Sha’ar Week 4 Recap

This week in Sha’ar was Science Week (Mada – מַדָּע), and we had a blast exploring, experimenting, and learning through hands-on activities!

One of our favorite experiments was making our own bottle rockets (rakot – רַקֵּטוֹת). The campers learned that a chemical reaction occurs when vinegar (chometz – חֹמֶץ) is mixed with baking soda (avkat soda – אַבְקַת סוֹדָה). They loved watching the fizzy, bubbly reaction (bu’ot – בּוּעוֹת) that launched their rockets! Many campers noticed that the vinegar smelled bad (masriach – מַסְרִיחַ), while the baking soda felt soft (rach – רַךְ) and grainy (gragiri – גַּרְגִּירִי).

We also made cloud dough (batzek ananim – בָּצֵק עֲנָנִים) by mixing conditioner (merakhech se’ar – מְרַכֵּךְ שֵׂעָר) with cornstarch. The campers had so much fun squishing, molding, and exploring the unique texture of the dough.

To connect our science activities with Hebrew and Israeli culture, we learned the song “Bo’u Ananim” (בּוֹאוּ עֲנָנִים), which invites the rain clouds to come and water the flowers and gardens of Israel. As we sang, we practiced new Hebrew vocabulary, including ananim (עֲנָנִים) – clouds, geshem (גֶּשֶׁם) – rain, perach (פֶּרַח) – flower, and ganim (גַּנִּים) – gardens, along with many other new words.

We can’t wait to see what exciting adventures await us next week! Shabbat Shalom!