Mar 15
At the beginning of the week we visited the social hall in pairs to close our Kedushah (Holiness) theme. Children took turns telling their parter about their work. Then, they spoke more generally about what was hard, easy, and super fun about this final project. Afterward, we gathered together under the table (it’s so fun …
Feb 21
“It’s kind of my first time sharing,” announced a first grader at the end of our כיבוד (kibud–snack) conversation. This first grader only joined our community in October. “Yeah usually she just sits there like this looking,” said a second grader. He was noticing that his friend often listens closely to our conversations, but hasn’t been …
Feb 15
We did something so special today. First and second grade Nitzanimers had כיבוד (kibud–snack) with fifth and sixth grade Alonimers. We’re in the sixth week of thinking about קדושה (kedushah– holiness) and our super special pairing was an opportunity for children of different ages to connect and share ideas. Like in this pair, where a second grader shared with …
Feb 08
For Nitzanim children, our Kedushah (Holiness) theme has been about experimentation. We’ve experimented with ways to express our ideas about holiness with weaving and shadow play (click here). We’ve experimented with a graphic organizer to help us slow down and hear the text (click here). And today, we experimented with a new way to share lots …
Oct 31
This week I have been completely amazed to watch children learn and practice skills for chavrutah (partner text study). We’re working on listening this week—listening to ourselves, listening to the voice of the text, and listening to the voice of our partner. In groups of two, children perform a “close reading” of the text. One …
Oct 05
Completely quiet and still. We’re almost never completely quiet or still in Beit Nitzanim. We love to talk to each other at כיבוד (kibud–snack), play silly name games where we try to shout someone’s שם (shem–name) before someone else says, “boppity bop bop bop,” and share “highs” and “lows” from our days. We also love to move around, …
Sep 27
I’ll let you in on a secret… Your children believe that the last four weeks have been mainly about wrestling with ideas of power and forgiveness in Torah text as part of our Elul Project theme. And that has been a HUGE part of children’s work and play. (See this post for a preview of …
May 16
In Beit Nitzanim, we’ve started to look back through photos of our year together. We’re trying to jog our memory as we start our final reflection project for the year. Children excitedly chatted about their favorite moments as they browsed through the photographs. Children presented photographs to their peers, sharing memories of what they are …
May 09
One of Nitzanim’s community expectations is, “Take care of each other.” Today it was so clear how caring for each other is an important part of our community. Children take care of each other during זמן שקט(zeman sheket–quiet time) by choosing a quiet reading or drawing activity. When we give each other the gift of …
Apr 28
When Jewish holidays fall on Enrichment Center days, we do something special to recognize the holiday. This week, we invited children to read together. Beautiful.
