Jun 07
There are lots of ways to explore the shapes of different Hebrew letters. The child below, through one-on-one interaction with his teacher two weeks ago, learned how to stencil in the letters of his name. The teacher helped him put the letters in order by moving the stencil for him. One week letter, the boy …
Jun 01
Last week, we learned about how the story of Ruth that we read on Shavuot is about chessed — Ruth does chessed for Naomi by gathering barley for her. To act this out, we gathered our own “pretend” grain and ground it using a steel mill into coarse flour. This week we capped off the …
May 31
Both Shorashim and Nitzanim have been working on panels for their group quilts. These quilts have not only been a review of the main themes they have learned this year (Sukkot, Breishit, Shema, Pesach, and Tzedakah VaChessed), but a culminating project to be displayed in a public space over the summer. Shorashim children have been …
May 24
This week we continued our Shavuot learning by asking the question: what exactly is a “harvest”? First, we read the wonderful book “Pancakes, Pancakes!” by Eric Carle, which tells the story of all the work required to make a single pancake… (milking the cow, churning the butter, feeding the chicken so it lays an egg…) …
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 17
Shavuot is coming! On Shavuot, we read the Book of Ruth. In Shorashim, we have been reading a Shorashim-appropriate version of the story, with a focus through the lens of Tzedakah vaChessed. For example: ”Ruth shows so much chessed when she picks up all the leftover barley for Naomi,” and, “Boaz does chessed when he asks …
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 …
Apr 26
This week in Shorashim we learned about Tzedakah by playing with it. We have our own REAL tzedakah that we have been playing with, putting in our Tzedakah jar, and counting… not-so-secretly thanks to YOUR help, the parents, for reminding your kids to collect money and bring it back to Shorashim. =) We have also …
Apr 18
There have been some changes to our learning environment in Beit Shorashim. We have added a Bikur Cholim area (taking care of the sick), and constructed Ohel Avraham v’Sarah (Tent of Avraham and Sarah) which is modeled after the Torah story of Genesis 18:1-8. In this story, Avraham and Sarah welcome passing visitors as guests …
