השפה העברית חיה, נושמת ומתחדשת מאז ימי אליעזר בן-יהודה ועד היום. כדי לעורר את הילדים לאהבת השפה ולהוקרת חידושה, אפשר לקרוא ספרים נפלאים שמעלים על נס את השפה העברית ואת תחייתה, ועוסקים באותיות האל"ף בי"ת, במילים ובמשמעותן.
This book exposes children to an exciting period in history, and invites a discussion of their feelings in day-to-day situations. You can discuss with your children and ask: Why was Milka concerned and indecisive on the night before Baron de Rothschild’s visit? What do you think of the choice she made? Are there rules in kindergarten that differ from the ones you have at home too? Which ones?
to the page containing the words that Mr. Yudilovitz, the teacher, sent to his friend, and try to pronounce them, or even use them in a sentence: “Can you pass me the Handtuch, please?” How about thinking together about all the non-Hebrew words we use in our daily lives and what their Hebrew alternatives are? You can try to invent new Hebrew words together too.
Have you noticed the grey donkey that appears in almost every illustration? The illustrations in this book are full of details, color, and text. You can pause on each page, look at the illustrations, and discover the things that interest you, while searching for the little donkey that accompanies this entire story.
It feels good to successfully do something for the first time – reading, writing, and what else? You could discuss memories of “firsts” – theirs or yours – together with your child: scoring a goal, riding a bike, swimming, or solving a riddle. And what else?
This book can be read using the illustrations too. You could look for words in them, and try to read them with your child while identifying letters and discovering interesting details added by the illustrator.
The world is full of words – perhaps you can choose a definition from the book and make a list of words for it: funny words, dancing words, mischievous words, or blossoming words. Words as long as a giraffe, or short ones. Or you may want to make a list of your favorite words.
You may want to discuss your experience of acquiring Hebrew: What were the first words you said as toddlers? Did you invent any words? Do you, parents, know what the first words you said were? Did you acquire another language? If you learned to speak Hebrew at a later stage, you could discuss the experience of learning the language, and discover what language you speak when you dream at night.
Which word does your family like, and why? Are there any words that you have invented, and only your family members understand? Perhaps some of those words have a special story behind them? You may enjoy collecting stories from family members: a word of friendship, a special term of endearment, or secret family codeword.
In Hebrew the game is called Chai, Tzomeach, Domem (animal, vegetable, thing). Select a letter, and participants must name animals, vegetables and things starting with the letter selected.
Rakevet [train], mapuhit [harmonica], and kruvit [cauliflower] are just some of the words that Eliezer Ben Yehuda invented. Others appear on the second to last page of this book. You could take turns to choose two words from this page and use them in a sentence: a sentence containing the words haftaa [surprise] and ganenet [kindergarten teacher], or ganenet [kindergarten teacher] and tizmoret [orchestra], or how about tizmoret [orchestra] and nazelet [nasal mucus]? Do you think you could put a small story together featuring all the words on this page?
Rabbi Yechiel Michel Pines (1843–1913) was involved in the purchase of lands, setting up the Academy of the Hebrew Language with Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Rabbi Pines invented new Hebrew words, such as agvania [tomato] and shaon [clock/watch].
Nissim Behar (1848–1931) founded the Torah Umelacha School in Jerusalem where Hebrew was taught in Hebrew. Eliezer Ben Yehuda was a teacher at this school.
Hayim Nahman Bialik (1873–1934) – the national poet was a key activist at the Academy of the Hebrew Language, inventing professional terms in fields such as music and the playing of musical instruments. Matos [airplane], matzlema [camera], and etzbeoni [thimble] are some of the words he invented.
Many others actively contributed to the revival of the Hebrew language. You could learn more about them by visiting the Academy of the Hebrew Language website.
You may want to look at the illustrations together, and compare Gal’s home and kindergarten to the area in which Grandpa Raphael lived so many years ago. Together you may enjoy imagining what your life would have been like had you lived in another place, at another time. If you happen to have old pictures documenting the roots of your own family, you could show them to your child, and try to identify your family members together, as well as the places in which they lived back then, and now.
Does your child know why they were so named? Having read this book together, you may want to share the meaning of their name with them, and the story leading up to choosing it for them. You could also tell them what made your parents so name you.
Do you know the tune to the song Our Village Todgha by Yehoshua Sobol performed by music group Habreira Hativ’it (The Natural Selection)? Perhaps you would like to sing it together with your child
Just like Gal, many children enjoy listening to stories about the past. Do you remember any festive occasion from your days in kindergarten and school? Perhaps you could share your learning-related childhood memories and family traditions with your child.
Young children learn from enjoyable activities, such as licking honey-dripping letters. There are many ways of teaching the alphabet: you could put names and words together from various materials, cut out letters from newspapers, identify familiar letters that appear on signs and packages, play word games, and so on. The most important thing is to have fun while you learn!
Sweet Aleph-Bet is the last book on the PJ Library books list for this year. We hope you have enjoyed the books, and wish you an enjoyable summer, and a smooth beginning in your new kindergarten or school!
Ben-Tzion made up the word “s’vivon” (dreidle) for a toy that spun around. Your children, too, can invent Hebrew names for their toys! Try to think together of Hebrew names for some of their toys and games at home such as Lego, Playmobile or dominoes – or any other toy or game that doesn’t yet have a Hebrew name. We would be happy to hear your ideas!
Even adults continue to learn new words. If you read or heard a new word recently, you can share it with your children and ask them about new words that they have learned.
The toys that Ben-Tzion played with were different from those that children play with today. This is an opportunity for you to tell your children about the toys with which you liked to play when you were a child. You can also describe the s’vivonim (plural) that you had when you were young, and compare them with those of
Preparing a s’vivon: Just like Dvora, the mother of Ben-Tzion, you too can make a s’vivon at home. Take an old disk or cut out a circle from cardboard and paint it with pretty colors. Push a pencil through a hole in the center, and you have the “first” s’vivon that Ben-Tzion played
The little s’vivon brought a lot of light and joy to the life of Ben-Tzion during times of difficulty and loneliness. The winter season is particularly suitable for family fun at home. You might want to organize a family gathering one evening and enjoy playing together with simple games and toys – just as during the time of Ben-Tzion Ben- Yehuda.
A palindrome is a word, sentence, or number that can be read the same way from left to right or right to left. There are many palindromes in this book that are written in light blue. You can read them together from both ends, and perhaps find other palindromes that do not appear in this book.
You can discuss the differences between members of your own family. In what way are we “reversed” or different from one another? How do these differences make us feel? Do they contribute to your family? Or make things harder? What do we stand to gain when someone’s view of things is the exact opposite of ours?
You can do the opposite of what you normally do – draw with the hand you use least, walk a different way than you usually do, or change the order of things you do in the afternoon to see what you can learn from this experience.
You can invite your children to participate in reading in various ways: Take turns reading – one line each; select a recurring keyword in the book, and look for it on every page; or let them choose their favorite page or sentence to read aloud.
The Girl From The Golden Sands 
Reading and Writing 
The Sleeping Language 
Sweet Aleph-Bet 
Ben Tzion and the First S’vivon 
The Backward Owl 
שִׂיחָה
חֵקֶר
קְרִיאָה
שֵׁמַע
הַשְׁרָאָה
מִשְׂחָק
כְּלָלִי
הַעֲשָׁרָה
בִּשּׁוּל
