Chagigat Ha’Nilmad Times Two

One of the ideas promoted by the Tal Am curriculum is called a Chagigat Ha’Nilmad, a celebration of what we have learned. Rather than spending a lot of time preparing for this celebration the students put on a short 30 min program reading and signing the songs from the unit they just finished. Yesterday the third grade finished their unit on Tu B’Shvat and had such a celebration. They read, sang, and danced about the water cycle and how things grow. The program was done by the students and entirely in Hebrew. Thank you to Morah Yehudit and the Kitah Gimmel for a wonderful job.
However our story doesn’t end there. As the title suggest the third grade did the presentation a second time. This time however they did for a third grade class in Jacksonville Florida.
It was an amazing experience one that we hope to continue and have both our students and teachers collaborate and connect with them in the future.
I want to thank Morah Yehudit and Mrs. Liat Walker in Jacksonville for their time and effort in making this happen.

Here is a message I received from Mrs. Liat Walker: My students and I would like to thank you for sharing your hagiga with us. We really enjoyed it. We would like to host next time

Kol Hakavod!
Rabbi Greenblatt

Taking the Next Step

As a faculty we have been talking about what skills are needed for the 21st Century learner. Some of the skills that are often mentioned include but are not limited to; problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and design. We have also talked a lot about curriculum and what we are teaching.
At today’s faculty in-service we took the next step and took all that we have been talking about and starting working on. Rabbi Perl created a curriculum wiki so that the teachers can in detail write down what they are currently doing in each subject. We can’t talk about updating our curriculum if we don’t clearly state what we are actually teaching.
To be honest I was a bit nervous about presenting this document to the teachers however the reaction that I got was overwhelmingly positive. One teacher commented, “This is a great idea and it makes me actually think about what I teach.”
We still have a long journey a head of us but often taking the first is the hardest and today as a faculty we took the first step on a journey that will help prepare our students better for the world that they are entering into.