This week Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!” for infants and toddlers with a grown-up) is getting ready for Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees! We painted flower pots to get ready for planting!
Category: Chagim (Jewish Holidays)
Jan 09
Shabbat Shalom, Shalom Chaverim!
We’re exploring Shabbat in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!” for infants and toddlers with a grown-up). Our favorite ways to play yesterday included shaping challah from brown, cinnamon-scented playdoh; exploring Shabbat pictures in the rice table; and painting Shabbat candleholders. We also sang a silly Shabbat song where we added chocolate chips, broccoli, carrots, cheese, and …
Oct 24
Torah, Torah, Torah
To conclude our exploration of the fall chagim (holidays), children in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) explored Simchat Torah. (Check out this article to learn more about Simchat Torah). This friend pulled himself all the way up to stand at the sticky paper and put foam Torahs onto the wall. He enjoyed the feel of foam …
Oct 19
Sukkot in Shalom Chaverim
At our second Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) session, we continued our exploration of the fall holidays with Sukkot! (Click here for more information about the holiday of Sukkot). There were so many ways to play! Our youngest friends enjoyed tasting Sukkot puzzle pieces, pulling board books out of the basket, and squishing around Sukkot pictures …
Oct 02
Shanah Tovah from Shalom Chaverim!
Shanah Tovah! (Literally, “good year” but usually translated as “Happy New Year!”) Our very first session of Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) for infants and toddlers plus a grown-up was all about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year! In our NEW Jewish year we had so many NEW faces, NEW ways to explore, and NEW skills …
Sep 29
Colorful caring
This week, all of the amazing community building work the children in Nitzanim v’Anafim (“Buds” for 1st-2nd grades and “Branches” for 3rd grade) have been doing culminated in a fabulously colorful community agreement! Then, children chose out ceramic tiles to create our border. They carefully spread the special tile adhesive (“It’s like spreading nutella on …
Sep 23
What does Shalom feel like?
In Anafim V’Alonim (“Branches” for 4th grade, and “Oak Trees” for 5th Grade), we have so many ideas about how to take care of each other, and how to feel Shalom in our community. We began by sharing different rules for how we treat each other, and then put them into categories: Be kind Be …
Sep 22
How Do We Become A Community?
In שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten) we are all active in the process of becoming a community! This week, we learned a new מִשְׂחָק (mischak– game)! This מִשְׂחָק (mischak– game) is called רֹאשׁ הַשָׁנַה (Rosh Hashanah) on the Run. In this game, you run across the room with a card that …
Sep 22
Alef us are learning!
The children in Nitzanim v’Anafim (“Buds” for 1st and 2nd grades and “Branches” for 3rd grade) came into this year ready to learn more Hebrew! There is a such a beautiful range of Hebrew knowledge in our kevutzah (group). Children are working on building all sorts of different Hebrew skills – from getting to know …
Sep 13
Welcome to Anafim v’Alonim
Welcome to Anafim v’Alonim (“Branches” for 3rd-4th grades and “Oak Trees” for 5th grade)! After a long summer, we were so excited to see each other this fall. We began the year by playing pictionary with some summer stories, a slew of רֹאשׁ הַשָׁנַה (Rosh HaShannah) games, and sharing our hopes for our year together.