Our אונאת דברים (Ona’at Devarim– ‘hurting with words’) projects are starting to take shape: At this point in the theme, after several weeks of exploring core Jewish texts together, many ענפים (Anafim– “Branches” for 3rd-4th grade) children have started to gravitate towards the big questions or ideas that are most compelling to them, and are developing a sense for how they want to share their ideas with other people.
During this theme, I have invited ענפים (Anafim) to create the stories and faces of characters who have had experiences of אונאת דברים (ona’at devarim– ‘hurting with words’). Many children are choosing to write their stories and create papier-mache masks representing their characters.
However, as usual, each child has a different vision for their work, and some children have chosen different materials altogether: Right now, one child is drafting a picture book, another is creating a silhouette of his character, and another is sewing a stuffed animal.
The variety of media just underscores the creativity and uniqueness of each child’s work. It’s so exciting to see these different stories coming together– I can’t wait until the children are ready to share them with the community!
