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Parent guide · Grade 3 Biblical Hebrew · Unit 2

Lesson 2.2 Qibbuts and Shureq, the U Vowels

Written for the parent. The Read aloud parts are written to your child; read them as they are. Do this parts are for you. Answers for you are marked Listen for.

At a glance

Time
3 sessions of 20–30 minutes
Goal
Find qibbuts ֻ and shureq וּ and say oo. Tell shureq וּ from vav with dagesh. Read רוּת, רוּחַ, סוּס, הוּא.
You need
  • Two cards
  • Markers
  • A sketchbook or plain paper, and crayons
  • A King James Bible
Print
Worksheet A · the lesson page (it also has a short video (2:15))

Steps

  1. Do this together: Pucker your lips like an owl and hoot: oooo! Today’s two vowels both say oo. One is three slanting dots; the other is a vav with a dot in its middle.

  2. Read aloud: The story. When Naomi’s husband and sons died in Moab, she decided to go home to Bethlehem. Her daughter-in-law Ruth would not leave her: Intreat me not to leave thee… thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Ruth trusted the God of Israel, and she became the great-grandmother of King David. Her name, רוּת, has the oo vowel.

    Read aloud: How Hebrew sounds. Qibbuts is three dots slanting down under a letter: בֻּ boo. Shureq is a vav with a dot in its middle, וּ, and it also says oo: סוּס SOOS. Words: רוּת ROOT (Ruth), רוּחַ ROO-akh (spirit), הוּא HOO (he).

    Read aloud: Careful. In רוּחַ, the patach under the final chet is read before it: ROO-akh, not ROO-khah. This is called a furtive patach; you will meet it again in Grade 4.

  3. Do this: Say each word clearly; your child says it back twice. Point to a picture or the real thing when you can.

    • רוּת (Rut) [ROOT]: Ruth
    • רוּחַ (ruach) [ROO-akh]: spirit; wind; breath
    • סוּס (sus) [SOOS]: horse
    • הוּא (hu) [HOO]: he
  4. Under a great dark tree at the left, a young woman kneels in the stubble with a bundle of grain while an older man in a golden cloak and turban speaks with a man holding a staff; behind them reapers cut and bind wheat across a wide golden field, horses tread the grain at the right, and a town sits on a rocky hill under a cloudy sky.
    Summer (Ruth and Boaz), Nicolas Poussin, 1660–1664. Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

    Do this: Look at the picture together for a quiet minute before anyone talks.

    Read aloud: Poussin was a French painter who worked in Rome. At the end of his life he painted the four seasons as four Bible stories; summer is Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz.

    Point and find:

    • Find Ruth kneeling. What is she holding?
    • Find Boaz in the golden cloak.
    • What are the horses doing at the right?
    • Find the town on the hill.

    Ask:

    • “Why might Poussin choose Ruth’s story for summer?”
    • “How did Ruth show faithfulness?”

  5. Show: Read: סוּס

    Say this: “samekh = s.”

    Say this: “vav with a middle dot = oo.”

    Say this: “samekh = s.”

    Answer: SOOS (horse).

    Show: Is this holem or shureq? וּ

    Say this: “Where is the dot: on top, or in the middle?”

    Say this: “In the middle.”

    Answer: Shureq: oo.

  6. Do this: Ask out loud. Let your child try first; help only after a real try.

    Ask: Read: בֻּ

    Listen for: boo.

    Ask: Read: רוּת

    Listen for: Root (Ruth).

    Ask: What does ruach mean?

    Listen for: Spirit, wind, breath.

    3 more on the lesson page.

  7. Read aloud: Make two owl cards, one for each oo vowel.

    Steps:

    1. Draw an owl on each card.
    2. On one owl’s belly write qibbuts under three letters: בֻּ, כֻּ, לֻ.
    3. On the other write shureq words: רוּת, סוּס, הוּא.
    4. Hoot oo and read each.

    Tips for you:

    • Shureq’s dot is in the middle of the vav, not on top.

    Done when your child can say:

    • My owls show both oo vowels.
    • I can read every word.

  8. Do this: Your child picks one or more; you write the date.

    1. Copy רוּת, רוּחַ, סוּס, הוּא, כֻּלָּם and circle the oo vowels.

  9. Read aloud: Ruth is one of only two books of the Bible named after a woman (the other is Esther), and Ruth is named in the family line of Jesus in Matthew 1:5.

    • Mixing וֹ (o, dot on top) and וּ (oo, dot in the middle).
    • Reading רוּחַ as roo-khah. The patach under a final chet is read first: ROO-akh.

  11. The parent points to a word on the chart. Make a round O with your arms for holem words and hoot like an owl for oo words, then read the word.

  12. Say this: “Tell me what you learned today.”

    Listen for: Find qibbuts ֻ and shureq וּ and say oo.; Tell shureq וּ from vav with dagesh.; Read רוּת, רוּחַ, סוּס, הוּא.

  13. And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

    Ruth 1:16 (KJV)

    Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex, vowel points shown, cantillation marks left out): <span class="heb-block" lang="he" dir="rtl">וַתֹּאמֶר רוּת אַל־תִּפְגְּעִי־בִי</span> Find Rut, Ruth, the second word: resh, shureq, tav.

Spread over the week

3 sessions of 20–30 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.

  1. Session 1. Warm-up, then read and teach the new idea and the new words. Picture study and show how.
  2. Session 2. Practice together, then start the project. Finish the project, then the sketchbook.
  3. Session 3. Narration, the game and the Scripture.