Freedom School 9/21
K-1
This weekend was fantastic. Most of the class was there and we learned many things. They were particularly excited by learning the Hebrew letter samech, and are generally an extremely bright class. We began with a check in, and our Elul journals. Then we transitioned later to learning the piyut "Adon Haselichach" which they danced to and were excited to learn was 1,000 years old! After that, we talked about Rosh Hashanah, what it was for Jews, and why we traditionally celebrate with apples and honey. They then made cards for loved ones that they decorated with an apple craft project, which is why I'd wanted them to understand the symbolism of apples and honey! It was a great day, and the group seemed to have had a lot of fun.
Kayla (sub for Sam) 2-3
2nd and 3rd grade learned about Teshuvah or returning, the central action of the high holiday season. We played Teshuvah improv games where the kids had to decide how to make a situation better (or worse). Then, we made a paper chain with drawings of Teshuva. To end the morning, we all wrote a story together about what the high holiday season means Mad-Lib style
Rachel – 4-5
We started the day with name games to continue our process of getting to know each other and connect as a class. As a follow-up to our lesson last weekend about Rosh Hashanah, we learned about Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our year. We spent some time processing some of the year’s transgressions and diving into what it means to atone. We ended the day with an activity in which they drew beautiful pictures, and then they were instructed to tear their papers (this was met with audible gasps). After doing this activity with paper, they were given broken pots. They painted the cracks of all of the pieces and then glued the pots back together. This demonstrated the Japanese art of kintsugi, in which ceramics are put back together with gold paint to highlight the cracks. In our version, students were able to create a tangible representation of making something broken into something beautiful without hiding the cracks. The students eloquently said that these pots were more beautiful with the painted cracks, because it is “just like how we are the same but different before and after we make mistakes.”
Jaime - 6
The sixth grade class dove into the Torah service this week. We investigated the narrative of our Shabbat morning service and how it follows the flow of a story (beginning, middle, end). Our class then mapped the details of the Torah service: when we stand, where to Torah is, what the bat mitzvah is doing. Next time we’ll dive into Rosh Hashanah!