Hello! This blog has been so much fun for home based learning projects. I have begun to post some of my materials from my class on my other blog - chinuchenergy.blogspot.com. It will be a slow start, but hopefully I will add more stuff as the time allows. Check out my first new post that features a bunch of resources for teaching shorashim, chumash, ivrit and holidays. No reason all the fun has to stay at home.
-- Shira
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Pop-Up Scale Model of the Mishkan - Parshios Terumah & Vayakhel
This Parsha project requires some preparation to be used at the Shabbos table. But it is fun and easy. If you like projects like this - head over to http://chinuchenergy.blogspot.com
I loved making a mishkan out of cake but it was a pain. Black fondant is hard to work with, and after all the work, I was only left with crumb. Last year, I set to work trying to figure out how to make a mishkan out of paper that was easy enough for a third grader to do and could be transported home in a folder.. I came up with my prototype last year and this year made it digital.
PDF - Complete Instructions and Mishkan Model Using 3 sheets of legal size paper, a pair of scissors, and a bit of glue anyone can create a scale model of the mishkan. The complete instructions are on page 1 & 2 of the PDF
Step 1: Print off the first two pages double sided on legal paper & the second two pages each on its own legal paper.
Step 2: Color both sides of the pages according to the instructions. The parts that are labeled blue, red, purple, and gold are for the fabric made of 6 threads of red, 6 threads of blue, 6 threads of purple and 1 thread of gold.
Step 3: Cut out on the black lines, and follow the directions for folding
Step 4: Glue
Step 6: Add the three layers of the mishkan
To store: Put the three covering underneath the base, flatten the curtains and vessels and fold down flat
I loved making a mishkan out of cake but it was a pain. Black fondant is hard to work with, and after all the work, I was only left with crumb. Last year, I set to work trying to figure out how to make a mishkan out of paper that was easy enough for a third grader to do and could be transported home in a folder.. I came up with my prototype last year and this year made it digital.PDF - Complete Instructions and Mishkan Model Using 3 sheets of legal size paper, a pair of scissors, and a bit of glue anyone can create a scale model of the mishkan. The complete instructions are on page 1 & 2 of the PDF
Step 1: Print off the first two pages double sided on legal paper & the second two pages each on its own legal paper.
Step 2: Color both sides of the pages according to the instructions. The parts that are labeled blue, red, purple, and gold are for the fabric made of 6 threads of red, 6 threads of blue, 6 threads of purple and 1 thread of gold.
Step 3: Cut out on the black lines, and follow the directions for folding
Step 4: Glue
Step 5: Sharpen creases and bend down the curtains.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Other parsha ideas
If you are coming here, you are either, based on my google stats, looking for a way to make goat cupcakes or want to make your Shabbos table fun. In either case, you have come to the right place.
There are a ton of resources out there with ideas from people who share the passion that the Shabbos meal should be marked by fun and camaraderie. Kids should feel like they can partner with their parents to create the Torah learning and Torah discussions at the table.
So stolen from http://organizedjewishhome.com/parsha-resources/ a list of resources to help make the Shabbos table F-U-N.*
If you have any other suggestions, please add them to the comments!
And if I have any more brilliant ideas, I will post them here if you promise to post yours!
Enjoy!
* if this feels unconventional and non traditional to you, feel free to stick with the standard Shabbos meal format of "Sit still. Wait for kiddush. Stop grabbing. Hands off the challahs. If I told your brother that means you too. Stop playing with the silverware. ..We'll get to dessert soon. Can you please help your father sing shalom aleichem. Now stand up so I can ask you your parsha sheet questions. Shmulkie, do you have a dvar Torah to read. Go ahead. Pay attention to your brother reading please. Sit still. Candy for whoever stays quiet during parsha. You are all excused. Can you believe the Rabbi said that? Come back to the table Bentching time! Off to bed. Good Shabbos!"
There are a ton of resources out there with ideas from people who share the passion that the Shabbos meal should be marked by fun and camaraderie. Kids should feel like they can partner with their parents to create the Torah learning and Torah discussions at the table.
So stolen from http://organizedjewishhome.com/parsha-resources/ a list of resources to help make the Shabbos table F-U-N.*
Parsha projects: crafts and snacks
Challah crumbs: A little bit of everything
Adventures in Mama-Land: Parsha worksheets and ideas
Jewish Homeschool: worksheets, parsha crafts
Double portion: some other recipes and insights
Themed thinking: Geared to families and even adults, here is another recipe blog on the parsha
Parsha activities: exactly what it sounds like
If you have any other suggestions, please add them to the comments!
And if I have any more brilliant ideas, I will post them here if you promise to post yours!
Enjoy!
* if this feels unconventional and non traditional to you, feel free to stick with the standard Shabbos meal format of "Sit still. Wait for kiddush. Stop grabbing. Hands off the challahs. If I told your brother that means you too. Stop playing with the silverware. ..We'll get to dessert soon. Can you please help your father sing shalom aleichem. Now stand up so I can ask you your parsha sheet questions. Shmulkie, do you have a dvar Torah to read. Go ahead. Pay attention to your brother reading please. Sit still. Candy for whoever stays quiet during parsha. You are all excused. Can you believe the Rabbi said that? Come back to the table Bentching time! Off to bed. Good Shabbos!"
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
It's been a while . . .
So . . . it has really been a while since I have last updated this blog.
Lest anyone thinks parsha cakes have stopped being produced in our family, they haven't . They've just gone from being Renaissance art to being a more modern interpretation of the parsha. Some weeks, the desserts are so simple I don't take a picture. Some weeks, the kids design the cake at the table. We are learning what designs we can do on Shabbos and what we can't. That itself is a good lesson. So no more awesome pictures.
I tried to let parsha cakes die because my Fridays became overbooked when I started working. Then . . . one day, after a long, hard day, my poor six year old started crying. After detailing all his other woes, he finished off by saying the worst part of his young, miserable life was that our cakes on Shabbos looked NORMAL!!!! (Cue the heartrending sobs). The horror! The misery!
What mother can look her child in the eyes after hearing how she has devastated him and not make a parsha cake. But, after a year of glorious confections, the kids were begging for soup and veggies on Shabbos and didn't eat the cake. While art is nice, wasting food and money is not. I'm refuse to make cakes that are beautiful and delicious but sit, So there have been modifications to the program. Instead of recreating the creation of the world, I serve black and white cookies. On Parshas Chayei Sara, I made a rounded cake sans frosting and asked the kids how it connects to the parsha. They came up with 4 ways. I can make sheep very quickly with marshmallows and cupcakes. There are a lot of parshios with sheep. The kids don't seem to mind the change.
Perhaps they don't mind because parsha has now become a 24 hour long affair in our house. Once the kids learned you could be creative with parsha, woo boy - there was no turning back. And they know their parsha well; after all they had a year of parsha cakes.
So this year's theme, they seemed to have decided, is how to turn each parsha into some violent reenactment that involves wrestling. The "better" parsha plays get practiced and reenacted for many weeks. For some reason, the plays involve blankets, costumes, and pillows. And knives. and swords. and light sabres. and guns.
A sampling:
Noach - drowning in the mabul. Using blue blankets to smother everything.
Vayera - one son was tied down on a kids desk with a karate belt. The other kid was pretending to shecht him with a long bubble wand (which has "disappeared". Thank you very much). The angel, wearing pillows on his arms, flapped around a lot yelling avraHAM, avraHAM! (Excedrin....)
Chayei Sarah - Eliezer goes to find Rivka. His camels turns out to have neon green vampire teeth and proceed to eat everyone around.
Toldos. - Esav and Yaakov had a lot of sibling rivalry that needed a lot of wrestling to work out
Vayishlach - WWF Yaakov vs Esav mania! and from my 4 yr old: "Totty, will you be my Shimon- we need to kill out Shechem."
Vayeishev - of course Yosef being THROWN in a pit
etc.
I thought we were safe until Vayechi.
We basically were. The kids acted out the shevatim over and over again. Until, they decided that donkeys and lions are mortal enemies and . . . .
Recently, my kids have started asking "How does some random thing connect to the parsha" Fun, Fun, Fun.
After a few fun weeks of parsha sheets from school, parsha cake, parsha plays, and parsha connections, and even parsha pictures (from Torah Tidbits) one kid pipes up "I have an idea! How about we act out something from the parsha and you have to guess!" It was 10 o clock. Shabbos had started at 4:30. My husband and I looked at each other "Parsha Charades? Maybe we can do that ...tomorrow:)!
Lest anyone thinks parsha cakes have stopped being produced in our family, they haven't . They've just gone from being Renaissance art to being a more modern interpretation of the parsha. Some weeks, the desserts are so simple I don't take a picture. Some weeks, the kids design the cake at the table. We are learning what designs we can do on Shabbos and what we can't. That itself is a good lesson. So no more awesome pictures.
I tried to let parsha cakes die because my Fridays became overbooked when I started working. Then . . . one day, after a long, hard day, my poor six year old started crying. After detailing all his other woes, he finished off by saying the worst part of his young, miserable life was that our cakes on Shabbos looked NORMAL!!!! (Cue the heartrending sobs). The horror! The misery!
What mother can look her child in the eyes after hearing how she has devastated him and not make a parsha cake. But, after a year of glorious confections, the kids were begging for soup and veggies on Shabbos and didn't eat the cake. While art is nice, wasting food and money is not. I'm refuse to make cakes that are beautiful and delicious but sit, So there have been modifications to the program. Instead of recreating the creation of the world, I serve black and white cookies. On Parshas Chayei Sara, I made a rounded cake sans frosting and asked the kids how it connects to the parsha. They came up with 4 ways. I can make sheep very quickly with marshmallows and cupcakes. There are a lot of parshios with sheep. The kids don't seem to mind the change.
Perhaps they don't mind because parsha has now become a 24 hour long affair in our house. Once the kids learned you could be creative with parsha, woo boy - there was no turning back. And they know their parsha well; after all they had a year of parsha cakes.
So this year's theme, they seemed to have decided, is how to turn each parsha into some violent reenactment that involves wrestling. The "better" parsha plays get practiced and reenacted for many weeks. For some reason, the plays involve blankets, costumes, and pillows. And knives. and swords. and light sabres. and guns.
A sampling:
Noach - drowning in the mabul. Using blue blankets to smother everything.
Vayera - one son was tied down on a kids desk with a karate belt. The other kid was pretending to shecht him with a long bubble wand (which has "disappeared". Thank you very much). The angel, wearing pillows on his arms, flapped around a lot yelling avraHAM, avraHAM! (Excedrin....)
Chayei Sarah - Eliezer goes to find Rivka. His camels turns out to have neon green vampire teeth and proceed to eat everyone around.
Toldos. - Esav and Yaakov had a lot of sibling rivalry that needed a lot of wrestling to work out
Vayishlach - WWF Yaakov vs Esav mania! and from my 4 yr old: "Totty, will you be my Shimon- we need to kill out Shechem."
Vayeishev - of course Yosef being THROWN in a pit
etc.
I thought we were safe until Vayechi.
We basically were. The kids acted out the shevatim over and over again. Until, they decided that donkeys and lions are mortal enemies and . . . .
Recently, my kids have started asking "How does some random thing connect to the parsha" Fun, Fun, Fun.
After a few fun weeks of parsha sheets from school, parsha cake, parsha plays, and parsha connections, and even parsha pictures (from Torah Tidbits) one kid pipes up "I have an idea! How about we act out something from the parsha and you have to guess!" It was 10 o clock. Shabbos had started at 4:30. My husband and I looked at each other "Parsha Charades? Maybe we can do that ...tomorrow:)!
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