A white lie

Today, the Tenth of Tevet. Several of my students asked me if I was fasting. Well, I wasn't quite fasting - having drank some liquid in order to swallow some medication in the morning - but silence is the same as acquiesence... Those children who asked me, smiled and replied "I'm fasting too". I thought it would set an educational example - a grown up fasting. Also, it would be complex to explain about medicine.

I had to correct them in their davening; they knew it was a special day and so they wanted to add יעלה ויבוא in the תפילת עמידה... Though actually they proved themselves not capable of all praying nicely together, so at first I chose a chazan to set the pace, but even that didn't work so in the end they all prayed by themselves.

I've started something new in my third grade classes: when I write a child's name on the board for being exceptionally good or for misbehaving, I now write it in English. This lends it a special charm as they recognize whether it is their name, and try and figure out whose it is. They all know their own name by now - or should.

We - the English team - sat with the computer teacher today in order to understand what the new school website is like and how to upload things to their. We put together an attractive page of English links including short descriptions. The reason I called this meeting is because I have some pictures I'd like to put on the site from my fourth grade class - of the students with different objects from around the world. However, I've been told that for legal reasons I should first get the parents' written permission.

--Shifra