Small Hands, Big Difference - KB

“With my own two hands I can change the world
With my own two hands build a better place
Make a kinder place, make a kinder place
With my own two hands.”

As we approached Martin Luther King Day, we examined the idea of kindness and taking care of other people.  “You can be a King” is the title of a book we read, and from it children used their eyes to look for ways to be helpful and kind to their friends. 

“Tell me about Mr. King,” requested Tanner, remembering the book we read.  “Mr. King,” explained Morah Adi, “Used his eyes to see who needed help then he did something about it.  He used his words and his hands to be kind.”  We encouraged the children to continue using their hands to find ways to help and be kind.

“I can do it!” exclaimed Levi as he offered help to another child opening a paint jar.  “Hands are for coloring with chalk” explained Aliza.  “Here, you can have this bag” offered Mila.  Indeed, little hands can make a big difference.

Kitah Bet children made this big difference as they collected and packaged breakfast items for a local homeless shelter called Rebecca’s Tent.  In fact, we wanted to help so much that we invited the whole school to join our project.  Many families participated by donating breakfast bars, tea, instant coffee, and instant oatmeal.  On Guy’s Day, the whole school incorporated this service project as one of their activities with the guests.  The shelter was overwhelmed with IJP’s generosity. 

To artistically display this idea of using hands to make the world a better place, we created a hand stamping art project.  Children took turns squishing their hands into their choice of colorful paint and stamping them onto paper to reveal a beautiful design.  Just as each of these hand prints is unique, so too each friend is beautiful in his or her own way.  Each has unique gifts to offer the world and can create unique solutions to help others.

A Day On, Rather Than a Day Off

 Guys' Day--A Day of Service and a Day of Family Bonding

           Although we're young, only three or four years old, we do know a little about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  We learned that he lived right here in our own city, Atlanta.  We know that we can visit his childhood home.
          We also learned that he taught about respect and love, and that he shared his vision with millions of people.
           In honor of Dr. King's birthday, we dedicated our Guys' Day as a day of service to others.  

        We had school on Monday morning, even though many businesses and schools were closed.  Our morning would be busy yet meaningful.  First, we had some fun time playing with our dads, uncles and significant friends.  So many guests!  (Above, Dalia and dad build together.)

(Above, Emmett and his dad share a story. Below,grown-ups and children socialize while building with Magna-Tiles.)

 Above:  Maddy's dad helps her get into her very favorite outfit.

Harper, with her dad and Eliza and her dad enjoy some intricate building with the blocks.

           After playing and socializing, it was time to get to work.  Dr. King shared his message about being respectful of everyone.  We had experimented with a brown egg and a white egg.  Guess what?  We discovered they are different on the outside, and the same inside.  (We had taken a quick vote, by a show of hands.  Some of us thought the eggs would be the same inside, but more of us thought they would be different.  Rafi announced, "I bet it was an egg!")

          But we're little, what can we do to show our care for the  people in our city?  We learned about Rebecca's Tent, a local women's shelter.  We found out that Asher's mom is on the board there.    Our Morahs told us that the women there are looking forward to moving to their own homes.  They will need keychains for their keys.  We created colorful keychain holders for the women. We did our best to cut out foam shapes, and decorate with markers and jewels.  We know how to use scissors and the hole-punch.   

 

               Dah-Dah!  The finished product. Who wouldn't feel proud to use such a beautiful keychain?  We discovered that the shelter needs toilet paper, too.  We are bringing in lots and lots of toilet paper.

        And, because just about every IJP gathering includes a snack, we ate yummy muffins that we had made ourselves.  They were so delish.  (And thank you to Menny's mom who helped us with baking. We can't do everything by ourselves!)

       (Below)  We sang, too.  We are learning the song, The World is a Rainbow.  What an  inspiring  theme!  It's was the perfect way to end our Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration.

 

The World is a Rainbow--by Greg and Steve 

The world is a rainbow that's filled with many colors,

Yellow, black and white and brown,

You see them all around.

The world is a rainbow with many kinds of people,

It takes all kinds of people to make the world go round.

  Now you be you, and I'll be me.  That's the way we were meant to be.

  But the world is a mixing cup,

  Just look what happens when you mix it up.

The world is a rainbow with many kinds of people,

And when we work together, it's such a sight to see.

The world is beautiful when we live in harmony.

The Morahs of Kitah Gimmel

Dad's Day, 2016--appreciating the interconnectness of all things in Kitah Gimmel . . .

Dad's Day, 2016

     We were happy to get together this past Monday to celebrate Dad's Day.   Because the day was also a holiday, a commemoration of  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday,  we considered both factors when planning our day.

     During the week, we prepared cards for our dads.  We illustrated the cards with our own drawings of our dads, and then we dictated a statement or two to the Morahs describing our pictures.  Here are some of our statements:

    

Shlomit:  It's a rainbow for daddy (and a moon.)

Mortimer:  My dad is a super-hero daddy!

Rami:  Everything is for Daddy! (including a boat.)

Sam:  Me and my Dad are super-heroes!

     And, because Tu B'Shvat is around the corner, we decided to make clay pots with our dads.  Before the big day, we stamped each pot with our green thumb in acrylic paint.  We learned that a "green thumb" means we are good gardeners!  Then we embellished our pots with stick-on jewels, sponge shapes and Sharpee markers.

      

     

     During the week previous to MLK Day, we created a jot-list about the various ways we can demonstrate respect and friendship.  We asked, "How can we be nice to people?"  Here are some of our ideas:

Noa:  Say hello, say good-bye.

Leiba:  Hug a person.

Ruthie:  Share toys.

Levi:  Share books.

Ari E:  Make a rainbow.

Henia:  Share tzedaka.

Hannah: Don't hit or bite.

Reed:  Share toys with friends.

Ari S:  Kiss!

Pearl:  Share toys.

Shaya:  Hug them!

     During Dad's Day, we sang two songs that reinforce the idea of being respectful to everyone.  One song was Don't Walk in Front of Me, V'ahavta L'recha.  The dads sang along with the Kitah Gimmel yeledim.  Then we sang one of Morah Susan's favorite songs, The World is a Rainbow.  We love the message, and it's a very appropriate way to honor the ideals of Dr. King.

Lyrics by Greg Scelsa
The world is a rainbow that's filled with many colors;
Yellow, black and white and brown,
You see them all around.

The world is a rainbow with many kinds of people.
It takes all kinds of people to make the world go round.

Now you be you and I'll be me.  That's the way we meant to be.
But the world is a mixing cup,
Just look what happens when you stir it up.

The world is a rainbow with many kinds of people.
And when we work together, it's such a sight to see.
The world is beautiful when we live in harmony.

P.S.  We are almost finished with our single B-I-G clay pot, below.  Again, we are thinking about Tu B'Shvat, as well as the respect and friendship we spoke about when learning about MLK.  Our completed pot, with an attractive live plant, will be donated next week to Rebecca's Tent, an intown women's shelter.  (If you are interested in contact info for Rebecca's Tent, feel free to contact us.)

 Fondly,

Morah Susan, Morah Yael and those wonderful Yeledim of Kitah Gimmel