Dear Gan Parents,

Thank you so much for sharing your children with me this school year.  Their knowledge of Hebrew letters, understanding of prayer,customs,and the Hebrew language was beyond my wildest dreams.  I look forward to hearing all their stories about attending camp this Summer when I see them again in the Fall.

B’ Shalom,

Morah Lynn

-Written 5-19-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Please click here to read class updates from previous weeks.

Highlights from the Gan…I hope everyone had wonderful Seders and Passover.  After listening to the children, it sounds like everyone had meaningful Seders.  I asked the children what the most spoken language in Israel is….and of course, it is Hebrew.  We made our very own Hamsas, they turned out beautifully.  The children worked on learning how to write more letters from the Hebrew alphabet.  Tefillah was a huge hit as always.

-Written 4-28-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan… What an action packed class we had today.  We began class today talking about all the various things we know about Passover.  The children listened to the book, “Sammy Spider’s First Haggadah “ which led to a very lengthy discussion of Passover.  We learned that the word Seder means (order), Haggadah (it is a book that tells us all about Passover), we learned about various Plagues and that Afikomen means (dessert).  We practiced singing the first of the Four Questions with the Cantor today.  Tefillah was a great hit with Mr. Sherman and Mr. Marc as always.

-Written 4-7-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan…. We had the Madrichim that were in our class today, perform the Purim story for us.  It was great listening to them and also it was a interactive play.  The children then listened to a story about the Torah portion from yesterday.  We were also lucky to have a Mystery Reader (Sarah’s Father) who read us three wonderful books.  The children decorated masks that can be worn at the Megillah reading as well as the Purim carnival. Tefillah was a huge hit as always.

-Written 3-10-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan… Welcome Back everyone from our little break. We started off reading the Parsha that was read yesterday. The children answered Yes and No questions. The Madrichim then put on a little skit for the children pertaining to the Parsha. We then made our very own Ner Tamid (Eternal Light). The children had Shira with the Camp Am Yisrael students, they made their very own band. As usual, the children really enjoyed Tefillah with Mr. Sherman and Mr. Marc.

-Written 2-24-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan….As always, we were very busy.  With the weather being somewhat mild, we took part in a Tu B’Shevat project.  As Tu B’Shevat is a celebration of the trees, we reviewed why trees are important to us and who lives in trees, birds….so we made a bird feeder and all of us put on some bird see for the birds.  We continue to review the Torah story from yesterday.  The children continue to work on their Hebrew letters and their recognition of them.  During Tefillah, we have incorporated Havadalah which the children seem to truly enjoy.

-Written 2-10-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan… We took an in house field trip, we went looking for things that told us we were in a Jewish place of learning. We happen to find the place where we have SFP, where the children were able to see The Ark, Jewish Books, hanging pictures with Hebrew letters and most important of all The Torah. I read with the children the Parsha that was read yesterday during Shabbat services. We began working on writing the Hebrew alphabet. As usual, Tefillah was a big hit with all the children.

*Please let Mr. Sherman know when you would like to be a Mystery Reader in our class.

-Written 1-27-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan….We read a wonderful story in honor of the holiday of Tu B’Shevat. I discussed with the children all the ways trees are helpful to us. In Israel, we would probably be wearing light weight jacket ,while here in Illinois we are wearing boots and heavy coats. We then made edible almond trees, which the children truly enjoyed. Ask your child why we made almond trees…they are the first to bloom in Israel. We continue to work on reinforcing our Hebrew letter recognition.

-Written 1-20-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan… Welcome back everyone. Spending Havdalah with all of you at the Rabbi’s was truly a great way to spend an evening.  The children made a “thank you” card for the lovely evening.  I asked the children how many people lived in Israel (8.4 million) and it was neat to see their responses.  We worked on some more Hebrew letters and recognition.  As a school, we did have a practice fire drill (we were the first ones out) and we all did a GREAT job.  Tefillah with Mr. Sherman and Mr. Marc continues to be a big hit.

-Written 1-6-19 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Gan Highlights….We did some Hanukkah art projects and talked about how our Hanukkah’s went.  We practiced writing the letter Aleph and Bet, as usual the children impressed me with how quickly they picked up the writing of letters.  Tefillah was a big hit as usual. We played the game “Telephone” using Hebrew words or other descriptive words such as- Aron Ha-Kodesh (Ark), Adom (red), etc…it is really funny to hear sometimes what word they end with as opposed to what they started with.

Save the date- January 5^th Havdalah at the Rabbi’s House

I wish everyone a Happy, Healthy New Year

-Written 12-16-18 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan….We read about the story of Hanukkah and its meaning. We learned about the Maccabees (hammer) found the oil and it was suppose to last only one day, but a miracle happened and it lasted for eight days. The children enjoyed making dreidel people. Tefillah was a big hit as usual and the children enjoyed listening to a song Mr. Marc wrote about Hanukkah.

-Written 12-2-18 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan…. We learned about the letter Shin and the sound it makes. The children learned that the first letter in the word Shalom is a Shin. Ask your child the three meanings of Shalom (hello, good bye and peace). We also were busy looking for the letter Alef. The children had a great time making their own Torahs. Tefillah as always was a big hit.

-Written 11-11-18 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan…We started off our day talking about kindness (chesed) and what it means to be kind. We then went on to make cards to cheer my friends up. I shared a portion of this week’s Parsha with the children, were it discussed welcoming in guests, I asked them for ways they welcome guests into their home. We practiced writing the letter Alef on the chalkboard, what an amazing job these children did. As usual, Tefillah and Shira was a big hit with your children.

-Written 10-28-18 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

Highlights from the Gan…We began the day with reading a wonderful story called “Noah’s Bark” and discussing how long it rained (40 days and 40 nights). The children were then given the opportunity to make their very own ark out of construction paper and sticker animals. We enjoyed having Shira (music) with the Cantor. The children then attended Tefillah with Mr. Sherman/Mr.Marc and had a great time. Finally, we made our very own edible Arks, which was a big hit (Thank You everyone for bringing in the items necessary to make this Ark).

-Written 10-14-18 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

We discussed the importance of what Tzedakahmeans and that one can give a penny, nickel or any amount. The places the children have chosen to give Tzedakah for this year are as follows: The Ark, The playgrounds in Sderot, Israel and Orphans of the Storm. We also discussed the Holiday of Sukkot. The children made their very own book about Sukkot as well as their own Sukkot. We then discussed the upcoming holiday of SimchatTorah. We had Tefillah (Prayer Service) in what part of the building???(in the Sukkah). We also touched a real Etrogand Lulav, what part of the body does the Etrogrepresent?? (heart). All in all a busy day learning about Holidays.

MorahLynn

-Written 9-23-18 by MorahLynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org

I would like to welcome everyone to the Gan class. We talked a bit about Derech Eretz which means respect, we discussed how that meant to treating each other, to treating the furniture in our classroom. I found out who liked apples/honey as well as apples/challah. The challah and apples was definitely a bigger hit than the honey. We had a great time at Shira (music) with the Cantor and classmates from Alef/Bet and the Gimel class. We learned about the upcoming holiday of Yom Kippur, which we learned about the scales of our good choices outweighing hopefully our sad choices (we used M&M’s-to measure out the scales). We also had Tefillah (prayer) which is led by Mr. Sherman and Mr. Marc in the Sanctuary.

I wish everyone an easy and meaningful fast,

Morah Lynn

-Written 9-16-18 by Morah Lynn Washer, lwasher@amyisrael.org