In שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten) we have started to work on our design for the curtain for our community’s אָרוֹן (aron- ark)! In preparation for starting our work, we went outside to do color and texture matching in nature. We brought fabric swatches with us and when we found a …
Tag: natural materials
Nov 05
Small Shabbat Scenes and More
When the children in the School-Day Program at the Jewish Enrichment Center recently gathered for a Special Day (a full day of Jewish enrichment when school is closed), they demonstrated remarkable creativity using autumn leaves and other natural materials to make small Shabbat scenes and more! We began by checking out this website of amazing, …
Apr 17
Shorashim’s Wheat Works of Art!
Shorashim has been learning about Megillat Rut. In the story, Ruth gleans barley from a field. Being city children, we needed some tactile experience with some barley/wheat to understand what exactly she was doing in that field. We not only got to see, feel, and smell the wheat plant, we got to paint with …
Apr 27
Back in the Midbar (Wilderness)
ענפים (Anafim, “Branches” for 3rd-4th grade) are just beginning their last theme for this school year: שבועות (Shavuot, “weeks”). One of the sources that ענפים (Anafim) are exploring is a short text from ספר דברים (Sefer Devarim, the book of Deuteronomy) 16, which gives instructions about celebrating the summer harvest festival. But as Anafim know, ספר דברים (Sefer …
Sep 29
Making Our Sukkah Beautiful
In Yetzirah this week, we are working together to create decorations to make our סוכה (sukkah) beautiful in Beit Shorashim! We began with painting fabric flowers to make a garland for our סוכה. What is fabric? What will happen when we paint on top of it? How do we hold a paintbrush? We began with …
May 11
Nitzanim Creates with Tiny Materials
Last week Nitzanim designed scenes with tiny natural materials like corks, paperclips, raffia, lentils and much more! Children responded to our הפקר (hefker) source text from ויקרא (Vayikra—Leviticus) 25:6-7: But whatever the land grows during the Shabbat year is for you, to eat – for you, and for your servant and for your maidservant, and …