Parsha and Nature Seamlessly Blend in Gan Tziporim
Take a look and see how in reference to the Parshah of the week, Va’eira, which tells of the plagues (HaMakot) that Hashem used to punish Pharaoh and the Egyptian people, and our daily nature explorations, our lives are fully integrated with Torah and natural learning. It was so interesting to observe each day how when we were focused on the Parsha, the children incorporated information about other studies we were exploring, and as we spent time outdoors and working in our classrooms on hibernation and other inquiries, the children were bringing in their Jewish knowledge to our explorations. This is a seamless integration of learning.
We visited our outdoor classroom to see how things were looking since we last visited. The sun was out and the temperature was moderate, so the children were happy to explore. After reading the Parshah, we had discussed the obligation for the Jewish slaves to make bricks out of clay and straw to build Egyptian cities. We found an excellent video that showed a man making bricks and building with them in approximately the same primitive way as it had been done in Egypt. When we went to the outdoor classroom, our children amazed us by building with pieces of log and mud from the garden! They had extrapolated what they had seen on the video to their own environment and with the materials at hand.
We decided to take the brick-making further by bringing in plaster powder. The children felt the texture of the dry powder. Next, they added water, mixing it together. Finally, they poured the mixture into two rectangular plastic forms. Within an hour the plaster had hardened. Creating […]