Feb 20
The children of Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st-2nd grades) want to interview you! This winter, we are exploring the character of Eliyahu HaNavi – Elijah the Prophet. Eliyahu reminds us to work for a better world. As part of this exploration, we invited parents and guests in so we could ask them questions about what they …
Feb 04
Tu B’Shevat is coming, and we are getting ready! For the birthday of the trees, which this year falls on Sunday, February 9, and Monday, February 10, we are celebrating everything about trees! Children in Nitzanim (“buds” for 1st-2nd grades) played a variation of the game known as Wax Museum or Sculpture Garden. They pretended …
Jan 23
The children in Nitzanim (“Buds,” for first and second grade children) got their first taste of our new text this week! They listened to a section about Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the prophet) and created comic strips to retell what they heard. Each child received a template containing six boxes. They had to figure out which …
Jan 09
This week in Nitzanim (“Buds,” for first and second grade children) we are learning the shemot (names) for the different colors in Ivrit! We negotiated together as a group how we would like Musical Yetzirah (art/creativity) to run. We decided when the music stopped to exchange materials, seats, and/or drawings of the different words. The …
Dec 12
This week the children in Nitzanim (“Buds,” for first and second grade children) are hearing the Chanukah story with three different endings! The endings come from First Maccabees, Second Maccabees and the Talmud (Shabbat 21b). Nitzanim children listened to the story during kibud (snacktime), with each ending on a different day. Together with Morah Shterna …
Nov 01
There is a very special place in one corner of Beit Nitzanim. It’s called Pinat Shalom (“Peace Corner”). When it was introduced a few weeks ago, children practiced how to use Pinat Shalom to resolve conflicts. This week we saw it in action. The children shared trays of small, natural building materials to build scenes …
Oct 25
This week, Nitzanim children heard Genesis 3:1-10 for the first time, and wow were they ready to dive right in! All of the work we’ve been doing over the last few weeks to listen to our inner voices (see post here) has prepared children to notice details in the text and ask big questions. In …
Oct 18
We’ve been so busy preparing for our Sukkot Harvest Party. Making treats to share. Shaking the lulav and etrog. And playing some new Sukkot Ivrit (Hebrew) games. We can’t wait to celebrate the season’s bounty with you. See you Sunday at 9:15!
Oct 04
Today, a child was feeling stuck. He wanted to show Adonai Elohim (God) removing the rib bone from the adam (human) and building ishah (woman) in Genesis 2, but he wasn’t sure how to draw it. I posed the question to his peers, “How might Child A show this part?” and immediately we had a …
Sep 25
We’re a few weeks into our Adam v’Adamah Torah theme, and Nitzanim first and second graders have been working hard on listening to their “inner voice” when we read and discuss text together at כיבוד (kibud–snack) Their inner voice is a reaction to the text that might come in the form of a question, feeling, …
