Dear Room 13 Families, This week was yet another, wonderful, joyous week here in Room 13. We began our week, as we do each week, celebrating Havdalah with our Explorer’s community. This week, we focused on the light that shined bright from the Havdalah candle. After extinguishing the flame and wishing one another a Shavuah Tov, a good week, we turned our focus to the upcoming holiday of Lag B’Omer. We built a small pretend bonfire to sit around as we told the story. As we mentioned last week, there are many reasons and stories behind Lag B’Omer. We reminded ourselves about the counting of the Omer, heard all about Rabbi Akiva taking his students into the forests to study Torah, Rabbi Bar Yochai studying Torah in a cave with his son and Bar Kochba revolting against the Romans. As we sat around our pretend bonfire we were again reminded of the light of the Torah and the strength to stand up for one’s own beliefs. Throughout our week, the children continued to create their very own mini bonfires. Using painted popsicle sticks, tissue paper, rocks and their own handprints they shaped the materials into small bonfires and even one giant class bonfire. Continuing on this theme, we even enjoyed a delicious edible bonfire for snack using pretzel sticks, Cheetos and mini chocolate chips. The children had a wonderful time creating them and then eating them! On Thursday, we joined together on our backyard and had an amazing Explorers Lag B’Omer Celebration. We gathered around our pretend bonfire, on our picnic blankets (a tarp because of the previous days rain) and heard Lag B’Omer themed stories from Rabbi Sari. After studying a bit of Torah together, we danced and sang in celebration and then enjoyed a wonderful picnic lunch outside together with our friends. We reminded one another why we were celebrating in these wonderful ways. Throughout our week, we also continued our discussion on symbols. We reviewed what we had talked about last week, taking another look at Superhero symbols, Jewish symbols and other symbols that we might see in our daily lives. This time, our conversations became more personal when we turned our thoughts to creating our own personal symbols and what that might look like. At first a number of children said the letter of their first name, just like Superman and Wonder Woman have, but then they started thinking deeper. As the week went on and we moved through our rough drafts, the thoughts, designs and explanations became more complex. The children are very excited to share these with you, as they have become very personal and exciting to them. We will continue to work on these throughout next week and you will be receiving them at the end of our school year. We ended our week with a beautiful Shabbat celebration. We greatly enjoyed celebrating together as a class and then with our Explorer community. Wishing you all a wonderful Shabbat full of light and joy! 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, May 27 – No School – Memorial Day *Saturday, June 1 – Tot Shabbat – 10:00
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