[HANASHIR:16434] RE: Early Childhood Developmentally Appropriate Practice

[Amy Fried <jdkrheum...>]

I'm just curious - does the objection to dinosaurs have anything to do with 
problems with evolution? I have a friend who is orthodox (and a scientist), who 
says he doesn't believe dinosaurs ever existed.

-Amy
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: rahel 
  To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 2:24 AM
  Subject: [HANASHIR:16430] RE: Early Childhood Developmentally Appropriate 
Practice


  Shalom Everyone,

  I've been following the Dinosaur/Tot Shabbat sting with minimal interest. I 
am of the camp that feels dinosaur's don't belong in Jewish education - simply 
because we have such rich resources - why follow the lead of the mainstream? We 
ought to be more creative with what we already have! 

  Anyway, that's not what I wanted to comment on. I wanted to add to this:

  At 09:30 PM 1/6/2004 -0900, you wrote:

    ....children have much longer attention spans than we think. The old "20 
minutes at time is all they can focus on" is out, which I think is what the 15 
- 30 minute Tot Shabbat is based on. I could certainly sustain a longer service 
for the little ones, now that
    I've got a "real" service going, rather than a prettied up story time 
(thanks to you all!). 

  Children love to sing, dance, move, hear stories, play instruments.... 
Children are interested in anything for a long time if YOU are interested. I 
have the job of leading a 45-minute long service class to ALL the kids (aged 
from kindergarten to 7th grade) in our synagogue on Sundays. This class happens 
after they have already attended one class for an hour on a sleepy Sunday 
morning. The kids are tired and hungry and certainly not interested in sitting 
for another hour praying. HOWEVER, this they do. For the most part we conduct 
the same service as they will attend with adults on a regular Shabbat weekend. 
We do this so that the kids who do not attend services on Shabbat will learn 
what they are missing! I do not do any special antics to rouse their interest. 
However, there is a lot of singing - simply because the service has a lot of 
singing. I play the guitar - although this year I have used it less because the 
kids know the songs fairly well already and I want them to sing more. I have 
students lead the service - Bnei Mitzvah students get a chance to practice. I 
also have volunteers (kids of all ages) read different passages. Sometimes I 
stop and ask them - "what the heck does this passage mean????". They love this 
because they get to tell me what it's all about. And they're really very smart. 
I also found out that they are really listening - better than me! - and really 
know what's going on. Even if the reading is very dry and boring. Lately we've 
had a group of kids doing a little dramatization of the weekly Parsha. They get 
organized that same day with my colleague. He gives them their parts and they 
simply read the text. Some of them get into it and have a great time. Others 
simply read their lines in monotone. But somehow it all seems to be having a 
great effect. This week one 2nd grader told me he came to Sunday school just to 
see what was going to happen to Joseph in Egypt! 

  I think the key to the success of running the same old "boring dry service" 
at Sunday school is three-fold:

  1. I love the service. I love what I'm doing. I'm enthusiastic and animated 
and am having fun. I am setting the tone with my enthusiasm and love of what I 
am doing. So they love this dry boring service now too.

  2. I'm pretty strict about giving the service its due respect. When kids are 
chatting, I simply ask them to separate and sit apart. I don't punish or scold 
- I simply call out the child's name and tell them where they need to sit. It's 
a matter of course and never interrupts the flow of the service. I also tell 
the kids that when the Ark is opened and we are praying it's a serious business 
and we need to conduct ourselves with respect. And they are fine with this. I'm 
serious and respectful of the Torah, or our prayers etc. and so are they. WOW - 
how serious they are about remembering loved ones who have died, and about 
sending healing to the ill. WOW! 

  3. KIDS are conducting the service. They are involved. They are leading. I'm 
simply listening. I have learned that kids listen better to each other. So I 
get out of their way as much as possible. I simply facilitate. They do the 
drama. They lead the prayers. They get very serious when their peers are the 
ones in control. And I LOVE it when they lead. 

  20-minutes for all of the above is way too short. 45-minutes is just right. 

  Rahel