At the end of the week Anafim shares kibud (snack) with one Nitzanimer. She told us about the work that Nitzanim had been doing, exploring the different areas of the Beit Knesset and recording the uses of each room in an adventure journal. The Anafimers reached for their research journals to see if the Beit Knesset they are exploring, in Ostia Antica, had any similar rooms and uses.
This conversation brought us back to ideas activated at the beginning of the week. On Sunday, a large poster asked ” What happens inside a Beit Knesset” The children continued throughout the week to contribute activities that happen as well as feelings they feel and ideas that permeate a Beit Knesset.
This all comes back to the research we are continually doing. The Anafim research journals take the children through the ruins of Ostia. Last week, they worked to understand the floor plan plan of the Beit Knesset through keva block models. This week, they are delving deeper, capturing what goes on in the rooms. They are asking questions about why rooms are arranged and decorated in certain ways. Through building models they are explaining to each other how they represent space and how they imagine space.
It is so exciting to watch the Anafimers ideas take shape and their understandings deepen!
