Bemaalot Hakriah 5
Book to learn how to read in Hebrew without Nikud level 5
To whom is it directed?
Third of Primary – 8 years old (the time the school introduces Rashi´s writing).
Lenght of the book:
Reading: 110 pages (11-120)
Writing: 30 pages (121-150)
Theme of the book:
Strengthening reading and writing.
Purpose of the book:
Fortifies and deepens concepts of reading and writing.
Caracteristics:
Bemaalot Hakria Hei is a very new book which fortifies and deepens concepts of reading and writing.
It perfections difficult aspects of reading, through a very thorough repeating of the themes which have been studied before and reading starts without Nikud to prepare for reading Rashi.
Besides it dedicates itself to teach Rashis writing in a systematic fashion, permitting the children to learn this difficult task easily. It encompasses also gematrias and orientation for the Chumash.
Besides including the rules of Shva Na and other important abilities to perfect the reading. It suggests necessary guidelines for a correct and legible handwriting, being oriented to stay in the lines and being able to trace the letters correctly.
Content:
- Reading:
- Letters, Gematria and orientation of the Chumash – a breve review of the basics:
- A brief review of the letters – experience has shown that children even at this stage can confuse the names of the letters and their position in the Alef Beis. That’s why it is important to review and fine tune them, so orientation in the Chumash will be easier and writing according to listening, also (p.12-14).
- Gematrias and orientation in the Chumash – these aspects are necessary for teaching Chumash as well as for other Kodesh subjects (p. 15-24).
- Deepening and consolidating reading – this section continues to reinforce the more difficult subjects of reading on a higher level and to go over the teachings of prior years:
- A short review of the vowels – for future learning of grammatical concepts and to learn the rules of the Shva Na (p.26).
- Tnuot gedolot and Ktanot – the difference between them is essential to teach the rules of Shva Na which comes after a Tenua Gedola (p.27-29).
- Shva – in this chapter the 5 rules of Shva Na get completed in detail (more than it was taught in previous years) and with this chapter the children will complete maximum reading precision, differentiating correctly between Shva Na and Shva Nach (p.30-45).
- To go over the subjects that require references – for a deep internalizing of the topics studied in the past and the prevention of errors in their practical application. This book reaffirms briefly the following subjects: Kamatz Katan, different types of Dagesh < the Chatafim , Mapik – a dot in the letter ה at the end of a word, Patach Gnuva ( when the last letter of a word is ח ע or ה with Patach), Imot Hakria (silent letters- א ה ו י), syllable division , identifying and reading difficult words within a text (p. 46-73).
- Reading without punctuation – accompanies the child in its training step by step, focusing on how to learn to read without Nikud , an ability which is without a doubt very important for future learning and development of the language, especially for Gemara and its commentators for the next upcoming years. The teaching is carried out in form of a new and unique method step by step, which accompanies the child to give him security in identifying parts of a word, till the accomplishment to read without punctuation (p.76-95).
- Reading of Rashi – also this process is being realized in a systematic and structured form which gives the children the capacity to read Rashi in an easy way. This ability is also necessary to read Gemara and its commentators. The letters are divided into 3 groups: letters which are very similar to the writing, letters which are somehow similar and letters which are different. In this fashion the children learn the new letters gradually and with confidence and by completing that process they can learn passages in Rashis writing (p.96-120).
Writing:
In this chapter rules for correct writing are being presented in a profound way and from different aspects:
- How do we write properly on the line?: Basic rules for adequate writing and rules for a correct writing in the notebook, while the handwriting should be eligible in an orderly and pleasant appearance (p.122-128).
- Reviewing the handwriting: Repeating exercises especially letters the kids distort with the time, besides going over the letters ז and ג to distinguish them and the adequate use of the Sofiot (p.129-141).
- How to copy without errors: It’s a special technique to copy from the blackboard and to write by listening avoiding errors of orthography. It has shown that this method is especially efficient and has significantly diminished the mistakes made by the children in orthography (p.144-150).