Kitah Alef is enjoying learning with Ariot  אֲרִיאוֹת, the Lion of Hebrew Letters. The students love singing in Hebrew "Shir Alefbet" (Alphabet Song) , the days of the week and the 4 seasons of the year. Students learn a new Hebrew letter (אוֹת - Ote) each week! This week we learned the Hebrew letter ש Shin and a new vowel to add to the first 3 we have already learned. Each week we read a simple story featuring the letter of the week with Ariot.  The story this week is "Shabbat Shalom" featuring Shachar, Sharona, (two students in the virtual Kitah Alef classroom) and the vocabulary Shalom, Shabbat, & Shabbat Shalom. Students play games in

Shabbat Shalom from  Kitah Alef :-)

Have you ever wondered what it was like along the Susquehanna River, right outside our school windows, in 1764?  Author Conrad Richter, in the early 1950's, wondered exactly the same thing. As a result, he wrote The Light in the Forest, which was published in 1953.

Our seventh and eighth graders have just concluded reading this remarkable novel. We have learned about the relationships between the Lenni Lenape Indians and the white settlers, focusing on the character of True Son. True Son, also known as Johnny Butler, was a  white boy who had been kidnapped by the Indians and was raised by them until the age of twelve.  He was then returned to his birth family as a result of a new treaty. Needless to say, the dramatic plot opened up many opportunities for the students to explore the conflicts (both internal and external),figurative language, imagery, contrast, suspense, irony, and point of view. A walk along the "Mighty Susquehanna" will never be the same for our Middle School students of literature!!

We are looking forward to sharing our creative projects based on this novel. 

 

The setting for our class novel, The Light in the Forest, is right outside our window!