We’ve officially started פסח (Pesach—Passover) in Beit Nitzanim! With a shift in topic comes a shift in our environment, which was met with mixed feelings by our Nitzanimers. Do you remember our big questions wall?
It was the result of weeks of in-depth daily discussion of Exodus chapters 1-15. I added children’s questions (in their own words) to the wall every few days, and our documentation grew outward with each new section of text we interpreted. As we neared the end of Exodus, I invited children to put a post-it note next to some of the questions that they were still wondering about.
Last week I mentioned that our big questions would be coming down. Children expressed great disappointment that the documentation had to come down. They said that they were proud of the work they had done and that it served as a memory of the work we had done together. Many children mentioned that they were still wondering about some of the questions on our wall. Some children offered alternative solutions such as moving a portable wall in front of our wall to add new material or putting the questions along the top of the wall by the ceiling. In the end, I chose to compile the questions into a book for children to look at if they wanted to.
When they finished in yetzirah, two children chose to sit with the book and read every question aloud, reminiscing about the work they had done and the questions they had asked.
I look forward to seeing how often children revisit their experience—saying what we wondered aloud and coming up with ideas as a group—now documented in our book. I wonder, when it comes time to reflect on our entire year together, whether this experience will still prove meaningful and serve to bond 14 children into a קבוצה (kevutzah–community).
