Community building, Jewish artists & symbols and the upcoming new year!

Shalom!

We have been having a lot of fun in Omanut getting to know one another, and the school year is off to a fabulous start! We established our classroom rules, have created pieces of art based on the work of several Israeli and Jewish artists and have talked about what various Jewish symbols mean in depth.
I found a great book, "50 Jewish Artists you should know", that I have shown to the Omanut classes  and we have worked on a few different short projects in small groups as well as individually, based on some of the artists we talked about so far.

We also talked about what the year will look like in terms of projects and curriculum and decided that we want to put together several 'public art installations' as part of our end of the year Omanut Art Stroll, since I showed the students the following site that made them very excited about the possibilities of what we can do around our beautiful campus- feel free to check out some of the art on the site and see what conversations can be sparked with your child!

http://israelpublicart.com/public_art/

Our final one day project that many of the students took home was a personal Tashlich project-- a water color in which they painted whatever they wanted and once it was dry, they wrote a goal for the New Year; something they were sorry for, and something they were happy about/ wished for. My advice to them was to put the water color in a sink of water and see their regrets disappear, and those good wishes to float into the universe to God. I hope they were able to translate that to you, if you wondered what they were doing!

Hebrew Through Movement and Music with Joel continue to be positive additions to our class time, and I will post pictures of the class in action soon!

All the best to you and your loved ones for a sweet, healthy, happy New Year... It is my privilege to be a part of the lives of your talented children who inspire me all the time!
L' Shanah Tovah,
Heather

Shalom and Welcome to Omanut's 2014-2015 school year!

Wow, I am so excited to start the new school year with all the bright and smiling faces of my Omanut students-- most of whom have grown at least a foot over the summer!!  We had a great morning getting to know one another on Sunday after filling up on delicious pancakes and fruit and we are starting Omanut this year designing what I have titled Omanut's Landscape of Creativity that will be similar to our Tree of Life that held our wishes for the new year. This colorful landscape will be filled with Jewish symbols that are important to us, as well as what each student hopes to accomplish this year in Omanut.

All year, my goal within the curriculum will be to design experiences that are responsive to the natural curiosity that the children have. We are building our classroom community and it is my desire that we have a room full of true friends by the close of the year when the  Omanut Art Stroll / Year End Show begins!

As always, feel free to contact me at any time to discuss any ideas or concerns about your child(ren) as I want him or her to have the best experience possible in my class.

Here's to a wonderful year for all of us!
B'Shalom,
Heather

Here are a few pictures of some of the art that will be inspiring us this year as we study Contemporary Israel, Torah (Exodus through Deuteronomy), the Jewish views about God and modern Israeli/ Jewish artists.



The art of Yaacov Agam

Public art in Israel

Lifecycle art...and getting ready for Purim with Hebrew Through Movement!

Shalom,
Without further ado-- here is a sampling of the beautiful lifecycle art that Omanut is making! We are almost done and we will have the pieces ready for presentation at the Omanut Art Show at the end of April, and then you can happily use them in your homes.

Hebrew Through Movement is more fun than ever, as we learn about Purim! Our Omanut class wore some masks and crowns as well as took turns leading the class through different commands.

We are going to have CRAZY HAIR DAY *this* SUNDAY, MARCH 2nd!! Come to Religious School with your hair silly, colorful and crazy! You won't want to miss this, as all of the teachers will have crazy hair, too!!!
Until next time, friends--
Heather

Synagogue and Lifecycle art

Shalom, everyone!

Omanut continues to be busy, busy, busy! After completing our art projects that coincided with studying the passages in Genesis, and celebrating Tu B'Shevat, we have started to learn about both Synagogue and Lifecycle art. We have had some lively discussions about what Synagogue art is, and how it has changed but still remained within the same spheres of what any Jewish person would recognize around the world. 
Next week we will be having a visit from our own Rabbi Graetz during our Tuesday and Wednesday classes (Feb. 25th and 26th) to tell us about Synagogue art around the world! Exciting stuff!  Lifecycle art is an easy hand-in-hand connection to Synagogue art because our students have often grown up with many of the items that we talk about in their own homes : Seder plates, special candlestick holders for Shabbat, mezuzahs, stained glass Judaic items, kiddush cups, challah covers, etc. 

Shortly we will start work on the Omanut bimah cover for the BK and the students have come up with many creative suggestions about what materials to use, what we should paint on the fabric, and how we can use what we learned from our guest artist, Nechama Shaina, during the Family Program. The Family ketubot that the students did are just spectacular-- I cannot wait until you see them framed! 

Without further ado, here are some classroom pictures. The year is going by so fast, thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach your children! They keep me on my toes in the best possible ways and we have a great time learning from one another. :)
Until next time... 
Kol tuv,
Heather


A few examples from our multi dimensional paintings, using non typical materials (sand, rocks, sea glass, moss) with acrylics to illustrate favorite passages from Genesis:

Ivrit! Actions shots from Hebrew Through Movement, with Yardena:

Tu B'Shevat : New Year of the Trees-- we did "Our Life in Tree Rings" with oil pastels, water color paint and markers. There are additional colorful examples outside the Omanut classroom on our bulletin board.

We had an incredible turn out for our Family Program! Thank you so much for joining us, and listening to our guest, Nechama Shaina, a gifted scribe and ketubah artist, tell us about the history of ketubah and give us some ideas for our own family ketubah. Some families also had Nechama write their family name or different words on their ketubah with the very special quill and ink used specifically for scribing in the Torah. 

Our students are amazing and came up with wonderful designs with deep meaning for their  family ketubah. I cannot wait until you see the framed final product!

Finally, a scene from Music with Joel!! We are so happy that Joel is back and feeling better!