Shalom Ulpanon Bet Families,
We had a week of learning and celebrating Lag Ba’Omer. The children used cups and tissue paper, to create individual medurot (bonfires). They placed their bonfire cups atop flameless tea-lights and had the option of drawing small figures of themselves and grass and earth around the bonfire, and of adding marshmallows made from twigs and beads. We turned off the lights in the classroom and asked each child to switch on their tea-light to watch their medurot glow. We gathered with the other Pre-K classes on the patio and sat on blankets for a Lag Ba’Omer picnic. Cantor Emma came to lead the children in songs for the holiday. Rabbi Josh spoke about Rabbi Akiva and his students, who had to study Torah in secret because it was not allowed by the Romans who had destroyed the temple and taken power in Israel. Rabbi Akiva told his students to pretend that they were hunters to fool the Romans; they carried bows and arrows and picnic lunches. The students slipped by the Romans and joined Rabbi Akiva in a cave to study Torah by the light of the bonfires. After the story, the children enjoyed colorful fruits and baked potatoes for snack. The children also had special Lag Ba’Omer time with Room 2. We read the book Sadie’s Lag Ba’Omer Mystery, by Jamie Korngold. In the book, Sadie and Ori try to find out about Lag Ba’Omer by looking for books, symbols and signs about the holiday. They ask their relatives, who remember picnics and bonfires. Sadie and Ori learned about Shimon Bar Yochai, one of Rabbi Akiva’s best students. They discovered that Lag Ba’Omer is an important holiday dedicated to the bravery of the Rabbis and honoring their determination to teach and study Torah. The children culminated the celebration with a picnic, s’mores, and a ugat medura (bonfire cake), decorated to represent the bonfires of Lag Ba’Omer. We continued our discussion about the Big Idea of cheyrut (freedom). The children remembered the concept of freedom and connected it to our previous lessons: “The Jews were punished by Pharaoh so the left and they were safe and free,” “Do you remember that Martin Luther King wanted everyone to be free?” “Well, my great-great-great grandfather was a slave in Egypt too; he wanted to be free.” The Room 1 friends also spent time this week reflecting on their Pre-K year in Ulpanon Bet. They drew pictures and shared their responses to the prompt, “Some of my favorite memories…” in their journal pages. A few of their thoughts:
Jewish Artists: We revisited the Jewish artists we learned about and introduced our last Jewish artist for this year: Mark Rothko. We learned that Rothko drew in colors to express emotions; he blended different colors together and painted a background and ‘framed’ shapes, mainly rectangles. After looking at photos of Rothko’s paintings, the children experimented with oil pastels to blend colors. They talked about what colors they think of when they feel certain emotions. We will continue to explore Mark Rothko’s art as the children create art Kmo (like) Rothko. During Yoga with Cheryl, we went on another English yoga adventure to visit Princess Kate. We practiced the seated-side, triangle, warrior 1, and extended mountain poses. Coach Danny led us in warm-up drills and an exciting game of All-Touch T-Ball. Music with Ditza was filled with songs about counting and Lag Ba’Omer. Important Dates:
Shabbat Shalom and have a wonderful weekend, Meirav and Shoshi
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Shoshi Persellin Archives
March 2020
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