This week we began to study the Ashrei. We looked at the structure of the prayer (an alphabetic acrostic) and I challenged students to write their own prayers in English, following the same structure. These were a lot of fun, and some are quite beautiful. I'll be posting them on our bulletin board this week.
In our Prophets book, we're up to the period of the Kings who ruled Israel. We've read about Saul, the first King, and his successor, David. On Thursday the students drew comic strips of the story of David and Goliath. These too will be up on the bulletin board.
We've also begun a new read aloud - The King of Mulberry Street:
From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. Drawing on her grandfather's experience, Napoli dramatizes a seldom-told bit of American history in this story of Italian Jewish young people in the 1890s. Beniamino, who lives in Napoli, is only nine years old when his beloved, poverty-stricken Mama bribes someone to hide him away on a cargo ship to America. His lively, immediate first-person narrative recalls the trauma of separation and the brutal struggle on the New York streets, where, renamed "Dom," he makes two Italian friends, and they start a business selling sandwiches. He keeps his Jewish identity secret, even as he tries to follow kosher rules. Always his dream is to return home. The characters are drawn with depth, especially the three kids, and the unsentimental story is honest about the grinding poverty and the prejudice among various immigrant groups. Most moving is the story of letting go, as Dom confronts the fact that Mama sent him away, and America is now his home. Connect this with Mary Auch's Ashes of Roses (2002), about Irish kids left alone in New York. Hazel Rochman
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