Congratulations 6th Grade! I could not be prouder of all of you. Yesterday, all of you successfully passed our Torah Trope Challenge. Each student chanted the V’ahavta in trope, and the Blessings before and after the reading of Torah. This challenge demonstrated your knowledge of Torah trope – identification of the symbols, the melody, how each trope mark functions (m’chaber/connector or mafsik/separator), and the syllabic stress. Continue reading
Torah Trope Challenge
Today, we learned the 5th clause, T’vir. T’vir may sound familiar as it is the sound a torah reader chants when they sing “Amen” right before reading. That “Amen” is the sound T’vir. T’vir is a relatively short clause, it really only contains two symbols: Darga and T’vir. It can be preceded by Kadma or occasionally a Mercha (that sounds similar to and can replace Darga). To hear this clause chanted go to: https://soundcloud.com/marla-aviva-bentley/sets/torah-trope-clauses-1 and click on T’vir Clause, or hear them on the Trope Page.
A few weeks ago, I announced to the students that our Torah Trope Challenge Continue reading
Search for the Holy
A few weeks ago, I asked the students to search for words that contained the Hebrew root [קדש] in their siddurim (prayer books). Each student came up with a fairly extensive list, and we shared some our findings with the class: Continue reading
Katon Clause
We have completed the third clause in Torah trope, Katon. Katon is one of the longest clauses in cantillation, and it has taken us several weeks to learn each of its symbols and to practice using them. Katon consists of Kadma Mahpach Pashta Munach Katon, as well as Y’tiv Munach Katon and Zakef Gadol. Continue reading
Tzedakah Project
For the past month, the 6th grade students have been researching charitable causes to donate to our class tzedakah. We began by exploring the concept of tzedakah, which comes from the Hebrew root [צדק]. We defined tzedakah in connection with the Hebrew צדק or justice. Continue reading
Start of Trope
Part of what is exciting about 6th grade, is our study of a unique curriculum called Trope or Cantillation. Cantillation is how we chant our holy texts, trope marks or cantillation marks tell the chanter exactly how and what to chant. Continue reading
Tashlich 5779
On Wednesday, our class had the opportunity to discuss three topics that are central to this time of year – the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: Forgiveness, ‘Sin’, and Repentance. Without giving them any definitions or insight, I asked the students to define these concepts for themselves in their notebooks, then we would share with the class. The students came up with very thought provoking definitions, you can see here: Continue reading
Welcome to 6th Grade
Welcome to 6th Grade!
It was so lovely meeting your students this past Wednesday. I am really looking forward to a fantastic year. During our first day we got to know one another, talked about class expectations, and looked through our textbooks and the materials in their binders. I asked the students to write and reflect a little about what they are most looking forward to about their Bar or Bat Mitzvah (the day, the process, the entire experience), as well as what they are most nervous about for the Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Afterwards, we discussed their responses and discovered many people in class shared some of the same worries and some of the same things to be excited about. I think it helped to bond the students together, and I tried to calm many of their fears by assuring them of what we would learn this year, and how well prepared they would be. Continue reading
Jonah Chapter 1 Verses 6 and 7
We continued our preparation toward the Haftarah Trope Challenge today. We began as we do each week with a review of all the trope we have learned thus far. Then we learned the 5th clause, T’vir. Continue reading
Haftarah Trope Challenge
As we are about to embark on Spring break for Pesach, I wanted to give ample time for our students to begin practicing for the Haftarah Trope Challenge. On Wednesday, I announced the details to the class, they are as follows:
The Haftarah Trope Challenge will take place on Sunday, May 6th. Students will be expected to: Continue reading
Starting Haftarah
After the successful completion of Torah Trope, our class has begun its work in Haftarah. We began by discussing the similarities between chanting Torah and Haftarah: the symbols are the same, the clauses they belong to are the same, how each symbol functions is the same, and the symbol still provides syllabic stress based upon its placement. The only thing that is different is that each symbol has a new melody. Continue reading
We did it
Kol HaKavod 6th Grade, everyone in class successfully passed the Torah Trope Challenge! I am so proud of your hard work, and commitment to learning Torah Trope.
Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring two important concepts: Holiness and Revelation. The students went on a search throughout the temple for objects that one might consider holy. Continue reading
This Week’s News
Welcome back from Winter Break. I hope that you are rested, refreshed and have had lots of time with friends and family. Now we that have returned things are moving quickly in class.
Please remind your students to practice at least 5 minutes a day for the Torah Trope Challenge, next Sunday, January 14th. Practicing looks like… Continue reading
Prayer Projects are coming along
We learn 95% of what we teach to someone else. Dr. Glasser’s quote reminds us of how important it is to approach learning in different. This logic is one of the reasons why each year I have our students teach one another their T’filah/Prayer Projects. Continue reading
Torah Trope Challenge
I am proud to announce that our student’s have learned 5 of the 6 Torah Trope clauses and they are now ready to demonstrate their understanding in the Torah Trope Challenge. The Torah Trope Challenge will take place on Sunday, January 14, 2018. It consists of three parts:
1. Each student will chant the V’ahavta in Trope.
2. Each student will chant the Blessing Before for the Reading of Torah in Hebrew.
3. Each student will chant the Blessing After the Reading of Torah in Hebrew. Continue reading
Covenant of Abraham
For the last few weeks we have been learning about Covenant or ברית Brit. The students used a site called http://www.sefaria.org to look up where the word covenant occurs in our holy texts. Each student chose 3-5 examples that they found interesting. Then in class, we created a source sheet using their examples: Continue reading
JYG Halloween
Junior Youth Group is hosting a Dinner and a Movie Halloween event on Sunday, 10/29 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at TBI. See flyer for details: JYG-Halloween
Help with Hebrew
During one of our recent classes, I noticed that quite a few students were having difficulty reading in Hebrew script when I wrote on the board. Script is how one writes Hebrew (think handwriting vs. print). Hebrew, like English, is printed slightly differently than it is written. At TBI we work exclusively in script and this is what our students have been encouraged to do since they began writing formally in 3rd grade. I have several links available on our class blog that are helpful when it comes to script practice and I would like to point a few of them out now… Continue reading
Tzedakah Project for 5778
On Sunday, our students completed presenting their choices for our class Tzedakah צדקה project. Each student had the chance to present their charity or organization and tell us a little bit about why their cause was worthy of our class’s collection. After several rounds of voting and discussion, our class has chosen St. Baldrick’s Foundation for Childhood Cancer and Water 1st International. Continue reading
Beginning Trope
My daughter, Hannah Jane, is in 3rd grade. This is her first year as a Hebrew student at TBI. Last night we were discussing her Hebrew lesson with Morah Tammy. She loves this new skill of speaking בעברית (in Hebrew) and last night requested her dinner in Hebrew: ״אני רוצה לאכל נקנק״ (I want to eat hotdogs). Continue reading
Junior Youth Group
6th Graders are eligible to join our TBI Junior Youth Group (JYG). JYG is for TBI members in 6th, 7th and 8th Grade. The first JYG event of the year is this Sunday, September 17 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room. Pizza lunch will be served, and the cost is $5 per person. For more information or to RSVP, contact our Junior Youth Group Director, Rachel Shaykin.
Our first day
We had a great first day yesterday! We got to know one another, discussed the expectations of our classroom, passed out books and materials and started our first trope lesson. In the last few minutes of class I requested the students’ email addresses (if they wanted to receive email notices of new blog posts) and talked briefly about the blog. Continue reading
Welcome to 6th Grade
Welcome to 6th Grade / Kitah Dalet! My name is Marla Aviva Bentley, but you can call me מורה מרלה Morah Marla. This is my 7th year teaching here at TBI. For some of you, I have taught your older brother or sister. I am thrilled to meet each of you and your parents in the coming week. To learn more about me and my family, visit the ABOUT page of our blog.
This blog is where you will come to find out all the latest information about our class. The Home page will keep a running journal of our class activities, projects and assignments. Other pages of the blog detail specific projects such as the T’filah Project page or Trope page. Whenever I post to our blog, I will send you an email with a reminder to check the blog. Please be sure that the email provided to the school is the email you prefer I send information to. If there is another email you want included in any newsletters, please let me know.
Don’t forget that the opening day of Sunday school, September 10, you will be attending B’nai Mitzvah Seminar with your parents from 9:00-10:00 am with Rabbi Weinberg. At 10:00 you will join me for the rest of Religious School. Parents are welcome to visit in our class after a presentation in the Sanctuary (around 10:20). Our second session of Hebrew school will be from 11:10-12:10, followed by the Brotherhood picnic until 1:00 p.m. Sisterhood will be having our annual bake sale from 8:45-1:00 pm opening day too.
In the meanwhile, I look forward to meeting all of you this Wednesday for the first day of Hebrew school!
Haftarah Trope Challenge
Welcome back from Spring Break. During Hebrew today, we completed learning the 5th clause, R’vi-i. We only have one more clause left and a few oddball tropes, and we will have finished our unit in Haftarah. I also announced today the dates and content of the Haftarah Trope Challenge. The HTC will assess the student’s knowledge and make sure that each is prepared for their one-on-one lessons to begin with Shari. Here are the details: Continue reading
Exploring Prayer Both Ancient and Modern
Through the winter we have been delving further into our Mishkan T’filah siddur (prayer book) in order to get to know more about t’filot or prayers. We began our discussion with a history lesson about the destruction of The Temple in Jerusalem and how this eventually led to the concept of a local synagogue, and the need to replace sacrifice with a different kind of devotion to G-d, prayer.
That led us to explore our prayers to see where each one came from. Continue reading
Haftarah Trope
We are now just over the halfway point in our study of Haftarah trope. We have completed the first three clauses: Etnachtah, Sof-Pasuk and Katon, and we will be beginning on T’vir in the next week. The students are using an example from Judges 4:4-18 to practice their identification, color-coding and chanting. We have also been working the Blessing Before Haftarah as it uses most of the Haftarah trope clauses. Continue reading
Yasher Koach
Mazel Tov! I am so proud of our students. Of the students who were in class today, 10/10 passed the Torah Trope Challenge! There are still about 3 students who will need to take the challenge due to their absence. They will be expected to take the challenge on Sunday, January 8th. Continue reading
Torah Trope Challenge
Torah Trope Challenge will take place on Sunday, January 8, 2017
The students are responsible for chanting three things:
- Blessing Before Torah
https://soundcloud.com/marla-aviva-bentley/blessing-before-torah-reading - Blessing After Torah
https://soundcloud.com/marla-aviva-bentley/blessing-after-torah-reading - V’ahavta in Trope
https://soundcloud.com/marla-aviva-bentley/trope-recording-of-vahavta
Each link includes the written prayer and the soundcloud link is a recording for aural learners. We have gone over each aspect of this assignment in class and have practiced together. I have encouraged all the students to spend a few minutes each day practicing each part of the assessment. For further resources, including a color-coded V’ahavta and recordings of each clause, visit the TROPE Page.
T’filah Project
Yesterday the students and I discussed our next assignment, the T’filah (Prayer) Project. This is a year-long project where each student in class has the opportunity to be a teacher for the day. They will research, practice, and present a prayer to the class in a creative and fun way. We discussed the assignment in detail and what each student’s responsibility will be. The entire assignment can be found here: https://marlaaviva.edublogs.org/tfilah-project/ Continue reading
Holiness
For the past few classes we have been discussing the topic of Holiness. The word holy in Hebrew comes from the shoresh or root [קדש]. We began by exploring our siddur or prayer book to find Continue reading
Trope Assignment
During the last few classes we have learned so much in trope. We discussed how trope functions in three ways:
- Melody – each trope symbol has a given sound.
- Pronunciation (syllabic stress) – where the trope is located indicates the syllabic stress.
- Punctuation – each trope symbol tells you to connect (m’chaber) or separate (mafsik) from the symbol that follows.
Soundcloud
I have created a SoundCloud page to aid in our learning of Trope. I will be updating it as we go along, but so far it contains recordings of each of the six Torah Trope clauses, the blessings before and after the reading of Torah as well as the blessings before and after the reading of Haftarah. You can take a look at it here:
I have also updated our Trope Page to include direct links to these recordings.
Our first week
What a fantastic first week of school at TBI. It was great to meet you and your students, I hope you all enjoyed our picnic, bake sale and official opening of school last Sunday.
On Sunday we had a great discussion about tzedakah and how it comes from the Hebrew shoresh (root) [צדק]. Another important Hebrew word which comes from this root is tzedek or justice. Continue reading
Welcome to 6th Grade 5777
ברוכים הבאים כתה ד
My name is Marla Aviva Bentley and I am thrilled to welcome you to 6th grade at Temple Beth Israel. This is my 6th year teaching at TBI. In addition to being your teacher, I am also the temple Music Director. I have two children, Hannah Jane (2nd grade) and Jaret (Kindergarten), and my husband of twelve years is Newell. We live in Deerfield with our dogs, Duke and King. Continue reading
Am I Awake
Throughout the year on Wednesdays we have focused on the T’filah Project – your students teaching the class the prayers of Seder Kriyat HaTorah through the concluding prayers of Aleinu and the Mourner’s Kaddish. On Sundays for the last month or so, we have approached prayer from a different angle, examining traditional prayers on the right-hand pages of the Siddur and then comparing and contrasting to the alternative prayers on the left-hand pages of the prayer book. The students have also had a chance to write their own prayers based on a given theme such as Hodaah (Thanksgiving), Ahavat Olam (G-d’s Everlasting Love), T’filat HaLev (Prayers of the Heart), and Mi Shebeirach (Prayers of Healing). Continue reading
Coming to a close
We have had quite a year, and it is amazing to me that we are almost at the end of it. Our final T’filah (prayer) Project group presented the Mourner’s Kaddish today. I am exceedingly proud of the effort, work and presentations of this class. Your projects really inspired me! Kol HaKavod.
Another major accomplishment, is our Tzedakah collection. Thus far, this class has raised $290.90 to benefit the Wright-Way Animal Rescue in Morton Grove. I am sure by the end of the year, we will be able to give them a check for $300. Feel proud of your efforts – we are going to help a lot of animals. Continue reading