Hi all –
We had a fantastic week this week. The spring fever seemed to have subsided a bit. JOY!
On Sunday we had extended chugim for our Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations to celebrate Israel’s 69th birthday! The kids made dead sea salt scrub, hamsas, and Israeli food. Fun was had by all… and quite a mess. Whew! Clean up was brutal! J But, I hope your child had a great time!
In class, we did something a bit different to try and break things up. I am trying to get the kids moving a bit to keep them engaged. We discussed Jews in terms of being refugees since our unit on Moses leads us to the point where the Israelites are wandering for 40 years. We spoke about why the Jewish people are always wandering (including some current Jewish pre-teens, who tend to wander the halls at CSZ J) and what makes them keep landing on their feet. We discussed how Jews are like a compass (the kind used in geometry, not a compass rose), and how one foot is fixed in Judaism and one foot – the one that moves – is your nationality. That foot can move, but it always comes back to the fixed foot of Judaism. Our true home is our religion, and this makes us portable and makes us suited and adaptable to move. We then did an activity where we made a Jewish star with our bodies and then had to immediately move into a symbol that represented America. The kids chose the 3 branches of government (I was impressed). The kids were really engaged and into the lesson.
On Tuesday we made our yads with Gail Kaplan. They are BEAUTIFUL! I hope everyone uses them for their bar or bat mitzvah!
Have a wonderful week and only a few more weeks until our big Shavuot program on our last day of religious ed, May 21st. Please make sure to join your child from 11 – 12. WE have lots of things for the older kids, including tying your own tzit tzit, writing with a sofer and much more! It’s going to be great.
Have a good one,
Morah Leah
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