Peer Teaching

Yesterday Eliana and Rachel were our Havdallah Helpers, assisting Ellen in bringing in the light and leading the blessings.  In the Etzim classroom, each child takes a turn being the Havdallah Helper.  This was Rachel's first time leading Havdallah.  Alongside the experienced Eliana, Rachel proudly held the Havdallah candle. There are so many wonderful opportunities each day for the older children to model and share their experiences with the their younger classmates. We are lucky to be able to spend time together. Very nice, girls.

The Leader of the Week is...

Ben's stick was picked today!  Ben was more than happy to be the Havdallah leader!  He can't wait to hang out with Chester this weekend!

Havdallah -- a tradition already!

Now that we've started week two, the Adamah class is already getting into our weekly traditions.   The Etzim class joined us to celebrate Havdallah for the second week in a row.   With new Havdallah helpers, Hayley and Jacob, we sang our niggun (a song without words) and chanted the blessings over the wine, spices and candle.  

 

For some children, celebrating the end of Shabbat and the beginning of a new week is a new custom, and they're excited to learn and sing, and find out what Havdallah is all about.  For others, they are proud to show us that they remember the music and blessings from last year, and even share that they have their own braided candles at home.

 

All of us spent some time thinking about what we're looking forward to in the week to come.  Laura wrote our suggestions down, and we chanted them aloud together.  Shavua Tov (Have a good week), Everyone! 

Classrooms Uniting

Today the Etzim children joined the Adamah class to celebrate Havdallah. Gabi shared why we celebrate Havdallah. Our helpers, Haley and Jacob, skillfully lead the way as we said the blessings. Shavua Tov to everyone!

What do you wish for in the week to come?

As part of our ongoing God Project, Kohavim has been thinking about all the ways we can talk to God. We realized that one of our weekly routines of making wishes for the week to come during Havdallah is one way we already do talk to God. On Monday, all of the children used watercolor pencils to illustrate their wishes for the week to come:

Noah: I wish to spend time with my mom.
Sabrina: I wish for my sister and me.
Eli: I wish for my house bees on it cause then animals won't use their claws to come in our door.
Hannah: I wish for my sister, me, my brother, and my mom to go out on a picnic on a nice sunny day.
Jacob: I wish for Iron Man.
Brett: I wish for aliens.
Ezra: I wish for cake.
Max Greenstein: I wish for a Bruins Bat. A player who plays the bats.
Molly: I wish for play dates on nice sunny days.
Lily: I wish for my sister could be nice to me.
Rachel: I wish for my glasses and for a cake.
Max Goldberg: I wish for Ninjago Legos.
Dylan: I wish for the Bruins to knock out the Rangers.
Ryan: I wish for the Bruins to win the Stanley Cup.
Zack: I wish to have a birthday party at the Garden and for the Bruins to beat the Rangers.
Eliza: I wish for more ladybugs. A thousand. And Captain America.

What do you wish for in the week to come? 

Havdallah with Levana

The Levana class brought their Havdallah celebration to our classroom this morning.  The children enjoyed singing the chant together, smelling the sweet spices, and voicing their hopes for the upcoming week.  We all look forward to enjoying a sweet week!  We also shared our morning songs - those that the Keshet class sings as well as the Levana class's traditional songs.  We spent some time playing in the sand table and the library before we parted.  Thank you, Levana!  You made our morning a delight.  

Havdallah with Levana

The Levana class extended an invitation to the Keshet class this morning.  Would we like to join their Havdallah this morning?  The answer was a resounding yes.

First, the Keshet children enjoyed sharing the Levana "Boker Tov" song as we passed the class's torah from one to another around our big circle.

We came together to mark the end of Shabbat and the beginning of a new week.  The braided candle burned brightly.  We enjoyed smelling the sweet herbs as we imagined the sweet week to come.  When our singing and blessings were completed, the candle made a hiss or sizzle kind of sound as it was extinguished in the cup.

Thank you so much, Levana class, for sharing with us and for including us in another Jewish ritual.

The stick person is....Noah!

Every Monday morning before we go down to the Community Room we gather together briefly to pick the new leader for the week. The children seem to look forward to the whole process...we shake up the wooden sticks with the chidren's name on them,the teacher says, "Children the drum roll please", then the teachers and children proceed to tap their lap with their hands fast at first, faster and faster etc. The teacher then picks a stick and shows the entire class the name clerly written on the stick. Today the stick person was...NOAH! When he read his name Noah was simply delighted! Noah's face lit up like a light bulb! He smiled from ear to ear! Noah proudly led the group down to the Community Room to celebrate Havdallah. He acted as our Havdallah helper(passed out the cinnamon sticks), and held the Torah ever so tight as we sang our welcome song! Noah can't wait to take home our little buddy, Chester!

Levana Havdallah!

Every Monday in the Levana class we celebrate Havdallah, literally, separation, where we welcome a new week by acknowledging that the holiness of Shabbat has passed, and we are all ready to begin a new week of school.  Just as we welcome Shabbat with candlelight, grape juice (the sweetness symbolizing the joy we feel at Shabbat), and challah, we say goodbye to Shabbat with candlelight, grape juice, and sweet-smelling spices.  We use our five senses and our beautiful singing voices to celebrate Havdallah.

We begin with a niggun, a wordless melody.  Abby looks closely the prayer sheet as all of the students sing along together.  

Next, we say a blessing over light.  Graham helps to hold a multi-wick candle.  We can all feel the heat!

We smell sweet spices from the bags that our parents decorated for us on curriculum night.

And we all listen attentively as a teacher submerges the candle in the juice to put out the light.  It makes a faint hissing sound as the light goes out.  We then conclude with the blessing, "Baruch ata adonai ha'mavdil ben kodesh v'chol."  Blessed are you, Adonai, who separates holiness from the mundane.  Shabbat is sacred, holy time.  In order to appreciate the holiness of Shabbat, we need the rest of the week.  Havdallah has become sacred time in our classroom, too, and we all look forward to it.

It's a new week!

This past Monday, the Tel Aviv friends got the opportunity to experience the first Havdalah of the year. We walked down to the community room and were soon met by Ellen and the Etzim and Shamayim classes! We listened to some familiar music and followed along with the service sheets to know what prayers were coming next! Zach and Elias were great helpers and held the candles up high for all to see! We can’t wait to continue this tradition as the year goes on, together we will experience and learn about this beautiful tradition of Havdalah.

Bringing our own spices to Havdallah

 The Kohavim children have been enjoying smelling a wide range of spices as they have grounded spices with a mortar and pestle many times over the past few weeks. The smell in the room has been incredible, and we all have appreciated the time that Ellen has spent with us. After several times of grinding the spices by hand, the children recently filled their own spice bottles which they brought to the Havdallah service today. They seemed much more engaged in the service as a result of their "spice work". Today they found a buddy with whom to share their spice collection. We will continue to work with Ellen to make the Havdallah experience as meaningful to us all as we can.

Jacob is our new Stick Person!

Jacob was our Havdalah person today and will be our stick person and line leader all week. Jacob did such a great job that after Havdalah Eli gave Jacob a big hug and said, "you did a great job buddy!" It was so sweet to see how the friends encourage each other! All the members of the Tel Aviv class know that holding the candle is an honor and not an easy job. Being the stick person is a great chance for each classmate to hold a leadership role in the class and we are excited for Jacob to have his turn once again!

Spicing up Havdallah

Ellen has come in twice to show the children a variety of different spices that they could then grind with a mortar and pestle. The children loved this multisensory experience. Together we are exploring Havdallah so that the children can have a rich understanding and appreciation of all that is involved in the celebration. This is just the first step in that process. Stay tuned for more updates.

Tel Aviv Havdalah!

Today we had our own special Tel Aviv Havdalah with Ellen! It was nice to have such an intimate group and I noticed how the group was singing louder and focusing more on the services and on their prayer sheets than they do when we are in a large group. Also having such a small group meant that we got to have lots of havdalah helpers. Max held the wine, Eli passed out the spices and Molly and Hannah passed out the prayer sheets. Dylan is our stick person this week and he got the choice, and honor, of holding the Havdalah candle.

Shavuah Tov Everyone!

An Outdoor Havdallah Celebration

Instead of coming in after our outdoor time today, we celebrated Havdallah together on the blacktop. The weather was beautiful, and even though tomorrow is the first day of spring, it could have been summer out today. The children loved staying outside as we said good-bye to Shabbat and welcomed the new week. Happy Spring everyone!

The Stick Person is...

The Stick Person for the week is...Rachel!

Dylan is our New Stick Person!

Today Dylan was chosen as our stick person for this week! He did a great job being a Havdalah helper today and passing out our new green Havdalah prayer sheets. Dylan will get to be our line leader all week and take Chester home over the weekend! Congrats Dylan!

Lily's our New Stick Person!

Lily is the new stick person in the Tel Aviv class! She did a great job of holding the candle today in Havdalah and will be the line leader for the rest of the week. Over the weekend Lily will be able to bring Chester home!! Congrats Lily!

A Bright Way to Start the Week

Just a moment caught during Havdallah. What a wonderful way to welcome in the new week with sunshine and smiles!

-Alison

Havdalah Helpers

Today we tired out something new for Havdalah! Instead of a helper going around with a spice box, now we have cinnamon sticks for each child to hold during our Monday Havdalah ceremony.

Today Aviva and Lily, our special stick people from this week and last week, were our fabulous Havdalah helpers. Aviva held the basket of cinnamon sticks and Lily passed out a stick to every child and told them to smell it. Thank you Havdalah Helpers for spreading your sweetness with all of us. We hope that everyone has a wonderful and sweet week!