Monday, February 23, 2015

Grade 3 & 4 Retreat

Grade 3 & 4 Retreat

Better late than never! Our Grade 3 & 4 students had an amazing time on their Chanukah themed Retreat, December 12-13. 


We started the evening with a wonderful family activity before dinner. We matched different Jewish values and actions that go with them with each of the branches of the chanukiah.


Then, we expanded our social circles by getting to know the other people at our tables. Together, we created Chanukah themed centerpieces that were then used at the Chanukah Jubilee.


Finally it was time for dinner! We had a lovely traditional Shabbat meal...


...followed by Shabbat evening services led by our teacher Mr. Stone and one of our school's madrichot, Rebecca Shankman.


After services, we let our parents stay for the oneg.


Once our parents left, it was time to get to the fun stuff! Before we could get started though, we needed to create a brit that outlined rules and expectations for the evening.

 


Our first activity of the evening was a "get to know you activity." Of course, it too was Chanukah themed! We took turns unwrapping a layer of a present and under each layer there was a question for us to answer about ourselves. It was great to get to know everyone a little bit better!



Then, we talked about how in order for the miracle of Chanukah to take place (we learned that the real miracle was that the Jewish army defeated the Assyrian Greek army), a lot of teamwork was involved. We practiced our own teamwork skills by working together to get the bouncy ball from one sheet to the other, without letting it touch the ground.


After all of our hard work, it was time for ice cream sundaes, a movie and bed.



In the morning, Mr. Mann and Mr. Moss came in to help us make pancakes. We got to put in fun toppings and it was the first creative cooking activity of the morning. 


After breakfast, our shin shinim (Israelis who are visiting us for the year), Itamar and Maayan, taught us some Israeli Chanukah games. In this one, we're trying to keep all of the dreidels spinning!



Then, we had a latke making competition! Each group tried out a different recipe...


...and while the latkes fried, Itamar and Maayan reviewed with us the story of Chanukah that we learned during our service the night before.


When our parents came to pick us up, we tried our latkes. They were delicious!

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