Dear Parents,
Can you believe it is already October? September flew by with the excitement of all the Yomim Tovim, beginning of school and start of Atideinu. We are looking forward to getting into the swing of things with an uninterrupted next few months, IYH!
Elul and Tishrei started off with a getting to know you ice breaker activity. Each group gathered in a circle with one ball of yarn. As the children began to share things about themselves, they took turns throwing the ball of yarn to other children who shared similar interests or traits. The group was amazed at how many similarities there were amongst themselves as the yarn was continuously thrown from one boy to the other.
Our next session we broke out the themes of the month by giving out paddle balls to the kids. We explored the concept of teshuva, returning, and the importance of resilience and growing from our mistakes. The boys each went home with an album containing “I think you are great because..” cards from each other and learned about the importance of self-awareness! The group explored how it is more important to be aware of our strengths than our struggles, because if we do not know what we are good at we cannot use our strengths to overcome our struggles.
With only one session remaining before we ended the month, we were fortunate to bring in Peter Baum, a legendary woodworker, to share some of his expertise with us. Peter displayed multiple pieces of wood in various stages of transformation. He then passed around several amazing tools, some older than 100 years old! As the boys marveled at the different tools and pieces of wood, the group explored how using the right tools can refine any of the sharpness on the pieces of wood and create beautiful products. The children immediately understood the connection to Elul and Tishrei’s theme of using our strengths to work through our struggles.
We are delighted to break out our themes for Cheshvan with a happiness scavenger hunt and scratch art. Our themes include believing in Hashem when things are grey (there is always more than what we see on the surface, hence the scratch art) and recognizing that we are responsible for our own happiness (our scavenger hunt). We are so excited for an uninterrupted month packed with fabulous games, actives, projects and more!
We wish you and your family a wonderful month ahead.
Sincerely,
Chana Perel Handler
Director, Atideinu