New Israeli Trivia Game/Sport

We closed the semester yesterday with a new Israeli Trivia game/sport that tested knowledge gained over the course of the last 3.5 months.
The game is similar to kickball, with a few key differences:

1. The batter only earns an "at bat" by getting a trivia question right (they can consult with their teammates on certain questions).
2. If the batter gets the question wrong, then that team gets an out. 3 outs and the teams switch.
3. The ball is a bigger, softer version (a big bouncy ball)
4. Rather than rolling the ball, the pitcher delivers a one bounce pitch to the batter
5. Rather than kicking the ball, the hitter smacks the ball with an open palm.

We had a lot of fun reviewing our knowledge of Israel, while getting our competitive juices flowing. THIS GAME HAS NOT YET BEEN PROPERLY NAMED! So I will love to hear any suggestions.

Have a great winter break and we'll see you soon!

Micah and Ariana

It's been a week of performing and learning

Over the course of the last 8 days our 5th Grade students performed a rap about Israel (while keeping their own beat) and various parody songs about the Torah. Our main blog page has footage of the Torah songs and I encourage you to check them out. I know that Ariana filmed our Israel rap so, for those who missed it, the footage is coming soon!

Yesterday's class focused on Olim (or immigrants to Israel). Olim comes from the root word in Hebrew meaning "to go up". When Jews move to Israel it is often said that they are "going up" to Eretz Yisrael. We read about how The War of Independence was followed by a massive migration to Israel from all over the world (Russia, Ethiopia, Morocco, United States, India, Yemen, and Canada to name a few).

For homework, students should do the work at the end of chapter 2 in the book "Our Land of Israel". Students should skip the "write a letter" section.