Shalom families and greetings from our Early Learning Centres! Our ELCs shape our children’s love of Yiddishkeit and help grow their Jewish identity through activities and lessons every day. Our specialist Jewish Studies and Hebrew educators facilitate a deep appreciation of community, and it’s in our ELCs that our children start their life-long feeling of belonging to something meaningful and wonderful. Read below as our wonderful Hebrew teacher Vanesa, leads us through a series of special Hebrew lessons she has facilitated for our ELC children this term, alongside the Jewish Studies experiences orchestrated by Uncle Velvel and all our amazing classroom educators.

We have embarked on a delightful journey exploring the chaggim, Yom Ha’atzmaut, Lag Ba’Omer and Shavuot.

On Yom Ha’atzmaut, we learnt about the colours of the Israeli flag (Kahol Ve Lavan) and the Magen David. We danced with flags around the classroom and shook the Yom Ha’atzmaut parachute while listening to Hebrew music.

On Lag Ba’Omer, I introduced the children to the words Esh (fire) and Medura (bonfire). We learnt the poem and song “Esh Esh, Medura. Lag BaOmer Ine Ba!” (“fire fire, bonfire. Lag Ba’Omer is coming”). The children used tapping sticks to join and add movement to the songs, we also danced with ribbons around the bonfire.

On Shavuot, we focused on the concept of ‘Bikkurim’ or ‘first fruits’. The children learnt the names of the different fruits in Hebrew throug games and songs (apple – tapuach, orange – tapuz, banana – banana, strawberry – tut, pear – agas).
To conclude our exploration of Shavuot, we hosted a beautiful party in each classroom. The joy and excitement among the children were palpable, as together with Uncle Velvel we celebrated this festival.

Each day, together with Kim Silver, we go to a different Early Learning Centre to teach our students a range of Israeli dances. It’s absolutely wonderful to see the enthusiasm and excitement that the children have shown during these sessions. Their smiles, laughter, and energy have been contagious. Through Israeli dancing we celebrate cultural heritage and promote a positive and inclusive environment within our classrooms.
These Hebrew experiences create a strong sense of identity for our students, teach them about their heritage and connect them to each other so that they are proud to be Jewish.

L’hitraot!
Vanesa Srur