November Newsletter

November 21, 2021January 4, 2022Leave a comment

Here are the highlights of what we have been working on in 6th grade in November:

Katon Clause – Y’tiv and Zakef Gadol
To conclude the 3rd clause, Katon, we add the symbols Y’tiv and Zakef-Gadol. Both are highlighted in green. Some fun facts about Y’tiv: The symbol for Y’tiv always comes before the word (to the right of the word), Y’tiv is always followed by Katon or Munach Katon and Y’tiv pauses, it’s a separator (mafsik). To hear and practice the Y’tiv symbol: https://youtu.be/nktsMqTvX0o

Zakef-Gadol occurs occasionally in Torah, and can exist all on its own. It acts like a mini-Katon clause. You can hear Zakef-Gadol here: https://youtu.be/QQw6fArAvfU . Zakef-Gadol, like Katon, is a separator, it pauses. Continue reading →

October Newsletter

October 28, 2021January 4, 2022Leave a comment

Here are some highlights of what we have been exploring in class during the month of October (and end of September):

On Wednesdays, one of our focuses for Hebrew in 6th grade is the study of Cantillation, or Trope. Trope marks, or Ta’amei Hamikrah in Hebrew, have three main functions in the reading of sacred texts:
1. To provide melody
2. To provide punctuation
3. To provide pronunciation by indicating syllabic stress
You can watch this helpful introduction to trope video I created to learn more about what we are learning: Continue reading →

Thank you for a great year

May 8, 2021May 8, 2021Leave a comment

Dearest 6th grade students and their families,

This year has been so much more than I had hoped it could be, considering all the restrictions we have had online and over zoom. I could not be more proud of all that you have accomplished both in trope and in learning the lessons of LaBriut. Kol HaKavod to all of our students who through their hard work, and acts of loving-kindness, were able to achieve 1800+ and 3600+ Mitzvah Points!! I have special prizes to give you Sunday, May 9th, on the final day of school when we will see each other in person at TBI for the dedication of the Rabbi Weinberg Center for Jewish Learning. Stop by the 6th grade table in the parking lot to receive your own copy of our prayerbook, Mishkan T’filah for Travelers, pick up your Mitzvah Points prizes, draw or sign a message on our 6th grade 5781 poster, and participate in fun activities and projects. Continue reading →

T’vir, R’vii and Beginning Ometz Lev

December 10, 2020Leave a comment

Let’s catch up on what we have been learning the last two weeks:

Wednesdays – Trope
Last Wednesday we learned our 4th clause, תביר T’vir. T’vir is highlighted in blue, and features just a few new symbols: דרגא Darga and תביר T’vir. You can hear the sound of each and learn the hand signs here: https://youtu.be/ogqmBK7Sm7A. T’vir is the sound of the “Amein” recited by a person about to read Torah, following someone else chanting the Torah blessings. The T’vir clause is often served by the trope קדמא Kadma, which we learned in our last clause קטן Katon. Additionally, תביר T’vir can be served by a special מרכא Mercha, which sounds like דרגא Darga, but without the middle two notes. The Flipgrid challenge for תביר T’vir is: https://flipgrid.com/085b58d3 Continue reading →

Sukkat Shalom Week 2 and Sof-Pasuk

October 25, 2020October 25, 2020Leave a comment

Sukkat Shalom Week #2
Today we continued to expand our definition of Sukkat Shalom סכת שלום (a shelter of peace) to include feelings and people, not just places or spaces. We heard the story of Rabbi Hillel in Snow from Talmud, Yoma 35b, as told by Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. The students and I imagined how Hillel must have felt when the Rabbi’s cared for him physically, when they could have reprimanded his disobedience. We then explored how our faces, eyes and expressions can show emotion, and feelings, and show someone that you care. To further the student’s understanding of these concepts, they should complete the 2nd Sukkat Shalom Challenge on Flipgrid: https://flipgrid.com/5ac4490c. Continue reading →

Mitzvah Points, Starting Trope, and Sukkat Shalom Week 1

October 18, 2020October 25, 2020Leave a comment

This has been a great week of learning for our 6th grade students. Here is what we covered in Hebrew on Wednesday, October 14 and Sunday, October 18:

Hebrew – Trope
On Wednesday we began learning the Sof-Pasuk clause of Torah Trope. Whenever we begin learning a new symbol or clause of trope, we start by chanting the name of the symbol along with a hand sign. Then we write the name of the symbol in Hebrew and transliteration. Then we learn what other symbols belong with that group, or clause. This week we introduced the Sof-Pasuk clause, which includes the symbols: Continue reading →

Flipgrid and Our First Sunday

October 11, 2020Leave a comment

We had a marvelous first day of religious school today! It was great to meet the students and get to know them better. I know a few students were unable to join us this morning, and so I want to take a moment to recap what we covered.

LaBriut
On Sundays we will be learning a new curriculum designed specifically for this year and this time, called LaBriut. I have created an entire page on this website for LaBriut, that includes links to all the learner and parent materials, videos, and more. Beginning next week, we will start with the first lesson or Mifgash (meeting or gathering) of the Sukkat Shalom unit. This week, we learned the terms:

Mifgash (meeting or gathering) מפגש
K’vutzah (group) קבוצה
LaBriut (to your health) לבריאת
Brit (covenant) ברית

Flipgrid
In order to share the students work and actively engage with one another, we will be using an online platform called Flipgrid. Continue reading →

Prayer Project 5780

December 2, 2019December 15, 2019Leave a comment

Year after year, when I ask the students about their favorite lesson or activity in class, the prayer project is always at the top of their lists. Ben Franklin is quoted as saying: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” The prayer project flips our classroom and makes each of the students the teacher. Your students will research, learn, prepare and teach their peers one prayer from Seder Kriat HaTorah, or the Service for the Reading of Torah through our concluding prayers. The prayer assignments and designated teaching days are as follows: Continue reading →

Welcome to 6th Grade 5780

September 3, 2019Leave a comment

ברוכים הבעים B’ruchim habaim, welcome to 6th Grade at Temple Beth Israel. My name is Marla Aviva Bentley and I will be your teacher. Most people call me Morah Marla מורה מרלה. This is my 9th year teaching at TBI and I am so excited to get to know you and start off this year! I have spent this summer working, studying, singing and praying. In June, I was installed as the President of the Guild of Temple Musicians. In July, I attended the North American Jewish Choral Festival for my work with HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir. In August, I served on the סגל segel (faculty) of Kallah Atid at OSRUI. I just returned from a relaxing camping trip in Wisconsin with my family. It has been a busy summer, and I am really looking forward to beginning our school year together.

Visiting Old World Wisconsin

Camping in Kettle Moraine

This is our 6th grade blog. It will be the place you can keep up with what is happening in our classroom. Take a few minutes to explore the blog and it’s pages. To learn more about me, visit the About page. In 6th grade we will be exploring our relationship with God, delving into the prayers of סדר קריאת התורה Seder Kriat HaTorah (the prayers surrounding the Torah service), learning Cantillation, or how to chant תורה Torah and הפטרה Haftarah, as well as continuing to speak, read and write in עברית Hebrew.

I look forward to meeting you and your parents, or catching up if I have taught your older sister or brother. We are going to learn so much this year, and have a great time doing it. See you Sunday!

Writing Prayers

April 28, 2019Leave a comment

Today we had a very powerful lesson. After the students arrived this morning, several asked why the Skokie Police were outside our building, had there been another shooting? I answered their questions to the best of my ability, and we had a brief discussion about the shooting at the Poway Chabad yesterday. We talked about how we can take our emotions and place them on paper, that we can turn our anger and sorrow into words of prayer.

First, I read to them the words of Rabbi Ari Hart, who wrote this on Facebook last night in response to the shooting: Continue reading →

Be our guest

February 6, 2019Leave a comment

This meme from Lori Sagarin seemed appropriate after the discussion in B’nai Mitzvah Seminar this last Sunday. A friendly reminder about what it means to be a good guest…

“We came to visit Grandma”

For more resources on the understanding the Jewish value of Hachnasat Orchim, or Welcoming Guests:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/welcoming-guests-into-your-home/

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/welcoming-guests-in-judaism

http://www.jtsa.edu/the-mitzvah-of-welcoming-guests

Search for the Holy

December 3, 2018December 3, 2018Leave a comment

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 →

Tzedakah Project

November 12, 2018December 3, 2018Leave a comment

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 →

Tashlich 5779

September 14, 2018Leave a comment

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

September 7, 2018September 14, 2018Leave a comment

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 →

We did it

January 31, 2018Leave a comment

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 →

Covenant of Abraham

November 13, 2017November 13, 2017Leave a comment

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 →

Tzedakah Project for 5778

September 27, 2017October 13, 2017Leave a comment

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 →

Exploring Prayer Both Ancient and Modern

March 8, 2017March 8, 2017Leave a comment

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 →

Holiness

October 19, 2016Leave a comment

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 →

Our first week

September 14, 2016September 14, 2016Leave a comment

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 →

Coming to a close

May 4, 2016September 6, 2016Leave a comment

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 →

Chag Urim Sameach

December 13, 2015September 6, 2016Leave a comment

On this eighth night of Chanukah, I wanted to take an opportunity to wish you and your families a Chag Urim Sameach or Happy Festival of Light! I have just completed your students Fall Report Cards and am looking forward to sitting down with you on Wednesday, December 16 to discuss your student’s progress. Continue reading →

Revelation and the Covenant of Abraham

November 11, 2015September 6, 2016Leave a comment

For the past few weeks, our 6th graders have been learning about the concepts of Holiness, Revelation and Covenant. We began by defining holiness, what it means to be holy. We performed a ‘scavenger hunt’ around the synagogue in search of holy objects and we discussed how a mundane object could be a holy object depending on its use and context. Continue reading →

First Avodah Project

September 27, 2015September 6, 2016Leave a comment

Avodah עבודה is the Hebrew word for service. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and that will be the focus of our first עבודה service project. To begin our efforts, the students made pink ribbons to decorate the sukkah and researched some facts about Breast Cancer. We also created a flyer encouraging the whole school and TBI Community to wear pink on Sunday, October 11th. Continue reading →

Trope Beginnings and Tzedakah Project

September 20, 2015September 6, 2016Leave a comment

In our first religious school class, we had a discussion about צדקה Tzedakah. How the word צדקה stems from the Hebrew root [.צ.ד.ק] and means justice. We defined justice as creating a balance or creating equality for a person or persons in need. We discussed and hypothesized different ways of giving צדקה including: Continue reading →

Tashlich at the River

September 16, 2015September 6, 2016Leave a comment

Today in Hebrew, our class is going on a field trip. Using these simple words in a place like Hebrew school usually elicits great excitement in the students and I anticipate it will again today. We will begin by reading part of article from a blog by Jewish Educator, Lisa Rappaport, entitled Continue reading →

Chai Notes

Marla Aviva Bentley

Category: Judaism