Feb 16
Yup! It’s happened… ענפים (Anafim, “branches” for 3rd-4th grade) have shifted gears. They’ve taken their own ideas about קדושה (kedushah, holiness); deepened, sharpened, or expanded them in conversation with each other and the Jewish texts we’ve explored; and now they’re starting to channel these ideas through their unique creative visions. The classroom has bustled with activity this week as …
Feb 15
In Beit Shorashim vShteelim (nursery and kindergarten) this week we are exploring the Torah in many different ways this week. We practiced writing special Torah otiot (letters) with special pens We explored the ארון קודש (Aron Kodesh), where the Torah is kept, through feel and drawing. Making our own Torah cover with a special guest. …
Feb 09
“Did you know that you have a whole bunch of תפילות (tefillot; prayers) from the סידור (siddur, prayerbook) already memorized? Word for word?” “What? No I don’t! I’ve never memorized one.” Here, try one and see. Over the past couple of weeks, as our קדושה (kedusha, holiness) theme has been gaining momentum, we’ve taken a step back from …
Feb 02
It’s the third week of our קדושה (kedushah; holiness) theme in ענפים (Anafim; “branches,” for 3rd-4th grade), and something is about to happen. Right now, we have two units of יצירת תורה (Yetzirat Torah; Torah creation/creativity) time most days. The first is focused on developing and articulating our ideas about קדושה (kedushah), and during the second one, we’re exploring excerpts from …
Jan 20
This week in Beit Shorashim/Shteelim (nursery and kindergarten) we have been focused on what feelings about different times, places, people, objects, and songs make use feel inside our גוּף (body). We should our feelings through our גופים (bodies) when we heard different types of music. We should our feelings when we celebrated Channukah. …
Jan 12
As we begin the new theme, קדושה (kedushah- Holiness) in Beit Shorashim/ Shteelim we have been playing out our associations (images, memories, feelings, body movement) that we have with Birthdays and Shabbat. We played Birthday with Dolls and there were a lot of ideas of what a birthday party should look like. We saw what …
Jan 12
We looked at a new שורש (shoresh, root) this week, and it happens to also be the foundation of our new theme. The שורש (shoresh, root) is ק.ד.ש (the letters kuf, daled, shin). See how it’s the backbone of the name of our new theme, קדושה (kedusha, holiness; spelled kuf, daled, vav, shin, heh)? So what is ק.ד.ש about? …
