Happy Birthday to the Trees!

February 2024   Keeping Connected

The Sunday morning Religious School gathered together on January 28 to celebrate Tu B’Shevat while the teachers had the opportunity to meet with parents for Parent/Teacher conferences. It was a successful morning, filled with joy and enthusiasm, song and prayer, and celebration. (and good conversations between teachers and parents!)

Our youngest students (preschool through 2nd grade) gathered together to explore all things about trees and helping to take care of the Earth. They engaged in songs about trees, talked about ways to help the world and got to participate in lots of different activities such as making a bird feeder out of Cheerios and painting a tree complete with their own ideas about ways to help the world using their hands. The students made their own edible trees (out of pretzel sticks and grapes) for snack and ended the morning by having a birthday party for trees, complete with party hats and playdough cake.  It was a spirited morning, filled with lots of learning opportunities and fun.

The older students gathered together for a Tu B’Shevat seder. Ari joined us to accompany the group in beautiful music, though on several occasions, Ari dropped off her voice and the sanctuary was filled with song from the students – beautiful and inspiring. The students sat at mixed-age tables with their temple school community and interacted and participated all morning.

The students began the morning by sharing their own ideas of ways to help create a healthy Earth. They then worked together to create forests of trees out of air-dry clay which became the centerpieces for the seder table.

The seder proceeded as we talked about the seasons and represented them with four different cups of juice, going from white juice to pink juice to red juice and ending with dark red juice, each corresponding with a season.  The students got to eat various foods – fruits with shells, fruits with pits and entirely edible fruits. Each time, the students shared their own ideas of how the idea of these different fruits could describe people. Their responses were impressive.

 

 

The students created long lists of all types of trees including fruit trees, family trees and the Tree of Life!

It was a wonderful morning, filled with laughter, joy, learning and prayer.

It continues to be a joy to spend Sunday mornings with the students of our school.

Deborah

 

Schedule for February 2024

  • Friday, February 2

            6:00pm – Pizza Dinner offered for all families ($5 per person)

            7:00pm – Family Shabbat

  • Sunday, February 4

            6th/7th graders field trip to the mikveh

            Religious School, 9:00am – 11:00am

            Kitah Aleph, 11:00am – 12:15pm

  • Wednesday, February 7

            Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

            Chai School, 6:15pm – 8:15pm

  • Tuesday, February 13

            Post Confirmation at Congregation Shalom – 7:00pm-8:30pm

  • Wednesday, February 14

            Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

  • Sunday, February 18 – NO SCHOOL due to Massachusetts February vacation
  • Wednesday, February 21 – NO SCHOOL due to Massachusetts February vacation
  • Sunday, February 25 – NO SCHOOL due to Massachusetts February vacation
  • Wednesday, February 28

             Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

  • Friday, March 1

            6:00 pm – Shabbat dinner offered for all

            7:00 pm – Family Shabbat, led by the 4th/5th grade class