Beshalach, so many miracles to celebrate!

Again, we did numerous parasha projects. I recommend replicating some more than others. I'll start with the craft and move to the food.

The sea splits and the Jewish people walk through on dry land! What could be more exciting?!? I have acted this out in many ways, with many groups, like this  or this or this.  Usually I think 'go big or go home' but this time, I decided to go small. 

I found these cute templates at artistshelpingchildren.org to make everyone involved in the story. 

The girls got to work coloring and cutting. 

 And assembling

We mixed flour, water, and blue food coloring, and loaded them into a large ziplock bag.

Then they out on a show. Cohava filmed and did two takes. Which do you prefer?

On Monday we had a huge snowstorm! It was very exciting for everyone. 

"You know the maan [manna] was like snow," Cohava remarked.
"How so?"
"Well, it was white and fell from the ground and was edible," she reasoned.
We decided to take snow and add the flavors of maan,

31The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, [it was] white, and it tasted like a wafer with honey.

לאוַיִּקְרְאוּ בֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת שְׁמוֹ מָן וְהוּא כְּזֶרַע גַּד לָבָן וְטַעְמוֹ כְּצַפִּיחִת בִּדְבָשׁ:

 Snow

 And honey

 and waffles

Met with mixed reviews

Before Cohava recommended snow maan, it was my plan to make Rice Krispy treats. The cereal looks remotely like coriander seeds.

Cohava excitedly started cooking.

But someone knocked the cereal box on the floor. I felt this was delightfully authentic to the collecting from the ground and recommended they do it.

I was only joking!

 Thankfully, we had another box, albeit patriotic, of cereal.

  

At school I made 'maan' cookies. The lesson was meant to be, "Wow manna was such a miracle from Hashem!" "Wait all food is a great miracle from Hashem!" Not sure how well they got it. But they ALL remembered that 1) we made maan cookies last year 2) I accidentally put in a tablespoon of salt, instead of a teaspoon. The moral for me is that experiential learning (especially edible) really sticks with a person!

Shemini: Kosher Puppets

This morning on the way to school my daughter's expressed great jealousy towards my students. Some complaints were legitimate, while others were far-fetched. The most legitimate complaint was that since I returned to teacher I barely do parasha projects with them. I brought home for the girls the same project I did at school. 
Shemini has a lot in it; consecration of the Mishkan, the misdeeds of Nadav and Avihu, and laws of keeping Kosher. Whow! We focused only on kosher, specifically on animals. 
To be Kosher animals must 1)chew their cud 2) have split hooves. My girls can recite this parrot like, but understanding cud chewing needs further exploration. To make these two elements fun, we made cud chewing puppets.

One coloring page was split hooves and the other was an animal face. 

 The cow was from here. And the sheep here

  Then I got these split hooves to add to it. 

 Everyone enjoyed the coloring, cutting, and gluing onto a brown lunch bag. 

The result is a kosher puppet with split hooves, that chews its cud (opens and closes its mouth). 

I showed the girls this pig picture and we discussed how split hooves aren't enough. We couldn't make a pig puppet.

 But we made some lovely kosher puppets!

The Great Artists of Vayakel

 Parashat Vayakhel recounts the building of the Mishkan and the mitzvah of Shabbat. There is very little information in Vayakhel which has not already appeared in the 3 previous parshiyiot. But let's have a look at a section about Bezalel.

What do we know about Bezalel? 

30. Moshe said to the children of Israel: "See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.		ל. וַיֹּאמֶר משֶׁה אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל רְאוּ קָרָא ה בְּשֵׁם בְּצַלְאֵל בֶּן אוּרִי בֶן חוּר לְמַטֵּה יְהוּדָה:
31. He has imbued him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with insight, and with knowledge, and with [talent for] all manner of craftsmanship		לא. וַיְמַלֵּא אֹתוֹ רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים בְּחָכְמָה בִּתְבוּנָה וּבְדַעַת וּבְכָל מְלָאכָה:

The gemara further clarifies his lineage. He is the grandson of Chur the son of Miriam. Bezalel has yichus [important family lineage] and incredible, God given skills. 

Then we have Aholiav. 

34. And He put into his heart [the ability] to teach, both him and Aholiav, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.		לד. וּלְהוֹרֹת נָתַן בְּלִבּוֹ הוּא וְאָהֳלִיאָב בֶּן אֲחִיסָמָךְ לְמַטֵּה דָן:
35. He imbued them with wisdom of the heart, to do all sorts of work of a craftsman and a master worker and an embroiderer with blue, purple, and crimson wool, and linen and [of] weavers, those who do every [manner of] work, and master weavers.		לה. מִלֵּא אֹתָם חָכְמַת לֵב לַעֲשׂוֹת כָּל מְלֶאכֶת חָרָשׁ | וְחשֵׁב וְרֹקֵם בַּתְּכֵלֶת וּבָאַרְגָּמָן בְּתוֹלַעַת הַשָּׁנִי וּבַשֵּׁשׁ וְאֹרֵג עֹשֵׂי כָּל מְלָאכָה וְחשְׁבֵי מַחֲשָׁבֹת

We do not know more about Aholiav's lineage. The tribe of Dan is known as the lowliest group. To build Hashem's house, the creme de la creme is chosen next to Joe Schmo. 

Why? 

Because we all start out the same in Hashem's eyes! People might judge one another, from this family or the other, but it is not our place. People are great because of their God-given skills, how they harness them, and what they do with them. They are not just great because of their last name.



In keeping with the theme of great artists utilizing their great gifts, the girls and I looked at some art history. I found these posters online, made by an art teacher.

Using these posters, we compared the artists and their work. We talked about where each was from, the time they lived in, what time of art they made, and how their pictures make us feel. 

Gabi has been learning about da Vinci at school and was very excited to share all she knows. She was also interested in knowing more about Jackson Pollock. Cohava liked Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers and though Andy Warhol's art was silly. 

The we talked about how Hashem gives everyone talents and we need to use them. 



Hashem chose Betzalel and Aholiav to build His house because of how they would use their great talents. They were the greatest artists in history. Cohava is insistent that Hashem is the greatest artist because he made everything, but accepted the point of people's skills.

I asked the girls to make similar posters for Betzalel and Aholiav.
Here are the results of Betzalel.



I plan to make a "Great Artist" Wall in the play room, using the original posters, the Betzalel/Aholiav, and showcasing their work. 

Shabbat Shalom!

Consequences! Eikev

In parashat Eikev Moshe explains consequences to the Jewish people in a number of different ways. The land of Israel will flourish if the Jewish people are good. Our success in military conquests is reliant on our being good to Hashem. The second paragraph of Shema is in the sixth aliyah, a clear statement of our need to serve Hashem and the consequences. Be good = good out comes. And the converse.

Last Shabbat I brought up the topic of consequences during my children's program. It went something like this:

Me: "I want to talk about a big word you might not know: consequences."

Gabe (3 year old boy) : "Uh-oh!"

Louis (his 5 year old brother): "Consequences means you are in trouble"

Gabe: "Big trouble!"

Me: "Not necessarily. Whenever you do something, it causes something else. What it causes is called a 'consequence'."

Gabe: "Consequences means no DS."

I tried to explain other contexts but it all fell on deaf ears.

Me "Consequences can be good."

Louis "Nope. Rewards are good. Consequences are bad."

So maybe I need to rethink the connotation of consequences in the eyes of children. But a child's innocence in understanding reward and punishment is something we should try to emulate. Although we do not know why 'bad things' happen, they are an opportunity to take stock of our behaviour.

The beginning of the parasha includes the mitzvah to say birkat hamazon.

Therefore this week's parsha project is making birkonim (bentchers). This is another one I consider of great enough importance and relevance to make the classroom curriculum. 

 

I modified the text of birkat hamazon, according to the abbreviated version we use in the classroom and added transliteration.  I like this opportunity to make it exactly how we thank  Hashem.  My home version, for my daughters, will be very different reflecting the unique way we do birkat hamazon at home. My husband's minhag is to say ashkenazi birkat hamazon followed by Bendigamos. And then the songs we like. Ours is still a work in progress but my students should be taking theirs home for Shabbat.

I printed the template (I'll try to upload it tomorrow) and set the kids to paint with a diluted food coloring. When those were dry, the children decorated the open parts by pasting on shapes. At lunch I took photos of them eating their bread. Tomorrow they will be laminated. 

Hopefully the consequence of this is children (and parents) taking more interest in birkat hamazon.

 I distributed the birkonim to the students at the end of lunch on Friday.  They were exuberant, singing louder than ever before. They enjoyed looking at the text (often upside-down) and exclaiming over letters they recognized. 

Gabi joined my class for lunch, so here is her in action:

 

Cohava came home on Friday with the perfect project. She had made a birkon holder!  The girls were very exciting about housing Gabi's project inside of Cohava's.