1st & 2nd Grade

Teacher: Danise Hauser

September 2, 2010

Welcome to Congregation Beth Israel’s 1st-2nd Grade Bet Sefer Class!

I’m Danise Hauser, your child’s teacher.  I’m thrilled you have decided to provide your child a Jewish education, and equally pleased that I will get to know your family better over the course of the year.  This letter will help you make the most of our journey together.

 

About Your Teachers

I am passionate about teaching, and equally passionate about Judaism.  I look forward to my time with your precious young children all week.  As a home schooling teacher to 3 sons 5 to 14, I recognize and constantly work to engage different learning styles in fun and dynamic lessons.  As someone who made the commitment to explore and accept Judaism as her spiritual path, I love to watch eyes sparkle as your children and I delight in Judaism’s basic principles and holiday observances.  Judaism is a gift I am immeasurably blessed to share with my children and yours.  I  enjoy photography, gardening, raising chickens, the humor of family life, my long-time husband Tony, and mindfulness.

 

Mike Hauser is our class assistant, or “madrich.”  Madrich Mike loves to work with young children, and their response shows they know it.  At 14, Mike is an adult in Jewish law.  He runs a lawn mowing business on his own and a DJ business with friends.  Mike served as a Counselor in Training for the JCC’s Camp Ruach this summer.  His hobbies include exploring computer software, drawing, and playing video games.

 

About the Class

This year, all year long, we study mitzvot, commonly translated “good deeds,” but more correctly “commandments.”  I love mitzvot!  These principles, translated into actions, help weave Jewish thought and Torah into our daily lives.  Mitzvot are constant reminders that we carry God within ourselves, that we are able to heal the world one act at a time.  Service makes our lives meaningful.  Isn’t that a great counterpoint for the materialistic culture in which we live?

 

Class Theme: Mitzvot

School Theme: Building a Better World

 

To weave school and home together, your child will carry home a Mitzvah Pouch each week.  Your assignment is simple but profound.  With your child, please write one mitzvah each week (from the many he or she does) on the hand-shaped papers inside, and send that pouch back on Sunday along with some tzedakah to donate.  Your child will proudly  post his or her mitzvah on our Mitzvah Tree each week, and talk about the power of tzedakah in building a better world.

Your child will glow with pride and involvement provided you support him or her with this simple weekly exercise.  Failing to send the pouch back, on the other hand, will not lend good feelings to this exercise.  I suggest you place the pouch in a prominent, can’t-forget location during the week.

 As we’re compiling a book of mitzvot to unveil at the end of the year, you won‘t see a lot of paper art coming home each week.  You are welcome to view this art on display in our classroom, however, and talk about it with your child.

 Brace yourself for experiential learning!  Fresh-baked challah braided by your child is headed your way, as are field trips and classroom guests. 

 You will be kept informed, and hopefully, inspired.  Because we know to every parent‘s eager “what did you learn in school today?” the answer is “nothing” or “I don’t know,” email and print communications will help keep you informed.  For our weaving of home and school to take place, ultimately building a Jewish identity for your child, your awareness of what’s going on in class is essential.  I will send at least one weekly email, and sometimes printed sheets of information.

 

Can You Spare 10 Minutes?

You’ve taken the first step - your child is enrolled.  But your job isn’t finished.

 Your attitude as you wake the kids for Bet Sefer on Sunday, feed them breakfast, and drive them to class is exactly the attitude they carry into class. 

 It is far easier to share joy with kids who come “ready to explore today’s adventure” than those complaining “I didn’t get to sleep in.” 

 If you park the car and stay for our first 10 minutes of assembly each week, they learn that Mom and Dad value Bet Sefer and all things Jewish.  If you boot the kids from the car and head to Starbucks every week, they learn that you value achieving coffee more than giving of yourself within the Jewish community.  So what good, really, is a study of doing mitzvot?

 Please consider the message you want to send your child, and make sure your actions support it.  

 

Please save the date for our first whole-family field trip:

Sukkot Potluck Brunch in the Hauser Family Sukkah
25 Melrose Avenue 28804
Sunday, September 26th nestled into Bet Sefer class time, 10:15 AM -12 noon


March 19, 2010

Parents and students of Bet Sefer's 1st/2nd grade,

Last Sunday, your child carried home our class Pesach Cookbooks - feel free to add family recipes to these starter samples. Also, with Pesach right around the corner, consider using your child's Bedikat Chametz kit to search out intentionally hidden chametz the night before the holiday starts. Does life get more exciting than having an impromptu burning ritual (with Mom and Dad) for cracker crumbs on your driveway? Finally, we created Seder Plates you may choose to have on your seder table. Seders represent great potential for fun and creativity - don't make the mistake of expecting your youngster to sit around the table for hours behaving like little adults! Our table in the foyer suggests fun ways to involve kids' hearts - and bodies - in retelling our liberation story.

We will continue our study of the Jewish Life Cycle this week by discussing how the community is involved, and what rituals are practiced, when a loved one dies. Rochelle Reich (Alex's mom) will come in to share her remembrances of these things in her own life during the time she lost her mother, long-time synagogue maven Toby Cohen. Please remember we always welcome any parents who would like to stay with us in class.

Consider talking with your child this week about a family member or pet you miss, but who brought you much joy in life. We will be working hard to help kids recognize how much someone beloved (having 2 feet or 4, or fins or feathers) adds to our lives, even long after they are gone.

FOR SUNDAY 3/28: Your child will sing Mah Nishtanah and the Frog Song for parents, students and teachers of Bet Sefer during our seder. We hope you will stay to celebrate with us.

Fondly, Danise Hauser

 

March 12, 2010

Last Sunday was a day of celebrating the different ways Jewish families form. Ali Climo, Avery's mom, presented the story of her engagement and wedding to Sebastian Matthews, who is not Jewish, and the many very conscious elements of love and Jewish tradition they embraced to create their family. We all admired their family-made quilt and sculpture that speak to their family's love and identity. We all sat, breathless, as Ali described their joyful journey to make their family whole through adoption --especially the precious moment they met baby Avery.

Avery led his friends in the production of their own paper quilts symbolic of their families, and created Play-doh sculptures as well. Some sculptures showed family members, and others symbols of love and happiness: hearts, spirals, dots. The classroom was alight with warmth and contemplation and gratitude for our own families, and distinct appreciation of their differences. What unites all of these very different families are the threads of Judaism and Jewish values that run through them, and bring us together as a community. Check out those beautiful quilts on the bulletin board outside our classroom.

FOR THIS SUNDAY: A Pre-Pesach extravaganza! Come with tzedakah and ready for fun as we get ready to celebrate one of our fondest Jewish holidays.

SAVE THE DATE: Our Bet Sefer seder bursts on the scene Sunday the 28th. We'll have parents in a play, and our own class will perform 2 songs, Mah Nishtanah (The Four Questions) and The Frog Song. Don't miss it!

Thanks to each of you who, through your support and through the wonder of your child, share your precious lives with us.

Fondly, Danise Hauser

 

March 5, 2010

Hello, parents and students of the Bet Sefer 1st-2nd grade.

What a zany day we all enjoyed last week for Purim! The students performed beautifully along with our 3 teen assistants - a Purimshpiel worthy of Vaudeville. Well done! And what rocking costumes! Thanks to all for helping your child select a gift to give; this exercise in giving from the heart cannot be underestimated.

Thanks to Mike Hauser, Cassidy Cramer, and special guest Elliot Silverman for inspired comic performances alongside our cherubic students.

Our guest series rolls on this Sunday with Ali and Sebastian Climo presenting recollections from their wedding and Avery's adoption. Our lesson will introduce the many ways our Jewish community grows: through birth, conversion, adoption, and more!

Finally in our Life Cycle Buddy study unit, would any of you care to come and share with us your experience with Jewish end-of-life practices? Would you like to share the story of a pet you've lost as we explore thoughts and feelings upon losing someone you love? Don't miss this limited-time offer to participate in your child's class. Call now! But wait...that's not all...

FOR SUNDAY: Please remember to send your child with tzedakah and a smile. We'll take it from there.

With gratitude for the gift of time with your children (and today's sunshine, too), Danise Hauser

 

February 21, 2010

Parents of Bet Sefer's wonderful 1st/2nd graders,

Today's class found our students:
• Standing under a chuppah as Tom and Rebecca Gholson shared highlights of their Jewish wedding
• Smashing his or her own wedding cup created in an exercise led by Mrs. Gholson
• Decorating and eating our own wedding cakes with whipped cream and sprinkles
• Decorating ketubot (wedding contracts) for our life cycle buddies
• Creating beautiful wooden masks for Purim next week

Thanks to the Gholson family for sharing with us the joy of standing under their own special family chuppah.
FOR NEXT SUNDAY: Please plan to join us next Sunday Feb 27th for Bet Sefer's Purim Family Program, which will include plays, a mishloach manot gift exchange, and eating hamentaschen. Your child should bring something from home that he or she enjoyed but is now ready to pass on to a friend, simply wrapped. Costumes are encouraged, for children and adults alike. We will come up with a short play featuring the costumes the children wear to class. This is a zany holiday filled with fun - help us create the mood!

Shavua Tov, Danise Hauser

 

January 24, 2010

Parents of Bet Sefer's spectacular 1st/2nd graders,

Today's class found 6 of our 8 students:
• Proudly contributing tzedakah for Haiti - thanks, parents!
• Practicing our play for the Tu b'Shevat Family Program next Sunday
• Making and naming our life cycle buddies. (All 3 boys named theirs "Bobby" -- go figure.)
• Learning 2 nigguns with Penny

Thanks to Rebecca Gholson, Ali Climo, Mike Hauser and Elliot Silverman for agreeing to share a few of their life cycle simchas (joys) with us in coming weeks.

FOR NEXT WEEK: Please plan to join us next Sunday, January 31st, for the Tu b'Shevat Family Program, which will include family activities, a seder, and class plays. Our final practice for the play is 10 AM sharp - your punctuality will help your kids feel confident and successful in our production.

Shavua tov, Danise Hauser

 

January 18, 2010

Parents of Bet Sefer's precious 1st/2nd graders,

Yesterday's class found our students:
• Discussing how our school tzedakah is feeding Haitian kids and families following the earthquake
• Singing "We Shall Overcome" and discussing Jewish involvement in the civil rights struggle in honor of Martin Luther King Jr Day
• Painting wooden palm trees for Tu B'shevat, our "Jewish Earth Day"
• Practicing a play for the Tu B'shevat family program on Sunday, January 31st
• Practicing the Four Questions, "Mah Nishtana" song for Pesach in April


Next week, we will create a "life cycle buddy" for each child. This foam character will be a focal point for the kids over the next few weeks as we take each one through the Jewish life cycle: birth, Jewish learning, bar/bat mitzvah, marriage, and death. The character will collect symbols for each stage (for example, a tallis, a Torah, something like a paper doll). We hope to have guests come into the classroom to describe Jewish life cycle events in their own lives. Please contact me this week if you would like to spend 20 minutes or so in an upcoming class sharing your thoughts, feelings, and mementos from your own Jewish wedding, or your personal experience with the passing of someone dear to you. Also let me know if you would like more information about our life cycle buddies or the lessons involving them.

FOR NEXT WEEK: please email me your child's Hebrew name. Also, please provide your child the meaningful joy of giving tzedakah each week.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Please plan to join us for our Tu B'shevat Family Program at 10 AM on Sunday, January 31st. Parents and their children together will play hands-on games, enjoy a simple seder, and watch creative presentations from each class. Great material for making memories.

Shavuah Tov, Danise Hauser

 

Nov 1, 2009

Many thanks to Alan Silverman for stepping in last week to instruct the students in Beit Tefillin, the synagogue as a place of worship. And happy birthdays to both Adina Weizman and Ethan Kirsch.

After a musical warm-up this morning with Penny (in which we learned Jewish thought tells us each day we awaken with a pure soul -- a fresh start)we moved to the classroom to study the concept of: Beit Midrash, the synagogue as a place of study. The students divided into teams and participated in perhaps their first chevruta, study of Hebrew texts with a partner. We studied familiar blessings. Adina's favorite part of the Rabbi's blessing is "may God reach out to you in tenderness," and Isabel pondered what that tenderness might feel like. The class responded with many suggestions, including "like when you're holding your cat, and it purrs," and "when my mom kisses me good night." Ah, the magic of chevruta.

Our own studies continued with a quick review of several types of books from the CBI library, examples of those Jews might study. The kids identified books on Israel, history, Torah stories, and Hebrew. A memory game followed. Finally, we constructed our own synagogues from wooden blocks - a great idea from our assistant, Mike.

Our day ended with 40 happy bodies achieving varied levels of success with line dancing led by Josefa, and parents' smiling faces pressed against the glass windows in the doors of the JCC gym, watching us. Bet Sefer was a wonderful place to be today. We missed you, Alex and Ethan and Abigail Rose.

Next week Davida Horwitz will teach about the synagogue as a place of meeting while the Hausers celebrate Mike's first weekend as an official bar mitzvah. Thanks in advance to Davida!

Fondly, and stay well, Danise :]

 

The synagogue reverberated with joyful voices celebrating Simchat Torah on Sunday, and were the 1st and 2nd graders ever a part of it! After our 7 hakafot (processions) around the sanctuary, dancing and singing with our beautiful Torahs, we took a guided tour of the Torah with Rabbi Cabelli. The real thing! Proud smiles grew wider as Rabbi featured for all attendees the illustrations of Torah stories our class drew last week based on the book of Numbers. Games followed outside, led in part by our able assistants, Mike Hauser and Danielle Dror.

Thanks to all who worked to assemble such a wonderful program for our children during Bet Sefer's celebration of Simchat Torah.

Have a wonderful week, families!
Fondly, Danise

 

What a wonderful start to our Sukkot-themed class this morning: imagining who we would invite to our sukkah! The 1st and 2nd graders decided to invite God, Jewish family members, people we would like to know better, our ancestors, and Mickey Mouse to our sukkah. Why Mickey Mouse, you might ask? Because he feels special to us, and we want to feel special in the magic of our sukkah. (Interestingly, our b'nei mitzvah class at Bet Sefer decided to invite Mickey Mouse too - their idea was to teach Mickey Mouse about Judaism so the beloved character could become an ambassador of good will toward the Jewish people.) We continued this discussion of welcoming guests to our sukkah in class, and the kids shared their feelings that inviting God might be easiest, since God is in the ground, in us, and everywhere already.

We enjoyed taking turns shaking the lulav and etrog in our CBI sukkah, then learned a great song with Penny to help us remember the shaking pattern. The "shake it all around" part elicited some funny moves and giggles from all. We were blessed with several parents who shared the fun with us in the sukkah.

In class, we learned about the requirements for a sukkah, and constructed our own from Play-doh and LEGOs! We particularly enjoyed seeing how each sukkah was different from the others, but still followed the basic requirements. You can view our LEGO sukkot in the lobby of the synagogue during Sukkot. At snacktime, sukkot made of Triscuits and string cheese magically appeared! Such creative kids these are.

We all wish Ethan a speedy recovery, and hope to see all the rest of the class next time. We were careful to wash hands and sanitize them when appropriate.

Thanks for a super day, parents and students! Every week, you teach and inspire me.

Wishing you a healthy and joyous week, Danise