Chapter 6

בס''ד
Ari’s Class Project

Thursday was an exciting day for grade 1.
Why, do you ask?
Start reading to find out........

The first week of the new school year was coming to an end. Mrs. Stein, Ari's teacher told the class that every Thursday afternoon, the grade 1's will get together for an assembly. Each week, one of the classes would be responsible for a short program. The assembly was for 45 minutes. Mrs. Stein said that the class would suggest the program and the class teacher would bring an interesting video.

Mrs. Stein continued, "this week, Rabbi Schwartz, the school principal, will do the program. Next week, we will be the first grade 1 responsible for the program. Does anyone have a suggestion what we can do? I will write them on the board and then we will vote."

Ari was the first to pick up his hand. "Let's go outside and play baseball. Our class against the other grade one. We will beat them one, two, three." Mrs. Stein wrote baseball on the green board. Nadav was next, "I think we should act out a story. We can go to the library during the week and pick out a book." Mrs. Stein wrote library and acting. Yoni suggested a song with actions and Itamar suggested playing a matching word game. "Let's just tell a nice story," said Dvir. "My Saba bought me a great book over the summer and I could bring it in." Gilad made the next suggestion. "I think we should have a brain teaser contest. Each person would get scrambled up hints and the first person to solve the puzzle would win. Mrs. Stein carefully wrote all the suggestions on the board. "Any more suggestions," she inquired.

Since no more hands went up, Mrs. Stein said it was time to vote. This will be a secret vote. I will give you a small piece of notepaper and you write down the suggestion that you liked best. The winner will be the one with the most votes.

The boys were all very excited. Each boy who made a suggestion hoped his would win. Five minutes later, Mrs. Stein asked Michael to collect all the note papers and put them in her basket. One by one she read the votes and made separate piles for each suggestion.

When all the votes were in their piles, Mrs. Stein counted the votes out loud and wrote the number on the board beside the suggestion. "Okay," said Mrs. Stein "all the note papers are counted." The board looked like this:

baseball 7
library and acting 3
song with actions 2
matching word game 4
tell a story 7
brain teaser 2

"Looks like we have a tie," said Mrs. Stein. "We will need a second vote. This time you can vote for either baseball or tell a story. Once again she handed out notepapers and the vote was on. After the notepapers were collected, counted and recorded, this is how the board looked:

baseball 12
tell a story 13

The winner was to tell a story. Ari was very disappointed that he lost the second vote. Mrs. Stein comforted him. She told Ari that he could make another suggestion next time. She said she was sure he was going to enjoy telling a nice story.

Mrs. Stein asked Dvir to bring his book to school the next day. She wanted to read it and decide on how the class would tell the story since they hadn't learnt to read yet.

That afternoon, the grade1's had their first assembly. While Rabbi Schwartz told a story all about Israel, he showed the children beautiful slides. When he was finished, he gave each child a booklet of pictures of Israel that they could color at home. When the assembly was over, both Ari and Avi went to Rabbi Schwartz to tell him that their grandparents lived in Israel and maybe they would go to visit during Chanukah vacation. "That's wonderful," said Rabbi Schwartz.
The next day, Dvir brought his book to school. Mrs. Stein said that she would read it over the weekend. On Monday, she would tell the class how they would tell the story at the assembly.

Friday was a half day in school. The morning passed very quickly and before anyone knew it, the bell was ringing. "Shabbat Shalom everyone," said Mrs. Stein. "Shabbat Shalom, Mrs. Stein," the boys replied.

One by one as each child left school, they said Shabbat Shalom to Rabbi Schwartz, who was standing at the outside door.

First thing Monday morning, Dvir picked up his hand and asked Mrs. Stein if she read his book. "I did," she replied "and you were right, this is a great storybook. I'm sure everyone will enjoy the story. I will read it to the class this afternoon. Then I will explain how we will get ready for the assembly."

Just before it was time to go home, Mrs. Stein read the book to the class. It was about a grandfather who invited his grandson to go fishing with him in his new red boat. The grandson learnt many lessons that day and both he and his grandfather had a wonderful time.

After hearing the story, the boys agreed this was a great story. Mrs. Stein said that the next day, she will bring a large roll of art paper to school. During the week, each boy will have a turn to draw a page of the book on the art paper. When the drawings are finished, they will hang up the art paper in the assembly room. "At the program," said Mrs. Stein, as I am reading the story, the children will be able to see pictures. Make sure you draw your pictures big."

All week, the boys worked very hard at their project. Every free moment was used to draw pictures. Finally all the art work was finished. Mrs. Stein said that she would arrange with the school janitor to help hang up the very large art paper.

Thursday afternoon was finally here. All the grade 1 children went to the assembly room. Rabbi Schwartz welcomed them and then said that the boys in Mrs. Stein's class would do the program today.

Mrs. Stein told the assembly that all the boys in her class had worked very hard and she hoped everyone would enjoy their project. She told the children that as she was reading the story, they should look at the pictures on the art paper on the wall.

Mrs. Stein started to read. "The name of this story is.......

Ben's Special Day"

"Ben called his Mother. Saba Chaim would like to speak to you on the telephone." "Hello," said Ben. "Hello," came the reply. "Are you doing anything special today," asked Saba." “Not really," said Ben. "Then how would you like to spend the day with me. We can go fishing down by the lake in my new red rowboat." Wow! Super, but first I have to ask my Mom," said Ben. "I'll call you back." Seconds later, Ben was asking his Mother for permission to spend the day with his grandfather. His mother said sure and Ben called back his grandfather. "Saba, when can you come and pick me up, asked Ben." "I'll be there in one hour, said Ben's grandfather.

One hour later, Saba Chaim arrived at Ben's house. His rusty old pick-up truck was towing a red rowboat. Ben and his Saba sang all the way to the lake. Finally they saw a sign that said, turn right for the lake. Five minutes later, Saba Chaim and Ben were at the lake.

Saba Chaim parked the pick-up truck. He then unhooked the rowboat. From the back of the truck, they took out all the fishing supplies. Two fishing rods and a can of worms.
Saba Chaim also brought a cooler full of treats.
"Let's go fishing." Ben excitedly shouted. "Not so fast." said Saba. "Fishing is a lot of fun. First, you need to learn two safety rules. Never jump or stand up in the rowboat. You could tip the boat and fall into the lake. Now put on your lifejacket. Let's go fishing." I will also put on a life jacket.

Together they pushed the rowboat into the lake. Ben climbed in and sat down. Saba Chaim pushed the boat a little further. Then he climbed in.

The oars were bright yellow. They were very heavy. Saba Chaim rowed the boat to the middle of the lake. He showed Ben how to put a worm on the fishing rod.

"I'm hungry," said Ben. Saba Chaim offered Ben a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He had a tuna sandwich.

After awhile Ben was getting tired of waiting for a fish to bite. Saba Chaim told Ben to be patient. "Tell me," said Saba Chaim. "What is black and white and read all over?"
Ben giggled and answered "A newspaper."

"My turn," said Ben. "How did the white horse turn black?" "Well," said Saba. "Let me see. Uhmmm, The horse painted himself?" "Nope," said Ben. "The horse fell into the
mud."

The day was getting late. Ben and his Saba didn't catch any fish.

Suddenly, there was a hard tug on Ben's fishing rod. "Saba Chaim," shouted Ben. "I need help. The fish is trying to get away. It is going to pull me into the water. I am not strong enough to pull in the fish."

Saba Chaim took Ben's rod and gave a strong pull. Ben had caught a great big fish.

"What do we do now?" asked Ben, quite proud of himself. "I will take some pictures of you and your fish. Then we will throw him back into the lake," replied Saba Chaim.
All the way home, Ben couldn't stop talking about his great big fish. He was excited to tell his parents.

Home at last. Ben hugged and kissed his grandfather. "This was my best day. Thank-you for taking me fishing,"
he said.

When she finished reading the story, all the children clapped. Mrs. Stein then showed a short video. She thanked all the children for coming and she said that’s she wanted to especially thank Dvir for lending the class his book and all the boys in her class who made the story come alive.

"Next week, Mrs. Katz's class will have the honors." said Mrs. Stein.

The children all went back to their class. The boys in Mrs. Stein's class were quite proud of themselves. Ari told Mrs. Stein, he had a great time telling a story. With that, the bell rang and everyone was dismissed.

See you soon.
Have a great week!
Safta Miriam