One crazy time at Makom Community, we started a brand new unit! This week we started our unit on Haggadah, the story of how we became the Jewish people. It’s a story we tell often, but especially on Pesach. Take a look and see our first steps on this exciting adventure! We experienced the joy of grape juice by making…
Makom Community News & Blog
Makom Community News & Blog
Filter by Category:
Tefilah: End Of Unit Project!
This week we wrapped up our unit on Tefilah (prayerful conversation). This unit culminated in a final project where kids made panels that represent each of the tefilot we do. Continue on to get a glimpse into our process! We began with a conversation about what Tefilah helps people do: Ask God questions, because we want things we can’t get at Target. Believe that things…
What Does God Do?
This week we delved into the second paragraph of the amidah called gevurot. Gevurot lists some of the ways God’s powers and presence manifest in our world. We unpacked what some of those powers are, what they look like, and how we can do them too! One thing that stuck with me was when a kindergartener said that we could be godlike by…
Tell Me What You Want, What You Really Really Want
This week we dove into the story of where Yaakov visits his uncle Lavan who tricks him into marrying his daughter Leah before he was able to marry Rachel. Following that Rachel and Leah have a baby-having-contest (go here for details). We explored this story, specifically with an eye for what the characters want, what they need, and how we…
Makom Community: An Origin Story
This week we are exploring a text that is near and dear to Makom Community’s personal history. We are looking at the story of Yaakov and the dream he had in a very special makom (place). In this dream, Yaakov receives some important information about his future: he is lying on the VERY land that his descendants will inherit, and…
Tefilah: Building toward Lifelong Personal & Communal Mindfulness
Makom Community is in an exciting place with regard to Tefilah (prayerful conversations) right now. With our new space and growing groups of both older Erev and younger Boker students, we have all kinds of thrilling, new opportunities to expand our model for teaching Tefilah. Our younger students engage with Tefilah in a few ways: 1) Communal Singing 2) Movement…
A Day at the Theater and the Collaborative Spirit
My favorite part of theater making is the collaborative spirit. This spirit was in abundant supply at our Winter Break Camp on Wednesday. We all worked together to tell a part of the story of Yaakov and Eisav’s relationship. There were puppets! There were Legos! There was drama! Most of all there was a strong creative spirit, and a big…
Oh No—Maybe Tefilah Can Help!
Have you ever desperately wanted something that you couldn’t have? What was that like? What did you do about it? What kind of support would you have wanted in that moment? This unit, we’re examining stories about the avot and imahot (patriarchs and matriarchs), with an eye to moments of tefilah (prayerful conversation) that these characters have. One such moment…
How would you parent if you could ALWAYS remember that you are LOVED?
As we worked with our learners this fall to craft our brit (communal expectations) anew through the lens of our unit studying Shema, we have been talking a lot about what it means to love and to show love. Our students came up with this brit text that we have all agreed to rely on each other to do: Speak with…
Tefilah As Conversation: Magen Avraham
Tefilah isn’t just prayer, music, and movement, it is also a conversation! We started a new unit where we are unpacking the ways in which Tefilah can be a conversation, and what those conversations can look like. This week we are looking at the part of Amidah that talks about our avot v‘imahot, aka our forefathers and mothers. Let’s zoom in on Avraham! God is described as being…
Winter Break School’s Out Camp Preview!
Winter Break School’s Out Camp is coming up and we’re PSYCHED! As always, our camps are for your kiddos between the ages of 4 and 10. We are trying something new for Winter Break School’s Out Camp this year! Our new structure is a camp day with early- and late- care to add on as you wish. BONUS: You can save $ by signing up before 12/16. *AND*…
Building Our Brit With Love
How can we make sure there’s room here for everyone to be who they are? How do I act in a way that lets people (both myself and everyone else) be who they are, with all their heart, mind, and strength? At Makom Community we value creating a space where we show love and feel loved. One way we do that is by creating a Brit, a two–way promise, that…
Can You Escape Makom Community?
Only if you know your Shema! This week we made a big project that was the culmination of what we have been learning about for the past couple months. The project was a build-your-own Escape Room! We split the kiddos into three groups, taught them a few puzzles they could choose from and some tricks of the trade, and let them…
Symbols and Reminders: Embodying Torah
What does it mean to have Torah on our bodies? How do we do that if Torah is words? “Uk’shartam l’ot al yadecha v’hayu letotafot bein einecha. Tie it as a sign on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes”. This week we are exploring a Jewish practice of physically embodying Torah, not just speaking it! We are learning how to put on tefillin to experience how Jews throughout time have fulfilled this mitzvah (translated as “commandment” but at Makom Community we typically talk about mitzvot as “opportunities for connection”). Here is…
How do words of Torah change a home?
“Saying words of Torah in my house makes my house more welcoming, more like a home.” – A wise fourth grader. This week we continued exploring Shema, specifically the verse that says “speak [Torah] when you’re sitting in your house”. We unpacked what it means to say words of Torah in our houses and what that does for ourselves and our communities. Home is… A place with people you love. A place that you feel welcome. Somewhere…
“Teach Them To Your Children, THAT’S YOU GUYS!”
“Tell it to them, sing it to them, read it to them, have them hear the words of Torah, and then try to explain it, and talk about it, and see what they understand about it.” – A wise 4th grader. We’re studying the Shema this unit. We’re working through the V’ahavta paragraph, and zooming into the line, “Teach [Torah] to your children and speak of…
Amazing Mezuzot!
This week we are talking about and looking at mezuzot (click here for more info about mezuzot). What is on the inside? What is on the outside? We looked at a variety of mezuzah cases, and your kiddos had a lot to say about them! Check it out. First we talked about mezuzot in general. What are they, and what do we notice about the piece inside? It’s for the door. It’s a mezuzah! It…
We’ve Got Soul!
What is a soul? What do we do with it? What makes us who we are? We are looking at the part of V’havta that talks about loving God with all of our hearts, our souls, and our power, and we are unpacking what all of that really means. Check out what your soulful kiddos had to say! What’s a soul? I don’t…
What Is Love?
What is love? Is it a choice, or something that just happens, or maybe a bit of both? What does it mean to do something with all of our hearts? This week, we are looking at the first line of V’havta, and we are unpacking what it means to be commanded to love. Take a look and see what your kiddos…
Sorry: A Whale Of A Word
Why is it so hard to say “I’m sorry”? What makes a good apology? Should we apologize when we don’t mean it? This week the Erev kids (grades 3-5) took a look at the Jonah story and talked it out! In the story, God tells Jonah to warn the city of Ninveh that God is going to destroy them because they were wicked. Jonah doesn’t want to, he runs away, things…
Shofar Sho Good
Tekiyaaaa! That’s the sound of a shofar, a special horn that we blow in the weeks leading up to and during the High Holidays. Like the Shema, a shofar asks us to wake up and pay attention. We started off snacktime learning each day this week by blowing the shofar. Then we unpacked what the shofar is asking us to pay attention to: Everything Reading the torah The rabbi What about ourselves…
Pay Attention! Why and How We Listen
Hey you! Shema! Listen up! Did we get your attention? Good! This week we have been talking about listening: how we do it, why we do it, and the factors that make listening a challenge at times. We did all this exploring in the context of the first line of Shema, a central piece of Jewish prayer. Every year at…
Handling Newness with Love
What’s new at Makom Community? We have doubled the size of our space, the number of bean bag chairs, and the glitter supply. The erev kiddos (grades 3-5) are enjoying their own space for snacktime learning and shulchanot avodah (project centers) up on the third floor. The boker kids (grades pre-K-2) are settling in downstairs. Towards the end of our…
Flashback Friday: Learning Highlights from 2017-18
Do you remember all of the amazing learning we did last year? What about all the brilliant, quotable ideas your kiddos shared? Check out this recap highlighting some of my favorite moments, and get stoked to start it all again in just over a week! Our first curriculum unit last year was about Bnei Yisrael’s (the Jewish people) experience receiving…
Top 10 Reasons to Enroll Your Child at Makom Community Fall 2018
https://makomcommunity.org/fall2018 They’ll LOVE it. New friends in different schools and grades. Fresh challah every Friday! Playful, joyful Jewish education. A community of supportive parents for you. Staff who loves your child and works with them individually. Pickup from your child’s elementary school five days a week. Camp days when school is closed for snow days, conferences, or professional development. Family…
August 2018 School’s Out Camp!
Local summer camps are going to wrap up well before school is back in session. We have FANTASTIC camp days planned for the third week in August. See below for all the specifics and SIGN UP TODAY! All camps are $70/day plus any additional field trip fees. Or sign up for a full week, $405 including all field trip costs. www.makomcommunity.org/camps Also, remember…
June 2018 School’s Out Camps!
Summer is upon us! We have FANTASTIC camp days planned for two weeks in June. See below for all the specifics and SIGN UP TODAY! All camps are $70/day plus any additional field trip fees. Or sign up for a full week, $405 including all field trip costs. www.makomcommunity.org/camps Also, remember to sign up soon to make sure your kiddos get their…
On How Torah Shows Us All the Gender
What are the big takeaways we can glean from this whirlwind unit on gender in Torah? We went back and spent a day on each of three texts to parse out what gender models those stories present. I couldn’t choose just one day’s conversation to write a post about, so you’re stuck an extra-long record of your children’s insight and…
Does God Have a Gender? Torah is Confusing
Does God have a gender? If so, what is it? This week we reexamined three familiar texts with an eye towards what God was doing, how we would describe God in those situations, and whether those actions and descriptions seem more masculine, more feminine, or both/neither. The texts we used for this process were from the leaving Egypt story—when God…
Smashing the Patriarchy at Makom Community
What are things you’ve been told you should or shouldn’t do because of your gender? This week at Makom Community we used the story of Leah and Rachel marrying Yaakov to help us unpack some gender role expectations, both in Torah text and in our own lives. During shulchanot avodah (learning centers), we looked at plot points from the story…