Identity Theft!

As someone who works both with preschool every morning and teens in our community, I love when their paths collide. This week was one of those occasions. During the High Holy days, our teen services were hosted in the classroom that I teach preschool in. When I came in the day after Yom Kippur, I was greeted by this lovely note from our BESTY president, Ben Grebber! He had written it to one of my four and a half year old preschoolers! While preschool Ben wasn't convinced that it wasn't his mom or dad that had written him the note, it was really great seeing that our students and teens are aware of their surroundings, and so willing to share their space!

-Alison

You Find that Where?!

As part of the sixth grade curriculum, we are discovering the mysteries of the books of our religion. In our class, we will be mostly using the Tanakh, or the Hebrew Bible. It is broken down into three major sections; the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. In my class, we are just starting to figure out how to find our place in the book, and we used our new skills to find out what what created on what day during creation!

-Alison

A New Year of Rosh Chodesh

The eighth and ninth grade Rosh Chodesh group convened for the first time last weekend. While it's many of the same girls as past groups, we also have some new additions, which is both exciting and fresh. We will be able to work with our old traditions of the past, and create new traditions together for our future. We made our candles for our candle lighting ceremony that we will complete next time we meet!

-Alison

BESTY Goes to Canobie Lake!

After a rainy start to our first event, Jr. and Sr. BESTY had a complete blast at Canobie Lake!! We ate, drove, and screamed our way through an almost empty park. While we were brave enough to face the weather, many park goers weren't, which allowed us to navigate the park with ease, and gave us the chance to ride just about every ride in the park at least twice! By the afternoon the sun had come out and it had warmed up, and the weather started to reflect the great moods we were all in. We couldn't have asked for a better first event!!!

-Alison

Bittersweet: What’s Jewish About Fair Trade Chocolate

Just in time for Sukkot, some interesting thoughts on fair trade food and the Jewish tradition--plus it's about chocolate! Bittersweet: What’s Jewish About Fair Trade Chocolate – Jew and the Carrot – Forward.com

Project Based Learning for our MITs and JLeGITs

Tonight our MITs and JLeGITs got a taste of what project based learning really feels like. At our last meeting we were tasked with coming up with a creative way to introduce all of the teens working in our learning spaces to our Mayim families. We had received an email from a parent saying that her daughter LOVED the teens in her Chavurah so much and the parent wanted to know where to go to find out who they were!

Together we brainstormed and came up with the idea of creating a deck of playing cards, with pictures and information about each of the MITs and JLeGITs on each card--it's a win-win! Tonight the teens broke into 4 groups: Photo, Bio/Information, Budget and Layout/Design. In their groups they worked on their piece of the project--researching companies that make personalized playing cards, planning fundraisers to help pay for the cards, creating google surveys to collect information about each MIT or JLeGIT.

They were hard at work for almost an hour and we have a plan for the cards well underway. Be sure to keep your eyes out for information about our upcoming bake sale to support this project.

A great 'How To' on shaking the lulav and etrog for Sukkot!

A Day at the "office"

Our TBS teens enrolled in the JLeGIT and MIT Sha'arim have a big role to play in our new Mayim Program. Their jobs at Jewish Learning Guides In Training or Madrichim In Training mean they are here every week to help guide and support our K-5th grade learners on their Jewish journeys.

Annie and Jason are strengthening connections and pointing out some familiar faces in the Consecration photos from years past.

Melanie and Alex are helping their K/1 Mifgash (home base) group think about what they are sorry for doing in 5772.

The 4/5th grade Chavurah is creating blessings for the new year. Olivia is helping them remember that all of  the blessings should start with "Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohainu Melech HaOlam"

Liron's 6 grade group chanting V'ahavtah

This was our first time this year together! Can't wait to see all the accomplishments we are going to
have by the end of this year.  Way to go 6 graders!

Livi's 6th Grade class takes on the TaNaK

"Who can name the 5 books of Moses in order?"

I asked the class. Many hands raised as we were studying and becoming aquatinted with out Tenakim, which we will be using to learn throughout the year. It is always great to see hands up and books open during class discussions. This group really has enthusiasm when it comes to answering as well as asking good questions.

 

"Ticket to Leave"

 As part of our curriculum, the students fill out a ticket to leave, which is a sheet with 2 questions relating to the topic we discussed during class, to see what they took in from the lesson. During this past week, we discussed the Torah and it being referenced as "The Tree of Life." The class shared what they wrote, all very interesting and insightful points. In this picture the students are filling out their tickets to leave. They enjoy listening to their classmates answers.

Wilderness I takes to the sea

Ok, so it was to the Charles River, not the sea, but close enough! As we paddled, splashed and relaxed in the sunshine, we pondered the prayer thanking God for giving sight to the blind. "Was that literal?" we wondered or "is there more to it"? Could we be blind to things around us as we move through our over programed lives? How might we help to open our own eyes when we are "blind"? We're sure of one thing, more Sha'arim trips out into the Wilderness are in order!

Welcome Back

So happy to be back with all our Sha'arim friends that we are jumping for joy!

Teen show their love for the TBS staff!

An Introduction to TaNaKh

In sixth grade, we began our first unit - an introduction to the TaNaKh.  The "T" (taf) stands for "Torah"; the "N" (nun) stands for "Nevi'im" which are the books of the Prophets; and the "K" (chaf) stands for "Kethuvim" which are the Writings and include the Psalms, Proverbs, Ruth (which we read on Shavuot), Esther (read on Purim), Kohellet (read on Sukkot), and Song of Songs (read on Passover), among other books.


Since our curriculum this year focuses primarily on the Torah, we then dug deeper into understanding the Five Books of Moses - Genesis (B'reishit), Exodus (Sh'mot), Leviticus (Vayikra), Numbers (B'midbar), and Deuteronomy (D'varim).  We talked about the general themes or stories which comprise each book and then we looked at how the books are divided into chapters and verses.

Finally, we talked about Proverbs 3:18:
  עֵץ-חַיִּים הִיא, לַמַּחֲזִיקִים בָּהּ;  וְתֹמְכֶיהָ מְאֻשָּׁר.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that holds her fast.

We sang "It is a Tree of Life" by Richard Silverman:

"It is a Tree of Life to them who hold fast to it
And all of its supporters are hap-py." (Repeat)
Sha-lom, sha-a-a-lom (clap-clap-clap-clap)
Sha-lom, sha-a-a-lom, (clap-clap-clap-clap)
Sha-lom, sha-lom!

Eitz Chayim He L'Machazikim Ba,
V'tom-che-ha m'u-ushar (Repeat)

Sha-lom, sha-a-a-lom (clap-clap-clap-clap)
Sha-lom, sha-a-a-lom, (clap-clap-clap-clap)
Sha-lom, sha-lom!

And, we talked about how the Torah is like a tree ... it can support us because it is sturdy and provides shade for us; through its branches, we are connected to the stories of our ancestors; trees grow and we grow when we study Torah.

We are off to a great start and I wish you all tzom kal (an easy fast) and g'mar chatimah tovah (that you should finish well - and be sealed in the Book of Life for another year).

L'shana tova!

Jeri Robins

Sixth graders decide to work under the table!

HIgh Holidays Sixth Grade Style!

The Tuesday/Thursday sixth grade classes have been very lucky with how the High Holidays have landed this year. They have bookended our classes very nicely, allowing for a deep conversation to happen about each holiday.



Before Rosh Hashanah, we took a deeper look at the process of tashlich, and what some things were that we wished to throw away from this year. Some ideas thrown out were fighting with siblings less, listening to parents, and doing all of our homework. We also brainstormed ways to make this year a little bit better in those regards. We started by making our own Rosh Hashanah resolutions after throwing away the bad from the past year!

Apples and honey were a staple snack! Who doesn't love the sweet snack of the season?

Today we explored the idea of Yom Kippur. While we talked about the story of Abraham and Isaac from the Torah for Rosh Hashanah, we focused on the story of Jonah for Yom Kippur. We concluded that we read the story of Jonah on Yom Kippur becuase he felt bad for not listening to God and we are asking for forgiveness as well. Such insightful sixth graders we have!

-Alison

Come to Canobie Lake Park

More Opening Day Fun for Gesher L'Noar (6th and 7th Grade)

We may be part of the TBS Teen Learning community, but we still love to play!

Gesher L'Noar (6th and 7th Grade) Opening Day

Shana Tova (Sweet New Year) Fruit Salad
Ingredients:
A colorful mix of traits and skills we want to improve upon in the coming year. Suggestions incuded:

• time management
• athleticism
• being nicer to my siblings
• making new friends
• organization
• compassion
• and having fun!

Add a variety of fruits to represent each attribute--we used:

• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Blueberries 
• Pineapple

Mix together and serve!