First grade is working on a unit on time and on Thursday, April 15th, Class 1W and 1X had a visit from Shimmy's dad (or tatie), Jeffrey Wohlberg. He brought in his extensive and precious clock collection to share with us. As an avid clock collector and restorer, he explained to the students how before the 1940's most people did not wear wristwatches, but instead carried pocket watches, like some of the ones he displayed. He had some tiny ones and some larger ones, dating from the early 1900's and from countries like France and England. My Wohlberg's favorite clock has Aleph Bet letters instead of numbers, and the hands move backwards, like the Hebrew alphabet. There was a fascinating army watch from the time of World War II with twenty-four numbers, not twelve; Mr. Wohlberg explained the concept of Army Time. This clock was in a special container to keep it safe when it was taken on flights during the war. The children were able to pass it around and feel it in their own hands. There was a beautiful ladies' watch that could be kept in a pocketbook, with a retractable cover. There was even one with a bird that kept time to the hour! Mr. Wohlberg showed us old-fashioned alarm clocks that needed to be wound up, which were used before the electric or battery operated ones came into use. Many of the clocks had moving figures or pictures on them. He brought in only one wristwatch, with a picture of Moshe Dayan on the face, which was quite fascinating. He told us that he has many more clocks and watches at home and will be donating a cuckoo clock to our class. Thank you so much, Mr. Wohlberg, for visiting and making this unit come alive for us!