The time of awe and wonder in Omanut

Shalom!

It has been a lot of fun in Omanut since we got back from Thanksgiving break! Hard to believe we are just getting finished with Hanukkah and will be on vacation very soon for Winter Break.
I hope that you enjoyed seeing your son or daughter's Gratitude Tree that most students completed and were encouraged to bring home for your family's Thanksgiving meal-- it contained a depiction of their favorite tree in watercolor, as well as members of Judaism's forefathers and matriarchs-- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah-- along with their own family members names and what they were thankful for. Below are some examples.

We continued to have Music with Maya, our wonderful and talented song leader, and Hebrew Through Movement with Tammy and Yardena, who teach a spirited Hebrew session with humor and a whole bunch of fun.

The whole point of creating the art projects that I do around the base of our curriculum (God, Torah and Israel) is to keep pointing out the importance of community, family and connection to Judaism and Jews around the world. I want my students to have conversations with you, to enjoy coming to JQuest,  make long lasting friendships, and to remember their time with me this year for many years to come as they continue to get involved with Temple Isaiah and give back to their communities. 

For the past week, we have been working on a painting for Natan-Ya, our 'sister' synagogue in Israel, as well as poems for them as a mitzvah project, and to let them know in Israel that we care about them from here in Lafayette, CA. Here is a little peek into some work:

May you all have a lovely Winter Break, from my family to yours! 

Looking forward to seeing you all in January.

Blessings,

Heather

Season of gratitude

Shalom!

We have been continuing to work on our drawings that will be photographed and then mailed out to be made into trivets for use/ display in your home. Beautiful work from the students, and they have also written a short paragraph based on their work and why they made the picture that they did...when the trivets are complete, we will have the entire Genesis portion in color trivets! How exciting! I know I am looking forward to that end result very much!
After some students have finished their drawings, I started them on our next project- a watercolor depiction of their favorite tree, with the names of our Jewish matriarchs and patriarchs interspersed among the branches with the names of their family members and words of gratitude that they have for their lives and families, as this special holiday time of year brings about a lot of reflection about all the good that we have in our lives.

As a tiny reminder, please try to to make sure that your child has something nourishing to eat before class on Sundays- while I do have the usual Tues/Wed snacks of pretzels or goldfish crackers, it helps their concentration, creativity and alertness if they have eaten something for breakfast. Thank you so much!

Have a lovely week off for Fall break; enjoy your time together and I want you to know how lucky I feel to have your children in class with me every week! I am very thankful for all of them!
Until next time,
Heather

Some snaps from Omanut

Our Jewish Artist of the Week: Helen Frankenthaler 

Color blending / color field pastel work based on Helen's paintings

Continuing Torah stories... Genesis, artists and history!

Shalom!
Fall is here, and we are quickly moving towards Winter as our weekday classes fly by especially fast since it gets so dark much earlier than it had been. at the beginning of the school year! We continue learning about Torah and the stories of Genesis, singing and dancing with Maya and moving around the room, giving each other commands and working with Tammy and Yardena in Hebrew Through Movement. I had mentioned that I have incorporated a Jewish Artist of the Week in my last post, and we have learned about Lee Krasner since then; everyone in class appreciated her bold use of color and shapes!  Our sketch books have had prompts that encourage everyone to think outside the box and draw a piece in the style of that specific artist, aside from trying to jot down different facts about their lives from our discussions. This week we are concentrating on Marc Chagall- who many have referred to as the "quintessential Jewish artist of the 20th century".  I have a feeling that Chagall's  dreamy details and colors that he has utilized in his paintings and glass work will be a focus when we work on glass painting later this semester! It makes me so happy to see everyone excited about new artists and ways that they can expand their focus in their own class work.
Here are a few peeks into our Omanut time together! Enjoy!
Until next time,
Heather

We finished our 7 Days of Creation paintings- so beautiful!

Here is a small sample of some of the designs, and work in progress:

We are now creating scenes from the stories of Genesis to be made into trivets, framed in wood. Think about how lovely the trivet will be in your kitchen or placed in your home!

Jewish Artist of the Week 

Omanut in October

Shalom, everyone!
Omanut has been busy this month....We have worked on a project all about Simchat Torah, and are now studying Genesis and the first days of creation. I have read from The Explorer's Bible and we have watched several amazing short videos from G-dcast.com all about Genesis that have really brought out questions, creativity and humor.
For our Simchat Torah project, all the students were able to collaborate on a painting which will be the framework for the construction & tissue paper  'heart and torah scroll' work that was created based on my lesson. The heart and torah scrolls were made because the combination of the last letter of the last word in Torah ( Lamed from the word Yisrael) and the first letter of the first word when we re-roll the Torah ( Bet in Bereshit)  on Simchat Torah, spell Lev  heart) and it is your heart and passion  that should be out into Torah...which brought us to that creative, and a bit abstract presentation of learning about Simchat Torah. The painting and surrounding work will be put up in the hallway on our bulletin board; I encourage you to look at it, and hopefully that will start a conversation with your child/children.
I have also started "Jewish Artist of the Week", in which I will present an artist, give background information, and a short presentation of their work. Everyone will then have a sketch prompt connected to that artist and by the time JQuest commences for 2016, I am sure we will have learned about many Jewish artists who will have inspired us.
This week, we learned about Yitzchok Moully, a Rabbi and artist who does beautiful, bold colored paintings with strong Jewish images. The students loved him! Check out his work at: www.MoullyArt.com 

We love singing with Maya!

I love this class so much and hope that your children are enjoying it and learning new things about themselves, each other and, of course- God, Torah and Israel with excellent art thrown in for good measure!

B'Shalom,

Heather

Sukkot projects in Omanut

Shalom!
We are just completing Sukkot, and had a few art projects connected to that wonderful Jewish holiday. Hebrew Through Movement and Music with Maya are being met with smiling faces and big voices/ movement-- a great start to a cohesive JQuest year! We shook the lulav and etrog and danced!
I showed the Omanut class a few different websites this week to encourage their creativity and meet the multiple learning modalities of all students... some were musically focused (like the g-dcast.com video about Sukkot) while others just opened their eyes to the different designs that a sukkah could be! Don't be surprised if your son or daughter want more of a voice in constructing your family sukkah next year! :) We worked on painting water colors on canvas and multi media designs with tissue paper and other papers to decorate your personal sukkah or the classroom; some of your children may have brought their creations home already.

Here are some websites that we visited; the sukkah design competitions are amazing!

http://www.sukkahcity.com

Thank you, here's to another great week!
Heather