Michelle Brint

Author's posts

Making Memories!

In שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten), we have been reflecting on all the wonderful ways we’ve played as a community this year. To help us wrap up our year together we are making a memory box with many handcrafted treasures inside for us to look back on in the years to …

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Drops of Joy: A Nitzanim Tale

It’s almost the end of the school year and Nitzanim knows how to enter and get started in the studio…. They know we sit in a big circle for some instructions. They know to put a smock on so their clothes don’t become evidence of their creations. They know to find a spot to sit …

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Breathing Life into Our New Theme!

Through a joint effort Anafimers sounded out all the letters and vowels that make up our new theme: נוֹשֵׂא בְעֹל עִם חֲבֵרוֹ (Nosei v’ol im chaveiro).” Immediately, Anafim was after the meaning behind this phrase. We are translating נוֹשֵׂא בְעֹל עִם חֲבֵרוֹ (Nosei v’ol im chaveiro) as: Help a friend carry their burden, or, their …

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Preparing to Count the Omer

Every year at the Jewish Enrichment Center we count the Omer, the period of 49 days between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot. This year children of all ages helped make our Omer by watercoloring flowers. Thanks to all their effort, we’ve got 49 flowers ready to bloom as we count the Omer!

Nitzanim’s Got It in the Bag

With Pesach (Passover) just around the corner, Nitzanim has started designing their very own matzah bags! This week’s work involved creating and tracing a picture of what we thought was the ‘hard stuff’ and the ‘awesome stuff’ of Exodus 1-15, a story some Jewish people might choose to read during seder. Nitzanim worked diligently to …

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A Reading of Our Own

In classic Anafim (“Branches,” for 2nd and 3rd grades) form, our room filled with the buzz of creation as all prepared for a dramatic reading of Megillat Esther (the story of Esther). We obviously needed costumes to get into character. Chag Purim Semeach (happy Purim) from Anafim to you!

Creating Our Way to the לְהִתְפַּלֵל (L’hitpalel) Family Exploration

שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten) have been busy busy busy preparing for this theme’s family exploration and celebration! Every day these young artists spend up to an hour moving between various ongoing projects in the studio. שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim) have been working on these projects over multiple sessions at the …

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L’hitpalel: A Case Study

This week the Anafim anthropology team began looking into 1 Samuel 1-2:10 to see how it might help them understand לְהִתְפַּלֵל (l’hitpalel). Some anafimers chose to build to show their ideas about Channah’s תְּפִלָּה (tefillah- prayer). Some children worked in pairs to build a scene showing where Channah made her תְּפִלָּה (tefillah- prayer). Together they …

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A Deep Dive into Our New Theme

This week Nitzanim met the new theme: לְהִתְפַּלֵל (L’hitpalel). We will spend the next eight weeks collecting information to try and figure out exactly what לְהִתְפַּלֵל (L’hitpalel) means to us. Nitzanim partners were extremely focused as they traversed the room to see how much they could notice about לְהִתְפַּלֵל (L’hitpalel). The room got quiet as …

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Shorashim V’Shteelim Made It Out of Clay

  This week in שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten) we celebrated (Tu B’Shevat) by getting our hands dirty making sculptures for etz’im (trees). First, we saw what it was like to manipulate the clay however we wanted. A lot of us felt like making flat discs. Some of us used our …

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