May 2013/Iyyar 5773 Dear Educators, Midrash Manicures is an educational approach that combines Torah study and nail art. Midrash Manicures provides students with not only a Torah learning experience but also a weekly Torah-teaching experience. After a teacher complemented one of my middle school student’s Midrash Manicures, the student responded not only with a “thank you” but also gave an on-the-spot explanation of how her manicure related to that week’s Torah portion. I knew that I could count on any of the Midrash Manicures students to give an introduction to the Torah reading on Thursday mornings during Tefillah. Midrash Manicures truly empowered students to take ownership of their own Jewish learning. In the following pages, I will give you tips of the Midrash Manicures trade in order to guide you in your classrooms as you embark on painting Midrash Manicures with your students. Please remember that while you or your students may not be the best nail art painters, Midrash Manicures is about the most meaningful manicure, not the most beautiful manicure. May Midrash Manicures enhance your own Jewish journeys, Rabbi Yael Buechler Founder, Midrash Manicures Index Classroom Tips 3 - 4 Frequently Asked Questions 5 Step-by-Step Design Painting 6 - 9 Sample Lesson Plans 10 Lesson Plan 1 – Noah 11 - 13 Lesson Plan 2 – Lech Lecha 14 - 16 Lesson Plan 3 – Vayeira 17 – 19 Lesson Plan 4 – Chayei Sarah 20 - 22 Lesson Plan 5 – Toledot 23 - 25 Lesson Plan 6 – Vayetze 26 – 28 Photographs & Contact Information 29 Program Waiver 30 © 2013 Midrash Manicures 2 Classroom Tips Time Breakdown Midrash Manicures sessions are split into two parts: Torah study and manicure painting. If you have 45-50 minutes for class time, I recommend 12- 15 minutes of Torah study with the rest of the session devoted to the nail art process. For Midrash Manicures beginner classes, more time is necessary for students to become comfortable with painting intricate nail art. While the students will certainly be excited about nail painting during class, it is important to emphasize that the more successful the learning, the more ideas they will have for Midrash Manicures painting process. I advise against having the nail polish and nail art supplies accessible to students until the nail painting segment begins. The following are items that will be helpful to have in your classroom in order to best facilitate Midrash Manicures: 1) Good Ventilation – Have windows open or a ceiling fan on and keep the door to your classroom open. Avoid having a standalone fan unless you make it clear to students that they will not be using the fan to dry their nails. 2) Nail Polish Remover, Cotton Pads, & Q-Tips – While you will want to have nail polish remover on-hand, the smell is so incredibly strong that it is preferable to have your students come to class without nail polish on their fingernails so they will not have to do this extra step. Nail polish remover also spills easily when being used so it is important to supervise its location and to make sure its cap is on when not in use. The easiest way to take nail polish off of an entire nail is for students to use cotton pads. Q-tips are best for cleaning up nail polish that students often get on their skin. 3) Nail Polish Bottles – There are a number of colors that I recommend for Midrash Manicures. The type of nail polish I use most often for workshops is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear nail polish. Feel free to purchase that line of products or any other line of nail polish that is reasonably priced. For groups of 10-15 students, I recommend purchasing the following colors: • 6 opaque white base colors • 2 reds (with names like “white out” • 1 orange “white on” “alpine snow,” etc.) • 1 yellows • 3 black colors • 1 gold • 1 light blue • 1 dark brown • 2 dark blues © 2013 Midrash Manicures 3 If you decide to ask students to bring in their own nail polish bottles, be sure to purchase the white, black, and brown nail polish as those are colors that students will likely not have at home. Please tell your students that they should not keep a nail polish bottle open when they are not using that specific color. Keeping the bottles open even for a few minutes when not in use makes the nail polish clumpy so that it will not be able to be used in future sessions. 4) Plastic tablecloths (or placemats)– Nail polish is difficult to remove from desks so it is best to work at tables or desks with plastic tablecloths on them. 5) Pre-ripped Paper Towels You should instruct students to get into the habit of placing their used toothpicks on the pre-ripped paper towel (on the plastic tablecloth) so that they can a) keep all of their used toothpicks in one spot and not lean their hand/arm onto them and b) reuse the toothpicks should they want to use that particular color again. 6) Flat Wooden Toothpicks – It is important to purchase “Flat Wooden Toothpicks” in advance of your lessons. They can be ordered online through Amazon.com (about $5 for 2,000). The type of toothpick that is often found in your local supermarket has a pointy edge, which will not work well when with nail art. 7) Camera – Be sure to have a good camera on hand that can capture the detail of your students Midrash Manicure designs. To review, items you will need for Midrash Manicures sessions include: __ Nail Polish __ Flat Wooden Toothpicks __ Nail Polish Remover __ Q-tips __ Cotton pads __ Plastic tablecloths or placemats __ Paper towels __ Camera © 2013 Midrash Manicures 4 Frequently Asked Questions Midrash Manicures Preparation My suggestion is to instruct students to lay out whatever items they will need for the next activity in their day (notebook, pen, etc.), before you begin the process of paining Midrash Manicures. How long does it take to do a Midrash Manicure? Initially, it takes students longer to learn how to use the toothpicks to paint their designs. For your first lesson, I recommend telling students that they will likely be able to paint one or two designs at most per hand. It could initially take students twenty minutes to paint two designs. What are the steps in a Midrash Manicures? You can give students the option of painting a color across all of their nails (such as white) and then they can paint the design on top of the white. Students are also welcome to paint the design right onto their plain fingernail. For 5th and 6th graders, the process of painting a base color across all of their fingernails often takes a while at first, so I would recommend instructing the students to paint designs on their plain fingernails to get used to the design process at first. After they are comfortable with painting the small designs, they can then begin with painting all of their fingernails in a base color such as white or cream. *What do boys do during the Midrash Manicures session? Midrash Manicures tends to be a girls-only activity, but this method can be expanded to include Kippot decorating, for boys (or for girls that opt out of painting their nails). You can have plain Kippot available, with assorted colors of permanent markers so that students can depict Parasha themes on their Kippot while the other students paint Midrash Manicures. © 2013 Midrash Manicures 5 Step-by-Step Design Painting 1) What color should students use for their first coat?* I generally paint most of my Midrash Manicures designs on top of a coat of white paint. This coat of white paint often tends to be 2-3 very thin layers of white polish. The thinner the layer, the faster it dries, and the less "clumpy" it gets. It is much easier to paint intricate designs on top of thin layers of a white base color. This way, when students put the design onto their nails, the design will not smudge the nail polish that is already on the nail. *For 5th and 6th grade students, I recommend skipping the step of the base coat until they are more comfortable painting tiny designs. If students start with a base coat, that could take up the entire painting session and they might be frustrated since they did not have a chance to get to the design-stage. If you have an extra teen or adult volunteer on hand, that person could help students paint their base coats so that they could then enter the design stage. Alternatively, students might want to paint a basecoat only on the nails (2 or 3) that they intend to put designs on during the Midrash Manicures session. 2) How exactly can students paint their first coat of color? Students can follow the rule of three strokes. Students can begin by doing a stroke on the right side of their fingernail, followed by the middle part of their nail, and then on the left side of their nail. If students get any polish on their skin, they can just take a toothpick to separate the polish on the nail from the polish on the skin, and sometimes the toothpick just washes all the polish off. © 2013 Midrash Manicures 6 3) What happens if the polish gets onto the students’ skin? This happens to me all the time and there is an easy way to fix the situation! First of all, when they wash their hands with soap later on, the polish will rub off of their skin.