We’re in the second week of our new theme, Avraham v’Lot (Abraham and Lot) and children of all ages are excitedly digging deeper into our text from Genesis 13. (Click here for 1st-5th grade version. Click here for nursery and kindergarten version).
Children in Shteelim (“Saplings” for kindergarten) worked together to share ideas about why “the land couldn’t support them to live together.” They consulted photographs of different kinds of land, which helped them begin to imagine so many possibilities! Maybe the land was too tiny or didn’t have enough water or food.
Check out this snippet of our conversation:
- Morah Sara: What does that mean that the land couldn’t support them to live together
- Child 1: That they had too much stuff and they could not live together because they had the argument. That the world is too tiny for them.
- Child 2: I think they mean really that they have too much stuff and not as much places to put their stuff
- Child 2: I think that the land couldn’t support them because they didn’t have enough rain which means they didn’t have enough carrots or veggies. That means it would be hard for them to drink.
Over in Anafim v’Alonim (“Branches” for 3rd-4th and “Oak Trees” for 5th), children noticed that our text gave them a clue about S’dom and the wicked people there. As children built, they talked across groups about whether Lot was greedy or simply seeking a new life and if Lot knew that S’dom was full of wicked people.
- Morah Sara: When you think about the text we read today, what’s the most interesting part to you?
- Child 3: Going separate ways.
- Child 4: One of them goes to S’dom and one goes to Canaan. It’s really interesting because they’re describing the cities.
- Morah Sara: Do you think they went to the cities based on anything in particular?
- Child 3: They wanted to get opposite ways
- Child 4: They wanted the land to be able to support them
How exciting that children are already beginning to share interpretations and ask questions about our text! I can’t wait to see where their ideas will take us next.
