There is a lot of excitement about getting ready for Pesach (Passover) in שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten). On Sunday, we met in person (outside). We brought out our super big seder plate, so we could work on remembering how to say the names of five main items that might be …
Tag Archive: yetzirah
Dec 17
Infused with Chanukah
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 …
Nov 19
It’s Final Project Time
It’s our favorite time of the theme! Final project time! We’ve been exploring text from Genesis 6-9 for six weeks, and now children are using collage, watercolor, and drawing to wrestle with their biggest questions and ideas. Children are so excited to see each other’s progress and share suggestions for how their peers might show …
Nov 11
Trying out collage
Part of how we help children deepen their questions and ideas about the text is through different kinds of creative exploration. This week in Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st grade), we experimented with a new modality that we will be using for our final projects: collage! The children came up with all sorts of ways to …
Oct 14
Exploring our new theme in community
Over the past several weeks, we have been using several different strategies to build community through our screens in Nitzanim (“Buds,” for 1st grade). Last week, we imagined what it would feel like to all be in a sukkah together, and the children came up with words like happy, comfy, curious, excited, and cozy. This …
Jan 29
On Creating Line Drawings (educational materials)
Hello! This is Morah Shterna (the yetzirah – art educator), here to tell you about the process of creating line drawings at the Jewish Enrichment Center. When introducing a new Jewish text to the younger children (N4 through 2nd grade) we often create line drawings to help them follow along with the text. These drawings …
Jan 09
Nitzanim Musical Yetzirah
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 …
Oct 04
Interpretation in yetzirah (art/creativity)
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 27
Getting messy in Anafim v’Alonim!
This week children in Anafim v’Alonim (“Branches” for 2nd-4th grades and “Oak trees” for 5th grade) experimented painting with their etzba’ot (fingers). It was a hit! The children only worked with primary colors and white, such amazing mixing they did! Each session children chose a new part of the text we read. So far we …
Sep 19
Is Breshit (Genesis בְּרֵאשִׁית) Real or Pretend?
This week in Nitzanim (“Buds” for first and second graders נִצָּנִים), children heard a section from Breshit (Genesis בְּרֵאשִׁית) detailing the creation of animals and humans on Yom Shishi (sixth day יוֹם שִׁישִּׁי). While listening, the children asked insightful questions and engaged in a deep discussion about whether this was a real story or a …
