Naamah and Nature

Hello wonderful Havurah first grade families! 

This week, Claudia subbed in for Ali, who got married this week (congrats, Ali!). We came together by reading Prayer for the Earth: the Story of Naamah, Noah's Wife. The story tells of Naamah, who was responsible for preserving nature during the flood. In debriefing the story, some of the questions asked about the story were: 

-Why was it 40 days? That’s a big number.
-How do flowers grow?
-Why is a dove a symbol for peace?
-Was Naamah scared of the flood? 

After our shabbat ritual, we headed over to another classroom for our specialty. This week, Reuben lead us in building our own pyramids like the ones the Israelites built while enslaved in Egypt during the Passover story, but ours used toothpicks and gumdrops. We also built drawing robots for making Passover cards. 

After heading back to the classroom, we talked more about the values from Naamah’s story and how much we care about nature while creating terrariums. Everyone got their own special rock with a value from the story to kiss and put in their jar! 

Wrapping up, Megan lead us and the other first grade class in passover-themed songs. We came up with a dance for a song that goes: 

Pharaoh, pharaoh,
Woah, baby, woah!
I say no,
So let my people go! 

PS: Our terrarium air plants should be watered with a light mist 2-3 times per week! 

Have a wonderful week! 

Oliver & Claudia

A few announcements from Gabriella:

 

--Please remember to continue sending your children to Havurah with coins each week.  The second grade will be collecting charity for their Tzedakah Harvest through the end of the school year.

--Gabriella will be out this coming Saturday, 4/6, should you need to get in touch on that day, please contact your children's Havurah teachers directly, or reach out to Debra Schwartzreich who will be the point person in Gabriella's place:  dschwartzreich@jccmanhattan.org.  

Let us know if you have any questions!