September 2013 Updates: Hahgoot’s school news The school has a new summer dress, which is actually a retro design from the 80’s!

The biggest news from school this term was that the principal has retired. We might still see him around, as his daughter bought one of the units in our strata! Barak: They learn after 7 years to jump and throw a basketball! Truly impressive!! I guess the quote from Einstein at the end means we would still remember how to jump hurdles?!

Hahgoot did a presentation in class about Rosh Ha’shana (the Jewish New Year) and even wrote “Shana Tova” in Hebrew on the whiteboard. She was very excited about this as the kids had to copy it into their workbooks (they have been studying about celebrations this term). I think she really enjoys being in the teacher’s role... Hmm, teaching does run in our family genetically...

I watched with the girls a DVD series called “Heston’s Feasts”, about the ultra creative dinners created by the amazing chef Heston Blumenthal. The imaginative feasts are inspired by history and famous works of literature and both girls were fascinated and sometimes disgusted (he is happy to try and cook nearly anything...dead or alive!). The first feast was inspired by “Charlie and the chocolate factory” so Hahgoot asked to read that book. I had it in Hebrew so she at last got to do a big jump in her Hebrew reading into age appropriate chapter books. Despite being fascinated by the story, she still whined a lot about the amount of words per page... But that is still progress and less negativity.

We also moved forward with her Jewish studies: She can now read straight from the Bible in Hebrew (with a lot of assistance to understand the text, of course) and we started working slowly with a workbook from Israel about the book of Genesis (Bereshit).

Left: Hahgoot made a humorous illustration for the days of creation: what would have happened if the wrong animal was created on the wrong day? The birds are saving the cat from the shark, poor thing... Right: Hahgoot is still very enthusiastic about her BJE studies. She wrote a great song for the holiday of Simchat Torah. You can sing it to the tune of “The Incy-Wincy Spider”.

Hahgoot studied seriously about the High Holiday. She found the acrostic poem a big challenge...

But don’t worry too much about all those Jewish studies... She also designed her favourite cheeseburger recipe...

She has been working well in her Hebrew workbooks. Here she is doing a workbook about science.

After all those studies indoors it is always good to roll on the grass at school... She is so lucky to have such a nice school! Here Alma and Hahgoot are having fun with Adrian. In our next presentation: A special school excursion!