First day of class

Today we focused on getting to know each other. We began with  introducing ourselves by playing a spiderweb game. Each friend had a turn holding the string and sharing something they want to learn this year and then rolled the string to another friend. At the end we had a web of learners. We were so excited we forgot to take a picture of the game in progress.

We discussed our class rules. The children came up with this list themselves. They were very thoughtful about what it means to be respectful to one another.

This game is called I love my neighbor who.........

One person stands in the middle and finishes the statement with a word.I began the game with I love my neighbor who is JEWISH. Everyone who agrees moves to a different spot the last person gets to be next. We continued this game a few rounds as the children thought of what they wanted to learn about their new classroom community of friends.

We played another mixer game to get to know each other. The children were asked to find friends that have the same birthday month. This helped the children feel more comfortable meeting new friends and getting to know one another better.  When they were in there groups I asked them to share one Jewish object that represents Rosh Hashanah.

These games helped us build our class kehilla-community. The children giggled as they meet new and old friends. We began talking about Rosh Hashana and compiled a list of what we know and what we want to learn about Rosh Hashana. Sunday September 23 we will conclude our activity with adding what we learned about Rosh Hashana. It was a short and sweet first class meeting and a wonderful beginning to our new year.