OMANUT by Emily Shapiro Katz

emilyshapirokatz — 2023-04-09 12:31:25 UTC

Hi I am Emily - the redhead (notably, with coffee, without camp shirt). I really love Omanut and believe it is the "heart" of camp for many campers. Nonetheless, there are definitely a number of challenges, especially over the past few years. #1 for me last year was that the main room was CRAZY hot which made me pretty miserable. Omanut has also changed alot since 1) there are less adult staff who are real "experts" 2) counselors are doing "camp crafts" as part of omanut 3) getting large groups of kids at 2:45 and on Mondays. These issues have definitely dampened some of the "joy" of the art room so I would like to think of ways to make it better for everyone as much as possible. I am personally interested in trying some kind of an "open studio" approach for the big groups - happy to brainstorm this with all of you and would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.

Ariella/Pintrest

2023-04-09 17:03:57 UTC

Hi, I am Ariella. I have been working at camp since 2010. My youngest son, Nate, will be in Niv this summer. I have been teaching Pintrest for many years now and I love the space that I teach in.

Let's start off with our 'problem' areas:
1. We need to limit our class size to 8 kids. It used to be that size but has gotten larger since covid. We got them to decrease it to 10-12 last summer but that is still too many kids. I do a lot of prep work and found it overwhelming and also way too many kids at the table.
2. The 2:45 period. Last summer I came up with a rotating schedule and it worked very well. (see photo above) When I spoke with Michelle, she wanted to change this to another chug the kids signed up for. I think that would be a mistake since this worked well. Each of us came up with one activity (lanyard, friendship bracelets, sharpie art, bookmarks...) and we rotated the bunks around. We only had to teach one class and knew what to prep for instead of coming up with new curriculum every time. We also have to remember that we get kids who don't really want to be in omanut so it has to be something that has wide appeal.
3. Monday Yom Tzrif. What can I say other than it's a hard day. I would like to pre plan better and have materials available instead of figuring it out last minute. We did have some creative, low cost options last summer though.

We do need to start coming up with our supply lists as things seem to take longer to ship these days. Debra would send me the link to the sites that are used to purchase our supplies, perhaps we can do the same.

Looking forward to this summer and hopefully with some small changes we can all survive and thrive!

Batya Ariel Cohen

2023-04-09 18:49:51 UTC

Shalom everyone! Nice to emeet you, and thank you to Emily for this platform to get to know each other a bit and start working on the Omanut program for this coming summer.
The picture I've posted is of myself at age 5, the last time I went to Camp Ramah (in Canada). My grandparents, Sue and Carl Yellin z"l, used to volunteer at CRNE for over a decade, so it is especially exciting for me to get to come to camp this summer for the first time with my husband, Amir (Tzevet Agam) , and our four children. We will be arriving from Israel.
I honestly do not know much about what works well in Omanut and what could work better, so it is helpful to hear from those of you who already have experience and are making suggestions.
I majored in Art in highschool, with a focus on drawing, painting and sculpting (modern art). I would be happy to incorporate ecologically friendly art into the program, if possible, such as using recycable materials, or potential "garbage" (like bottles, caps, plastic bags etc.) as a medium for creating art. I would also like to think together about ways to create art that relates to the Jewish calendar in some way (such as havdalah kits etc.). Another idea I had was to think of 3 or 4 themes for each week the campers come to Omanut (such as the circles I belong to - "myself", "my family", "my community", "The World"... these are some ideas off the top of my head).
This has gotten long so I will stop here and just say that I am looking forward to meeting and working with all of you. Kol Tuv and Moadim Lesimcha! Batya

2023-04-09 19:44:09 UTC

Hi everyone,
I'm Vered, from Israel, from the Golan Heights, this summer will be my third summer in camp. I camming to camp with Barak, and with our three sweets boys, and We are very excited for the summer. In Israel every day I working at the Ruach HaGolan Association as HR coordinator, and I am waiting for the summer to return  camp and be in Omanut.
This summer will be my first time in Omanut at camp.
Towards the summer, I thought of doing art and nature projects - printmaking, and drawing, also watercolor painting.
 A challenge at the camp is to provide a real place for all the campers to express themselves, and that art will be a home for every camper who wants it - and at the same time we will have the leisure to give the attitude.

Abby Maeir

planetabby — 2023-04-10 22:11:06 UTC

Hi everyone! I'm Abby Maeir from Chicago and I'm excited to be returning to Palmer for my 4th summer. I led Fused Glass workshops during Kishroniyah in 2017 & 2018 and worked in Omanut last summer. Although glass has been my main medium, I love fiber and metal arts just as much. My kids "graduated" from Ramah Wisconsin, where I've worked for the past 9 years and I'm also a guest artist at Ramah Darom & Ramah Day Camp Chicago.

This summer I'm planning to teach embroidery, hand-stamped metal, macrame and fused glass.

I agree that keeping the class sizes manageable makes the experience better for everyone especially since it is so hot in the Omanut space. More fans in my small space would be extremely helpful.

I absolutely love animals (one of my favorite things about Palmer) and I'd love to do a collaborative project with our friends who work in the farm space and maybe even do a few classes with the goats, chickens and sheep.

Suggestion for Open Studio and bigger groups: create a simple project where directions can be printed out & put on the tables to reduce yelling by Omanut staff.

I'm excited to work with you all this summer!

Tsvia Weisberger

2023-04-19 00:40:01 UTC

Hi everyone!
I'm Tsvia and this will be my first summer at camp. I'm excited to work with the Omanut team! I don't have a lot of backround in Omanut, but I love creating with my hands (baking :), craft...) and hope to contribute as much as possible. Since it's my first time I don't have answers to Emily's questions, but I do have a lot of questions :)
A bit about me: I'm from Kfar Adummim in Israel and spent the last 2 years as Shlichim in Rochester NY with my family.
After so many cold and winter activities we had here (as you can see in the picture), I'm looking forward to the summer camp experience!
My husband Ami will be on Tzevet Agam, and our youngest, Ma'ayan, will be with us as well. Our 2 older kids will be in Ramah Canada.
I am looking forward to meet all of you in person!

2023-04-26 00:45:26 UTC

Hi! I'm Stephanie Edelglass. I think this will be my 19th summer at camp but only my 6th summer working at camp in Omanut. I started in silk painting back before I had my kiddos and now I'm having fun doing watercolor. I'm happy to go wherever needed - I love all crafty things. Pinterest and YouTube have been very helpful! I'm a second grade teacher during the year and our twins will be in Magshimim this summer.

As far as things that have worked/ideas for this summer...I really appreciate planning ahead, the calendars/schedules that Emily and Ariella put up...the snack bin and seltzers. Yom Avatiach and Yom Overalls are some of my favorite days. I enjoy working as a team and coming up with ideas together. I'm happy to Zoom and do some advanced planning sometime before camp.

I hope I answered everything. Can't wait to work with all of you and see you soon!

emilyshapirokatz — 2023-05-03 13:40:48 UTC

Things to think about:

Establish camp policies about which campers and counselors can have access to building and supplies and when
Integrate more Hebrew/Judaism into Omanut (Jewish artists, Hebrew calligraphy, ritual items, hebrew labels, signs)
More collaborative art that is displayed in camp (and not just thrown out) like wooden signs/arrows around camp, ramah t-shirt quilt, synagogue items, entrance to camp, etc).
It could be cool to have an art show or gallery exhibit at the end of camp of the kids work.
Decorate building with art-related posters, photos of kids, project ideas, rules, lettering examples, Hebrew, etc.
Clean up system

emilyshapirokatz — 2023-05-03 13:42:57 UTC

To order:

(1) Air conditioning

(2) For video – better/newer computers, having software downloaded and bought before camp

(3) Laminating machine

(4) Music speaker

(5) White tempera paint

(6) Red sharpies

(7) Printmaking – newer stamps

(8) Tote bags

(9) White tshirts

(10) Hebrew letter beads

(11) English letter beads

(12) Hebrew/Jewish Stickers and cool regular stickers

(13) Maybe something like playdoh

(14) Maybe some really good coloring pages and/or how-to draw instruction sheets

(15) Cameras - I think that kids miss the photography chug

2023-05-03 15:03:33 UTC

Hi, I’m Deena Kobell (that’s me in the pic on Emily’s post to the right in back and here I am with my daughters on our recent trip to Rome). I will be in Omanut Second Session teaching Mosaics. This will be my 23rd summer at camp. I used to be a “staff brat,” and was in camp from 1976 to 1993 (and knew the Yellins, who used to run the Mercaz…and boy do I have some funny stories about them busting people for trying to sneak in contraband candy in their packages) when I attended in Gan, and then as a camper, counselor and Rosh Edah. I took a 20+ year break from camp after that and this will be my sixth summer back on staff in Omanut teaching mosaics. My daughter Elsie will be in Kochavim and Eve will be in Nivomim. My sister, Aliza Haas, will also be in camp on Tzevet Agam. In real life, I am a labor lawyer and live in Philadelphia with my girls, husband (not in camp) and our two Cavaliers, Gabby and Phoebe. I agree with what everyone said about class size and planning the 2:45 perek and peulat Tzrif activities ahead of time, they they can be a challenge, and especially, that seltzer and snacks are the key to success in Omanut! Looking forward to meeting/seeing everyone soon!