Expression! Some people tap-dance. Some design collages. Some do woodwork. We show how we are processing and reacting to events in our lives through various modes of expression. The great masters of art and music did the same by expressing their joy or anguish through their artistic modalities. Jewish composers and artists made their debuts as well, depending on historical events.

This year, Morah Lillian and Mr. Chagi are focusing their teaching on eras in history. Starting with the Renaissance Period (1400's-1600's), Morah Lillian will focus the students' attention to artists like Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Raphael to name a few, who wanted to capture history in a camera-less era in time. While she focuses on the artists, Mr. Chagi will be looking into the composers of the time, such as Bartock, Verde, and Gillespie. Like the colorful, upbeat content of the paintings and even costumes of the time, the music too was upbeat and colorful with instruments like the clavichord, harpsichord and the existing string instruments. As they move through historical periods, they will connect and show how music and art related to each other and how both developed into the Baroque, Classical, and then Modern Periods. Some of the Jewish artists and composers who will make their appearances in the art and music curriculum this year will be Chagall, Agam, Gershwin and Carlebach!

We invite any of our parent artists or musicians to join in the performing arts journey and even express their artistic sides with the students. Please be on the lookout for future articles and even questions for you to relay to your kids and engage in interesting family table talk!

Student engagement. If I could sum up one of our main goals in our educational approach at Hillel, it is to engage our students in the learning process. Teachers are no longer facilitators of knowledge delivery, but rather, facilitators of learning experiences. At Hillel, our teachers constantly strive to achieve this goal and develop their lesson plans to engage students in the learning process. Throughout the year, our staff will be blogging and highlighting the ways that we are engaging our students.

HERE ARE A FEW HIGHLIGHT POSTS FROM LAST YEAR!

 

1) Transforming the Super Bowl into Torah

CLICK HERE to learn how a clip from the Super Bowl turned into a lesson on concepts in Hilchot Shabbat, practical halacha, methodology of Halacha, and Jewish philosophy. 

2) Learn. Study. Sleep. Repeat. The Life of a Chidonite!

Engaged learning means that the students are at the center of the action. It means that students are intrigued. Engagement means that life is about learning and learning is not about grades.  CLICK HERE to learn how our Chidon HaTanach program comes to life and empowers our students to be active parts of the learning process.

3)  OUR 21st Century Classroom

One of the most undervalued pieces to student engagement and empowerment is the concept of space.  CLICK HERE to learn how we use and think about space in learning in our classrooms!

These are just three small examples of how we make learning come to life at Hillel. Please join us and FOLLOW OUR BLOG in the weeks to come! 

 By Morah Dalia Golan, MS Ivrit Department Chair

 

Our Ivrit Department has worked hard to plan engaging programs across all grades at Hillel.  We have created our Israel Education curriculum in Ivrit which will foster an authentic connection to Medinat Yisrael and will make the language relevant and we have also partnered with the organization, Link, to better embed Zionism lessons in our Ivrit classes.

But Ivrit is more than just a language, so this year we are looking forward to other projects, as well! These include a weekly Israeli Club, the L.A.-Tel Aviv Twinning Program, Partnership with Zeitlin School sponsored by the Jewish Federation, the Family Story project partnered with the Museum of Diaspora, בית התפוצות in Tel Aviv, and partnership with Lone Soldier organization in Jerusalem.

To get the year started in Ivrit class, our students in the 7th grade discussed the use of Social Media and Cyberbullying, and then each of them wrote an essay on the topic and created their slogans using Israeli "Slang".

We look forward to an exciting year as we continue to build unity, connection, and responsibility, אחריות throughout our school community through lessons learned in our Hebrew Language program!