Grade 3-5 Elective Update
Posted on March 23, 2018
Week #1 of the ART elective focused on exploring the idea that matzah is both a symbol of slavery and freedom and students sketched images that represented each of these. The kids noted various connections with each other’s works of art. For one student the color green represents freedom and for another student the color green symbolizes slavery. Students then used the texture of legos, crayons and watercolors to create a background of matzah for their freedom and slavery designs. Since matzah is made in under 18 minutes, this project was completed in under 18 minutes. This project was one of 4 the will be used in a collage about the Arba Koshiyot/Four Questions.
Week #2 of the ART elective gave students the opportunity to use various kinds of maror in an abstract print. Yes, the student made prints with romaine lettuce and red horseradish. By the way, did you know that the Hebrew word for romaine lettuce is hasa, which also means mercy. The rabbi’s said that because of this, romaine lettuce is the “best” bitter herb since God showed mercy on the Israelites. We also talk about the symbolism of a beet at the seder. Some people use is on their seder plate instead of a shankbone because it bleeds and the shankbone reminds us of the blood the Israelites put on their doorpost. Since maror reminds us of the bitterness of she slaves who had no choice or freedom in their lives, the students did not have a lot of choice in this weeks section of the collage – despite that the kids told us they though this week’s project was fun!
