Makom Community Lingo
As part of our unique pedagogy of Jewish Placemaking, we have some unique to Makom learning experiences. This page takes a deep dive to help you navigate what we do at Makom and how we create community with your kiddo and your family.
Kvutzot at Makom Community
We intentionally call each class a kvutzah, which means group. We do not call them classes because Makom Community is different from school! Learning is tailored within each kvutzah for the developmental stage of those learners, and each kvutzah includes a couple grades. We also provide lots of opportunities for learners to spend time with kids in other age groups. Each kvutzah is the Hebrew word for a part of a tree, since we’re all so busy growing at Makom Community.
- Garinim (seeds) – kindergarten and first grade
- Shorashim (roots) – first and second grade
- Nitzanim (buds) – third and fourth grade
- Anafim (branches) – fifth through seventh grade and our BMitzvah cohort
TEXTploration
Every learner at Makom Community explores ancient Jewish wisdom every day! We start with an opening activity to anchor the big ideas in the text in our lives. Then we engage in both discussion and activities that delve into the questions that emerge from the text. In this way, engaging with ancient Jewish wisdom helps us see who we are now, who each of us can become, and how we can show up for each other on that journey. Grades k-4 open their Makom day with 30 minutes of TEXTploration. Anafim opens their day with an hour of TEXTploration.
Tefilah: Prayer, Music, and Movement
Tefilah at Makom includes singing and moving with the music—jumping, dancing, and contextualizing the text of prayers through the use of gestures and sign language to provide deeper understanding. Many of the students volunteer to lead parts of the prayer service. Some kids sing along loudly, and others move their bodies to the prayers or get cozy.
Ivrit, Hebrew
Makom Community’s pedagogy, Jewish Placemaking, creates an immersive environment where Jewish texts, rituals, and customs are woven into our environment and how we interact with each other. Our priority in Hebrew learning is focused on decoding and building a vocabulary to access Jewish text and prayer. Through play, discussion, the dissection of key words in text study, and the joyful, confidence-building Tefilah experience, we braid Hebrew learning into Makom learning everyday. Tefilah is rooted in communal connection and ancestral connection by singing as a means of engaging with ancient liturgy and developing mindfulness. Kids have a strong sense of ownership of their Jewish environment and build a sense of ownership around the prayers, vying for a turn to lead elements of Tefilah. Learners begin to learn the Aleph Bet in Garinim and are reading Hebrew and mastering prayers in master the aleph-bet in Shorashim and full Hebrew prayers in Nitzanim and Anafim.
Tefilah Mastery
Mastering a Tefilah is a process that learners go through at their own pace. A learner has mastered a Tefilah after a mastery check with a Makom educator where they show that they can read, lead, and make personal meaning out of a prayer. We love to celebrate individual students and groups of students as they continue mastering more and more of our Shabbat Tefilah.
Shulchanot Avodah – Project Centers
At Shulchanot Avodah (project centers), our Garinim and Shorashim learners choose how they’d like to play with ideas from our text or pursue their Hebrew learning. Each project has a different modality, so all learners have a project that interests them! Educators circulate during this time, inviting learners to join them and inviting kids into reflection on their creations.
Project-Based Learning (PBL)
In Nitzanim our students are immersed in PBL. They work towards answering a driving question that results in authentic project creation. Through PBL, student inquiry, voice and choice, and reflection come together in a model that then invites families in to carry the learning from Makom to their homes.
Rosh Pinah – Capstone Projects
These projects encourage the Anafim cohort to delve into Jewish history, culture, art, science, philosophy, ritual, ethics, cooking, and any other aspect of Jewish life they might be curious about. Each project begins with a teacher-led crash course, giving the cohort the basic information they need to research on their own. The students then choose something within that topic, creating individual or partnered projects. Each project is presented to the community and reflected upon within the cohort. In preparing for the BMitzvah ceremony, each student creates a final, individual Rosh Pinah project on the topic of their choice.
Family Learning Showcase
An opportunity for parents and grandparents to join us at Makom Community to see what our kids have been learning and engage with the question, “How might our family bring this learning home?”
Family Programming
An invitation to connect with your kids (or grandkids) over a Jewish holiday, meal, or other special time in the community.