Jun 07
It was a joyous final week filled with some of our favorite things: Baking Making up skits together outside Yetzirah (art/creativity) projects And cozy Ivrit (Hebrew) At the end of the day, we had a chance to speak our mind to our community. Here are just a few of the comments children shared: “Thank you everybody for a really …
May 23
Judaism grows and changes over time. Nitzanim children have been exploring Shavuot and the way that ideas about Shavuot have changed over time. We started with ideas about Shavuot in the Torah and then moved onto exploring what the ancient early rabbis (1st-6th centuries) had to say. Now, we’re starting to talk about later developments, ideas about Shavuot …
May 16
We’ve started our final project in Beit Nitzanim. It’s a project that helps us reflect on our whole year AND a project we can work on together, so that we can show off all of our fabulous teamwork skills. The project has so many steps: Step 1: Remember the three big themes from our year: Bamidbar (“In …
May 08
We had an impromptu Torah exploration today! It all started with a question. One child is beginning to learn to chant three פסוקים (pesukim–verses) from בראשית (Breishit–Genesis). I handed her a copy of the verses on a piece of printer paper. Her text has Hebrew letters, vowels, and Torah trope. Child: What is this? It’s not a …
May 02
We’ve learned so much עברית (Ivrit–Hebrew) this year in Beit Nitzanim! To help children recognize how much they’ve learned and to celebrate all of our achievements, we’ve started a new series of Hebrew challenges. Each child is working to master a just-right Hebrew skill at their own pace. The best part? When a child gets …
Apr 24
Just because it’s April doesn’t mean that Nitzanim can’t try anything new! As we round out our year together, Nitzanim is paying particular attention to the ways that we talk together. In the last week, we’ve tried out two completely new structures for conversation. We’re still working out the kinks, but we’re pretty excited to …
Apr 20
On חגים (chagim–holidays), we do things differently at the Jewish Enrichment Center. We put away our writing materials, we don’t take photos or use our iPads, and we spend time as a whole community. It’s our way of marking the holiday as special or different and an opportunity for children of all ages to celebrate …
Apr 04
There has been such joy this week in Beit Nitzanim as children take on new Hebrew challenges! What a sense of accomplishment when a child can choose her own way to explore and track her progress! One second grader has been working to sound out and write a giant stack of Passover-related Hebrew words. She’s already …
Mar 28
We spend so much time in our kevutzot (groups) practicing being a community. We really care about being together and shaping a community that is kind and thoughtful, caring and safe, and just loves to be together! Even in March, we are still deliberately working on building community. And then, when we get together with children from other kevutzot (groups), …
Mar 15
At the beginning of the week we visited the social hall in pairs to close our Kedushah (Holiness) theme. Children took turns telling their parter about their work. Then, they spoke more generally about what was hard, easy, and super fun about this final project. Afterward, we gathered together under the table (it’s so fun …
