CSZ Youth Group - What's Up This Week
Family Newsletter
May 28, 2020
Edition 11
Looking for a fun project?
WE HAVE GOT YOU COVERED. KEEP READING FOR A FEW FUN IDEAS!
As we continue navigating life at home, we plan to keep sharing project ideas for children, families, parents and emerging adults. As we endeavor to offer unique ideas for our families, know we are always happy to field suggestions and would LOVE to see what you are doing as a family using these resources. Each week feel free to share with friends and remember, you can check out archived editions at www.zedek.org/athome.

GET EXCITED FOR SOME NEWS FOR OUR COMMUNITY COMING THIS WEEK!
SAVE THE DATE
DRIVE THROUGH
SHABBAT SCHMOOZE!


Saturday, June 6
9:30-11 am

Drive through for a little bit of Shabbat joy and to say goodbye to Rabbi Farb, as he moves on to his new position as Rabbi of Temple Emanuel of McAllen, Texas.

We will continue distribution of tiles for our family tile project. If you have not yet picked up your tile or requested on by mail, you can still do so by emailing Lindsey at ldewey@zedek.org
NONE OF THIS IS EASY! Nothing we are being asked to do, modify, juggle and execute is easy. If you can--take a few minutes each day to reframe and focus on you and only you!
Breathe
  • Try what’s called “Boxed Breathing,” in which you’ll breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and so on until you feel grounded. You can also tighten your muscles and release them while breathing, focusing on the breath and practicing mindfulness all the way through.
Stretch
  • You can perform light stretches while you focus on your breath as well, paying close attention to the physical sensations that arise from the activity.
Exercise
  • Exercise, again with an emphasis on the physicality of your exertions, is an effective way to get back into your body. Whether simple jumping jacks or a long run on a favorite trail, feeling the sensations of exercise on your body can bring you back from a place of panic.
Mindfulness
  • Whether you engage your senses through a “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 exercise,” — where you identify 5 objects, 4 different sounds, 3 textures, 2 smells, and 1 taste — or by simply focusing your awareness on the present moment and bodily sensation, it’s important to draw your attention to the present.
Senses
  • Focus on a particular sensation like holding an ice cube and noticing what it feels like or smelling an essential oil.
Click the link above to register for the 2020-2021 Religious School year! If you have any questions about enrollment, format or curriculum, don't hesitate to contact Molly Levy at mlevy@zedek.org
Looking for Gratitude

Judaism teaches us to start our day with a prayer of gratitude,  Modeh Ani  ("I give you thanks" in Hebrew).This daily verbal act of appreciation has been practiced for hundreds of years by Jews all over the world before their feet even hit the floor each morning.

While we are at home it can be difficult to remember to take time to be grateful everyday. We can get bogged down in the "sameness" of each day. 

That is why we are excited to share "Days of Gratitude" from the Institute for Experiential Jewish Education. This is a fantastic resource with many choices for activities, poems, rituals, and text studies about gratitude.

This week we are featuring the Magic Stick activity. This activity allows you to create a craft from things in your home and then used to start a conversation about gratitude with your family. You can find the activity, instructions, and discussion guide here: 


Whlle we may not be able to hop on a plane and explore this summer, study abroad programs have changed and even internships are shifting from in-office to online options for the summer--you can still consider some virtual travel! Google the best ethnic takeout from a destination you would like to explore and check out these links for entertaining virtual travel!
WELCOME TO SUMMER! As many of you finish up your spring semester classes and are planning a summer at home and unsure about jobs and summer classes, I would love to start a summer book club. We are not thinking anything terse here, planning on a book or two that will make you smile and add some smiles to the summer months.

I am getting ready to read Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead.

(Don't let the 'parent' in the title scare you!) If you would like to join with me in reading, the book is available on a variety of platforms, and we can schedule a zoom date to chat about what we are learning sometime in June!

Let me know if you plan to read along!
Our friends at JumpSpark in Atlanta have invited us to participate in an exciting virtual college tour experience.

Throughout the month of June teens are invited to #JumpontheBus and tour more than 25 colleges and universities virtually through tours led by 'bus drivers' who are current and former students at each of the given schools

Whether you are a rising senior getting ready for application season or a freshman thinking "that seems really far away," this is a great opportunity to see MANY schools you might not otherwise get to tour!
 
Saturday, May 30, 8 pm
Join SchZFTY for Havdallah and Virtual Game Night


JOIN US ON ZOOM
971-2521-1051

We will celebrate the end of Shabbat and the beginning of the new week. Following Havdallah we will celebrate with games led by your SchZFTY Board!
PLEASE JOIN OUR REMIND APP!
Join our SchZFTY remind for updates on upcoming events and activities!! Text the phone number 81010 with the message "@schzfty" to join!
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU AND YOUR TWEENS ARE ALL AT THE END OF THE ROPE?

Virtual school work, tests, virtual social time, setting up activities and projects, puzzles and parades may leave us all feeling like even with nowhere to go, we still can't get it all done.

CONSIDER A DO NOTHING DAY! While the name is a LITTLE misleading, you still do SOMETHING--just something that is spontaneous and doesn't NEED to get done, you GET to do it!

  • Play a board game.
  • Get outside and do something physical.
  • Read a book or a magazine you've wants to get to.
  • Do a crossword puzzle.
  • Grab a stack of awesome. picture books or a fantastic chapter book, and have a mini read-aloud marathon.
  • Bake something yummy.
  • Listen to a new album from an artist you love.
  • Try out a new recipe that’s too complicated for a weeknight.
  • Build an epic fort with your kids using cardboard boxes, sheets, and twinkle lights.
I f you have not explored the myriad of offerings from PBS and PBSkids.org--you are missing out!

Not only does PBS share a plethora of online content for children from preschool through middle school, including games, episodes and videos from around the world and throughout history, the number of projects and experiments with easy to understand explanations in unlike any other site for kids--and EVERYTHING IS FREE!
Talk about an easy way to add color to any meal and have excitement around fruit on the plate!

We spent 20 minutes making countless kabobs this holiday weekend and now we have a plateful of add-ons for breakfast, snack (all 43 of them during the day), lunch and dinner!

Use any fruits you love.

You can work on patterns and shapes!

The yogurt dip recipes to the left are just a few options for you to play around with to make this fruit fun just a little bit more YUM!

Did you come up with the perfect combination of fruit, dip and fun? Share your successes and smiles with us using #CSZatHome
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We also want ALL OF OUR FAMILIES TO KNOW! All of the resources, videos and projects links from our Youth Group in a Box are NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE!





For more information from our Amy Gail Buchman Preschool teachers and staff, you can check out their Facebook Page and YouTube channel for exciting classroom resources!
For more information about exciting events from #CSZatHome you can visit us at www.zedek.org/athome for livestream, zoom and other engagement opportunities.