Jan 29
Hello! This is Morah Shterna (the yetzirah – art educator), here to tell you about the process of creating line drawings at the Jewish Enrichment Center. When introducing a new Jewish text to the younger children (N4 through 2nd grade) we often create line drawings to help them follow along with the text. These drawings …
Oct 25
This week, Nitzanim children heard Genesis 3:1-10 for the first time, and wow were they ready to dive right in! All of the work we’ve been doing over the last few weeks to listen to our inner voices (see post here) has prepared children to notice details in the text and ask big questions. In …
Oct 25
As we continue our exploration of our current theme Adam v’Adamah in Anafim v’Alonim (“Branches” for 2nd-4th grades and “Oak trees” for 5th grade), many children are captivated by the Tree of knowing good and bad. In Genesis 2, we encounter the tree of knowing good and bad. Here are the versus in Genesis 2 that …
Oct 04
Today, a child was feeling stuck. He wanted to show Adonai Elohim (God) removing the rib bone from the adam (human) and building ishah (woman) in Genesis 2, but he wasn’t sure how to draw it. I posed the question to his peers, “How might Child A show this part?” and immediately we had a …
Sep 27
This week children in Anafim v’Alonim (“Branches” for 2nd-4th grades and “Oak trees” for 5th grade) experimented painting with their etzba’ot (fingers). It was a hit! The children only worked with primary colors and white, such amazing mixing they did! Each session children chose a new part of the text we read. So far we …
May 14
The last couple of weeks have been so generative and awesome! Last week Anafim v’Alonim (“Branches” and “Oak trees” for 4th and 5th grades) looked back at what the early Rabbis said about נוֹשֵׂא בְעֹל עִם חֲבֵרו (nosei v’ol im chaveiro–helping a friend carry a burden). We remembered that נוֹשֵׂא בְעֹל עִם חֲבֵרו (nosei v’ol …
May 09
This week, Nitzanim children are diving into the Book of Ruth to search for examples of נוֹשֵׂא בְעֹל עִם חֲבֵרוֹ(nosei v’ol im chaveiro–helping a friend carry a burden). After hearing the text read aloud, children created comics, buildings, and collages. This second pass at the text is an opportunity to extend their thinking, use their …
May 07
Anafim (“Branches” for 2nd and 3rd grade) opened up our new theme, Nosei v’ol im chaveiro (helping a friend carry a burden), with so many big ideas about what that phrase could mean. Children talked about how sometimes we help our friends physically carry stuff — like grocery bags, or boxes, or toys. But they …
Nov 14
In Beit Anafim (“Branches” for 2nd and 3rd grade), we are gearing up to start our final projects about Ya’akov and Esav (Jacob and Esau)! For our project, we’re asking ourselves, “Which part of the text do I think is most important to Ya’akov and Esav’s relationship?” We’ll use collages to show that part of …
Nov 13
In Nitzanim (“Buds” for first graders) we are SO excited to be working with chalk pastel for our final projects!!! Each of us has selected a question or concept we want to get to the bottom of. Some of us have questions like… What kind of mommy is Rivka (Rebecca)? Is what happens fair? How do …
