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 …
Nov 08
Lately, a lot of Anafimers have been arriving with the same question on their brain — “When can we hear the next part of the text?!” As we settle into kibud (“snack”), the anticipation of hearing what happens next in the lives of Ya’akov and Esav is palpable. As we’ve been nearing the end of the …
Oct 30
At the end of last week, Nitzanim children tried something new with great confidence! In small groups, children took turns holding their chalk pastel artwork and explaining their ideas to each other. With a little bit of help from a grown-up, some children were even able to respond to each other’s interpretations with sentence stems …
Oct 25
In שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten), we’ve been honing our prop-making skills. This process began at כִּיבּוּד (kibud–snack), where we spent time listening to our Torah theme text, Ya’akov v’Esav (Jacob and Esau) (Genesis 25:20-28). As we listened we thought about what things we could create in order to play each character in the …
