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!

Yom Kippur Yonah Project- So Much Fun!!!

Two years ago I posted Yom Kippur Crafts X 3, which is one of my most popular posts. It is about to get SOOO much better!

This year I had my class make the big fish for Jonah [Yonah] to hide in, just like I described in the aforementioned blog. 




In short: 
Cut a big fish twice for each student.
Let them finger-paint on one side. 
Place the other fish on top and let them pat t down. 

Peel off and marvel at mirror images.
Leave the fish to dry.

I had very thick paper towel tubes cut to fit between the fish pictures to hold a 3-D Yonah. 
Then I had a brilliant idea and found some balloons.
I stretched the balloons over one side of the tubes.
When the fish dried, I stapled them around the tube. 
Meanwhile the students fashioned Jonah out of pipe cleaners and added eyes to the fish. 
Do you understand the brilliance of this project yet?

As The Book of Jonah [Sefer Yonah] recounts, after three days in the fish's stomach, Yonah was spat out onto dry land. 
Place pipe cleaner Yonah inside the fish. 
Turn the tube mostly vertical. Count to three for the three days (optional). 
Pinch a small piece of the balloon, pull it back, and release. 
Yonah goes flying through the air (and onto dry land)!

This is incredibly entertaining for ALL ages. (It was hard for me to put my fish down so I could type this. My toddlers claps with glee every time Yonah goes whirling through the air).

Shana Tova! Techatevu V'Techatemu.

Here are fish templates of both sides. 

Eat. Full. Pray. Parashat Eikev.

Last time I blogged about Parashat Eikev, we looked at the meaning of consequences and we made birkonim [benchers].  The reason we made birkonim is, although this parasha is almost 9/10s of the way through the Torah, we now learn the mitzvah to thank Hashem after we eat. The passuk simply states "וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ". 'And you will eat. And you will be satiated. And you will bless'.

"If this mitzvah was not stated in the Torah, do you think people would have thanked Hashem on their own?" I asked my campers. The answer was almost unanimously 'no'. When I asked them to clarify why, the answers varied.
"Cuz, you just eat and are done and move on."
"If it isn't a mitzvah, you wouldn't do it."
"You'd forget food is from Hashem."

Their answers really surprised me. I guess it is a good thing we are commanded.

It was two years ago that I last blogged about this parasha. The text of birkat hamazon I used was Ashkenazi. This time around, text is not straightforward, as I, and 1/3 of the campers, use Sephardic birkat hamazon.  And everyone already owns MANY benchers.

Instead we made holders for the birkonim. Some campers argued they already have one of these too, but no one already owned one for weekday, Shabbat, and Pesach.

 The campers each received three blocks of wood of differing sizes, with a large pile of extra wood pieces in the middle. Scattered around were cups of wood glue with paint brushes. The project was meant to be 'non-cookie cutter' and open-ended.

(You'll note the kids made great projects but clearly never learned about wiping a brush!)

We left our work to dry before painting them.

The work was varied and very beautiful.

 Then we started painting and glittering!

Tada!