictures.

Your first step in joining THE BEEHIVE is getting to this blog. (Check)  STEP 2:  Please follow this blog by email to receive a notification when there is a new post.  You should see the follow by email box to your right.

We have already learned so much, and I can't wait to share it with you in tomorrow's post!