When have you received praise? What was that like? How is that experience connected to holiness? Our text last week came from a tefilah (prayer) that said, “You [God] are holy, your name is holy, and holy ones praise your name every day” (Siddur Ashkenaz, Amidah). Here’s how the Garinim (kindergartners) unpacked it. What’s it like to experience praise, either…
Makom Community News & Blog
Makom Community News & Blog
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Holiness, Oreos, and Building the Mishkan
Last week we began studying parshat Vayakhel (For more information about Vayakhel, here is a great article to check out!) and made really good juicy next steps on Rosh Pinah projects. To begin Vayakhel, we engaged with a big quadrant chart on the wall labeled “holy” on the left, “not holy” on the right, “by God” on the top and…
(Re)Dedication: Chanukah and Our Online Classroom
Makom @ Home celebrated Chanukah together in many creative ways! We learned that Chanukah means (re)dedication. We shared our families’ traditions about ways to celebrate: Dreidel, presents, gelt, sufganiyot Cooking and spending time with each other And playing Latkes We fry different foods Yes, we light candles Eight lights eight nights I light candles, today they’re all burned down. We…
The Holiness in Others
This week, our learners reflected on the ways our souls are absolute and part of people as a unique creation. We discussed what responsibilities come with being holy and having a soul, and empathized with the difficulties Moshe faced while communicating with Pharaoh and all of Bnei Yisrael (the Jewish people) while having a speech disability. In Garinim (kindergarteners) our…
PJDS Camp Explores Music and Emotion
It was another fun-filled action-packed day of PJDS Camp here at Makom! We considered emotions as they relate to the month of Tevet. Students were eager to share their emotions as we brainstormed when and why certain emotions might come up. We sat around the rainbow rug and thought about a range of emotions. I watched as our youngest and…
Holy Souls In Dialogue
This week we dug deep as we discussed what holiness means and how we can tap into it. We also began considering the concept of a soul which sparked a lot of amazing learning. During Schulchanot Avodah kiddos were playing, talking, creating, and problem-solving. Two students worked together in a conversational exchange to learn about how they each thought about…
Setting Goals for Successful Learning
What makes Jewish text compelling and relevant to learners of all ages? How do we as educators know what to focus on when there’s SO MUCH content and SO LITTLE time?! Our November seminar on Lesson Planning and Goal Setting provided our Jewish Placemaking Accelerator cohort with some guidance on these questions and more. Our Accomplishments We started off the…
Exploring Holiness
What is holiness? Where can we notice it in the world around us? Last week the Garinim (kindergartners) jumped into an exploration of holiness with a walk to find things that made us say “wow,” a handful of activities and experiments with light, and an artistic analysis of music. Kiddos LOVED getting to play with light on Tuesday. We made…
Special Talents and Holiness!
This week we embarked upon a discussion of what holiness means. Learners shared their ideas as we unpacked this big concept: Holiness is something special. It reminds me of when we say Holy Moly Guacamole! It’s something crazy or big. It has to do with God. I think of Jewish things, like holidays. Objects can be holy. It’s holy to…
Welcoming PJDS to Makom South Philly!
What a wonderful way to kick off the month of Tevet! Seeing some familiar faces and some new faces in our brand new space at Makom South Philly was such a joy. Kiddos joined us in the morning with such ruach. We took a moment to get to know each other, sharing our names and interests before settling into snack….
The Holiness of Chanukah
Happy Chanukah! This week has been so joyous as we have gathered to light Chanukah candles as a community everyday. This week, each kevutzah reviewed the elements of the Chaunkah story and Chanukah traditions. The Garinim (kindergarten) started off last week with a brief overview of the Chanukah story, and then took a deep dive into the brachot (blessings) that…
Chanukah on S. Juniper St.
This week has been full of light and joy. We feel so blessed to have this beautiful space on S. Juniper St. to joyfully learn in, while we grow. As we gathered outside for snacktime learning this week, the excited energy was palpable. We noshed on graham crackers and apples while kiddos shared what they know about Chanukah. We use…
Torah Service, Brit Building and Driedels!
The BMitzvah Torah Service on 11/18 was a huge success. We were so grateful to be joined in community by all the family members who came in person and on Zoom! Some reflections from the proud learners about how it went: I loved it but I hate that I can’t do it again tomorrow. I like being done. It was…
Ourselves and Each Other
We returned to learning from Rabbi Hillel this week with a 3-part text from Pirkei Avot that we explored both in writing and by listening to and singing two different musical settings of the text. We thought about how we are for ourselves, for each other, and the importance of timing. The first line of the text, “If I am…
Brit Brainstorm!
It’s review week at Makom Community! We can hardly believe that we’re already a quarter of the way through our school year together. The Garinim (kindergartners) spent last week revisiting the text from our first unit and brainstorming ideas for our classroom brit (two-way promise) from those texts. Here’s some of our ideas. From Leviticus 19:17-18, “You will not hate…
Lehitraot 13th St.
We had an unexpected but welcomed day of Jewish Enrichment at our new location on S. Juniper Street this week. As we finish upon 13th street, we are saying lehitraot (goodbye for now) and gearing up for an exciting adventure at our new location. On Monday, learners were excited to spend the afternoon exploring the new space. After getting our…
November 11th School’s Out Camp Recap!
Our November 11th School’s Out Camp Day was full of fun and thoughtful learning. In Center City, shaving cream art with marbled watercolor was named across the board as a highlight. The day also included making impressive clay statues, singing “Boom Chicka Boom” and “Herman the Worm” with verses created by the kids, and lots of playground time. Amidst all…
BMitzvah Update!
Everyone is doing an awesome job learning to read trope and using what they already know to practice chanting their aliyot. I am really looking forward to our Torah Service next week! Continuing our exploration of tefilah in Rosh Pinah, we followed a 4 minute guided meditation by Alison Laichter, an innovator and leader in the world of Jewish meditation….
A Reflection On Different Kinds Of Love
This week, our learners dug deeper into different kinds of love. We started with this bit of text: “All love that depends on something, [when the] thing stops, [the] love stops; and [all love] that does not depend on anything, will never stop” (Pirkei Avot 5:16). In Garinim (kindergarteners), kiddos answered a few questions: What are some people or things…
(Un)conditional Love.
What a beautiful week, I am continuously amazed by your children’s thoughtful insights. This week we learned about conditional and unconditional love. Learners reflected on different kinds of love, what change means for love, and what unconditional love looks and feels like. We sat down in the yard for snack at the beginning of the week and read Pirkei Avot…
Loving Our Neighbors Because They Were Made in the Image of God
Our next text is from Bereshit about how human beings were created in the image of God, b’tzelem elohim. We brainstormed a long list of what we know about God and what God does: 🌍🌎🌏 Earth God made Earth You can’t see God. God gave us the Torah God took us out of Egypt God created and said to Moses….
Election Day School’s Out Camp Recap
On Tuesday, kiddos joined up for a delightful and energetic day of camp at both Center City and South Philly Locations. Kiddos in Center City started with some games, sang the “Moose Song,” and took advantage of the dry morning weather to gather leaves from Rittenhouse Square for a leaf rubbing activity. Kids then chose between a yarn craft and…
How Can We Keep Ourselves & Others Safe?
Building our environments to be safe spaces for the people who enter them is important! Our learners took a pasuk (sentence) from Torah about building fences around our roofs as a jumping off point for a discussion about how we keep our bodies physically safe (Deuteronomy 22:8) as well as a pasuk from Pirkei Avot that tells us that knowing…
Olam Haba: Creating The World We Want To See
What does it mean to create our collective future (olam habah)? This week when diving into good choices and personal responsibility we considered what it means to create our best future. We thought about what we want the future to look like, and how we could approach working toward that future. As we sat around the yard at Makom students…
Special School’s Out Camps for Perelman Jewish Day School Families!
We are excited to offer camp days that align with the PJDS calendar again this year. Join us for PJDS camp! Camp will run from 8:30am-4:00pm in South Philadelphia and include many opportunities for hands-on learning, making, and exploring! Click here to enroll in PJDS camp. We will have our snacks and lunch outdoors. Please send your child warm layers….
December’s Magical Book Week Schools Out Camp Details!
Enchantment Ahead with School’s Out Camp “Magical Book Week” this Winter Break… What’s more engaging than a good book? How about a whole week of Makom School’s Out Camp with dozens of activities, taking inspiration from our learners’ favorite books, authors, and series! We will offer a full week of camp December 27-31. In addition, we will be offering…
BMitzvah Update!
This was an exciting week- we finished reading all of Vayishlach, keep growing our Hebrew Word Wall, and have begun preparing for our Torah service on 11/18. Also, so many students have mastered the first tefilah they chose to work on this year! In the last section of Vayishlach, learners reflected on some important ideas and questions: Yaakov got the…
Al Shlosha Devarim & Fun With Murals!
“Shimon Hatzadik (the righteous) said, ‘The world depends on three things to stand: Torah, connecting with something bigger than ourselves, and acts of lovingkindness’” (Pirkei Avot 1:1-2). Our Learners spent a day unpacking each of these elements, how the world depends on them, and how we can do them. The Garinim (kindergartners) explored acts of lovingkindness with a favorite book…
Acting with Love Even When We Don’t Feel Love
In Makom @ Home, we are continuing to explore loving our neighbors. We also thought about who our neighbors are and who strangers are and how we show love to each of them. One text we read from Vayikra 19:17 says: “Don’t hate your sibling in your heart. Correct your family member, but don’t do something you’ll regret. Do not…
Gemilut Chasadim & Alef-Bet Explorations
Another magical week at Makom has come and gone. We settled into this week with a spirited interest in Hebrew reading and finished it with passionate conversations about our Gemilut Chasadim (acts of loving kindness) box. Throughout the week we explored a text from Pirkei Avot 1:1-2. “Moshe received the Torah at Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) and transmitted it to…