Yom HaShoah

Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil. - Elie Weisel

Today is Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).  Honestly, I have spent all day trying to find a way to address this topic.  It's not one I take lightly.  Though I am not a descendant of survivors I have many friends who are and have learned with some amazing survivors.  In fact, I have the pleasure of saying I heard Elie Weisel read from the Torah (Hebrew Bible).  It was such an amazing experience to be in the same room with such a man as he enabled all of us to take part in the commandment of listening to the Torah.  

I have taken many classes on the Holocaust and read many books.  
                   

I've always felt this need to learn as much as I can about this time period in history.  Probably because like many others I'm a strong believer in "If you don't learn from the past, you'll be doomed to repeat it."  

As a result, I try to live my life in the most tolerant way possible.  I believe everyone has the same rights and abilities.  There are occasions when I feel that I am not living up to level I believe I should be at, but I try my best.  I guess that's all I can ask, but when I find myself failing, I push myself to try that much harder.

Yom HaShoah is about reflection.  Photographer Scott L. Sakansky has a site entitled Images for Reflection.  I urge you to take a look and reflect in your own way. 

I also think you should check out The Angel Forever's post for today.

Tot School - Week 6

Sprout is 20 months old

This week our theme is Passover.  This holiday has become my favorite and I was looking forward to sharing it with Sprout.  What I forgot was all the preparation that goes into getting ready for the holiday, even when you don't have it at home.  We had all of our last minute errands to run to pick up the things we need for our trip to the beach.  Not to mention the search for Kosher for Passover snacks.


Enough excuses... what did we do this week?


Tot Trays
This week's Tot Trays were

• Color Pom Pom Sort
• Playdough
• Seder Plate Matching and Passover Symbols Matching
• Melissa & Doug Primary Lacing Beads
• Watercolor Painting

Here is Sprout sorting the pom poms by color. I used clothespins with poms glued on to help her sort.  I spent a lot of time helping to guide her with this activity, and it will take some guidance as we continue to master this skill.

I thought that this would be a good week to teach Sprout how to use watercolor paints this week.  I found a variety of printables for Sprout to use and thought that it would be a good time to try something other than dot markers and crayons.


I apologize I don't have any pictures of Sprout doing the Passover matching games, but if you go to my Tot Packs page you can find the activities we did.  I will say that I need to make a harder shadow matching.  As soon as Sprout saw this, she took all the pieces off and then put them all right back in their correct places.  She has spent the rest of the week trying/pretending to eat the Z'roah (shank bone), which resemble a chicken leg.


We started with traditional watercolor paints.

Sprout enjoyed this, but it did seem a little tough for her to understand that she had to get the brush wet and then put it in the paint and then paint.  It's a lot of steps at this point, and she enjoyed painting the paint cups more than the paper.  This led me to get out the dried markers and I showed her how to use those to watercolor with markers.  This was great for her.

Projects

Our main project this week was to make a "Kos Eliahu" (cup for Elijah) to give to Sprout's Aunt and Uncle who host our Seder.  I always send flowers to thank them, but wanted to do something from us.  This was quite the process for me, as I tried to figure out how best to make this cup.  I knew what I wanted, but wasn't sure how to get there.

My first problem to solve was what to use for the base of our cup.  My first thought was to take one of Sprout's old containers from her drinkable yogurt and a plastic cup to make the cup.  

Then while looking for things to keep Sprout occupied during our family seder, we found an acrylic wine goblet that was really quite affordable.  After finding that, there was no way I could pass it up to use my makeshift cup as the base for this gift.  

To start our project, we ripped tissue paper into small pieces to glue onto our cup to get the stained glass effect.

We then used watered down glue to add the paper to the cup.  Sprout enjoyed for this a little while, but after a bit she got sticky and didn't really want anymore to do with our project.  I let the project dry to that point.  And then let Sprout add some more paper with a glue stick.  Honestly, Sprout still wasn't all that excited about it, but I got her to add a few more pieces.  And to be honest, I added a couple of my own.

I also took a glue gun and glued some ribbon around the base of the cup.

Our stART project his week went with Naomi Howland's The Matzah Man: A Passover Story.  We made matzah.  Although, it didn't come out, as I would have hoped it was a great experience for both of us, and I'm looking forward to trying it again.

Tot Pack

We didn't use a full Tot Pack this week.  I made a couple pieces of one to use with Sprout.  These would be the matching games we did for our Tot Trays.  Go to my Tot Packs page to find more.

Practical Play

This week we decided to turn Sprout's car seat around.  We kept her rear facing because I know that it is safer for her to be rear facing for as long as possible.  Click this link to read the American Academy of Pediatrics thoughts on this.  Also, Sprout was not heavy enough for us to change the seat around until a couple months ago.  We weren't planning to turn her  seat around, but she has been showing a lot of interest in being forward facing, so we thought it was time.  She seems pretty happy about it.

Sprout thought she would help us put our pots and pans away.  Actually, we were quite impressed when she pulled out a couple pots and lids and matched the successfully.  

Sprout also thought she would try to work on her ability to fit into small spaces.  She climbed into a plastic container.  (We were right there the whole time.)

Then thought she would go for a ride in her stroller.  (Sorry that the second picture is a little blurry. The camera focused on her knee instead of her face, and this was all I was able to get before she climbed out.)

My little monkey is also starting to climb up the stairs on her feet instead of her knees.  I don't have any pictures because she will only do this if she is holding someone's hand.  This makes it a bit tough to take a picture.  But I do have a picture of Sprout monkeying around at My Gym.

What we used this week

One of our favorite books this week was Dinosaur on Passover by Diane Levin Rauchwerger.  This is a great book about a dinosaur who comes to visit for Passover and how an overzealous house guest can send things awry, but everyone still had a great time!

Next Week

Next week is Passover and we will be spending the week visiting with family, having seders and avoiding bread products and enjoying the pool and beach.  I will be sure to share the pictures when we get back.

To learn more about Passover go to Chabad.org.  To see what other Tots were up to this week go to 1+1+1=1.

Tot School - Week 2

D is 19 months old

After composing last week's post about Tot School, I was really looking forward to Tot School with Dylan this week. As odd as it sounds, I was happy to have a name for what I want to do with D. We have been doing projects and constructive play since D was able, but for some reason over the past 2 weeks my thought process on all of this has changed. I've decided to take a more active roll in what we do. In the past, I would plan an activity on occasion, but normally let D completely determine what we would be doing for the day. Now, I'm not saying that I believe at 19 month old should have be in a structured environment. I just think that by taking a more active interest and roll in D's activities, we can create a nurturing, loving environment for D to learn in.

Anyway... back to Tot School for this week. This week's theme was Purim. This was great theme to start with because there are so many activities that we can do for this holiday. The holiday's celebration is about being a kid at heart, no matter your age. We started the week reading from Celebrate: A Book of Jewish Holidays. This introduced D to the basic idea of the story, and how we celebrate today. We then made a crown for Queen Esther.

To make the crown we used dot markers to decorate a foam crown we found at Michael's. This was not the first time D used this kind of tool, but it was interesting to watch. I think she last used them a year or so ago in her Mommy & Me class. She got the hang of them real quick, and as I expected really enjoyed putting the top on and taking it off.

At first I gave D one or two markers to use at a time.  Letting her choose which marker we should open. As time went on, I took off all the tops and placed all the markers and their tops on the tray in front of D.  I was really impressed when she placed all of the tops back on the markers.  Matching the top the the correct bottle.  The only time she had a problem was when one of the tops fell on the ground.  The only cap she had left was for the marker in her hand, so she capped the extra marker with that one.  She fixed it after I got the marker top off the floor for her.

When D was done I closed the crown for her, and she enjoyed wearing and playing with it.  This lasted for about half an hour, when I changed her diaper she thought the should use it on her legs and it ripped. I taped it back together, but it's not the same.  After doing a couple projects with D, I have learned that she enjoys taking them apart as much as she does putting them together, so I know what's coming.  I am trying to teach her to respect what she makes, but it is her work, so I can't press to hard.  

Our next project for the week was to make a grogger, a noise maker.  This was fun.  We painted a toilet paper roll.  This was the first time D has used a paintbrush.  In the past, we stuck with fingers.  I was curious to see how well she could control the paintbrush.  She did a really great job!  I think we will do more with this.  If I'm brave, we'll even use the easel we have for her.

After letting the paint dry, I used packing tape to close one end of the tube.  D and I then poured some unpopped popcorn kernels into the tube.  Well, we tried.  I knew that I needed to find a container to catch our misses, but I didn't pick the right one.  This led to D practicing her fine motor skills as we picked up the kernels that we all over the floor.  (Thankfully, "Hoover" otherwise known as our dog was upstairs.)

Here is D with her final product!

Our final project for the week was our stART project.  This project went along with the book When It's Purim.  D made a craft hamantaschen.  To know more about this project please follow the link.

We then make real hamantaschen.  And have been enjoying making them disappear!

We had a really great week!

Now as I said I am really looking forward to next week.  For a few reasons, one is our theme for next week is Dr. Seuss as it is his "birthday."  The next is that I received an email with a link for Grow Up Learning.  This website is filled with ideas to use to "teach" your child through play.  This is one of the better sites I have seen for this.  It will track your child's milestones, and allow you to save activities, make comments and keep a journal.  Be sure to check this out because for a limited amount of time they are letting you join without a fee.  I am not sure what the fee will be if you have to pay one, but for a free resource this rocks!

The last reason I'm excited for next week is that I made my first Tot Book.  Carissa of 1+1+1=1 and Tot School has a great selection of Tot Books that she created and we can use.  I created two of my own for D to use in the coming weeks.  I will talk more about the Dr. Seuss one next week as I see how well it works with D.  I will upload my files in case there is anyone who would be interested in a Dr. Seuss Tot Pack for this coming week.

To see what other people did this week go to Tot School.

What is Purim?

D and I are learning about Purim this week.  This is one of my favorite Jewish holidays, and always has been.  In all likelihood, it started with the fact that I love good Hamantaschen (pronounced humentashin).  This is a cookie traditionally filled with apricot, prune, poppy seeds.  The bakery in the town I grew up in had an apple filled one, then added lemon and cherry.  These are my favorites.  They may not be classic tradition, but they sure are yummy.  D and I will be making some hamantaschen later this week.  I normally make the traditional apricot, and then get creative with the rest, as we are not big fans of poppyseed (sorry Mom) or prune.  In the past I have made cherry, apple, chocolate, and bananas foster.  We'll have to see what I can come up with this year!

Anyway, though all Jewish holidays do revolve around food that's not the whole of the holiday.  The other reason I loved this holiday as a child was that it is similar to the American holiday or Halloween, where you can dress up in costumes and make quite a ruckus.  (In fact for adults, you are supposed to get drunk to the point that you cannot distinguish the hero's name from the villain's.)

The story is a typical one for Jewish history.  Here is the abridged version:  Haman, the Persian King's advisor did not like the Jews and wanted them all to bow down to him.  When they wouldn't all follow his directions, he decided that they should all be killed.  The King was looking for a new wife (after banishing his first wife), and found and fell in love with Esther (during the ancient version of speed dating).  Esther was not only Jewish, but the niece of Haman's nemesis Mordecai.  Esther kept this a secret from the king, until she learned that all the Jews were to be killed.  She then had a party for the king (where was to drink quite a bit) where she told the king that she was Jewish.  At which point the King decided that the Jews would be saved, and Haman would be killed.

Today we celebrate Purim by reading the story of the holiday and making noise and using groggers (noisemakers) whenever we hear the name Haman.  Children (and many adults) dress up as characters from the story (and whoever else they would like to be).  And a good time is had by all.  

Chag Purim, Everyone!