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Ashley Garcia

B’nai Educators Visit Israel for P2G Conference

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B’nai Shalom teachers in Israel with P2G

Most trips to Israel include the sights, sounds, and tastes of the Jewish state. This past December, three local educators experienced so much more on their journey. The 2019 Partnership2Gether Educators Delegation sent 23 people (including Margaret Borrego, Jason Cathcart, and Edna Rubenstein) from all over the southeast to experience Israel through the eyes of educators. The group of early childhood educators, administrators, Jewish day school teachers, synagogue educators, and college professors traveled throughout the Hadera-Eiron region.

The first few days of the trip were during Chanukah, each American educator was matched up for home hospitality with a local Israeli educator. Shabbat was experienced through the eyes of local families. Since it was vacation time for Israeli schools, American and Israeli educators spent time together discovering Jerusalem. They had an inside look at museum education at the Bible Lands Museum, the complexities of the Holocaust were presented through the lens of Yad Vashem (World Holocaust Remembrance Center), and nature took center stage at the Rothschild memorial gardens of Ramat Hanadiv.

As Chanukah ended, the focus of the trip turned to local schools in the Hadera-Eiron region. Teachers from Haklai High School in Pardes Hanna presented methods of project-based learning that they implement every day in class. The students of Katzir Elementary school showed off their organic projects, including an amazing caterpillar farm. At Hadera High School, students from robotics, design lab, and entrepreneur classes explained how their education is impacted by the amazing resources the school provides them.

It was a unique trip that provided our Greensboro teachers plenty to think about as they returned. Continuing the people-to-people connections will ensure a better understanding of Jewish identity for both the American and Israeli educators. Note: Edna has already made connections with an Israeli educator who teaches English and will be doing some “pen pal” type communications with her elementary Hebrew classes. Margaret is facilitating a connection between some Israeli teachers and our school about gardening and permaculture.

Partnership 2Gether was established in 1994 by the Jewish Agency for Israel as a program focused on people-to-people interaction, community, and leadership. P2G, for short, currently connects approximately 550 Jewish communities in the Diaspora with 46 Israel Partnership areas. B’nai Shalom is a part of the Hadera-Eiran-SE consortium which consists of 11 cities in the Southeast U.S. and Prague. This allows us not only to connect with Israeli’s but with other small to intermediate-sized southern Jewish communities.

I am Malala: A Recap from 6th Grade

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Sixth-grade students read, I am Malala, as part of their language arts class. They recently shared their thoughts and recap of the book with one another through an app called Explain Everything. Through this app, they are tasked with summarizing books and sharing thoughts, and ideas. The app is digital whiteboard where students can use everything from sketches, through PDFs, to videos, to turn an infinite canvas into a mixed-media playground that captivates and inspires students. One student created all of her own artwork to create the visual story. Check it out here:

Egg Drop of October 2019

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10 Reasons Kids Should Learn to Code

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By Ms. Glassman
Coding Specialist

When it comes to preparing your children for the future, there are few better ways to do so than to help them learn to code! Coding helps students develop academic skills, builds qualities like perseverance and organization, and gain valuable 21st-century skills.

Coding Improves Academic Performance

  1. Math: Coding helps students visualize abstract concepts, lets them apply math to real-world situations and makes math fun and creative.
  2. Writing: Students who code understand the value of concision and planning, which results in better writing skills. Coding can also be used as a medium for storytelling.
  3. Creativity: Students learn through experimentation and strengthen their brains when they code, allowing them to embrace their creativity.
  4. Confidence: Parents and teachers enthusiastically report that they’ve noticed their kids’ confidence building as they learn to problem-solve through coding.

Coding Builds Soft Skills

  1. Focus and Organization: As they write more complicated code, students naturally develop a better focus and organization.
  2. Resilience: With coding come debugging, and there is no better way to build perseverance and resilience than working through challenges.
  3. Communication: Coding teaches logical communication, strengthening both verbal and written skills. Think about it: coding means learning a new language!

Coding Paves a Path to Success

  1. Empowerment: Students are empowered to make a difference when they code. We use coding as a platform to send messages of tolerance and kindness.
  2. Life Skills: Coding is a basic literacy skill in the digital age, and it’s important for kids to understand, and be able to innovate with the technology around them.
  3. Career Preparation: There is a high demand for workers in the tech industry. Mastering coding at an early age, allows students to excel in any field.

My mission is to make it fun and easy for students to learn how to code. Students are using Tinker’s visual blocks to begin learning programming basics, then graduate to written programming languages like Python, Javascript, and Augmented Reality. Coding courses at B’nai Shalom ensure that every student will find something that ignites their passion for learning.

Meet the SPCA’s “Friends”

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Meet Phoebe, Joey, and Rachel. Siblings Monica, Chandler, and Ross were back at their foster home but thanks to the SPCA of the Triad, the 2nd-grade class was able to have a few furry visitors.
Ms. Amos’ 2nd-grade class is studying domesticated animals as their social justice theme and SPCA volunteers came to the class to talk about the important work that they do to help animals in need. The students prepared questions in advance and learned all about the organization, the animals they help and how they can lend a helping hand. The students will now discuss how they can help make a difference and determine ways to help the SPCA throughout the year.

Celebrating and Learning About Rosh Hashanah in the Preschool

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PS 1/2 (Ms. Maddie & Ms. Menbi, Ms. Heather & Ms. Jessica)

The toddlers have been learning about apples, honey, and Shofars to prepare for Rosh Hashanah. This week we are focusing on honey and the bees that make it. We have incorporated the parts of Rosh Hashanah into our fine motor, gross motor, and sensory play. Be sure to listen for us saying “shanah tovah” to our friends in the hallways.

PS 2/3-A (Ms. Bobbijean & Ms. Katelyn)

From apple art to apple orchards to apple math, it’s all things apples in preschool 2/3-A! The children loved figuring out how many apples tall they are. Measuring with non-standard units (like apples) helps the children understand relative lengths at a time when we aren’t quite ready to figure out direct comparisons yet. We understand a long line of apples better than we understand 3 feet and 2 inches, especially when 3 feet aren’t actual feet!

PS 2/3-B (Ms. Jessica & Ms. Emily)

For the month of September, each week has been broken down into a full detailed exploration of the following: Apples, Bees, Honey, and celebrations and traditions of Rosh Hashanah. Kitat Gar’een Bet has explored Rosh Hashanah with our senses, science, art, dramatic play, and more.

PS 3/4: (Ms. Toni & Ms. Olivia)

We have explored Rosh Hashanah by bowling with apples (gross motor), played with apple-spiced play dough (sensory and fine motor), and making Shana Tovah cards (literacy). Our dramatic play area has transformed into a honey store/beekeeper/hive (social-emotional) and we’ve enjoyed time with our flannel board stories, and of course, tons of songs. We have also counted with shofar blowing (math) and so much more!

Pre-K (Ms. Ryann & Ms. Tracy)

Pre-K has been busy using apples in many different ways during our celebration of Rosh Hashanah. We used 6 different types of apples to do a taste test, then we also cut them open for observing and recording in our science journals. We also used this as an opportunity to talk about healthy snacks. We encouraged families to send in apples and the children with apples add a paper apple to our classroom tree.