Tashlich Ceremony In Kohavim woods

Today in the Kohavim class we had our morning meeting outside. We have been preparing for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We wanted to provide the children with a visual representation of looking forward to the New Year, with new resolve to try our best. Everyone, children and adults make mistakes, but the important thing is to learn about how we can do differently by thinking about what we could do better the next time.

We read some of the story of the Tashlich at Turtle Rock. In this story a family goes out in the woods to their favorite places, all the while thinking about both the good things and the sad things that have occured through the year, and make plans for a sweeter new year. What things have we done that we feel badly about? What could we do differently to make it better? We heard that sometimes, we are mean to brothers, but we don't want to do that., sometimes we run super speedy and knock people down, sometimes we get aggravated, sometimes we punch, and sometimes we don't listen to our parents when they ask us to get our P.J. on at night, even after they ask three times, and sometimes we raise our voices. So we thought about how we could do better. Your children said: I will take a deep breath before I get angry and not punch, can look around where I am going watching for a friend, and not be mean to my brother, (with teacher guidance~ think about getting pajamas on after being asked the first time., and teachers as parents remember to take deep breaths when speaking to their own children (who sometimes don't listen) We didn't have a stream, but we dug a ditch, crumbled our breadcrumbs and watched them disappear to symbolize throwing our sadness away with resolve for improvement.
 
As we look forward to a New Sweet Year, may we remember this Tashlich ceremony as a symbol of throwing away our mistakes, and looking forward to trying our best to be kind and thoughtful.

Happy New Year to all.