Hebrew School classes at The Levy Library

Hebrew School Class Visits – posted 5/8/25

Dear Parents,

Though normally this month would have been the turn of the older classes to come to the library, they needed the time to concentrate on other work, so I saw the younger grades again. On Sunday Morah Kayla’s Kindergarten, Morah Odelia’s 1^st grade, and Morah Lynne’s 2^nd grade came to the library. Then on Tuesday it was the turn of Morah Kayla’s 1^st/2^nd graders.

These were the last library visits of the school year. But remember that children can always drop into the library before or after Hebrew School, and (on Sundays) during the break to return a book and sign out a new one even if I am not in that day – just use the sign-out sheet on my desk. You don’t even have to make it to the library — you are also welcome to borrow books from the hallway displays by the classrooms. Only adults should remove books from the displays, though, so children don’t catch their fingers.

So, back to the class visits….with Morah Kayla’s Kindergarten I read Kayla and Kugel, the first in a peppy series about Kayla (a girl) and Kugel (her rambunctious dog). In this first book, Kayla enlists Kugel’s help to get the table ready for Shabbat, and you can imagine how that goes! Of course the children remarked on how Kayla was their teacher’s name and also the name of a student’s sister. I explained that kugel was a noodle pudding and one student ended up borrowing a cookbook to make kugel at home! To follow up, use this book as a story prompt: how could your family’s pet help you all get ready for Shabbat? Then together draw a picture of the mayhem! If you don’t have a pet, imagine how a cat or a dog or a bird could help – or hinder.

I read Rising, a Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor Book — that’s the silver medal you see on the cover — to Morah Odelia’s 1^st graders. Delicate illustrations follow the Ima and her son as they make challah for Shabbat. But there is a second, more subtle, story of “rising” too — the pregnant mother has a baby in her arms by the end of the book. Talk about the word “rise” and think of other things that grow bigger and taller. It’s also a good word to pair with a rhyme: “wise,” “eyes,” “prize,” etc.

Morah Kayla requested a story about Israel for her Tuesday 1^st/2^nd graders, so I read them Stork’s Landing, a wildlife rescue story set on a kibbutz that is on a stork migration route. Protagonist Maya (and yes, the children had family members with that name) notices when a female stork gets caught in a net and breaks her wing. She and Abba take care of Yaffa – Maya gives the stork the Hebrew name for “pretty” or “beautiful” – and eventually they figure out how to find her a mate! Follow up by talking about how to help an injured animal.

I shared Eighteen Flowers for Grandma: A Gift of Chai with Morah Lynne’s 2^nd graders. This is a beautiful new book about creative inspiration. Sadie wants to give her Grandma a graduation gift of eighteen flowers – eighteen because “chai” is written with the eighth and tenth letters of the aleph-bet, which add up to eighteen; and flowers because Grandma loves painting them. Like Grandma, Sadie is very artistic, but even though she tries different approaches, nothing is “Grandma enough.” Finally Sadie pulls out all of her art supplies and creates a bouquet of eighteen flowers, each one a distinct creation.

Along the way we learn that Grandma enjoys Marc Chagall’s flower paintings, so I showed the children a picture book biography of the artist, called Through the Window: Views of Marc Chagall’s Life and Art, and we looked at some of his paintings. To learn a bit about Chagall, watch this video called “Marc Chagall in 60 seconds.” It doesn’t mention that he was Jewish, but you can add that. And to extend the experience of Eighteen Flowers for Grandma, make flowers to give to someone you love!

You are welcome to come to the library before Hebrew School starts. Young builder Noah Ghasri and his family come regularly. Here you can see Noah’s latest creation, a tower of cushions taller than he is! Is playing with cushions a waste of time? No! It is a great STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) learning activity. Noah also counted the cushions and he and his sister Leah later arranged them by color (4 of each color x 5 colors = 20 cushions).

Ask me about the small collection of STEAM books I have in the library. You can also see them listed on the library catalog home page – scroll down until you see “STEAM Preschool Picture Books.”

Shabbat Shalom and keep reading this summer!

Your librarian, Annette (library@sephardictemple.org)