1st/2nd Grade 2/2/14

Dear First/Second Grade Families,

On Sunday, your child and I learned about Rosh Chodesh. A minor Jewish festival, Rosh Chodesh is the Hebrew term for the beginning of a new month on the Jewish calendar and is marked by the appearance of the new moon. It literally means “head of the month” just as “Rosh HaShanah” (the Jewish New Year) means “head of the year.” The Hebrew calendar follows the cycle of the moon and is therefore a lunar calendar. To help students understand and remember this spiritual festival, we read The North Star by Peter Reynolds (a book about personal choices, helping others and creative thinking, all of which are important themes during Rosh Chodesh) and made a fun craft to teach the phases of the moon and their names.

Shavua tov,

Nia Taylor