WOW! What a wonderful week of camp it’s been. This week we welcomed kids to Makom Community South Philly for the very first time! What a joy it was to consider community and pioneering with our very own community of Makom pioneers. Kiddos decided what to name the classrooms: The Rainbow Room, and The Alef-Bet Room, and came up with…
Makom Community News & Blog
Makom Community News & Blog
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Makom @ Home Fall 2021
Last year, we wanted to bring our FABULOUS Makom Community learning to kids across the country, so we launched Makom @ Home. This year, we are offering it in an even more flexible way. Ages We will have upper and lower elementary school cohorts for kids 4-6, and 7-10 years old. If you think your child is on the border…
Music & Movement: Week 1 of August School’s Out Camp
Why is music an essential part in Jewish traditions and experiences? During our first few days of August School’s Out Camp, our learners explored this very question. In between ice breakers and movement activities, we asked our learners to help us define music, how it makes us feel, and explore how it makes us move our bodies. Led by our…
Fall 2021 COVID-19 Safety Plan
Makom Community Fall 2021 COVID-19 Safety Plan What an unimaginably challenging last year and a half we’ve had! We know more than ever before about COVID-19, and we are prepared to leverage all that learning to do everything we can to keep each other safe. We are pleased to share that all of our staff members and all of our…
Get Excited for August School’s Out Camp!
Makom Community has three, awesome, fun-filled weeks of August School’s Out camp planned for your kiddos in both Center City and South Philly! Kids ages 4-10 are invited to join us the weeks of August 9, 16, and 23 for week-long, full camp days (8:30am-5:30pm) complete with arts and crafts, cooking projects, afternoons at the playground or splash pad, singing,…
Makom Community Jewish Placemaking Conference Schedule Overview
Join Makom Community to prepare yourself for a fabulous 21-22 school year! You’ll get to reflect on your vision and goals for this year of teaching as we emerge from the pandemic and learn about how Makom Community’s framework for Jewish Placemaking could delight and enrich your community. You’ll gain new tools, have time to try them out, and meet…
June Camp: A Recap
We just finished two fabulous weeks of June camp! We had a blast doing art projects, scavenger hunts, moving our bodies, reading books, and so much more. During our first week of camp, we focused on theatre and our Avot v’Imahot (ancestors). We played improv games, learned all about the elements of a narrative, and even wrote and performed a…
Nitzanim Unit 4 Showcase: Holy Moments
The Nitzanim (3rd and 4th graders) presented their fourth and final showcase for the year! This unit’s big idea was holy moments, viewed through the text of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes). We focused on creating a Pinat Shalom (peace corner) for the Nitzanim classroom. We noticed that we needed a space to rest and relax, and a space to be in if…
Adventures with the Shabbackpack
In pre-pandemic times, we welcomed Shabbat in what felt like the most natural way. Families would come together every Friday afternoon. We would sing songs, reflect on our week, and bring in Shabbat together. Importantly, this gave families the opportunity to truly connect with one another. Not just as parents of kids in the same class, but as valued members…
A Time for Learning, and a Time for Reviewing
Wow! The end of Unit 4 already! We can hardly believe how quickly this school year is rushing to a close. Last week we reviewed everything we learned from chapter 3 of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) and the associated commentaries. Here’s what each kvutzah (group) did to recap. Garanim The Garinim (preK and K kiddos) had so much fun reviewing and recapping…
Makom @ Home Makes Meaning of Time
Throughout Judaism, we have many traditions that bring markers to the points throughout our year. The seasons of the year are marked by holidays and festivals, the months are marked by each Rosh Hodesh or new month, and the moments of our day are broken down to morning and evening through times of day we have the opportunity to pray….
Taking a Holy Break with Shabbat
Jewish tradition is one that marks holiness in time. One of the clearest examples of this is Shabbat. There are a myriad of ways we could approach and unpack Shabbat. Last week, our text guided us to, first and foremost, look at Shabbat as a way of keeping track of time. What does time feel like? Time feels faster when…
I Am as Important as the Whole World
I am the single most important entity in the universe. Also I am as significant as a speck of dust. Jewish tradition invites us to hold both these ideas about ourselves as simultaneously true. How can we manage that? And why would we want to? Two weeks ago, the text of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) invited us to wonder whether people were…
A Rosh Pinah Showcase to Remember
How good it is when we come together. What greater joy is there to mark a new point in this strange year than with a moment where we can come together in person for some learning? It brings a smile to every one of our cohort’s faces when they get to share what they’ve learned and created with others. …
Summer Camp Here We Come! June 14-25 & August 9-27
We hope you are getting ready for a fabulous summer! We’re gearing up for 5 awesome weeks of School’s Out Camp with your kiddos, two weeks in June and 3 weeks in August. Join us to write a play, create , and party! See more details below, or click here to enroll by the week. Our summer camps are weekly. …
On the Nature of People
What even are people? Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) argues that Earthlings should stop trying to associate themselves with God and just realize that they’re only as good as animals. Both end up the same: coming from dust and returning to dust (Kohelet 3:18-20). What do you think happens after people and animals die? Nothing. We become dirt and then plants. We will…
Leadership under scrutiny: When we make mistakes.
What is the difference between someone is chosen for a role or when they take on the role themselves? We are working to understand leadership. When it comes to Beha’alotcha , our current parsha, we have ample opportunities to do so. Leadership makes mistakes, changes, and shows emotions in this parsha. Those emotions get in the way of idealized…
Who Controls Meaningful Moments?
The section of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) that we explored last week gave us a lot to unpack. The text makes a few big claims: 1. The stuff people earn as doers doesn’t have any value; the only things that are worthwhile are enjoying ourselves and doing good. 2. People have a vague idea of what “forever” means, but can’t actually grasp…
Seasons for a Reason!
What opportunities does having students on the east coast and west coast offer for our observation of and appreciation for nature? The nature around us is always changing with the seasons from Philly to California. With it, our experiences as a class have changed- the days have gotten shorter and longer, our class traditions have been created- from Shalom Chaverim…
Transitioning Between Holy Moments
“Every time and every thing has a season and a moment set for it under the sun” (Kohelet 3:1). Chapter 3 of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) opens with a well-known list of opposites – being born and dying, sewing and tearing, killing and healing etc. The Nitzanim (3rd and 4th graders) brainstormed a list of opposite times in our own lives. Like…
Looking ahead, looking back.
When we think about it, we are often poised towards the future. What will my next school look like? Will I have fun this summer? How long until my day is over? B’nai Yisrael (The Jewish People) is all about the future as they walk through the desert. They are headed towards one goal the land of Canaan. In the…
Holy Moment of Transition to Unit 4
How can we experience a moment in time as holy? Do they just happen, or do we get to make them? For our fourth and final curriculum unit of this school year, we’re digging into chapter three of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) to unpack the framework Jewish tradition provides to cultivate holy and meaningful moments. “Every time and every thing has a…
Noticing a world made for able bodies
What are the ways that we perceive other people’s bodies? As BMitzvah moves further along with Beha’lotcha, we came across a piece of text that punishes the body for misdeeds. Miriam and Aharon are found at the beginning of a chapter slandering Tziporah for being darker skinned than them. As a punishment, God gives Miriam a case of tzaraat (white…
You Deserve Love
What could happen in a person’s life to make them just want to give up? “Watch a whole city NOT get destroyed” and “lose a new plant they had just received the day before” might not be the first answers you come up with. But that’s what happens for Yonah in the final chapter of his story. After watching God…
Nitzanim Unit 3 Showcase: Challenge and Resilience
Our Nitzanim (3rd and 4th graders) had a fabulous third showcase last week! Our learners created an art gallery inspired by the theme of challenge and resilience, and the texts of Megillat Esther (the story of Esther) and Sefer Yonah (the book of Jonah). Each student created two works of art on these themes. We had everything ranging from stop-motion…
Forgiveness and Second Chances
Sefer Yonah (the Book of Yonah) is all about second chances. Both Yonah and the whole city of Ninveh get a chance to try again – Yonah gets a second chance to do the prophecy work God instructs him to do; Nineveh gets a chance to fix its mistakes and survive another day. How do we view second chances at…
Giving and Getting Feedback
It’s easy to respond defensively when someone comes to you with criticism! But that’s not what the people of Ninveh did when Yonah showed up prophesying their destruction. They did an impressive job of listening to Yonah’s criticism and using it to improve themselves. What is constructive feedback? Giving feedback in a helpful way, not just being mean. Criticism is…
Leading by Example
How can our leaders help guide us through challenges resiliently? In the third chapter of Sefer Yonah (the Book of Yonah), Yonah finally goes to Ninveh and warns the people that God will flip their city upside down in 40 days. The whole city, from the king all the way down the animals, dresses in sackcloth, sits down in ashes,…
Learning through Physicality: Emotion shapes our thinking!
When we put our full bodies into something we learn better. We can remember a day of working hard on a treehouse or a game of soccer that we gave our all better than a routine day. With our Makom @ Home Class that shines through, too.For Yonah learns through the lessons he learns physically that change him as a…
Spring Break Camp: Olympics!
Spring Break Camp was so much fun this week! Our Olympics theme had us up and moving every day, learning about famous Jewish athletes, and exploring the themes of challenge and resilience in sports. On Tuesday we learned about the Maccabiah Games, a historically Jewish competition created in the 1930s. Kiddos were so excited to make the connection of Maccabiah…