Ellen and her BIG ZIZ!

Ellen dropped in with her friend Ziz today, to read us a Yom Kippur Story. The Hardest Word by Jacqueline Jules

You might be asking yourself who is Ziz? Ziz is the main character in the story, The Hardest Word. He is a big, big, bird. Ellen made Ziz out of cardboard and other interesting materials. I read the same story to the children on Monday without Ellen's amazing prop, the Ziz himself. It was clearly a very different experience today for both the teachers and children!

In short, the story is about a very hard word for all of us to say at times..."I'M SORRY." In our second circle, we talked to the children about how everyone makes mistakes (teachers, friends, moms, dads, grandparents, sisters, brothers, and you, too). But in these moments it is important to take responsibility for one's actions and make things right. It doesn't matter if you say "I'm sorry" or do or say something else that you are comfortable with, as long as you make it right with the person you wronged.

We asked the children if they could remember a time when they made a poor choice and then took responsibly for their actions. Max said, "Sometimes I wake up grumpy, and I am not so nice in the morning to my sister Alex. Today before school I licked her spoon and spit. I said I was sorry to Alex to make it better." Eli had some thoughts on the subject, "Sometimes Noah (his brother) plays with my toys without asking, and I don't like it! He should say he is sorry to me."

The Hardest Word is another great book for your home library! Ellen we can't thank you enough for stopping by with Ziz!