Yom Kippur (“Day of Atonement”) takes place 10 days after Rosh Hashana. The 10 days from Rosh Hashana thru Yom Kippur are referred to as “Aseret Y’mei Teshuva.” We try extra hard to do lots of Mitzvot during this time so the “mitzvah side” of the scale is heavy. Sometimes our Aveirot make the other side of the scale heavy. We want to get rid of the Aveirot before Yom Kippur because on Yom Kippur Hashem weighs our Mitzvot and Aveirot to see which side is more. This week, the children begun using a variety of scales in the classroom,in order to help them with the understanding of this complex concept. Each child created their own scale using a hanger, plastic cups, and yarn.
We also discussed Tashlich. We discussed the concept of kind actions/choices and not kind choices. We discussed the concept of "Teshuva", saying “I’m Sorry” for the not nice things we did this past year and we will try hard to be better this coming year!
This is a difficult concept for young children to understand. Discussing the concept of kind actions/choices and identifying when children do them helps children to develop an understanding. Throughout the week, the teachers and children acknowledge with a child does a mitzvah. Many of the Oak students are able to understand the feeling of wanting to do better. So, we shared times that we made not kind choices and when we wanted to do better. We then created a pretend pond to do tashlich and throw away our sins.
Indiana Learning Foundations
M5.2: Understand measurement through description and comparison
M3.1: Demonstrate understanding of classifying
ELA 1.3 Demonstrate ability to engage in conversations
M1.1: Demonstrate strong sense of counting
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