Trust Me, I'm a Madricha

Today I taught my second half lesson to my Kitah Alpeh class! I had a great time, as did I last week. This week we played a Yom Ha'atzmaut trivia game show and last week we had a discussion about seder plate symbolism. I love making my kids laugh and being silly on purpose but it really gets them into the lesson. Being a teacher for young kids is difficult because they don't sit on their bottoms and they speak out of turn and they don't have a long attention span. So when I planned an activity that captivated their attention and listening skills, I felt really good. Today, I hyped them up for this game show, having them cheer their own team on and getting excited for the next round of questions, like they do on TV. They were excited and anxious to get trivia-answering. We may have been really loud but it was totally worth it. I also got to try a lot of new things with my class, veering from our typical Eifo Ha introduction to class and acting out of certain things and our Hebrew letter stories. Most of the things I had wanted to try were successful, like group activities, team competitions, and having classmates check each other's work. These are good things to know in being any kind of teacher, knowing that I have good judgement. And I can also take this into consideration if I come back next year to teach my own class.

-Lucy

#Chocolate #Seder #NomNom

Unfortunately, we didn't get a local trending tag on Twitter, but that's probably because most of our attendees of the 2012 Chocolate Seder were under the age of 13, without smart phones to tweet. But that was a wonderful thing! We had an age range of Dina's kids to Dina! But more specifically, our active seder family's average age was probably 10.5. My first chocolate seder was intimidating, as a sixth or seventh grader without many friends, but also tempting as a young chocoholic. I have come back most years since to the point where I have become a co-runner of the chocolate seder. This year, it was really great to see so many young people; it gives me hope that Kadima will continue to thrive this year and next, and we will have potential members for our Teen group. Next year, in the land of Hershey, Pennsylvania, free from the slavery of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!
-Lucy

PNO Success

Our Solar Cooker Project is on a roll. Last Saturday, we managed to rack up some more donations through PSJC's semi-regular Parent's Night Out event, where parents can drop off their kids at the shul for a babysitting party hosted by Dina and the teens. The kids had a great time, the gals getting manicures and others playing Jenga, doing lanyard, and kicking back with a movie and some home-made pizza bagels. At drop off and pickup, we had our wonderful poster and flyer set up and were able to talk about our project more and also explain the significance of the spoons. Overall, it was a great night. Margot, the Nussbaum Cohen girls and I gave the kids their teenage babysitter dose and everyone had a great time (minus the small choking issue I had). We will definitely be hosting another one in the future, so keep your eyes and ears peeled!

-Lucy

Is your cellphone Kosher?

No, I'm not talking about whether there are any racy images on there or whether you have a smartphone that will allow you to access questionable websites. This is about what's really inside your phone and where those parts come from.

Here is a snippet from a powerful article about the Solar Cooker Project, which our teen group is raising funds & awareness for this year:

“Is your cell phone kosher?” Janice Kamenir-Reznik asked. “It’s not. Every one of our cell phones has rape minerals in it.”

Most people are undoubtedly saddened when they hear things like this, but very few believe anything they could possibly do could actually make a difference. Kamenir-Reznik is one of those very few. As co-founder and president of Jewish World Watch, an organization with a global footprint dedicated to the fight against genocide and mass atrocities, she has devoted herself full-time to helping some of the most vulnerable people in the world: those in the Darfur region of Sudan and Congo.

Read more here: http://www.neontommy.com/news/2012/02/janice-kamenir-reznik-never-again

Welcome!! (belated)

I meant to make this the FIRST post of the blog, but as you can see our group is very enthusiastic about posting here!

Welcome to the PSJC Teens (past and present) blog, what we are calling "One Step at a Time". Here the group will share their experiences, some Jewish and some maybe not so much. You'll hear about the Teen Social Action Group projects, you'll hear about their trips to Israel, you'll hear about some random experience on the subway, and who knows what else!

This is a little window into all of the great experiences and ideas coming from our Teens here at Park Slope Jewish Center. We hope you'll stick around and share it all with us.

-Dina Garfinkel
Teen Group Adviser

The Lesson Went Great!

Just checking in, today we read The Lorax, and though Kitah Gan didn't have the exact same reaction as I did upon reading the words of the Once-ler, it was fun. Everyone enjoyed eating our "dirt pudding" and I was surprised by all the reasons to be thankful for trees that our class came up with. Another interesting thing I took away was how the class picked up on how the Once-ler, someone who I had assumed was the villain of the story, was both good and bad. I asked the question assuming that everyone would answer that he's bad because he cuts down all the trees and opens the factory that ultimately destroys the environment. However, Kitah Gan noticed that he's also a good character because he gives the seed to the boy in hopes of starting a new forest of Truffula trees and because he seems to feel remorse for his actions. Wow! That totally changed how I saw the story and I was so proud that they caught that little detail. I guess I should never underestimate the listening and analyzing capabilities of Kitah Gan. I'm so glad the lesson worked out well and that I got to take something new away from it.

-Julie

Over $100!!!!

Today was a huge step for the solar cooker project. Today at the stzdaka fair we raised over $100 in donations. I am just glad that my parents let me kind of go back to Hebrew school again. Thanks all of the parents and kids that donated today, and every who made a spoon today because it was a big help. Now we know for next time to maybe bring a few more :D