A fond farewell...for now!

Dear Families,

Over the past two and half months we have explored, discovered and grown together and we can't wait to continue to do so in the new year! This was Havurah's last class before winter break, and we will resume the weekend of January 11th.

Today we discussed stories, creations and heroes! With another visit from Joyce (storytelling extrodinaire!), we got another version of the creation story that we discussed earlier in the year. We then created our own story beginning with the creation of our own main character... Mr. Eyeball Pants! Mr. Eyeball Pants is a sea, land and air creature, with 10 human legs, 6 wings, a birds beak and 6 silly eyes. Be sure to ask your child about him!

Since we are building towards creating our own story, the children were given some "thinking homework" for over the break, which is to think about their own animal creation! We will be creating these next time we are in Havurah.

We also were introduced to a new Hebrew letter today, he! Thus adding a fifth letter to our aleph bet books. Speaking of things that start with a "heeee" we got to talking about the word hero. Kids thought about and discussed heroes they were familiar with, from batman to "my mom, my dad, my sister." We then illustrated heroes of choice in their aleph bet books.

Due to technical difficulties, photos are not available this week. In the meantime, enjoy this image of The Creation Of Man 6 by Marc Chagall. Another interpretation of a story we have been talking about a lot.

If you wish, talk with your child about this image. What do they see? Ask them for descriptive words. What sorts of feelings does the painting have? Happy, sad, exciting... why? How is this different from what they imagined the story to be in their heads? We've discussed a lot about the creation story, is this similar or different to what they saw in their minds?

Have a happy and healthy new year! If you have any questions over the break, please feel free to reach out to us at any time. See you in 2014!

The Beginning of our Second Cycle

On Saturday at Havurah we got reacquainted with one another as we hadn't seen each other in a few weeks! We even welcomed a new student into our classroom and so decided to revisit all of our familiar blessings, Hebrew letters, art projects, and songs.

We began the day playing Simon-Says...in HEBREW (B'Ivrit). The kids repeated the words back to us as they gestured to their face.  

Aynayim are eyes
Ahf is nose
Ohznayim are ears
Peh is mouth

We will continue to practice throughout Havurah!

As always, we blessed the grape juice, the Challah and prepared for our meeting with Joyce by telling stories of Channukah and Thanksgiving.

We were so excited to welcome Joyce -- the Storytelling Queen into our classroom. She lit up the face of every child in the classroom with her magic story wand, the Tale of Channa and her Shabbat Dress as well as the epic Magic Dreidels. The class is truly beginning to learn what it takes to create a story and realizing that they themselves are storytellers of their own.



Below you can find the story we composed as a class with cards of images Joyce brought to class. It  was a beautiful collaboration as each student spoke with a unique voice adding their own twist to every change of the sentence:

Once upon a time there was a castle in the middle of a big lawn -- there was a road leading up to the castle, and inside, people were living. There was a princess reading in the castle, and there was a mouse trying to annoy the story by talking in front of the middle of the story. Outside the castle there was a ferry in the sky. In the castle, there was a king who was looking for the princess. The king found a key -- the key was to the room where the princess lived. There was a witch who was trying to unlock the door but she couldn't. The witch got stuck in the bottle - somebody put her in there. The dragon was trying to get in the door but he thought it was water and then he blew fire and then the fire flew back in his mouth and then the dragon went away. The dragon found a diamond ring when he was walking away, then he opened the door. The princess found the diamond ring and it became hers. And then lightning struck the castle. And then a pirate boat came and then the queen walked off the pirate boat. She got off the boat and went back to the castle and she said, "What's Going On? Where's my diamond Ring?!" and the search began again for a new diamond ring.
To Be Continued...

To finish the day we had an assortment of activities -- we built kingdoms and castles with blocks, Nate specifically had a blast playing with the different shapes and sizes of two Russian dolls, and of course we contributed to each of our Aleph-Bet books with markers, stamps, and glu-able letters.

Finally we made the letters we know so far (Aleph, Bet, Gimmel and Daled) with our bodies both in yogic positions and also together as small teams!

Hello! Shalom! Sholem-Aleykhem!

This week we had an especially musical day, with a special program: Traveling the Yiddishland with Dmitri Slepovitch. Children were invited to gather and learn about Yiddishkayt and popular Yiddish songs, performed by ethnomusicologist and acclaimed Klezmer musician, Dmitri "Zisl" Slepovitch. There was singing, dancing, and we even learned a bit of Yiddish. Little did we know, we already know and use Yiddish in our everyday life! Did you know 'Bagel' is actually a Yiddish word? Later we had a visit from Paul, as we continue to get ready for next week's Chanukah party (get ready for quite the concert!). 

We also continued to explore Hebrew letters as we also got up and moved our body in this fun interactive letter hunt! Beginning together, we overlooked several Hebrew letters built out of blocks and waited for various letters to be called. 

After a letter was called, we raced to find the matching block letters (without pushing of course!)

 Once a letter was found, we sat as a team around the letter we had found. This was not only a fun way to learn our Hebrew letters, but it was a great way to get our bodies involved! 

The End of our First Cycle

This Saturday we had both completions and new beginnings!

We had our last day of our first specialty -- ceramics, and there we put our final touches on our Menorahs with gorgeous paint colors. Following this theme, we LEARNED BLESSINGS, told STORIES, and DISCUSSED the holiday of CHANNUKAH. Of course Paul came to sing our favorite Chanuukah songs. During story-time, we learned about all the special symbols and components that are relevant to Channukah -- the menorah with eight openings for light along with a ninth Shamash, jelly doughnuts and warm latkes, golden coins called GELT, DREIDELS, and, as Quincy put it: the best thing of all -- the warmth of family and friends.

We continued our conversation/artistic representations on the seven days of creation. We filled in our creation circles with the specific category of worldliness that was created on each day. (See last week's post for a recap).

Finally, with the most eager of anticipation, we filmed our our first short film! We will make a creative video of each day for the next few weeks as we move into our second cycle -- storytelling!

Next week we are organizing a field trip to the place for stories... the library! We will be sending out an email with more details.

We are also looking forward to welcoming our parents/guardians into the classroom Saturday, November 23rd celebrate Channukah -- the Festival of Lights and the closing of our first cycle!

Here Comes the Sun

Creation was in the air today! 

As we gear up for Hanukah we created our very own Menorahs in ceramics. 

 

As we continue in our classroom with our exploration of stories, we discussed the Creation Story. We listened first and then decided to try our hand at acting it out... with great success! 

We wiggled our way throughout the seven days of creation, from water to sky and sun, to animals of the land and sea. 

After taking a singing break with Paul, we returned to our stories. Kids split up into three groups to illustrate the days and creation. 

Group 1 covered Days 1-3 (the creation of light, day and night, sky, water and land), Group 2 covered Day 4 (the creation of the sun and moon) and Group 3 explored Day 5 (the creation of sea creatures and birds). Next week we will continue to explore Days 6 and 7. 

Next week we will also continue to explore stories as we continue to think about upcoming Hanukah as well as our own stories and storytelling unit with Joyce. 

Creatively Constructing

On Saturday at Havurah we were BUILDERS, CREATORS and CONSTRUCTORS of community!

We began by reviewing our first three letters (Aleph, Bet, and Gimel) with BLOCKS

 

We made squiggly letters and straight ones --

we built our Aleph-Bet tall and far

We sang our welcome song, but with a twist: Sydney, Sarah, and Jesse each suggested a different direction in which we could sing our song -- creativity was in the air!

We enjoyed Challah and juice as we raised them into the air to practice our Hebrew blessings -- our voices are growing louder and more articulate each week

In ceramics we solidified our technique of making a checkerboard on the clay and binding with water (Score and Slip)

Nate built a schoolbus, Simone shaped X's and O's (CLAY hugs and kisses), Jesse worked with oppositions--he made both a hot dog bun and then a tunnel for a train, Quincy made snowmen, and a whole team worked together to make a family

Later, we sung LOUD AND SPIRITED with Paul

Back in our classroom, we revisited our Aleph word-- AARETZ

We built our own cities, towns, buildings, castles, and landscapes

 
We used ALL the materials and tools we could find -- marble beads for rocks and bricks and decorations, sea shells, and small people, too!

Not only did we build our own community, we cleaned up like a real team --

We divided and conquered, each child with a different task for clean up -- it was amazing!

Finally, we contributed to our Aleph-Bet books.

We worked on our title pages, as well as our first two pages

Our drawings of Aleph and Bet were diversely unique and colorful -- each child is thrilled to have a book of their own that they will contribute to on a weekly basis

Can't wait for next Havurah, as we will begin to prepare our minds for the Festival of Lights --  Chanukah

Building a Story

This week at Havurah we discussed the word COMMUNITY to understand that we ourselves are a TEAM that listens, learns, and experiences with one another.

We went on an adventure to the staircase to notice the artistic space we inhabit -- the expressions of community that line our every wall.

We imagined what it means to be the creator of ones own story.

We discussed what it takes to build an imagined story - a title, an author, a collection of characters, and an adventure! We considered the difference between stories that are make-believe and stories that are real and true!


This conversation led into a group project that we will continue throughout the year -- each student created the title page for her/his own Aleph-Bet book. We will fill it to the brim as we learn the Jewish letters and the most exciting and relevant Hebrew words associated with these letters.

Aleph א for Aaretz ארץ --> Land
Bet ב for Bayit בית --> Home
Gimel ג for Glidah גלידה and Goi גוי --> Ice Cream and Nation (ice-cream eaters that we are)





In ceramics we learned how to SCORE and how to bind pieces of clay together

We talked about action words -- what we DO to the clay -- roll, twist, flatten, and even "leave it as is"

Later we sang with Paul -- he even introduced the Aleph-Bet song to help us remember our letters.

We built on the themes we discussed last week and solidified both our schedule and our group dynamic; we had a blast all along!

Getting to Know You

This week in Havurah, classroom 4 spent some time thinking about BIG QUESTIONS! Firstly, we discussed our own ideas about what Judaism means to us. We will revisit this idea throughout the year and think about if our ideas change or grow. Kids answered the following prompt: “To me, ‘being Jewish’ means…” Here are some ideas we had:

“Celebrating different holidays.” – Rachel

“My mom, my dad and my magic blanket.” –Qunicy

“People talking together.”  -Simone

“Having friends and having the whole school come together and say Jewish things.”-Bryce

“Go to temple, sing songs and talk.” – Jesse

“Being with my family at my house and having Challah.” – Sarah

“Playing drums at Temple.” –Ethan

“Playing guitar at Temple.” – Nate

So now that we have an idea of what it means to us to be Jewish, we talked about what we want to learn and gain from Havurah this year. After an exciting brainstorming session, we all agreed that we wanted to make our own movie! This will be a big project that we will work on throughout the year, so more updates to come! One thing we will need to consider is what stories we would like to draw inspiration from.

Thinking of stories, we continued our conversation of the Jewish folktale, The Sun and the Jealous Moon. Drawing inspiration from the companionship and friendship of the moon and the stars, we drew our own drawings of people in our own lives that we love and support.

We also continued our exploration of the Alephbet, learning this week about Bet! As we settle into our classroom 4 routines, Alephbet activities, our welcome meetings and blessings over snack, we are moving forward in what is sure to be an exciting and enriching year!

And Here We Go!

For our first day of Havurah 2013-2014, we spent the day sharing our thoughts on friendship, what the JCC means to us, dancing, creating and singing (a lot of singing). 

We began our Welcome Meeting by sharing some of our favorite things about the JCC and learned our Shalom Song which we will be singing every week to welcome our friends back. We had an exciting visit to ceramics with Catherine where we explored clay and warmed up for a year of clay creation!

We learned about the Jewish Folktale The Sun and The Jealous Moon, which we will continue to explore next week.

We reflected on what friendship means to us and learned about the jealousy that the moon felt for the sun. Next week we will get to sink our teeth a little deeper into this Jewish Folktale as we explore friendship in our own Havurah community.

After our story time we moved our feet and had a rockin' good time as Paul led us through music time! 

We wrapped up our day by exploring our first Hebrew letter of the year, Alef. Next week we will continue to talk about the letter Alef as we explore the word Aretz, Hebrew for Land. We will be exploring our own lands- classroom 4, the JCC, New York City and beyond!

       

Welcome to Havurah! Meet the teachers!

Each week we will be posting reflections, ponderings, ''Aha!' moments and lots of fun photos from our Havurah meetings. Let's start by meeting this years Pre-K teachers, Ani and Brigitte! 

My name is Brigitte Reisman Moreno--I am a native New Yorker currently getting my Masters Degree in Museum Education at Bank Street College of Education. I am PASSIONATE about arts education and the power of expression in children's education. After graduating from Hunter College with a degree in Studio Art, I have spent the past three years working in museums, including the Rubin Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum, where I still freelance for Family Programs. I am also student teaching as a part of my fieldwork for General Education certification, which I love! I am so excited to be a part of the Havurah family this year and can't wait to continue building this amazing community!


My name is Anielle Fredman--I am a recent graduate of Vassar College where I studied religion, music, and education. I have a passion for Jewish stories, songs, rituals, and traditions, and have spent recent years in educational settings with young children. In addition to teaching at the JCC Havurah, I am teaching downtown at a progressive synagogue called the New Shul as well as working with Bar- and Bat-Mitzvah students in preparation for their personal ceremonies. I plan to eventually go back to school for a masters/PhD in child psychology/development, but am enjoying a breath of fresh air from academia. For now, I am dwelling in settings that feel much more like home--in the classroom with little people beginning their Jewish journeys. Welcome to Havurah!