Israel Is...

During this school year, our JQuest teaching staff has been going through a process of exploring how we have been teaching about Israel at each grade level and in each track in the past, and what resources are available to do so at present, with the goal in mind to develop a curriculum for all grades which will help our students feel a positive connection to the Jewish homeland. Our Yad b'Yad teacher, Keren, initially helped to coordinate our efforts with San Francisco's "Israel Initiative" program, as well as with Temple Isaiah's Gan Ilan and Noar Night staff. Recently, Erin, our Shira teacher, has taken over as coordinator of this project.

You may recall that during the first 10 minutes of each week day session, our 5th and 6th graders in all 3 tracks participate in a planned activity together, to build a strong sense of kehilla (Hebrew for community). Usually, we play games relating to Jewish holidays and ritual objects (first semester) and Jewish values (second semester). This past week, Erin decided to use this time to find out what our 5th and 6th graders know about Israel, as well as what they would like to learn about the country. We divided the students into small groups, each of which was given a piece of paper with the prompt "Israel Is..." written on the top. They were given about 5 minutes to brainstorm what they knew about Israel and write it down. Then, they were asked to turn over the piece of paper, and note down "What We Want to Know about Israel." Erin has collected the responses from both Tuesday and Wednesday sessions; these responses will be of value as we continue the process through the end of this school year. Below are a few photos we took as the groups worked together:

As usual, immediately following the community activity, we returned to our classrooms, and I used the next 15 minutes before our tefillah (prayer) time to review and introduce Hebrew vocabulary using the Hebrew Through Movement commands. I began to introduce Purim vocabulary last week, and continued this week, using the new holiday words to help reinforce the basic vocabulary we've been working on all year.

Charlotte, leek'ro megeelat ester. (Charlotte, read the Scroll of Esther.)

Alexia, la'seem megeelat ester al ha'rosh. (Alexia, put the Scroll of Esther on the head.)

Seth, la'seem et ha'ra'a'shan al ha'rosh shel Jeremy. (Seth, put the noisemaker on Jeremy's head.)

Jeremy, l'har'eesh ra'a'shan. (Jeremy, make noise with the noisemaker.)

Leo, l'hatzbee'a al ha'meelah "la'shevet" eem ha'ra'a'shan. (Leo, point to the word "to sit" with the noisemaker.) (Slowly, but surely, the students are beginning to recognize basic Hebrew vocabulary words which I've been using since the start of the year, on the flashcards.)

Ashley, l'har'eesh ra'a'shan me'al ha'rosh shel Leo. (Ashley, make noise with a noisemaker over Leo's head.)

Following our t'feela (prayer) session and hafsaka (recess), we ended the session each day this past week with the Shekel Game - the question and answer review game we play after we have completed a unit of study - in this case, the Babylonian Jewish edah. Both Tuesday and Wednesday students were able to answer almost every question correctly and have fun doing so!

Introducing the categories: Notice that two of the categories are written in Hebrew letters (the top one is actually an acronym I've made up for our Hebrew Through Movement program - Eevreet Beet'noo'a - it's shorter and easier to write on the schedule each day than the full name of the program; the word I'm pointing to is "seepoor" which means story - in this case, "The Storyteller's Beads" which I've been reading since the start of the year). The students can already recognize the Hebrew words for both these categories!

Ashley is her group's treasurer, and appears to be enjoying the task! (We use replicas of real Israeli sh'kaleem - shekels - to play!)

The question's been asked, and now Charlotte, Emily and Abby have 30 seconds to agree on the correct answer before the reporter in the group has to respond.

Sometimes there's a difference of opinion, but by the end of the 30 seconds, they all have to agree on the answer.

And if they respond correctly, they're paid the amount they bet by my T.A. - on Tuesday it's Brian.

Deciding how much to bet can sometimes be even more tricky than coming up with the correct answer to a question!

We have no school this coming Sunday, Tuesday or Wednesday, to observe the President's holiday. I'm looking forward to seeing all the students again on Sunday, February 21st. Enjoy the holiday break!