A few weeks ago, we delved into an excitingly familiar text for the Nitzanim (3rd-4th graders): the creation of Shabbat (Genesis 2:1-3). This is the same text we sing at the beginning of Friday night kiddush (blessing over wine/grape juice), which many Nitzanim kiddos are working on in Tefilah mastery. At this moment in the text, God stops creating the…

In this unit, our learners have been exploring all aspects of creation. After many exciting weeks of diving into the creation story through discussion, building, and art, we arrived at the study of Shabbat- God’s time to rest. To begin our discussion of Shabbat, our class worked together to build a fort out of the chairs and pillows that we…

“Who wants to shake the lulav?” This wasn’t a man wearing tzitzit and a black suit on a street corner – – it was one of our Garinim (pre-K to 1st grader) learners. He was inviting his classmates to step out from their usual options of Shulchanot Avodah (project center) about Bereshit (the creation story) to participate in this special…

We had such an incredibly joyful time preparing for Simchat Torah last week at Makom Community. We were dancing, singing, and asking questions about Torah across ages and schools. It was a beautiful snapshot of how we engage with Torah at Makom. And then over the weekend we got such deeply upsetting news about war in Israel. As parents, there…

The Garinim (PreK-1st grade) entered week 4 of Textploration at Makom with an eager mind. We’ve been tackling the text of Bereshit 1, exploring the diversity of what God created on days one through six. God separated light from darkness, sea from land, created plants and fruits, sun and moon, the stars, and of course, the animals – but what…

“And let them make me a sanctuary, so I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8)”.     Almost a year ago, Beverly, Gaby, and I reflected on what text we would bring to our learners for our third unit, which would also be the unit that wrapped up our school year. We ultimately decided on the big idea of “Being in…

I chose to structure my Shavuot tikkun (text study session) through the lens of poetry because I love how poetry challenges the way we perceive things. Take Dickinson for example. Emily Dickinson wrote that “Hope is the thing with feathers”. I know that I for one didn’t think of hope as a bird, as an emotion that can take flight,…

As the year comes to an end, I have been looking back on what the Anafim learners have taught me this year. The Anafim, of course, all have their unique interests and personalities. From them, I have learned about fashion, popular culture, chemistry, and other fascinating topics. Nothing I have done with the Anafim this year illustrates just how much…

The Garnim kiddos (Pre-K and Kindergarten), explored text surrounding the building of the mishkan in a musical context. The kids understood the story of building the mishkan as one where many parts came together to build one whole structure. The text of Exodus has helped us understand how every member of Bnei Yisrael contributed to the building of the mishkan…

In my Winter Break Camp blog, I wrote that there are “three ingredients vital to creating a sense of joy and belonging: connection, immersion, and agency”. In this piece I unpacked one way I used expansive choices to encourage agency and self-efficacy in Winter Break campers.  Now, how does one foster agency in a program when we cannot offer such…

It is no secret that at Makom Community, we like to do things big, loudly, and with a lot of excitement. One cause for such fanfare? The starting of a new unit- a theme that we will spend the next several weeks exploring through the texts we study and, for Nitzanim (2nd-4th graders), our project-based-learning (PBL) projects.  Nitzanim at both…

This past month at Makom Community, we have been dedicating a lot of time to learning about and reading Megillat Esther. Megillat Esther is the text that tells us the story of Purim; a story that many of you may be familiar with. In it, King Achashverosh, the king of Persia, sends his wife away for disobeying him and invites…

During the Hebrew month of Adar, the month where Purim falls, we’re commanded to increase our joy. As a Jew and an educator, I’ve always struggled with this commandment. Maybe it is that I’ve outgrown my love of dressing up in costume, so Purim doesn’t have the same glitz and glam that it once did. Still, as a Jewish educator,…

“I am more confused than I was before we started talking about this.” These words from an Anafim (4th-7th graders) learner brought a huge smile to my face. We were engaged in a debate about whether Pharaoh could be judged guilty of not letting Bnei Yisrael (the Children of Israel) go free from their bondage in Egypt. The three learners…

As we deepen our understanding of praise in this unit, the Shorashim (1st-2nd grade) have come to know that trust is a foundational principle of giving and receiving praise. To explore this idea, we practiced trust with those in our own classroom through a blindfolded group exercise. Through this experience, we realized just how complex and fragile trust is, even…

How do we give kids a sense of ownership and meaning of the tefilot (prayers) we chant in Hebrew each day? To some kids, learning Hebrew at Makom is their first experience with the challenges of language learning and the practice of engaging in tefilot is one they have been introduced to for the first time in our program. Once…

A few weeks ago, the Garinim (preK and K kiddos) in Center City unpacked what tefilah (prayer) is for. Why do we do it? What kinds of conversations are we hoping to have through it? Here’s the list we came up with: Praise (wow!) Gratitude (thank you) Request (help, please!) Creating connection, conversation, and community The main tefilah that sets…

What an amazing way to jump back into Makom Community learning to start 2023! The Garinim (PreK and K learners) and Shorashim (1st and 2nd graders) in Center City spent two afternoons this week preparing for and performing in a talent show. We couldn’t be more proud of how it went! We prepared to showcase our talents. Kiddos spent the…

How might having a relationship with our ancestors helps us understand where we’ve come from to know where we’re going? This was the question that Makom Community explored for our first unit of the 22-23 school year. Our unit, Avot V’imahot (ancestors) gave us the opportunity to reflect on both ancestors and family that we know today, as well as…