Dec 13
Nitzanim is playing out the three endings to the Chanukah story. (click to read the original texts, in translation!) Here are some of the fabulous details they imagined as they played: And here’s a video of children explaining their scene for the second ending of the Chanukah story!
Dec 07
This week in Shteelim we are focusing on the story of Chanukah. After hearing the story the Shteelimers were eager to repair the temple that the Syrian Greeks had damaged. This Shteelimer was clever enough to put the chanukiyah (menorah) in the middle of the Temple he built.
Dec 07
What if you found out that there are THREE different endings* to what we know as the Chanukah story? And what if you were in FIRST or SECOND grade when you found out? You’d have to play to figure out what it all means. So we got started. “They’re singing! There are so many …
Oct 26
We’re building the תיבה (tayva – ark) . . but what happens when the גשם (geshem – rain) comes? We better make a roof! She lays down Noah’s family on the ark, so they can sleep for 40 days and nights.
Oct 03
As the Shteelimers (PreK – K) think about how the Israelites felt wondering through bamidbar, they paint their interpretation of the desert and all its wonderful colors: “sandy colors like yellow and white and tan… Hot colors like red and orange…” The Nitzanimers (1st – 2nd) continue The Sukkah Challenge and their explorations of which …
Apr 13
Nitzanimers love to build. Our hands and imaginations work together to take our ideas farther. It’s great fun to build at the end of a unit, because we’re able to consolidate so much of what we’ve explored into a single scene that we envision. Here are some highlights from two days of building Mitzrayim (where …
Jan 30
On Sunday in Shorashim, we began our morning by building Jewish homes with wooden blocks. This activity led to discussion of some of the things we have in our own Jewish homes. The Shorashim learners started the discussion by listing very general items like: markers, books, toys, and kitty cats. But as we continued, some …
Jan 22
We practice skills that build קהילה (kehillah – community) in Nitzanim. Today we practiced two skills: listening, and using words that help חברים (chaverim - friends) understand what our ideas. First, we practiced listening when we brainstormed what we might see and hear in a Jewish home. By listening, we could build on each other’s ideas. In …
