Name: Maisie Smith
Date registered: August 19, 2020
Feb 17
The children in Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st graders) are expert storytellers. They come to our sessions ready to tell all sorts of stories about what they played that day, something crazy that happened at school, or a silly story about grandma. We have been channeling all this amazing storytelling energy into our final project for …
Feb 05
To help us in our exploration of שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ (Shehecheyanu), Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st graders) have been experimenting with different modalities for expressing our שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ (Shehecheyanu) makes us feel. We tried out drawing, using different shapes, lines and colors to show our שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ (Shehecheyanu) feelings. Some children found that they didn’t even have words to describe the feelings …
Jan 20
Why do you think someone might choose to say שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ (Shehecheyanu) when they get something new that they needed? The children in Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st grade) have been exploring this question as a part of our שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ (Shehecheyanu) theme, and there have been all sorts of ideas (and questions!) that have come up in …
Dec 09
This week, we have spent lots of time celebrating! We have been celebrating finishing up our final projects for our תֵּבָה (Teyva – “Ark”) theme, and have been getting ready to celebrate חֲנוּכָּה (Chanukah)! In Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st grade), this has looked like lots of joyous singing and dancing. On Tuesday, we had a special series …
Nov 24
In Anafim (“Branches” for 2nd and 3rd grade), our final projects are really coming along. Throughout this whole theme, we have been practicing sharing our ideas, connecting with our peers’ ideas, and respectfully disagreeing when we have a different idea. The children have done incredible work on this skill to the point where their conversations …
Nov 11
Part of how we help children deepen their questions and ideas about the text is through different kinds of creative exploration. This week in Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st grade), we experimented with a new modality that we will be using for our final projects: collage! The children came up with all sorts of ways to …
Oct 28
As we dive deeper into our theme, תֵּבָה (Teyva – “Ark”), the children in Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st grade) have also been diving deeper into their feelings and opinions about the text. One skill that Nitzanim has been working hard on is listening to each other’s thoughts and then saying if we connect or agree with …
Oct 14
Over the past several weeks, we have been using several different strategies to build community through our screens in Nitzanim (“Buds,” for 1st grade). Last week, we imagined what it would feel like to all be in a sukkah together, and the children came up with words like happy, comfy, curious, excited, and cozy. This …
Sep 30
This week in Nitzanim (“Buds,” for first grade children), we wrapped up the project we have been working on for the new year. This project has been helping us do the work of getting ready for a new year by doing what we’ve been calling “inside thinking.” We reflected on the past year and made …
