Dear Room 13 Families,
We began our wonderful week, as we do each week, with our Explorer Havdalah service. Gathered all together, we lit the Havdalah candle, said the blessings and said goodbye to Shabbat and welcomed in the new week. Before our service, a friend asked why we use a braided candle during Havdalah and not on Shabbat. So, as we celebrated Havdalah, we discussed how on Shabbat we light at least 2 separate candles with 2 separate flames and yet during Havdalah we use one braided candle with many wicks and only one flame. We discussed how there are many traditions and reasons for using these different types of candles, but how we often think of the reason behind the braided candle representing all of us, coming together, intertwined as one community. Throughout the year, we have observed your children and their interests. We have often discussed the school’s value of N’divut Lev, Generosity of Heart and how we can make this value apart of our daily lives. Putting all these ideas together, we began a discussion this week focused on Superheroes. We began by showing the children pictures of comic book superheroes and boy were they excited; everyone shouting out the names and their powers. However, we then paused with each character to discuss what makes them a superhero. Often times the answer was because they protect others, they help others and they keep people safe. Within the characters being shown, we also showed a picture of Sophia the First. One child immediately stated that she “is not a superhero, she is a princess.” However, when the children paused and thought about what makes her so special; she helps people and animals; they realized they were saying the same thing! After looking at a number of fictional characters, we asked, after thinking of all of these people, what makes one a Superhero. Josiah said they need to be brave and Jacob told us that Superheroes protect us and keep us safe. Evan then added that they also need to be strong. We then showed the children more pictures, this time, real people with real jobs and yet have the same characteristics that of a Superhero; firefighters, doctors and police officers. As we paused this time, the children began to realize that they were saying the same thing and with the same excitement. Over the next few weeks, we will be delving deeper into this conversation, as well as discussing how we, ourselves, can be superheroes to one another and within our community; what does this mean? What does it look like? What does it feel like? With Thursday being a dark and rainy day, we figured it was the perfect day to make soup! When the children entered class in the morning, they right away began cutting and preparing a variety of vegetables for our soup. Throughout the day, we could smell the delicious scent of cooking soup and finally with our lunch, we were able to enjoy our delicious vegetable soup. Our class had a wonderful time with Rabbi Sari, discussing the importance of how we treat others. And greatly enjoyed singing, chugging like a train and playing fruit shaped shakers all with Andrew, our Music teacher. We ended our week with a beautiful Shabbat service and celebration. We had the pleasure of celebrating with Lilly, her family and the rest of our Room 13 community. Shabbat Shalom, Hannah and Chen Reminders: *Please remember to sign your child in and out, with a legible signature, EVERY day. If you have a high-lighted section, it means we need your signature or time in that space, as well as your normal spot for the day. *Monday, February 18 – No School – President’s Day *Tuesday, February 19 – No School – Professional Development Day *Tuesday, February 19 – Library - 10:00 – Ashton *Friday, February 22 – Shabbat – 10:15 - Ariel
0 Comments
|
Explorers
|