Torah Toy: Alef Beis

Monday, February 4, 2013

Daled is for Dollars

And here comes the letter Daled! We glued on paper dollars right on the letter Daled. We first spread the glue to make sure it covers all the surface and then folded the paper dollars. It was so much fun to see the letter Daled turn into Dollars! Once dried, we were able to "feel" letter Daled and make the sound.

Paper money is always good to have around. We mostly use it for math unit or for pretend-play. The kids usually ask me for the paper money during center time. The grocery corner is the most popular center and the most looked after. Once free play is over, I just hope a get all my "money" back ;)

To work on the rest of the letters, read more about "My Aleph Bais Touch!" by following this link.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

My Aleph Bais Touch!

Click here to download the PDF file!

This is a great way to teach the Aleph-Bais sounds. Many children learn the Aleph-Bais (the typical way) with a Hebrew picture beside it, such as Bais is for Bubbah, Gimmel is for Glidah… and so on. But, I always find that this system does not work for all children.

For instance, when I was working with Tehilla, one of my students, I would point at letter Dalet with a Deles next to it, not only did she not remember the sound, but did not know how to say door in Hebrew. So we started making “My Aleph –Bais Touch” book I was amazed how fast Tehilla started picking up the sounds. Not only that, but she looked forward in learning a new sounds.

“My Aleph-Bais Touch” consists of the Hebrew letters with a tactile material glued to it. Since Aleph is silent, we left it blank. We then moved to Bais, Tehilla glued colorful buttons all over it. Once dried, she placed her hand over the buttons while whispering “buttons.” After a few seconds, she looked at me and made the Bais sound. Slowly we continued moving on to different sounds.

Why was the “My Aleph-Bais Touch” a success with Tehilla? Well, some children learn through touch. This sensory activity was a wonderful way for her to learn and retain the sounds she has already learned. Also, Tehilla was able to associate the letter to something that was familiar to her or/and English words in her vocabulary.

Every week we’ll be working on a different letter. You can print out the cover and the Aleph Bais letters by following this link. The best way to make “My Aleph- Bais Touch” is to print out the letters on hard paper, hole punch and place them in a loose-leaf. Keep the glue around and maybe some tape to paste the materials on the letters. “My Aleph-Bais Touch” will look fantastic when completed!

Get yourself ready by printing out your letters and gathering the material needed. You are about to take an Aleph- Bais adventure… Touch!

Veis is for Velcro