The journey begins.......

We had our first staff meeting on January 14th and we dedicated the entire morning to the "The Vision". I have to say that I was met with tremendous enthusiasm by the staff. Prior to the meeting I asked the staff to write down their thoughts about the project, anonymously so I could get sense as to how everyone was feeling about the project.

Here are a few of their comments:

This is so exciting to me! We have already begun to add more Hebrew language in a meaningful way. This all feels so great, very purposeful.

As you can see from these photographs

we are beginning to add Hebrew langugage in a purposeful way. We are exposing children to the aleph bet, not just the transliteration.

"I like the idea of adding items around the classroom in a natural setting that reflect Jewish identity. I think if areas are less cluttered, those things will be noticed more. We are working to unclutter areas. I would like to add a Torah story to our Friday Shabbat celebration."

I am excited to collaborate with other teachers to discover new ideas as it relates to a Jewish classroom. I love the idea of a classroom environment always changing!"

"I was more concerned about this until you said "DON'T WORRY..." If you give guidelines - great! "Don"t get pressured - Great!"

"Vision for the room:

Prayer for snack, colors in Hebrew, kitchen in Hebrew, block area in Hebrew, paint in Hebrew

that's not it I'm confused!"

As you can see by the comments there is everything from excitement, fear, and confusion.

We started off the meeting by reviewing the article The Environment As Third Teacher.

The discussion was so joyful and productive we could have gone on for hours. The difference in attitude and productivity when you have a professional development day as opposed to a staff meeting after school is staggering. There was so much energy and passion in the room that I realize now we must convince our Boards/Lay Leaders to allow for this precious time more than 2 or 3 times a year. In the meantime: the staff collectively asked to change our monthly all staff meetings to dinner meetings, rather than meeting directly after school at 2p.m. Our first dinner meeting is February 7th !The article was a great starting point and I found that the staff was able to really reflect.

We spent some time discussing why it is so important to "declutter" and rotate materials.

We also addressed "the walls" and how important it is to change what is on the walls so that it doesn't become invisible to the children and to the parents! Utlizing all the senses was also a major focus. As a start we are now going to bake challah on Fridays!

After reading the article we answered the following questions: What are the Jewish Learning Goals in our School? This what the teachers came up with:

1. To create a connection to Israel though daily activities that children can understand and relate to through visual connections. (What is the weather today, what time is it, what are the children in Israel wearing today, what does their preschool look like, what do their homes look like, what did you have for dinner last night?) We are going to partner with a preschool in Israel school to accomplish this and eventually we would like each child to have a "buddy" to exchange emails with.

2. To look at the environment through a Jewish lens in all areas of the curriculum.

(We have changed our planning form to include Jewish lens, Hebrew vocabulary, changes to the environment).

3. To create and environment that says "Jewish learning and Jewish life happens here".

4. To create an environment that welcomes families to participate and learn along with their children.

Today when you walked into the building you knew it was Tu B'Shevat! The sights, sounds and smells were evident everywhere. The families were welcomed with

the sound of Israeli music playing, an array of dried

fruit, a card with the brachot, a newsletter explaining the significance of holiday and suggestions for activities they can do at home. Parents loved it!
Following the goal setting, we broke up into classroom teams and the teachers then surveyed their classrooms and made lists of everything that conveyed the message "Jewish Life Happens Here."

This was a very productive activity and nonthreatening because it was teachers looking with fresh eyes, at their own environments and generating their own thoughts and ideas.

Here is a partial list of what we came up with:

Creating a classroom book using photographs of the children called "My Jewish Day".

Add Hebrew to the picture schedules with photographs

All classroom names should be labeled in Hebrew and English

Mishpacha posters in the quiet corner of children and their families

All classrooms will have Israeli and American flags

Add Hebrew magnetic letters and letter stampers, etc. for writing center

Judaic catalogs and newspapers available

Israeli food in the dramatic play center

Add photographs (and rotate) of real buildings/places in Israel

Mezzuzah on every door

Hebrew and English names of children

Two clocks - Israel time and Westport time

Map of Israel

As you can see we have our work cut out for us. "We will keep you posted!"