Apr 24
This week in Yetzirah, both Shteelim and Nitzanim dove head first into the story of David and King Shaul in all it’s complexity of characters, secret codes and emotional scenes. Shteelim first worked beyachad [together] to create visual aids that would then be used during their play to cue scenes and characters. Second, the Shteelimers …
Apr 12
We started a whole new unit this week – ידידות (yedidut – friendship). Shteelim, after learning the story of King Saul (Sha’ool) and David, began to make props in order to act out King Shaul’s story. The children made everything from decorating one of our chairs to be a throne, to making sheep with cotton …
Mar 15
I missed getting pictures of some of the plagues, but Nitzanimers DID act out of the plagues!
Mar 15
Written 100% as dictated by Shteelim – We used the Torah, a Haggadah, and some children’s books to help us figure out the details. When we got stuck on why Moshe took Aaron with him, we got out a Tanach, and read the actual Torah text to see what it said. The 5773 Shteelim …
Feb 28
Shteelim started talking about the upcoming holiday of Pesach today. We introduced the story, and began to form some questions we had about the story. Over the next few weeks, we will explore the Passover story in more detail, as well as understand some of the rituals and symbols, and also explore the Passover story …
Feb 17
Today the Shorashimers prepped for Purim in all kinds of ways. From making Ester, Mordechai and Haman puppets, to reading stories and making groggers in Yetzirah, the Shorashimers had a full day of the sights and sounds of Purim. One of our highlights involved dressing up our classroom bear as each of the Purim characters. …
Feb 14
This week Shteelim has been moving on with the basic story of Purim. Our Purim play has moved on to creating Purim puppets and using them with our Purim theater. The children decided on their own puppet characters and their own words while the Morah (teacher) prompted the Purim narrative. The children were able to fill …
Feb 06
With Purim around the corner, the Shteelimers were eager to dress up in costumes. Sticking with the story, many said they were Queen Esther or Mordechai but one Shteelimer even decided to become Queen Esther’s dog! To prepare for the play with our new costumes and props we set up a dressing room in Pinat …
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
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 …
