Sweet as Honey

Wow, can you believe it? We just finished our first month of school. I am so proud of all they have learned already.  This month we have learned three hebrew letters and 2 vowels, and if that isn't enough they also learned about their Hebrew names and practiced how to write them.

 To read Hebrew, just like English, you take the letter sound and combine it with the vowel sound. I describe it as simple math. Just like 1+1=2, letter sound + vowel sound = whole sound.

THE LETTER BET

The letter בּ BET makes a "b" sound and we remember who BET is by its belly button and bench in the back.  It also looks like a basketball hoop with a basketball.  Visual cues like these are very helpful in helping your child differentiate between letters. We will be using such cues for each of the letters of the Aleph-Bet.  

                         

THE LETTER TAV

The letter ת TAV makes a "t" sound and has a tail and sometimes a tickle spot.  Tav also happens to be the last letter of the Aleph-Bet.  

Here are some words we learned that start with a ת:

Torah                            תּוֹרָה

Baby            Tee-nok    תִּינוֹק

Date             Ta-mar     תָּמָר

Thank you    Toe-da     תּוֹדָה

THE LETTER SHIN

The letter שׁ SHIN has become a part of the growing list of letters that we know. שׁ (shin) makes a "sh" sound and can be found in words like שׁלום (Shalom). 

Here are some words we learned that start with a שׁ:

Seven Sheh-va  שֶׁבַע

Year Sha-nah שָׁנָה

Shofar Sho-far שׁוֹפָר

Necklace    Shar-sheh-reht  שַׁרְשֶׁרֶת

Shalom שָׁלוֹם

Shabbat שַׁבָּת

VOWELS WE KNOW

In addition to our 3 new letters, we have learned 2 vowels! They are the kamatz and patach . They both make the sound "ah" like Aqua. Or we remember the doctor says "open up and say ah". These vowels are only found under letters. Remember, to read Hebrew you have to take the letter sound and combine it with the vowel sound. For example , בּ plus a kamatz or patach = בָּ (bah)

         KAMATZ           

PATACH