Welcome To Our New Blog

On behalf of all of us, I am thanking Ellen Dietrick (director, Virginia), Tammy Vener (director, California), and Dana Rosenbloom (teacher, New York) for all the work they have put into this new blog. Thank you. Thank you.

We all have had moments when we need advice, new ideas, support; we all need a moment to share our successes, and we need to do it with someone who really knows what we're talking about. Our listserv has been serving that purpose to some degree. I'm suggesting a discussion about how we can best take advantage of each different venue. Is there a way to use the listserv to alert those who are interested, about discussions that are taking place on the blog? Then the listserv might be able to be used more efficiently and for more immediate purposes.

Cathy Rolland, our representative in the URJ, is working on developing a new way to reach us with a publication like Ganeinu in a new format, so we can continue to receive professional articles pertinent to the field.

Please let us know how we can best work together to keep communication happening. Post comments!!

Sari Luck Schneider

Early Childhood Director

Temple Shaaray Tefila

New York, NY

Make ZVUVI’s ISRAEL Part of Your Classroom Curriculum

As an Israeli-American who made Aliyah in 1977, I believe that connecting American Jewish children with Israel should start at a young age, and not wait for youth movement groups to kick in. That’s why I wrote my new book ZVUVI’s ISRAEL featuring my fictitious, fun-loving fly, Zvuvi. Its beautiful, rich illustrations created by Ksenia Topaz (an Israeli-Russian immigrant) invite kids to tour the country and have fun.

I would like to extend that fun to your classroom. Here are some ideas on how to integrate Zvuvi into your curriculum:
• Start off by turning Zvuvi into a fun-filled game – something like “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”, only this time the game is “Pin Zvuvi on to Israel.” Here’s what you have to do: Cut out a picture of Zvuvi. Put a large map of Israel on your board at the head of the class. For a blindfold, take a scarf that’s blue and white (and explain why you are using these colors). Taking turns, each blindfolded student will “pin” Zvuvi on to the map. Find a matching “story” (double page spread) in the book that matches (as close as possible) Zvuvi’s landing spot and read it to your students. Since Zvuvi is playing
“Hide ‘n Seek” on most of these double spreads, you want to have as many books as possible for the kids to look at, so that at the end of the “story” they can find Zvuvi. Give the first one to find Zvuvi some sort of a prize – maybe an extra star on one of your class charts.

• Create your own “Mini Israel” using ZVUVI's ISRAEL as a guideline. If you can, involve an Arts & Crafts teacher and turn this into a long-term project that ends by making it the focal point of your Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebrations. Here’s what I suggest: Once a week, month, every two weeks (you determine the frequency), you read a Zvuvi double spread story. After each story, use the arts & crafts time allotted to the class around creating your own “Mini Israel.” For instance, you’ll start this project off with A “Wail” of a Time in Jerusalem. You read the story and talk about it (“what are the different activities we see in this story?” “which shapes can you find?”, etc.). Through the guidance of a crafts teacher, you start building Jerusalem. Once you’ve finished you go on to the next story – The ZigZag Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway - and repeat the process. Do this until you have finished the entire book.

• Hold a “Zvuvi Israeli Food Day” and make it a family affair. You’ll find food mentioned in four different stories that you’ll read along with the students and their families: Felafel in A Wail” of a Time in Jerusalem; Humus in The Zigzag Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway; Biblical Breakfast found in the second double spread of this same story; and grilled St. Peter’s fish in Round and Round the Kinneret. You can contact me for Biblical Breakfast ideas and/or you can visit the Neot Kedumim Biblical Landscape Reserve website.

• Finally, keep Zvuvi going beyond the book. To help kids learn more about life in Israel I’ve started a Zvuvi blog. I put out a new post every two weeks and try to make it as interesting for pre-school and elementary school kids as possible. You can check it out on your own, or if you like, contact me at tami@tlwkidsbooks.com and I’ll be happy to add you to my listserv.

Le’Hitraot…Tami Lehman-Wilzig

Family Education

Shalom,
Family Education is so important on many levels. It is our goal to enrich the Jewish lives of parents and students at school and in their homes. We also need to facilitate connections between families in the school to create a school-wide community. We need to create avenues (printed information, items to borrow, etc) that will enrich parents’ understandings of Jewish values, Jewish holidays and other aspects of Jewish life. We should offer school-based or non-school-based programming for children, parents and families. Ultimately we need to try to help families make Jewish connections during and beyond the preschool years.

Some Ideas:

Mom’s Night Out Mezuzah Making
Go to a Local Pottery place and have each of the Moms make their own Mezzot. Do a mini teaching on the reason why we hang Meuzzot on doorposts. Provide a list of Websites where they can order a Kosher scroll for the Mezzot.

On the doorposts of traditional Jewish homes you will find a Mezuzah. (Heb.: doorpost), because it is placed upon the doorposts of the house. The mezuzah is not, as some suppose, a good-luck charm, it is a constant reminder of G-d's presence and G-d's commandments. The commandment to place mezuzot on the doorposts of our houses is derived from Deut. 6:4-9, a passage commonly known as the Shema (Hear, from the first word of the passage). In that passage, G-d commands us to keep His words constantly in our minds and in our hearts, by (among other things) writing them on the doorposts of our house. The words of the Shema are written on a tiny scroll of parchment, along with the words of a companion passage, Deut. 11:13. On the back of the scroll, a name of G-d is written. The scroll is then rolled up placed in the case, so that the first letter of the Name (the letter Shin) is visible (or, more commonly, the letter Shin is written on the outside of the case).

Challah Baking
“Mmm… Challah!” Everyone love to eat Challah on Shabbat! Bring in a baker or get a group of parents together and make Challah. Provide an explanation as to why we eat Challah.

On Shabbat every Jew is commanded to eat three meals (one on Friday night and two on Saturday). In Judaism, a "meal" includes bread. Hence, Jews will traditionally eat Challah at the beginning of their Shabbat meal. As with any other type of bread, the blessing "Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu melech ha'olam, hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz" is recited before the Challah is eaten. Translated, it means "Blessed are you, Lord, our God, king of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth." One of the greatest mitzvah that Jewish woman have is the privilege of performing the mitzvah of separating the Challah. (Men are also required to separate the Challah if they are the one making Challah). The two Challot (pl. of Challah) placed on the Shabbat table is called Lechem Mishneh (Double Bread or Extra Bread), because before Shabbat Hashem brought down a double portion of mann (manna) for each person. (Shemot 16:4-5, 14-16). It is traditional to cover the challot with a Challah cover representing the mann that was covered above and below with dew from heaven.

L’Shalom,
Lori Kowit
Gannon Gil Preschool of The Temple-Tifereth Israel
lkowit@ttti.org
Beachwood, Ohio

Book & Teacher's Guide: A Grandma LIke Yours/ A Grandpa Like Yours

Teacher's Guide

Pre-Reading:

Do you like visiting your grandma and grandpa? How often do you see each other? What special names do you call them? If you and your grandparents were animals, what animals would you be?

Discussion Questions:

1.What is special about elephant grannies?

2.Do you think chimpanzee nannies really make challah with their grandchildren? Have you ever made challah with your grandmother?

3.What is the “Horah”? Do you know how to do it?

4.What’s in the baskets delivered by bow-wowing bubbies? What would you like to get in your Purim packages?

5.What’s a mitzvah? Can you think of any mitzvot that you could do?

6.What animal appears on almost every page in the book?

7.Have you ever been to a Seder? What special things did you do during the Seder?

8.When is a shofar blown? Have you ever blown a shofar?

9.What special things have you done with your grandpa?

10.When is Matzah eaten? Have you ever seen it made?

11.What are the groundhogs doing and why are they doing this?

Classroom Projects

Language Arts:

Write an acrostic poem where the first word of each line begins with a letter from the word GRANDPARENTS. The words should describe some trait or characteristic of grandparents. You can use other names for grandparents instead if you prefer.(nanny, granny, savta, papas, grandpas, zayde) Here’s an example:

G-reat friends
R-eady for fun
A-rms always open
N-ice and patient
D-elighted to visit
P-erfect pen pals
A-wesome listeners
R-espected relatives
E-ager babysitters
N-ap buddies
T-reat givers
S-torytellers


Music and Movement:

Dancing the Horah:
Play the song "Havah Nageelah" and get the children in a circle. Clap out the rhythm of the music. Teach the melody. Show them how to move around the circle, and then in and out to the beat of the music. Try moving slowly at first. Later try the doing the dance faster.

Science:

Have children pick out one of the animals in the story and research some Fun Family Facts about that animal. (How are they born –live or in eggs? Who raises the babies? How many babies are born at once? What do they eat? Do family members stay together, or go off on their own? Where do they live? How long do they live?)

Art:

Have the children make tissue paper collages (see some of Eric Carl’s picture books) featuring animal babies and their grandparents.

Or

Make Purim masks featuring some of the animals from the book. (elephant, chimpanzee, kangaroo, dog, giraffe, rabbit, groundhog, sheep, porcupine, zebra, quail, llama, lizard.

This teacher's guide was created by Andria Warmflash Rosenbaum

Library Essentials

We can all agree that there is almost nothing as important as educating our children! We can also agree that children's books are a big part of that endeavor. With the help and support of our incredible parent body, we've recently renovated our children's library! The space is beautiful and inviting. We have also begun using a computer program that categorizes and labels the books with barcodes, as well as creates library cards with barcodes for the children and staff. Now, as I search for Jewish books in our computer program, our collection seems thin. We'd love some suggestions of Jewish children's book "essentials" to add to our collection. Have you used a particular vendor for purchasing these "essentials?" Thanks in advance!

New CD- A Little Taste of Torah

Little Taste of Torah is Peter & Ellen at an entirely new level. The fourteen new, original songs reflect the Allard's growing maturity and sophistication as Jewish educators and musicians, while remaining true to their roots as writers of Jewish children's music that is easy to sing, high energy, and FUN. The sparkling, state-of-the-art digital production makes these songs come alive with a vibrant energy that, if you have seen Peter and Ellen perform live, you will recognize as uniquely theirs. Several of these tunes - "Shofar Blast," "Shake, Shake, Shake," and "Baby Moses in a Basket" to name just a few - became instant classics after being introduced at Hava Nashira, and are now widely taught and sung in Jewish schools across North America.

To order A Little Taste of Torah

Calling all Teachers! Join today!

Are you a teacher in an early childhood classroom at a Reform Jewish center or temple? Would you like to enhance your classroom and become more active in the field? Then joining Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism might be for you. Teacher members can:

• Get inspiration and ideas for your classroom!
• Ask questions and get quick responses on our listserv.
• Get involved in the exciting new things that are happening in reform Jewish early childhood education!
• Be part of a network of hundreds from across the country who do just what you do.
• Read and contribute about hot topics on our blog!

We anticipate another exciting year in 2010 and we’d love for you to be a part of it. Lead teachers should belong to a national organization; why not make it Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism? We invite you to become a member by October 31^st at a discounted rate of $18. The membership year runs through November 30, 2010 and entitles you to participate in both the Teacher ListServ and Blog.

Please download the 2010 Membership Brochure from www.ecerj.org , one form per teacher please. Just complete the information and mail with your check to ECE-RJ, PO Box 2349, Livingston NJ 07039. After November 1^st dues for lead teachers will be $36 for the year.

We hope you’ll join us,

Dana Rosenbloom & Elaine Gaidemak

A Read Aloud Favorite

Jacqueline Jules is a prolific author of Jewish children's books and would make a great topic for a classroom author study. For more information check out her website.

A Torah Resource

Vezot Habracha. What ideas do you have for using G-dcast in your community?

Parshat Vezot Habracha from G-dcast.com

More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com