We’ve learned so much עברית (Ivrit–Hebrew) this year in Beit Nitzanim! To help children recognize how much they’ve learned and to celebrate all of our achievements, we’ve started a new series of Hebrew challenges. Each child is working to master a just-right Hebrew skill at their own pace. The best part? When a child gets …
Tag Archive: connection
Apr 24
New Ways to Talk Together
Just because it’s April doesn’t mean that Nitzanim can’t try anything new! As we round out our year together, Nitzanim is paying particular attention to the ways that we talk together. In the last week, we’ve tried out two completely new structures for conversation. We’re still working out the kinks, but we’re pretty excited to …
Apr 20
A Community Celebration
On חגים (chagim–holidays), we do things differently at the Jewish Enrichment Center. We put away our writing materials, we don’t take photos or use our iPads, and we spend time as a whole community. It’s our way of marking the holiday as special or different and an opportunity for children of all ages to celebrate …
Mar 28
Community Expectations Revisited
We spend so much time in our kevutzot (groups) practicing being a community. We really care about being together and shaping a community that is kind and thoughtful, caring and safe, and just loves to be together! Even in March, we are still deliberately working on building community. And then, when we get together with children from other kevutzot (groups), …
Mar 15
Closing Kedushah (Holiness)
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
Small Moments, Big Accomplishments
“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
So Special
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
“Wondering” Questions
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
I heard you say…
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
Quiet and Still
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, …
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#beauty #awe #shabbat field trip to #garfieldparkconservatory ! #jewishenrichment
Anafim v'Alonim ("Branches" and "Oak Trees" for 4th and 5th grade children) started off the week exploring the words of our new text (Genesis 28) with charcoal, getting a feel for new techniques we can use with this modality. #JewishEnrichment #JewishArt #JewishLearning
“Hey look I found a י (yud) in here!” #jewishenrichment #discovery #specialjewishbooks
Lots of teamwork to prepare for Sukkot. Chag Sameach! #jewishenrichment #sukkot #kidswithtools
We ❤️ when our middle school madrichim (leaders) come to play! #jewishenrichment
Tell someone you love what you want to do MORE of together in our new Jewish year. Tell them what you want help with, so you can do it LESS. #listen #yomkippur #jewishenrichment
What is #prayer ? Amazing ideas on our very first day! Thank you, #projectzero for #postcardmetaphor . #jewishenrichment #wereback !
What a treat to spend the day learning with our colleagues at Mensch Academy of @mishkanchicago ! So much to consider when we let children's ideas drive project work. #jewishenrichment #professionaldevelopment
How can a year be “sweet?” Well, we think a sweet new year might be “loving,” “nice,” and “happy.” #jewishenrichment #shanahtovah
Hooray for August Camp Week 2! Today we made Loubia, an Egyptian black eyed pea recipe for Rosh Hashanah. Our kiddos think that each pea might represent one day in the new Jewish year. Swipe left for a pic of us listening to hear the onions “talking.” #jewishenrichment #shanahtovah
We ended our first week of August camp shaping our challot into donuts, braids, and even letters. What a beautiful week of friendship, exploration, and creativity. Shabbat Shalom! #jewishenrichment
Today our older camp went to the Jackson Park Community Garden where we continues to explore possible solutions to end food insecurity. Some of us think a mobile grocery store is getting food to people who don't have it. Others think it doesn't address the underlying issue of people not having access to healthy food. What do you think? #FoodJustice #FarmingChicago #JewishEnrichment
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