Our students just finished exploring the next from Bamidbar, Numbers, where Bnai Yisrael, the Jewish People, have wandered in the desert, received Torah, and have to decide together whether to go in to the Land of Israel. These are the same people who were slaves and saw all ten terrible, horrible, no good, very bad plagues. These are the same people who crossed…

We are kicking off the school year working toward a classroom brit—a set of guidelines that will set us up for a fun, communal experience full of great learning. Yesterday, we learned the text from Exodus 39:43 where Bnai Yisrael, the Jewish people, finished building the Mishkan and Moses blessed the people for all their generous donations and hard work…

We can’t wait to kick off our first week with our students! Sarah and I have been busily preparing for what seems like forever, and we’re so ready to see your kids’ smiling faces and learn with them! Here’s a sneak preview of how we’ll start off the year: Getting to Know You Each day during our first two weeks…

August 17-28 We know you need them, and we have them! Check your child’s calendar and see what the gap is between their summer camps and school resuming. We’re here for you! Full-day Camp 9am-6pm is $70/day. Camp days with additional field trip fees are listed below. Sign up today! August 17 Trip to Franklin Institute & Science Experiments +$25August…

Every day in Tfilah: Prayer, Music, and Movement, we include a prayer for Shalom—peace and wholeness. We usually preface it with something like this: There are LOTS of ways to be Jewish, but when Jewish communities all over the world get together for Tfilah—prayer,  there is one thing they always pray for… SHALOM! Because we all know the world could…

It is truly hard to believe we’re coming to a close on our first FANTATSTIC school year at Makom Community! Thank you to all of you who have joined us on Shabbat, camp days, and in our afterschool programming. Our enrollment is really growing for the fall, and we have a limited number of spaces available. If you’re considering enrolling,…

Today our students studied Jacob’s ladder (Genesis 28:10-22). It includes this amazing dream scene in a makom, which is usually translated simply as “place”, though there is a whole lot that isn’t captured by that one word translation. Jacob is on his way to find a spouse in the land of Canaan, but he stops in a makom (place) to rest on…

In “Can We Disrupt Religious School” Cousens is distressed over supplementary Jewish education’s inability to “get much done”. At the same time, she acknowledges the need to disrupt but stops short of saying how to do that. Here are a few places I think we could start: 1) Move away from a model where “getting it done” is a goal unto…

If the Philadelphia Public Schools are closed tomorrow, we’re open for camp from 9am-6pm! Have your 4 year old to 3rd grade child(ren) join us for a full day of friends, Purim fun, and playing in the snow!   Register here, or call to let us know you’re coming.  Dropoff begins at 9am. Please send your child with lunch, and we will provide snacks throughout the…

Looks like we may have some snow days this week! We wanted to drop you a line and let you know that if the Philadelphia School District closes, then Makom Community will be open for snow day camps! We know you need to get to work, and we’re looking forward to hanging out with your kids! We’ll have a full…

As we’ve explored Shema together for the last few weeks, we keep circling back to all the opportunities Shema presents us to live holy lives, lives infused with meaning and intentionality supported by Jewish ritual.   Of those opportunities to make time for holiness and intentionality, tefilin are perhaps the strangest to our 2015 eyes and sensibilities. So we started…

This week began our pilot of PJ Library Goes to School. We’re excited to be among the pilot sites that are bringing the magic and wonderful resources of PJ Library to supplementary schools. All of the resources we’ll get to use are connected to this year as a shmitah year. We’re also still in the midst of studying Shema as…

We had so much fun during our winter break camp days! We met a bunch of new friends– none of our brave campers knew more than one other child when they arrived, but by the end, they all had a bunch of new friends! Our next* camp is Monday 1/19, MLK Jr. Day. It will include a service-learning opportunity. Sign…

As we’re studying what unites Jewish people in communities all around the world, we’re learning about mezuzah.  Seeing a klaf and case up close. Making a model mezuzah case and klaf. 

We had a great time celebrating Chanukah together! Celebrating with lots of friends at Barnes & Noble. Joining the Kehilah of Center City to light candles in Rittenhouse Square. Lighting candles each night together. Singing and dancing! Playing with light and darkness and practicing the Hebrew letters we know, too! Learning stories of brave people who stood up for what they…

Classrooms all over the country now engage their students in creating class rules for increased buy-in, student accountability, and a variety of other reasons. In most classrooms, this is a 20-30 minute activity during the very first day of class. At Makom Community, we took this idea to the next level and spent six weeks creating a brit.  Jewish tradition…

Hello all!  Maya here, lead teacher at Makom Community.  I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about our super fun upcoming winter break camp days on Monday December 29th, Tuesday December 30th, and Friday January 2nd.  Each winter break camp day includes a field trip, healthy snacks, Jewish learning and fun! Here’s all the information on camp…

We are so excited about our winter break camp days! Your children can have amazing adventures at Makom Community, when you need to be at work on 12/29, 12/30, and 1/2.  We have some very exciting plans for each of these camp days, and some feedback from you will help us determine which camp will take place on which date.  Pick up and…

Transition can be hard on people of all ages—going from the office to home, from home to school, from being cared for to being the caretaker, and from summer into fall. We go through endless transitions each day and throughout our lives. When our children are little, we have bedtime routines, morning routines, and rituals that help children feel more…

Today we had a BLAST at Israel Getaway camp! The Philadelphia public schools are closed today and tomorrow, and we are making the most of it! When we got together this morning, the first most important task was to make sure everyone was good and comfortable. We played a few games while we were getting to know each other, learning…

One week from today, Makom Community is hosting a two-day Israel Vacation Getaway Camp! Where better to escape than Israel, just as it is getting cold out?! We will be exploring the tastes, sights, and culture of Israel for two days! Our camp programming includes time both days with our artist-in-residence Rabbi Mordechai Rosenstein. He’ll facilitate art projects around playing with…

Our students are having a great time, and it is incredible to see all they ways they are already growing! We are spending much of our first unit of learning thinking about how we treat each other and how we build Jewish community.  We studied the text from Deuteronomy 22:8 that commands us to build a fence around our roof…

Hello all!  Maya here, lead teacher at Makom Community.  I’ll be popping up on the blog here from time to time.  I have so enjoyed getting to work with our students these past few weeks.  I am continually impressed by the insights they share and the work they create at our different shulchanot avodah (learning centers).  Last week we explored…

It has been amazing seeing our students get to know each other and enjoy exploring such deep and fruitful ideas from Jewish tradition!  This week, we’re exploring what it could mean to be holy. We’ve talked about being holy noticers—watching for body language, really listening to how our friends are talking, asking if we can help each other, and letting…

We’re so excited to have our kindergarten students join us this week! We’ll spend our first weeks getting to know each other and laying the groundwork to collaborate on our Makom Community Brit. A Brit is an amazingly special kind of promise. It’s the Hebrew word used when God tells Noah that the world will never be flooded again, and…

Half-Day Camps Beginning 9/17 Greenfield Elementary and Chester Arthur Elementary parents both got information this week about a significant number of half-days when their child’s elementary school will be closed. I can only imagine that’s a pretty stressful piece of information for families who have already made afterschool and other childcare arrangements. So we leapt to our feet and began…

We’re SO excited for the opening of Makom Community Afterschool on September 8! Thanks to all the families who joined us for our Open House today! Missed it and want to come visit? Join us for next week’s open house– Monday 8/25 from 5:30-7pm or be in touch to schedule a tour! Check out these pictures of our some of…

We are just 37 days from Makom Community Afterschool’s opening day on September 3! And we’re so excited about it! Just like it takes a supportive community to raise children, it takes a supportive community to help Makom Community be prepared for our launch. And we need your help to make sure we have a high quality program ready to…

Thanks to our friends at Jkid Philly and Jewish Learning Venture who shared this blog post about Makom Community (also below). Also, if your children are between the ages of six months and 8 years and are not yet getting free PJ Library books and CDs in the mail, definitely sign up for that while you’re there!  I’m working on…