Successful Beginning of Ramah Ba’Bayit Online Programming!
We’ve had a fantastic first few days of Ramah Ba’Bayit online programming!
It was a delight to see so many smiling faces online. By tomorrow, each edah (division) will have already gathered for two edah peulot (activities), and we’ve been so happy to see so many happy chanichim/ot (campers) gathered together and enjoying fun times with friends old and new.
Members of our year-round tzevet (staff), along with a fantastic group of madrichim/ot (counselors) have been running these peulot. Prior to the start of this round of online programming, our madrichim completed a fantastic training program run by the Nachshon Project. We are grateful to the Nachshon Project’s Camp Counselor Fellowship, which trained our young Jewish leaders.
Some of our Ramah Ba’Bayit peulot have been designed to replicate camp-style peulot and traditions. Many of the programs have begun by the kids singing “Bo-bo-bo-boker tov” and bouncing the cheer one from another. For some edot, the madrichim have written edah songs/cheers to teach the kids. It’s been fun to see many familiar camp peulot edah and peulot tzrif converted into a form that works over Zoom. In our chug Tarbut Yisraelit (Israeli culture elective), our shaliach (Israeli emissary) and the participants danced together, in their own homes, to the live-streaming Israeli rikud videos! The Nitzanim and Ilanot campers, meanwhile, worked together to make up zany Mad-Libs style stories based on the random items they each brought to the Zoom gathering. (Scroll down past the screenshots, below, to read some samples!)
Many of the peulot, on the other hand, have taken advantage of the opportunities presented by our current situation of interacting mostly through our computers and Zoom. Some madrichim ran get-to-know-you games in which they’d ask questions of the kids which the kids would answer by quickly changing their zoom screen names. Online games of kahoot and jeopardy and more have utilized cool live-updating screens. Several edot have taken virtual tiyulim (trips). Our Pixar t’fillot program utilized a series of streaming video clips from various Pixar movies and short-films that connected to the different t’fillot.
We’re excited for our pre-Shabbat programming on Friday, which includes a special Shira B’Shishi musical program run by Sally Heckelman (who has been a music-leader at both our overnight and DC day camp) as well as Kabbalat Shabbat for the entire community.
And this is just scratching the surface of what is to come in the days ahead!
Here are some screenshots of the Ramah Ba’Bayit programming:
Here are some of the funny, silly stories made up by the Nitzanim/Ilanot kids:
Group 1:
A purple hedgehog and a baby bunny were going on a road trip to Camp Ramah. While they were driving their RV, they needed to pick up their friend Tigey the Tiger from her Dreidel shaped house, because they were going to live in the same tzrif. Once the three best friends got to Camp Ramah, they started doing pottery, and didn’t notice that the evil chickens that live in the Pinat Teva were spying on them using drones!
Later that day, the madricha, Shy the Panda, was showing her chanichot (purple hedgehog, baby bunny, and Tigey the Tiger) her toy Woody, from Toy Story. After that activity, they went outside and started playing basketball with the green basketball and eating graham crackers.
When they got back to their tzrif and got in bed for harga’ah, they realized that the evil chickens had glued all the tzrifmates to their beds with a glue stick! Then they saw that Woody the toy had opened his eyes! Dun dun dunnnnn.
Group 2:
Once upon a time Mr. Incredible was working on an art project with tape. He decided to fan his artwork so it could dry. Two wolves came in and said they wanted to help him. Mr Incredible was scared at first but he decided the more the merrier. Then a very tiny puppy decided to jump on his head. And the puppy had a turquoise necklace. So then Mr. Incredible didn’t want the puppy to be on his head so he threw a ball and the puppy chased it. The two wolves helped him paint more. Mr. Incredible’s friend Frozone built a giant robot. The robot can fly and has a frost sword to freeze his enemies. The dog met three bears and they went down a big mountain on a sled. One of the bears was reading a newspaper while sledding while the dog with the necklace was on its head. And then a singing robot made ice cream while sledding that the bear ate. Everyone had a dog on top of their head. They turned on a lamp to see because it was night outside. They sled into into a waterfall and Mr. Incredible saved them and they had a big ice cream party while the wolves howled at the moon and it sounded like music. They all still had dogs on their heads.
Group 3:
Nemo met a jedi dude. Nemo put on headphones. After that, he ate cheezits. Then nemo walked to a magic show where he saw a magic rope. Then, he challenged the weird Jedi to a pinball game. After that he saw a turtle. Then Nemo saw an Ewok. Then after he met the Ewok, he met a panda eating bamboo. Then he started to color with colored pencils. After that, he watered his plants. Nemo then learned how to use the lightsaber.