שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten, are really taken with our שְׁמִיטָה (Sh’mitah- agricultural sabbatical year). This week we introduced a new set of principals that apply to שְׁמִיטָה (Sh’mitah- agricultural sabbatical year). הֶפְקֵר (Hefker), for our purposes, this means that anything growing in the fields in the שְׁמִיטָה (Sh’mitah- agricultural sabbatical …
Category: Sh’mitah
May 09
Trades
I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with the children in Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st-2nd) over the last week. Children have been building scenes to explore ideas about sh’mitah (“release,” the agricultural sabbatical year). Each pair of children has a building tray with different sets of loose materials such as corks, glass gems, and metal …
Apr 28
Starting שְׁמִיטָה (Sh’mitah)
Our Spring theme has begun, שְׁמִיטָה (Sh’mitah), with a focus on the agricultural sabbatical year, a concept that come up in the torah a number of times like in the book of Exodus, chapter 23 verses 10-13. In שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten, this meant that we started with playing on …
Aug 27
Sh’mitah Camp
Camp is in full swing, we are getting to know each other, playing fun games together and this week we are learning about Sh’mitah. Sh’mitah can be found in the Torah in several places, including the book of Exodus, chapter 23, the book of Leviticus, chapter 25 and the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 15. These …
Jun 08
Nitzanim Year in Review
Today children had the opportunity to work in small groups to make a skit highlighting their year. It seems like some of our special memories include pointing during the yom huledet (happy birthday) song, reading Hebrew together, writing on the aleph bet wall, making our bench, and so much more! Click on the video to hear directly from the …
Jun 03
Concluding Our Year Together
This week to continue creating our book, children designed their individual pages and shared them with each other and we finished all of our theme and holiday pages together. It has been incredible to watch the community children are walking out with as our year ends and the excitement children have to share their work …
Jun 03
Nitzanim makes a mosaic!
This week in yetzirah (art/creativity), Nitzanim worked together to create and finish their final project for the year, a mosaic bench. For the last two weeks, children collaborated to create three symbols, one for each of our three main themes this past year, Hallel, Haggadah, and Sh’mitah. Nitzanim thought, talked, and drew to invent unique, simplified …
Jun 01
Why These Symbols?
Last week I wrote about Nitzanim planning the symbols for our final project, a mosaic bench! The symbols for our three main themes, Hallel, Haggadah, and Sh’mitah help us remember our explorations and discussions from the theme. Here are some of the ideas that children shared about why a music note is representative of our …
May 27
Revisiting Explorations and Starting Our Final Project
Last week, we began our end of the year project in Beit Shorashim and we are well underway! We have decided to make a book that every child will get to take home with them to remember our year together. This book will include pages that are both designed by our whole community with our …
May 25
Nitzanim Plans for Our Final Project
To celebrate and reflect on our year, Nitzanim is working on a special yetzirah (art/creativity) project–a mosaic bench! The children worked together to design the symbols for the bench, which represent our three main themes for the year: Hallel, Haggadah, and Sh’mitah. Children revisited our themes through photographs and then created sketches of potential symbols. The …