Nov 05
Confession: We’ve been keeping a surprise in Beit Shorashim v’Shteelim. After two weeks of practicing the ברכות (brakhot-blessings) we say when we’re about to eat food and when we see amazing things in nature, we have started learning about and practicing 5 of the main steps it takes for food to get to our שׁוּלְחָן (shulchan-table). And this week, we were able …
Apr 29
This week, some Shorashimers got to leave the Jewish Enrichment Center to take a field trip to a real garden in Chicago that is observing שמיטה (Sh’mitah-release). We saw some of the Perennial plants they had in their garden and heard about why they decided to and how they observe שמיטה (Sh’mitah-release). This was such a special time …
Apr 15
This week, Shorashimers began learning about our new theme together. We began the week by sharing any ideas we knew about farming with each other and then read a story to learn more about שמיטה (Sh’mitah-release). We learned that שמיטה (Sh’mitah-release) occurs every seven years, and during the שמיטה (Sh’mitah-release) year all agricultural activity stops and the land has …
Apr 01
After a few weeks away from each other, it was so nice to be back together as a community this week. With פסח (Pesach-Passover) just a few days away, there was a lot to do in Shorashim to get ready. During משחקים (Mischakim-games) we made sure we really remembered the items on the Seder plate …
Dec 15
Over the last two weeks, Nitzanimers have been exploring three different endings to the Chanukah story. Children are building each ending with novel materials (materials that we don’t usually use for “building” such as glass beads, small rocks, etc.). Today we started our third and final ending to the Chanukah story, which comes from the …
Jan 23
Monday’s Special Day was about the TASTES of the Jewish year. We had a fabulous day preparing for our Jewish Year in 20 MInutes celebration. It was a little odd to taste matzah right now, but everyone was thrilled to eat the תפוחים ודבש (tapuchim u’devash – apples and honey)!
Oct 27
In Shalom Chaverim this week there were many new things to explore! There was a lot of interest in our new “sticky window.” (A piece of contact paper spread over the window.) Children arranged and rearranged Shabbat objects and even practiced sharing challah and candlesticks with one another. In addition to the flat representations of …
Mar 15
Like Shteelim and Netzanim, Shorashim is helping to create our beautiful community Ma Tovu tent! (Check out this post to explore this incredible project). When the Shorashimers approached the white fabric and began to sponge on paint, they were excited to discover Morah Naomi had painted their שמות shemot (names) onto the cloth with a special paint …
Feb 22
With Purim happening on Sunday we wrapped up our exploration of Purim this past week. To conclude the holiday we decided to make/ bake hamantaschen cookies for our friends and family. This activity was not only fun but also educational as we learned about Haman and his three cornered hat. This is why we make Hamantaschen …
Jun 01
Last week, we learned about how the story of Ruth that we read on Shavuot is about chessed — Ruth does chessed for Naomi by gathering barley for her. To act this out, we gathered our own “pretend” grain and ground it using a steel mill into coarse flour. This week we capped off the …
