In order to keep all kiddos and staff safe, we held Jewish Enrichment outside at the Greenfield playground. At first, some kids were disappointed that we couldn’t be inside, which was totally understandable. But with a few layers and the excitement of the impending snow storm at the end of the week, kids were soon excited to sing Tefilah: prayer, music, and movement outside and watch the sunset.
Garninim (kindergarteners) and Shorashim (1st and 2nd graders) combined classes and played human bingo and a name/movement game so everyone could be familiar with each other, new students, and a returning Shorashim educator, Isabella.
While singing during Tefilah: prayer, music, and movement, you could see how joyful kiddos were to be able to freely move around our area of the playground, compared to Ionic Street..
During this funky week, Nitzanim (3-5 Graders) braved the cold and had a blast at Makom Community and Greenfield. We had a nice balance of games, free time and Tefilah. Some hits included Human Guess-Who, Trivia Race, Night at the Museum, and Shabbat Tag!
Nitzanim has been rocking Tefilah! We love to see kiddos enthusiastically volunteering to lead prayers like Barchu and Oseh Shalom (a Makom favorite). We can’t wait to continue growing our Tefilah skills and finding meaning in the prayers.
The game of Human Guess-Who! Try this with family and friends: In a group, choose one guesser. The guesser will go out of ear-shot from the rest of the group, while everyone else picks a person who is “it.” Once the group has chosen, create the classic grid from the board game with your bodies and call the guesser to come back! The guesser may only ask yes or no questions, like “Is your person in third grade?” If the answer is no, all third graders in the group will sit down. If the answer is yes, all non-third graders will remain standing. The guesser will continue to ask these yes or no questions until there is just one person standing: the person who is “it!” Now you can choose a new guesser. In a big enough group (once it’s safe to be in big groups) you can have two different “grids” of players and two guessers a la “Guess-Who” board game.
Wow! What a week. We’re so grateful that you layered up, came with high-filtration masks, and chose, again, to step up to protect each other through this next, challenging phase of the pandemic. Next week, we’re looking forward to a whole week of classes indoors, exploring our place in the world and the awesome, yet important, responsibilities that come with it.