Dec 19
Last Sunday when the Shorashim-ers were presented with materials to make Hanukkah decorations and play dreidle they combined everything on the table to invent a brand new game- dreidels on the loose! When a dreidel landed everyone picked up the decoration with a matching letter. As a morah, this was a great reminder in how …
Nov 30
Some children in Shteelim were itching for an Ivrit (Hebrew) challenge this week. We decided to see if we could make the letters א and ב with our bodies! The children had to try it out a few times and help each other position their גופים (gufim – bodies) until it was just right. Do …
Nov 20
Yesterday in Shteelim, the מורות (morot – educators) overheard children talk about how it gets dark much earlier in the day. We took this opportunity to listen and create an unscheduled activity – shadow puppets. The Shteelimers worked in pairs to be/create חיות (chayot – animals) with their bodies, animals that made it onto the …
Nov 12
We chose… …to work together on a puzzle. …to write out the צבעים (tzeva’im – colors) in Hebrew, and to write out the alef-bet with its gematria. …to work on הסיפור שלי (lit., “My Story,” our documentation binders). …to prepare an update, mostly in Hebrew, on מזג אויר (mezeg avir – weather) to …
Oct 31
While painting our paper goofem (bodies) with all different tzeva’im (colors), one Shteelimer made an exciting discovery! Girl: “Yellow and red make orange!” pointing the the trays of paint. “That can be my last color [to paint on my goof]” as she mixed the two colors (yellow and red) with a sponge making orange. Boy: …
Sep 10
If this is where we’re starting, what a year it’s going to be! Today, Nitzanim children demonstrated that they remember SO much Hebrew. They remember how to be resources for each other. And what fun it is to be together again! I can figure out this Hebrew challenge. Let me share an idea for …
May 17
In Shorashim we have begun making “chessed cards”. In order to do this, the kids pick a shape, color it, and send it on a pretend “postcard” into their friend’s mailbox in Shorashim. Instead of a normal stamp, the kids get to stamp the first letter of their Hebrew name. Not only is it a …
May 16
Lots of math these days! We are learning to count to 100 in Hebrew. Each day, Nitzanim children guess how many marbles/beans/stickers/etc. are in a glass jar, and write their guess in Hebrew. At (pegisha - meeting), we count the pieces, out loud in Hebrew. Children figure out the difference between the closest guess and the actual …
May 10
For our Sukkot Reflection this week, we made Sukkot patches in Yetzirah. After we finished, we used Popsicle sticks and tape to make our own sukkot (an individual shelter is called a sukkah; plural, is sukkot). The only prompt the children were given for this exercise was: “Build your own sukkah!” You may have seen …
May 02
This week in Shorashim we added “Chessed Jars”. With a huge pile of tzedakah, the Shorashimers each had a chance to pick which Chessed Jar to put their coins in. Each jar had a different picture on it representing a different act of Chessed: -giving food to people who need food -giving toys to kids …
