Preparing with New Friends for Passover

This week at Havurah we had a very special change of weather! After our regular practices of singing Welcome and Snack with Blessings, we met a new group of friends! The 2nd Grade class who learns just across the hall from us at Havurah. We joined forces in Classroom 4 and made a humongous circle as we went around and introduced ourselves to each other. We said our name, shared individual art creations with one another, and talked about who we are through what we love to do.

After introductions, we began to speak about the Passover story and the upcoming Seder. The 2nd Graders took the lead as they shared with Pre-K what they could remember about the Passover story. We even passed around the Seder plate and discussed the significance of the various spots on the plate (shank bone, egg, parsley & salt water, charoset, maror...) and the symbolism and emotions that we attribute to these foods from the Passover story.  We will continue to review the story, songs, and significance of all the components of Passover next week.

Following our amazing collaboration we parted ways with the 2nd grade and had our first day of our new specialty--YOGA! We removed our shoes and met on the rug where we first asked one another WHAT IS YOGA? We discussed that yoga is an activity for our minds & bodies--it helps with concentration, balance, and can even help us find ways to calm our bodies down and relax.

We warmed up with some jumping jacks, and learned our first new pose: in hebrew, KELEV -- downward facing dog. After KELEV we learned four other poses to begin learning our yoga aleph-bet. We can now make Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Daled with our bodies!!

We had a round of freeze dance yoga with our aleph-bet letters and then played an exciting yogi-game called Kelev, Kelev, where's your bone?! Finally, we had a cool down with a guided relaxing meditation.


And to top it all off, Paul came in and worked with us on singing the four questions which we have almost learned all the way through!

Can't wait for next week

Boom Pow!

 Today was a day of powerful forces! We began with a special visit from James to teach us KRAV MAGA a self defense martial arts developed in Israel. We began by warming up our bodies with our imaginary snowboards building up our powerful legs. As James said "always love your snowboard!" Squats can be a great way to build up muscle in your legs and stomach. We then went on to flex our fists and then got to the real fun part!

  

We talked about the meaning of SELF DEFENSE and the power of protection. Learning how to use our legs and arms was fun but also an important way to remember how strong we can be. Remember to talk with your child about when and where it is appropriate to use their bodies in this way! 

                                                  

We then took a break from flexing our muscles to wish Ani a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 

יום הולדת שמח

Ani has brought so much to the Havurah community and taught us so much that this year would not be nearly as full and meaningful without her. We celebrated her birthday by making her wear a powerful viking hat (because it is fun) and singing a joyous Happy Birthday. We hope your next year is happy and healthy and filled with love Ani!  

In preparation for our next two weeks in which we will be pairing with Havurah's second graders, classroom 4 prepared "Getting to Know" you letters in which we shared something about ourselves. After a creative workshop period, we gathered around to share. We were surprised to learn more about each other! We shared our love of ice cream and our families, and more ice cream!

We will spend our time with the second graders learning about Jewish traditions, such as WEDDINGS or in Hebrew חתונה 

Make sure to check in and see all of the different traditions we will be learning about!

Our last part of class was spent moving and shaking! We had a great time with Paul learning songs in preparation for PASSOVER and had a wild freeze dance session. We then wrapped up our day by telling the story of PURIM for the younger Havurah students. 

We also hope you noticed all of the amazing and wonderful costumes featured in these photos! Enjoy the below video of us dancing away and celebrating in our imaginative costumes. Have a great week! 

A Day of Discovery

Today was a day of reunion, celebration and discovery! We began by returning to our Aleph-bet books with a new addition VAV. With excitement we are slowly seeing our aleph-bet books grow as well as our understanding and appreciation of the Hebrew alphabet and language. 

As the day continued we came together for a beautiful snack with blessings, and as we ate, discussed the ideas of maps or in Hebrew, MAPPAH. In the recent weeks we have talked a lot about our world, OLAM and the land around us, ERETZ. Today, we focused on how we see the world around us and started by mapping out our classroom. We worked collaboratively to build our understanding of  a space which we meet in every week to grow and learn. 

We were surprised to discover parts of our classroom we hadn't quite noticed before, including a prominent tissue box! We then had a short but sweet field trip to the other pre-k classroom and then talked about how our rooms were different. We also got a sneak peak of how to make HAMENTASHEN a sweet Purim treat. 

Speaking of the upcoming holiday PURIM, we had quite an exciting last half of class! After our regular visit from Paul for a jam session, we had a dramatic retelling of the story of Purim. For those of us who were not in class last week, our friends who had heard the story from last week's storytelling, reenacted the story for us!

The performance was riveting. It definitely got us all excited for next week's festivities, while also giving us a chance to exercise our acting chops and continue our theme of storytelling for the year. 

Please enjoy the below video clip from the performance by Simone and Harry. 

Have a great week! We are looking to seeing you all at Havurah next Saturday, March 15th!

FAMILIES: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SEND YOUR CHILD TO HAVURAH NEXT WEEK IN PURIM COSTUMES!  

                                            

Preparing for Purim!

This week in Havurah we began our preparations for the upcoming joyous holiday of Purim! Since we had not seen each other in a few weeks, we began our session with some backtracking. We played a game in which we reviewed the five Hebrew letters that we are beginning to know exceptionally well. The teacher would call out the letter and the students would run to that letter that lay on the floor made from blocks. We are near experts at Aleph, Bet, Gimmel, Daled, and Hay! Next we sang our welcome song, and although we introduced ourselves to our substitute teacher, Mersiha, many of the students knew her already and were excited to be reunited!

We said our blessings for the Challah and Juice and reviewed our vocab words -- BRACHAH for blessing and ERETZ -- land!

Joyce came in for storytelling and with costumes galore she told the wonderful tale of Purim that took place a long, long time ago in the town of Shushan in Persia. It is the story we read from a book called the Megillah, and it is sung in Hebrew with a special melody. Purim occurs in the Hebrew month of Adar -- a time for goofiness, laughter and metamorphosis! We learned about the characters Esther, Mordechai, king Achashverosh, Queen Vashti, and the evil Haman! If you need a parent-friendly review, you can find one at the link below:

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/645995/jewish/The-Basic-Purim-Story.htm

After, Joyce told a second story about a young girl who chooses to spend her Purim dressed up as Queen Esther doing Mitzvot (acts of loving kindness) for others. She gives out Mishloach Manot (which literally means, the sending of Portions/Gifts) to people who are less fortunate. We discussed the idea that Purim is in someways similar to Halloween because we wear masks and costumes but instead of RECEIVING gifts and candy, we are meant to GIVE.

In our next part of the day, we created and decorated our own GROGGERS, made with paper plates, beans (for shaking), and colorful tape. As one of the students mentioned, we use these groggers when we read the Megillah, and we hear the name HAMAN, at which point we shake them like crazy to insist that his name be blotted our from history for the meanness he felt toward the Jews and his incapacity to accept people of difference!

Next Paul came in and we had an extremely special treat because we got to sing a classroom favorite tune from the movie FROZEN.

Finally, in the last part of our art-filled day, we first had a conversation about masks and costumes. We asked each other -- When have you worn a mask? What was the point? How did you feel when you were in costume? And then moved to the tables to decorate our own crazy and vibrant masks. Each child used their own creative capacities to make beautiful circular masks, with holes for their eyes and lots and lots of colors!


Can't wait to see everyone next week!

On Blessings

Following up from last week at Havurah, our classroom continued to explore the themes that lay hidden in the Blessings we say every single week over grape juice and challah. Today we focused on the first word ברוך Baruch - Blessing.

We had a very intimate group this week - only six students, so each student had the opportunity both to work individually and as a team, sharing relevant thoughts and ideas related to the topics we discussed.

We began by asking the question, "What is a blessing?!"



Sydney suggested that it is something you say at a Holiday, a Birthday party, or before eating a snack. Rachel followed by adding that we bless our food, thanking God for everything we are given to eat.

Following this conversation, the teachers explained that Blessings make certain experiences even more special than they already are by turning our focus and attention to the moment, and announcing out loud that we are grateful for the opportunity that has been presented to us. The rabbis understood that so much of life goes unnoticed, moments slip through our fingertips without truly grasping the experience at hand. We explained that one can say a blessing over almost anything -- seeing something beautiful like a rainbow or a mountain, doing something new for the first time, eating bread, wine, fruits, vegetables, grains, and all other snacks, and maybe most significantly -- we can bless the people in our lives that make it special to be alive every single day.

Afterwards, we went around the circle and made a list of just those things -- any space, experience, or person we wanted to bless today. Rachel and Max said they would love to bless their family, Max specifically said he wanted to bless his brother. Meanwhile, Ethan and Simone brought up sacred spaces -- Ethan sent blessings to the two couches in his home that he loves to jump on while Simone was thankful for her classroom that she finds herself in six days out of every week! Lastly, Rachel, Max, and Ethan were full of blessings for things we find in nature -- waterfalls and rainbows.


After this wonderful conversation, we had free-play in which there were several options to explore. The first option was to return to our topic from last week HaOlam העולם - and to build the world out of blocks. Max, Simone, and Blake built planets and sunbeams! Meanwhile, Rachel and Sydney chose to help prepare for the Havdalah ceremony later in the day by putting together little bundles of Besamim - spices, made from cinnamon and fresh herbs, that we later passed around to our fellow community members. And finally, Ethan worked within his Aleph-Bet book to depict the blessing he spoke of earlier.

As class progressed, we read a marvelous story about Baxter the Pig who wanted to be Kosher. We discussed what it means to eat Kosher food and noted that many different Jews have various practices in terms of the way they choose to eat healthfully in order to benefit their heads and their hearts.


Finally, we played a search and find game in which we divided up into two teams and flipped through pages of Hebrew books in order to locate the Hebrew letters we know thus far -- Aleph, Bet, Gimmel, Daled, and Hay! It was a tie game and each team did terrifically!




We closed the day with a family sing along and Havdalah service -- the ceremony that differentiates Shabbat, a day of rest, from the busy work week ahead.

We hope to see everyone in our class reunited after two weeks of vacation. Enjoy and see you on March 1st!

Building Ha'olam!

Welcome back Havurah! It was great to see everyone again and get back into the Havurah swing of things. Although February will be a short month for Havurah (we do not meet February 15th and 22nd) we are off to a great month! 

We started out our day by discussing and exploring Brigitte's family torah scroll, prayer book (siddur) and bronze chai (life). We thought about the question "why do people keep the torah and prayer books?" In agreement, our friends answered "to read!" 

It was great to see these objects being used and appreciated with respect and thoughtfulness. We then had a real treat as Ani actually read from the handwritten torah scroll! 

Joyce then came by for some fun and exciting storytelling. We worked more on collaborative storytelling and worked together to create an exciting story of kings and queens, witches and dragons!

As we reflected on the year so far, we thought about some of our most memorable learning moments. Our work with the hebrew word aretz came to mind and we decided to work more with words that we use often at Havurah, and turned to our blessings that we say each time for snack! We decided to explore the word OLAM or ''Ha'olam" meaning THE WORLD.

We began by creating our own world, by collaboratively drawing it!

   

We considered what the actual earth looks like, the universe we live in, and the things on earth that we have. Some favorites were beds, chairs, people and the sunset. We will continue to think about Ha'olam and our place in it. 

We are looking forward to seeing everyone next week! In the meantime, continue to think about stories! As we move forward we will begin to think more about our own personal stories and how we share them with the community. Have a great week everyone!

Family Mitzvah Project Day

We were so happy to reunite with our class at Havurah this week after a long hiatus and before a second long break ensues. It was a special day indeed! For the first hour we had our regular Havurah class, we joined together to sing and welcome each other back into the classroom and we played a game in which we truly got in touch with our emotions as they make themselves evident in our faces and body language. We showed feelings such as Happiness, Surprise, Sadness, Anger, and Confusion first with only our faces, and then with solely our bodies. We realized how difficult it is to isolate one aspect and not automatically find yourself doing the other, too. You should have seen these faces, they were amazing! There is no question we have a class-act of thespian talents in our midst!

As usual, we enjoyed Challah and Juice, and showed off our enunciated utterances of the Shabbat blessings.

Then, we had a conversation about Harmony and Difference, after we read a joyful and heartening book about all of the different children in the world singing a song in unison together. We explained that Judaism is a religion of communities, and therefore we sing the same blessings, and do the same rituals and traditions as many Jews do all over the world!

We played another game in which we acted out animals from our story about the Creation of the World, and the children guessed what each other were. There were sharks, lions, monkeys, bears, zebras, horses, cows, galore!

Finally, we introduced the idea of MITZVAH -- acts of loving kindness and goodness for the world. We invited our parents into the classroom, and after a short slide-show from Brigitte about the Sarah Childcare Center in Tanzania, we began our Mitzvah project of writing letters to our new friends at the Center. We used Swahili phrases such as Mambo Rafiki to speak the language of our friends and added our own images, drawings, and designs to show the children what life is like in NYC at the JCC. We know they are going to be so thrilled to know they have friends here in America and we are surely hoping to get letters and drawings from them, in return.

For the last half hour, we had our usual family sing-along with Paul as we came together in harmony once more! Enjoy the winter days and see you all on February 1st!