Nov 15
It’s project time in Anafim V’Alonim (“Branches” for 4th Grade and “Oak Trees” for 5th Grade)! We’re developing our big ideas about תְּשׁוּבָה teshuvah. We are defining תְּשׁוּבָה teshuvah as ‘returning to the path I want to be on’, and we have so many ideas to share with each other. A Few of Our Big Ideas about תְּשׁוּבָה …
Nov 14
We’re getting ready for Chanukah in Shalom Chaverim! As always, children in Shalom Chaverim explore the Jewish holidays in ways that are just right for their development. That means our older and younger friends often play in different ways! Our younger friends, who explore everything with their mouths, did lots of mouthing to find out …
Nov 16
The children in Shalom, Chaverim! (“Welcome, Friends!” for ages 0 – 3 and their grown-ups) are starting to explore Chanukah. They used a variety of media to place Chanukah candles into chanukiot (menorahs or candle-holders) including foam shapes onto contact paper, felt Chanukah shapes, real candles in play-doh, and a toy Chanukah set. In this way they …
Dec 17
It’s חֲנוּכָּה (Chanukah)! The children in the Tuesday morning section of the Jewish Enrichment Center Family Program, have painted their חֲנוּכִּייוֹת (Chanukiyyot—Chanukah Menorahs)! Every one had its own unique style as every child had a different strategy for painting! So much joyful painting! One of the other special חֲנוּכָּה (Chanukah) experiences this year, was getting …
Feb 07
This week in Shorashim (‘roots’ for nursery) and Shteelim (‘saplings’ for Kindergarten), we have been working on our understanding of an intense experience that Eliyahu HaNavi has in our text. 11 [Adonai] said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before Adonai.”V’hineh, Adonai passed by!A great and powerful wind ripped through the mountain, shattering rocks …
May 21
In שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten), we have been reflecting on all the wonderful ways we’ve played as a community this year. To help us wrap up our year together we are making a memory box with many handcrafted treasures inside for us to look back on in the years to …
Apr 17
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 …
Oct 01
In יצירתיות (yetzirah — creativity) this week, Nitzanim has continued with our סליחה (slichah — forgiveness) theme project. On יום שלישי (yom shlishi — Tuesday), kindergarters began the project, creating their own visual expressions of Slichah. They traced the letters of “סליחה” (slichah — forgiveness) onto a paper divided into three sections. In the first section of …
Feb 09
Okay, not just one tree. Actually, whole forest of trees took root in Shorashim this week in honor of Tu B’Shevat. We have a new Peenat Eitzeem (Trees corner) where the learners are enjoying celebrating the “birthday” of the trees by making trees bloom. They spent Monday and Tuesday affixing leaves, flowers, and fruits to …
