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6 months ago, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt”l became critically ill. I wanted my class to understand for whom they were davening.   I also wanted to understand for whom I was davening. What I knew of Rav Elyashiv from news reports was sometimes bizarre. His name was quoted frequently, but often incorrectly. I knew there must be a reason that when someone mentioned the name Rav Elyashiv, the Torah world paid attention. Who was Rav Elyashiv? Here is the biography I wrote six months ago. It was written for third graders so it as rather simple vocabulary. I have updated it to make it timely.Read More →

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In: Chinuch Tips, Downloads

[purchase_link id=”480″ text=”Add to Cart” style=”button” color=”blue”] Learning to read Rashi script was a highlight for many of my students this year. We took a full body approach to learning the new font. While moving, jumping and acting, my students learned their  letters with a lot of joy. Here is the teacher’s workbook. It has some tips about how to make the more confusing letters become very recognizable. The best idea was the rashi letter simon says. Read on to find out more. Rashi Workbook Teacher Edition 2012 Here is the student workbook Rashi Workbook 2012 Happy LearningRead More →

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In: Lesson Plans, Teaching Chumash

Here is Part 2 of Introduction to Independent Torah Learning.  If you would like to view all the resources available with this course – please email me. Part 1: the building blocks of the Chumash text: Nouns! Verbs!  – This video will be posted for a limited time. The free version  http://youtu.be/B7jifNz15EA will be posted soon instead Practicing it with the text!   http://youtu.be/iQzOsbk7czA Analyzing the Pesukim  Read More →

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In: Lesson Plans, Teaching Chumash

Have you wanted to learn how to learn Chumash but never had a chance to learn how.  I am offering a course online doing just that.  Here are the videos. Email me if you want to be registered for the class with all the resources. Class 1 Part 1:   What are the 5 books of the Torah? How do I find my place in the text? What are legitimate ways of interpreting the Chumash? Class 1 Part 2: The First 2000 years: From Adam to Avram  Read More →

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In: Chinuch Tips

  I was searching for some hebrew handwriting practice and came across some great hebrew language resources from the place that is most logical – Israel! Summer work – http://kaye7.school.org.il/seasons_summer.htm#c2 http://halachayomit.com/rabassummer.html   http://kaye7.school.org.il/reading.htm – links to Israeli websites that have kriyah resources http://kaye7.school.org.il/eng/welcome.htm – Resources for Israeli teachers for reading, chumash, etc. http://www.kaleykaluli.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=21&id=34&Itemid=11 – stories for each new vowel and letter. printable http://www.etze.co.il/ – Lesson plans – Hebrew language vocabulary http://myfamilythoughts.wordpress.com/activitypages/ – Lesson plans – Look for the handwriting sheets in particular http://www.izmargadsys.com/ – Enrichment sheets – on science, yomim tovim, food, in hebrew http://www.yetzira.com/  Read More →

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It’s a week after school let out and I realized in all the excitement I didn’t post anything online. So I will hit the highlights of an awesome end of school year. Things really came together in a big way. Monday June 11 The General Studies teacher, a parent, an aide and I took the kids to Corning Museum of Glass. Mrs. S. is an awesome teacher. Back in January, the kids wrote her persuasive letters about what they would like changed in the classroom. One student wanted to go on a field trip. She helped the class organize an ice cream sale and they raisedRead More →

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In: Chinuch Tips, Teaching Chumash

The students learn a lot of new skills and vocabulary each perek. But what happens at the end of the perek? What do they need to remember and what can they forget? This is a process of learning that students must develop as they mature. New knowledge must be stored in the brain in an  easily accessible place. One way to help students understand the process that their  brain is doing  is to have them replicate this process physically in the classroom. After each perek, we empty the chumash section of the binder. The students discard the worksheets and staple the translation sheets together. TheyRead More →

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In: Chinuch Tips

Many chumash test questions are short answer and fill in the blank. I create grading stations in the back of the room for students to self-check their work. The reason I do this is I have found that the students take greater ownership when they are faced with their own mistakes. Some students are prone to skip questions, when they face the disappointment of grading a skipped question, they are less likely to do so in the future. The grading table is set up with answer keys and pens. Students come to the table with their test paper and that is all. I stand nearRead More →

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In: Chinuch Tips, Teaching Chumash

Inner/outer reviews are a great way to review a perek of learning. The desks in my class are set up as a U. Every other student takes his chair puts it on the inside of the U. He sits with his chumash facing his neighbor facing . I set my stopwatch for 2 minutes. The outer student reads the hebrew, the inner student translates. If either of them don’t know a word, they put a light pencil dot next to the word. After two minutes, the timer beeps (or quacks in my case). I poll the class about what was the average pasuk completed. IRead More →

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In: Teaching Chumash, Theory

Today was one of those days that teachers dream about. A chance to see all my efforts over the year come full circle. Here is how it happened. We only had three pesukim left to learn in Parshas Vayeitzei. I had the class read the pasukim aloud without teaching them at all. Of course, as we were reading about Yaakov meeting up with the melachim, the class exploded with questions. Was Yaakov in Eretz Yisrael? How could the melachim of Eretz Yisrael come to greet him as Rashi says? Which malachim did he send to Har Seir? Surely not the melachim of Eretz Yisrael. InRead More →

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In: gedolim

This week we have been finishing Vayeitzei, our ivrit curriculum and independent yedios klalios study. But since it is Thursday here is our weekly biography.  Today it is for  Reb Shraga Feivel. I want my students to really appreciate the education they have and the effort spent to allow them to sit in a classroom with their peers. Reb Shraga FeivelRead More →

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In: Lesson Plans

Today was a great day – Chumash: how far we have come this year. In the beginning of the year, the students needed me to get them to learn new information. Now they are learning study skills. First, I had the students cover the English in their linear for pesukim כה-ל, read it and underline any words they didn’t know. Then we identified the עבר,הווה,עתיד and the שם גוף (pronoun) for all the verbs in pesukim לא-לה. We started to learn the pesukim but quickly got sidetracked by some very interesting discussions of the pesukim and Lavan and whether yaakov and Rochel had spoken lashonRead More →

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In: gedolim, Lesson Plans

Here are some of the things we did today: Tefillah: for the new tefillah, one student was the chazzan. He read each phrase, stopping at the comma or the period, then the class repeated it after him. This method really helps with fluency for each new tefilla. Improve fluency, and have students assume responsibility for tefillah Chumash: פרק לא: כה-ל   First, the  students filled out the Shorashim and Pronoun column for new pesukim in their linear translation. Goal: word attack skills, pre teaching knowledge that will stop comprehension the 1st time. Vayitzei Perek 31b Linear Then we read the pesukim כד & כה whereRead More →