Teamwork is Working Together

Every once in a while, I come up with a lesson that really gets the kids moving.  I'm working with a new teacher this year so I'm trying to change up the same ole lessons.  Thankfully Motti is up for almost anything.

The Tower of Babel is a great Bible story.  I can still remember learning the story of how all the different languages in the world were brought about because people didn't understand how to work together.  Considering I went to an Orthodox yeshiva (think Jewish parochial school), I got a lot out of these stories  rather than the rote memorization that was expected.

Now it's my turn to be the teacher.  I get to come up with all kinds of lessons around the Bible, teach Hebrew & in general show children that school can be fun - even on a Sunday morning.  My classroom is an interesting place to be.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm all about organization & not chaos.  I like peace & quiet.  My class is very different.  I like to think of it as "organized chaos."  Even the teen volunteers enjoy working with me & my students.

Anyway, today's Bible story has so many themes, but the lesson I like to work with is teamwork.  Motti was up for anything, or so he thought.  Remember that the theme of the day was "teamwork."  After our individual Hebrew lessons, we joined our classes.  I read the story Tower of Babel aloud to the children.  After that we did a word search on the board.  The children needed to volunteer to find a word, but if they needed help, the rest of the team helped out.  After the story, we had the children do a team exercise.  They had to build their own tower together.  However, they weren't allowed to talk - no speech.  Nothing.  Zip.  It was a lot of fun to watch!

After building our tower, we went to visit the art exhibit the synagogue is holding.  The students were told that they were going on a scavenger hunt in groups.  They were given a sheet with a list of questions that had them looking for things in the art.  At the end of our scavenger hunt, they had a session with the school director who asked all kinds of questions.  Because they had worked in teams all morning long, they were prepared to help each other answer questions.

We ended the day having snack together & working on a bulletin board project.  The theme?  "Teamwork is Working Together."