Nov 07
We wrapped up our final week of Torah exploration by writing like a sofer (scribe). Last week, when we opened up the Torah, we found all of the Hebrew letters inside. This week, we found out that the letters of a Torah are handwritten with a special tool. Our older friends tried out writing with …
Oct 31
This week, children in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) for infants and toddlers, got to visit the Torah up close! There’s so much to see, touch, and even hear (lots of twinkly bells!) when we explore the Torah! We started by undressing the Torah and unscrolling it so that we could all see the Hebrew letters. …
Oct 27
It’s been a very busy month in Anafim V’Alonim (“Branches” for 4th Grade and “Oak Trees” for 5th Grade)! We’ve celebrated Jewish holidays together, we’re learning t’fillah (Prayers), and we are charged with ideas about תְּשׁוּבָה teshuvah. We are defining תְּשׁוּבָה teshuvah as ‘returning to the path I want to be on’, and we have …
Nov 03
The children in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!” for ages 0 – 3 and their grown-ups) are enthusiastically exploring Shabbat. They spent one session preparing for Shabbat by pretending to wash dishes, sweep the floor, make soup, and set a Shabbat table. During the second session they used watercolors on cloth napkins to create challah covers. During last …
Oct 04
The children of Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome Friends!” for ages 0 – 3 and their grown-ups) explored Torahs. They used magnifying glasses to examine a non-kosher Torah, noticing Hebrew letters on the yellowish parchment. Then they created their own page of Torah with Hebrew-letter stickers on yellowish paper. Families built an aron, an “ark” or special house, for …
Aug 27
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 …
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 …
Nov 06
What helps you feel safe? In Shorashim (‘roots’ for nursery) and Shteelim (‘saplings’ for Kindergarten), we spent some time exploring the objects, places and routines in our lives that make us feel safe. By the end of our time together, we were making connections to the תֵּבָה (teyva – “ark”) being a place of safety …
Jan 20
Tu B’Shevat is a special holiday for young children. The past two weeks in Shalom Chaverim have been all about exploring trees, growing things, and planting. Look at all of the wonderful things we did! There were trees to count, to touch, and to press into play dough. We even built our own trees using …
Dec 18
How to make a Chanukah puppet show by Nitzanim (“Buds” for first grade). Step 1:Make a list of all the characters in the Chanukah* story. Then, make puppets, props, and backdrops. It helps to work with a buddy. Nitzanim children decided that we needed puppets to represent Jewish people, Syrian Greeks, King Antiochus, and Judah …
