In addition to the soccer field, the primary school now has its own beach volleyball court. It’s true there is no ocean in sight, but the court is filled with real sand, for an authentic feel and real fun in playing. This court represents the fifth segment of the playground renewal program. The first beach volleyball game was a friendly one between staff, and now it is in constant use during every recess.
In January, the school held a “Road Safety” week. During the entire week, the children learned about the importance of awareness and safety, especially when it comes to the daily transportation to and from school. The student council, together with the road safety counselor, created a fun “active recess” with loads of activities around the subject.
Hebrew Language Day
Hebrew language day was another reason for fun learning. The entire day was given over to word games, quizzes and creative activities around the language. At the end of the day, a book exchange was set up among the various booths, and the trading was intense. The teachers were pleased to see the extent to which the children engaged in reading and enjoying books.
To further celebrate, the Hebrew children’s author Tami Shem Tov met with a few different levels in the school to talk about some of her books – a different book for each – and how she gets her ideas for her stories. The fifth- and sixth-graders, for example, spoke with her about her book “I Am Not a Thief,” which introduces the historical figure Janusz Korczak, the paediatrician and educator who died in Treblinka. The third- and fourth-graders heard about the book “Mati’s Orange Revolution,” which tells the story of a child with learning disabilities, while the first and second graders heard about “The Sleeping Language,” Eliezer Ben Yehuda and the reinvention of Hebrew. The children asked questions they had prepared ahead of time. The meetings were an introduction, for many, into the world of writing and literature.
In space, on Earth
Space Day is a highlight for the entire school, but especially for the fifth-grade class, which learns about the Solar System, the stars and the Universe, and then prepares a special event for the school around their findings. The children worked in small groups. Each group chose a planet or a space technology and prepared a station to exhibit what they learned. They worked on the planets Mercury, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn, as well as designing a space probe, satellite, ship and astronaut’s suit. For each station, the children prepared informative explanations as well as activities – experiments and pages to color, for example.
HOTAM, Education, Culture, Tradition: The third-graders opened the HOTAM section on “Humans and the Earth” with a play they performed in front of the school and an activity. The children expressed the idea that we have a collective responsibility for the planet, as well as a personal one. For the activity, each group of children received a bag of recycled materials. They were asked to create a game out of the materials, including writing a set of rules and explaining the rules to others.
Sparking interest
Over the course of the month, the first graders improved their language skills, and they continued their forest lessons, this time in the “amphitheater” in the center of the village.
The second graders took a trip to the city of Lod, where they were hosted by Aiman, a resident of the city. Through Aiman and a walk around the old part of the city, the children learned about the fascinating history of Lod, and about the people who live there now. The visit was organized by the Parents’ Community.
The third graders continued with the “stage of interest” project in which they researched a subject interesting to them and presented their findings to the class. They had a special day in the forest next to the village. The day included social bonding games, making pita outdoors, eating the cauliflower they had planted themselves and ending with warm herbal tea and sweet cake.
The fourth-graders designed book covers for the book they read: Dot and Anton (Erich Kästner). As the HOTAM section on “light and enlightenment” came to a close, the children completed a segment on leadership, discussing the characteristics of a good leader and designing for themselves some personal logos for leadership.
The fifth-graders began the “Humans and the Earth” HOTAM section with a review of countries around the world, especially around the Mediterranean. This is a lead-up to research projects on the subject, each one to focus on a particular country.
With the second half of the school year underway, the sixth-grade class is beginning to think about the end. They met with a scriptwriter/dramatist (in this case, Yonatan Dekel, father of sixth-grader Noam Dekel) to begin thinking about their final class performance. The “Arabic as a second-language” kids prepared posters, menus and drawings, showing their command of the written language.
