Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Whispers with chickens...




Last Wednesday, I received the most unbelievable joy in accompanying the LGA Kitah Gan (Kindergarten) over to one of the student's houses to witness a young person's version of kapporot. For those of you who don't know what kapporot is. It is the ancient tradition at Yom Kippur where a person seeks atonement for their sins via a chicken. The chicken from what I understand is waved above a person's head and the following blessing is recited: "This is in exchange for me, this is instead of me, this is my atonement. This Rooster (or Hen) shall go to its death, and I shall enter in and go to a good, long life and to peace."

Now, I am sure some people are thinking how could we teach a class of 5 and 6 year olds about killing another living thing and rest assured nothing was killed last Wednesday. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite happened. We spent the afternoon really respecting animal life!

The Gan faculty taught the kids an age-appropriate version of kapporot. Their lead teacher, Amy approached me about doing this and explained that Rabbi Susan Schnur explained to her a modern-day approach to kapporot which involves whispering things you want to atone for from the past year into a chicken's ear therefore confiding all of your "sins" in a chicken, who the last time I knew would keep your secrets quite safe.

On a beautiful and cloudless day, the entire class caravanned over to their classmate's house in the center of Northampton. Now while I have explained that the valley is more or less a rural place, there are many parts that are quite built up especially nearer to the town center. Houses are close together and you are in the middle of a densely populated neighborhood (for where we live). So there we were traipsing through the back yard to a chicken coop where our confidantes lived.

Mr. W explained to the class about the chickens and allowed the class to pet them. Rabbi Riqi came and helped the kids contextualize what they were about to do. And then one by one, each student (and the adults!) whispered in the chicken's ears. After the confessional was complete, there was a tzedekah box for us to put a few pennies in the pushke. Our youngest students most definitely had an experience they won't forget any time soon. For them, Judaism was brought alive in a completely different way. They interacted with an ancient ritual in a completely age-appropriate yet significant and creative way. Thank you Rabbi Schnur for sharing your ritual with our LGA kindergartners!

I can only imagine the stories those three chickens told each other later that day. I sure hope my secret is safe with them!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The great pumpkin!






When I first moved to the Pioneer Valley, I was living in Amherst which is across the Connecticut River from Northampton. I had a commute of about twenty minutes and would take back roads to avoid the traffic on the main through fare connecting Amherst to Northampton. One late summer morning, I was looking out over the Holyoke Range to one side of me and driving through an arch of corn fields and thought to myself it is awesome to see, smell, and feel the nature surroundings all around me and that we were quite fortunate to have this beauty so close at our finger tips.

Students at LGA interact with nature all during the year. It is just a part of the milieu of what makes this Jewish day school so unique. Two summers ago, a master gardener approached me about having a small garden in the back yard of the school. I jumped on the idea and imagined Kindergarten students frolicking in the garden as they learned about all the different vegetables, fruits and flowers that were planted. I envisioned 5th and 6th graders studying about plant life and having the garden as a real-time laboratory where they would experiment in different ways. I dreamt of art classes designing placards for the garden and spending time just thinking about art amongst the flowers. I imagined 2nd and 3rd graders classifying species of insects and bugs that they witnessed in the garden and finally I could see a 4th grade Judaics class harvesting and picking all the vegetables and making a big pot of soup to walk over to our next door neighbors at the Northampton Survival Center. Well much to my joy and chagrin, some of this happened and some just became a dream!

This year, Amy, our new Kindergarten teacher, approached me about having Margaret, the master gardener come back and help her create a pumpkin patch for her students. This spring, Amy put a call out to our community to help get the garden done. On a beautiful Sunday morning, a whole lot of families arrived ready to dig, till, plow, and plant all with the goal of having a beautiful pumpkin patch for our students. Over the summer, I would walk into school and have the privilege of watching the pumpkins grow and grow.

Last week, right before Rosh Hashanah, our Gan students got the lucky privilege of picking the pumpkins. Pumpkins and gourds of all different shapes and sizes are now sitting in the classroom. Science lessons abound and the eventual cooking and eating the seeds is holding everyones excitement.

Less you think the garden will lay dormant, Morah Caitlin, our Kindergarten teaching fellow and an avid farmer, took our students out and planted a whole bunch of veggies that can grow in the autumn. Who knows we could have quite a nice bounty for Thanksgiving!

Gmar Chatima Tovah! May you be inscribed for a good year!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Nothing like the first day of school...


I start the school year with a renewed interest in blogging. I will attempt to post something once a week.

As a child I remember very clearly the night before the first day of school. There wasn't a lot of sleep happening those evenings. Thoughts would run through my head about all of the exciting things I was going to be doing over the next year. Having a vivid imagination, I would concoct elaborate scenarios about my new teachers, new and old classmates, and the overall blast I was going to have with the routine of being a student again.

Now as the person who leads the charge, I still get that incredible jolt on the first of August when I think about our students coming back to fill the classrooms in not such a long time. The first day of school brings fresh new clothes and supplies, a twinkle in many a students eye, and refreshed and rejuvenated educators ready for another fantastic year of learning.

Most mornings at LGA, I get the opportunity to greet students with a handshake and a Boker Tov (good morning). We look at each other in the eye and get to acknowledge each other in a real way. This past Wednesday morning, our first day of school at LGA, I again walked out and greeted every student. But on that day, I took my time with each student finishing up my duty well beyond the 8:15 start of school, because I wanted to hear every single story that our students had to share with me.

Returning students to LGA are comfortable sharing a quick line and know that it is a unique trait of LGA that I (or another administrator) stand out there no matter what the weather is and focus on them even if just for thirty seconds. New students quickly get into the habit and often by week two no longer need to be cajoled to shake my hand. These kind of one-on-one moments is what make Jewish day schools so special. This personal interaction carries throughout the day for students at LGA because they know that every adult working in the building cares about them on all levels from the top down.

The first days of school signify change in routine. We go from the lazy days of summer back to many planned and plan-full moments. This transition can be hard for everyone. There are new expectations put on us that weren't there when we ended school last year and there are some different routines that we have to get used to. Keeping those thoughts in our mind should help us navigate transitions back to a new school year.

Shanah Tovah u'Metukah. Here's to a sweet and good new year!