חג שמח (Chag Sameach—Happy Holidays!). At the Jewish Enrichment Center we are marking the days of פסח (Pesach—Passover) with a special activity—a Jewish book read-in!
Many months ago, our children were introduced to their ידידים (yedidim—buddies) [see these two blog posts about other activities we’ve done with our ידידים(yedidim—buddies)]. ידידים (Yedidim—buddies) are children in other קבוצות (kevutzot—groups), either older or younger, that we sit with during פגישה (pegisha—meeting). The purpose of ידידים (yedidim—buddies) is for children to get to know each other at the Jewish Enrichment Center. We spend a great deal of time in our קבוצות (kevutzot—groups), and ידידים(yedidim—buddies) give children the opportunity to make friends in other age groups.
Today and for the rest of the week, children had the opportunity to go into our ספריה (sifriyah—library) and select any book to read with their ידידים (yedidim—buddies). Book selection and reading aloud takes great skill including friendly decision making, compromise, and leadership from our older children. It was wonderful to watch kindergarteners and first graders reading to their third and fourth grade ידידים (yedidim—buddies) in such a confident way. It was similarly wonderful to see our older children read patiently to three- and four-year-olds. I look forward to watching these friendships continue to blossom as we mark פסח (Pesach—Passover) with read-ins for the rest of the week!
A second grader reads to a three-year-old.
A first-grader and kindergartener read together.
A kindergartener reads to a third grader.
A first grader and third grader read together.
