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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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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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List of Biographies Why teach Gedolim? Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel Rav Aharon Kotler Rav Henoch Leibowitz Chofetz Chaim The Rambam R’ Irving Bunim Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv The Ramban Rav Moshe Feinstein Baal HaTurim Rav Ovadiah Yosef Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg Sarah Schnerir Rav Chaim Soloveitchik Chazon IshRead More →

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It will be a busy day Intro: let the kids know the modified schedule. Tefillah: We went straight into davening Chumash:  Review:  Shorashim – kids act out shorashim Game – Prep: Filled a bag with yellow, orange and green papers. Put kids in two lines in front of the felt boards for two teams Round 1: Each kid put their hand in a bag and picked out a colored paper. They had to choose a flashcard from the felt board and translate. They had to identify the names (in orange). For the Imahos, they had to list their sons. For the Shevatim, they had to list theRead More →

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  PDF of biography Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz (Chazon Ish) (1878 -1953) Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz was born in Kosava, Lithuania to Rav Shmaryahu Yosef and Rasha Leah Karelitz. His parents had 6 children who died. His mother davened that she should have a son who would be a great tzaddik. He also had a brother Rav Meir Karelitz and a sister, Miriam. His sister married Rav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, the Steipler Gaon. His nephew is y”blc Rav Chaim Kanievsky. He did not have any children Rav Avraham Yeshaya was remarkable because he was able to learn for many hours at a time. He learnedRead More →

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Tefillah: We reviewed the  idea that ה’  gives us  eternal עולם הבא for the smallest Mitzva. I asked the students what was their easiest Mitzvah. One said tzitzis, another shouted out “I love You, Hashem” etc. Today, we spoke about all the praises we give ה’ at the end of ברוך שאמר. This is based on an idea I found on a great website Praying With Fire – http://www.prayingwithfire.org/images/Newsletter52.pdf . Activity:  Ask each student how he would describe his grandmother in 1 word. Get a big list Asked would this word be enough to praise her if she was being praised at a dinner? How would you describeRead More →

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Tefillah: Reviewed the  idea from ברוך שאמר  that ה’s does miracles   every day. This was a theme we really delved into with אדון עולם. Every day, before Tefilla, I asked each child to write one thing that was incredible that ה’  until we came up with 100 things. I think asking a similar question again will be over kill. Today we are focusing on ברוך שכר טוב ליראיו based on an idea I found on a great website Praying With Fire – http://www.prayingwithfire.org/images/Newsletter50.pdf. Activity:  Ask each student to list a favorite thing and rate it on the scale of 1-10 Close your eyes and imagine thatRead More →

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Are you looking for some hands-on science curricular materials Free: check out http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=Carolina+Biological+Supply+Co&btnG= for older versions of hands on science units that still have what to offer. Also, you can go to http://www.caboces.org/mst/science-kits for some free science kits that meet NY State standards. inexpensive: Finally, http://www.espsciencetime.org/ who have science kits which are relatively inexpensive. It might cost you more to print out the science units on your own printer than to order theirs online.Read More →

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I know I won’t have time to keep this daily blogging up but a few more posts won’t kill me. A. Tefillah time – It’s Rosh Chodesh! So we will not have much time for the pre tefillah talks since the boys daven with the older boys and the girls join the older girls to sing hallel. B. Chumash: פרק ל:ט-יד: translationThese pesukim have some difficult words with the continuation of the birth of the shevatim. Before the class – review who has been born, reason for the names. See if students can remember all shevatim and with partner remember reason for names. Then we will do our “noteRead More →

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I know I won’t have time to keep this daily blogging up but a few more posts won’t kill me. A. Tefillah time – Reviewed yesterdays ideas. ברוך שאמר.  I had the class try to figure out what was similar about the words אומר, עושה, מרחם etc. Once they got they were הווה words, we had a conversation about ה’s ongoing presence, the מכות, Rav Chanina Ben Dosa lighting vinegar instead of oil. B. Chumash: פרק ל: ד-ט. These were much easier pesukim. No deep questions. I had students read it without any preteaching since the kids knew at least 94% of the words and grammar rules as tested before onRead More →

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A. Tefillah time – the class tried to move the water bottle today by saying “Move!” no luck. I asked them to think of how I can change the world using just my words – one student figured out the riddle. We did Think, Pair, Share to think of positive things we can say to others to change the world. B. Chumash: Acting out the shorashim was a huge hit. Future note: the students will be MIMES (no sound) and must remain seated to qualify. After the first round of teaching, we did a rapid fire round of MIME shorashim.  The students filled out their linear translation independently orRead More →

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I have so many ideas I’d love to write about but 1. I don’t have time, 2. it would be a waste of other peoples time. So here is a short post of what I may be doing tomorrow in school. A. Tefillah time – After brachos, we do an activity to make few words in tefilla come alive. We just began ברוך שאמר. Today: I asked the class today to try to move a pencil by looking at it. Then, the class said, “Move!” but the pencil didn’t move.  how amazing it is that Hashem said and the world came from nothing into something. Tomorrow:Read More →