[HANASHIR:16502] RE: Early Childhood Developmentally Appropriate Practice

[Meris Ruzow <meris...>]

A very wonderful Shabbat song for your K-4 (I think that's what you
said) is an oldie but a goodie (I love oldies!)  The song can be found
in many compilations of songs and you probably even have it in your
library - "Shabbat Kodesh."   It's ALL in Hebrew which is great, but
easy to remember - here's the words:
Shabbat, Shabbat yom menucha, Shabbat Shabbat kodesh (Sh Sh day of rest
, holy Shabbat). (Repeat)
For this one line I have the kids clap in rhythm.  (This is typical
binary form so it's great as this is part A).
Part B:
The kids act out and show you:
Nerot (candles), Challot, (kids put hands in front and intertwine their
fingers as if making a braid) Yayin l'kiddush (take a sip of wine from
your beautiful wine cup),
Hakol, hakol, hakol, lichvod Shabbat (Repeat Part B) - for this line the
kids take one hand and "gather everything in around them" and then hug
themselves as if to make "all of this special for Shabbat."
 
Ok to make this easier - here are the words w/o everything else.
Part A
Shabbat Shabbat yom menucha, Shabbat Shabbat kodesh (2x).
Part B
Nerot, Challot, Yayin l'kiddush
Hakol, hakol, hakol, lichvod Shabbat (repeat Part B)
 
My kids up to about grade 2 love this because (but in supplemental
situations I'm sure it would work until at least grade 3) it keeps them
busy for the first part of the song - clapping, and then "showing me
that they understand the Hebrew" for Part B.
 
Remember to sing this one in a high enough key for little ones.  The
first part is low but then it gets higher in part 2.  Let me know if you
can't find the song.  Again, it's nothing new but great and should be a
part of each child's repertoire.  And look at all the Hebrew words
they'll learn!
Meris Ruzow
meris (at) nycap(dot)rr(dot)com
 
 
Meris (at) nycap(dot)rr(dot)com
 
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org] On
Behalf Of Joel Shickman
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 10:43 PM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:16489] RE: Early Childhood Developmentally
Appropriate Practice
 
I love this response!  I have two young sons who LOVE the Dinosaur
Shabbat song (they learned it at our JCC preschool) and I wouldn't dream
of making them unlearn it, BUT . . . 

There are more songs from our past than we will ever fully learn and
there are so many great modern classics added constantly that no one
could complain of a lack of repertoire.  The key is learning where our
resources are.  This is a great forum for such resources as are numerous
websites as well as conferences and hopefully, just about any Jew in
your community can probably come up with a song that they remember and
love that is new to us.

If you wanna stick with the Dinosaur song because it teaches with a
smile and your tots learn about Shabbat and it fills you up with warm
fuzzies to sing it, GREAT.  For me, I can't get Barney, Jurassic Park
and other secular images out of my mind.  In shul, I'd rather keep the
imagery to Jewish themes.

As for a Shabbat song with candles, wine & challah, I can't believe that
no one has suggested Ellen & Peter Allard's 'We Sing Shabbat'.  I've
taught two-year-olds to sing some of it in our service so I know it
works!

Anyway, all of this was an excuse to respond to Rahel thusly:

Rahel, the only substitutions for a dinosaur that I can think of are
these :-)

There's a carnivore knockin' at my door. . .   ( I dunno, too scary??)

There's a great big boar knockin' at my door. . .  (works great in
print, but . . . )

b'shalom,
Joel Shickman



rahel wrote:


At 02:28 PM 1/7/2004 -0500, you wrote:


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.


Shalom - I have nothing personally against dinosaurs - nor have I too
many problems with using them in general to teach. I am mostly disturbed
because it seems that the general consensus (and I speak in general
terms here) seems to be to go along with mainstream SECULAR teaching
ideas, methods, and even context. I feel that each time I respond to
various discussions on this list, I am responding to the same thing -
there seems to be some kind of feeling of resistance to using our very
own and very rich well of Jewish (traditional) resources that is so
easily and readily available to us as (song) leaders and as lay people.
We have the Torah. What better source to use when teaching? Why throw a
dinosaur into the picture when we could use anyone of the animals from
Noah's ark - and thus even spur more interest in the whole Torah portion
and story about Noah and the ark? Teachers could even start up some kind
of discussion, or game, or competition - whatever - to encourage the
children themselves to choose which animal would be the mascot teacher!
Imagine the fun everyone could have making up a game revolving around
the Noah story to choose the animal best suited for teaching other
Torah/Jewish concepts! My mind is already going wild just thinking up
ideas. 

I don't see the point of using a dinosaur - or any other Barney-like, or
Disney-like figure when we've got a story like Noah so rich with
animals. I'm sure if you would dleve even deeper you would probably find
animals listed there that you'd never heard of. I know I did once when,
in my Bnei Mitzvah class, we randomly chose to look at the Book of
Mitzvot (the 613!) and fell upon the laws of Kashrut - where it was
listed every kind of bird we could or could not eat. We soon found
ourselves questioning the types of birds listed - many we had no idea
existed and even had to look them up elsewhere! Imagine choosing one of
those odd kinds of birds to teach the rest of the class. 

I simply feel very strongly that we, as songleaders, need to be more
committed to our Jewish roots and sources, rather than "sell out" by
using general mainstream material. 

Rahel



 
-Amy 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: rahel <mailto:rahel (at) empire(dot)net>  
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