Torah Exploration and

Hebrew Letters

Beginnings: Celebrating Simchat Torah

The GK children had the opportunity to make flags and decorations in

preparation for the celebration parade.

Jonathan, the music teacher, leads the Simchat Torah parade to the Beit

Midrash.

Our First Look at the Torah!

Learning About

the Torah With

Rachel Brodie

The Yad

The Dress

The Text

The Quills and

Parchment Paper

Exploring the Arc in The Beit Midrash

How Should You Hold

a Torah?

Tae Pham practices cradling the Torah

Bringing the Experience

Into the Classroom:

Literature is used as a provocation during morning

exploration time.

The children are given the opportunity to explore the

text of the “baby” Torah.

Juliette AvRuskin investigates the Torah.

Beginning our own Torah Writing The children were provided with different mediums and tools to explore Torah writing.

Gk explored a variety of artifacts as

provocation.

Experimenting With Materials

Ink and Quills

Permanent marker and

watercolors

Permanent marker and

tempera paint

Ink and Quills

Isaac investigates the Hebrew alphabet.

Importance of

Materials:

Experience the history of the Torah

Strengthening fine motor

skills

Attention to detail

MIA

Sadie

Riley

Teacher Carlie writes the Hebrew alphabet on the white board in GK2

Permanent Marker & Watercolor:

Sadie incorporated her creative side with her Hebrew

letter practice.

Juliette combines English and Hebrew Letters

and makes intentional color choices.

Permanent Marker

& Tempera Paint

Literature as

Provocation:

“Alef Bet Israel”

written by

Galia Armeland

Connecting English and Hebrew

Mehak Akhtar Marina Ashton

Noe Palman

Noe uses the dreidel as a guide for

practicing the letter Shin.

Mehak Akhtar noticed that the Hebrew letter Tsade looks

like the English letter Y.

Jacob focused on the shapes that he recognized while practicing the letter Mem.

Riley noticed, “The Shin and Sin are the same but the dot moves. I

can’t remember which one is the Shin. Hebrew isn’t hard. My favorite

letter is Resh.”

Exploring Outside of the Classroom:

The children took “Hebrew letter”

walks as a way to explore the Hebrew

language within the greater JCC

community.

On these walks, the children explored

the Arc in the Beit Midrash, the second

floor preschool, and the wall of Sheva

Middot in the Atrium.

The Tools

Searching

Identifying

The Collaborative Process

Tae Pham and Sadie Thau work together to find out what

letters make up the English word kitchen.

Documenting

Isaac Rothman-Tierney Jacob Gerstein

Recognizing

Riley Shafer investigates.

Team Work!

Journal Work:

Tae Pham Isaac Rothman-Tierney

Sadie Thau

What are the Children Learning?

Cognitive Development: • Sign and symbol recognition

• Sound symbol relationship

• Memory, recall, using previous knowledge of English

language to interpret the Hebrew alphabet and letters.

Language Development: • Phonetic awareness

• Muscle coordination

• Connecting Hebrew and English languages

Language Development: • Letter and word knowledge

• Vocabulary

• Awareness of symbols and letters

• Connection between Hebrew and English

• Pre-literacy skills

Social Emotional Development: • Impulse control

• Awareness of others and their needs, compromise

• Sharing space and resources

• Community building with greater Jewish

community.

• Collaboration through group work

Future Projections

• Hebrew letter

memory game

• Exploring the Sheva

Middot

• Continuing to

practice the

Hebrew alphabet

during facilitated

learning time.

“Torah. It is a tree of life to those

who hold fast to it. Its ways are

delight, and all its paths are

peace.” - Proverbs