News from Kol Ami

Neshamah School of Kol Ami

December Highlights:

Chanukah School Wide Program:

Our school wide Chanukah program was a blast! With activities like “Light the Night”, “Maccabee Power!” And “Re-create the Story”, our students learned about different ways Jews use light and wrapped beeswax shamash candles. They created a four part model using loose parts to show the miracle of the Jewish army prevailing over the large Greek army and designed Maccabee shields, connecting to the Jewish power phrase Mi Kamocha Ba’lim Ado-nai (who is like you oh G-d).

A Coat of Many Colours and Many Traditions

Celebrating and understanding diversity is a theme we are exploring this year at school. Reflecting on Joseph and the 12 tribes of Israel, our grade 4-7 students learned about the diverse cultural traditions of Jews from around the world.

Guest Speaker: Canvas Arts Action

Our students and school community welcomed guest speaker, Jessie from Canvas Arts Action, who led workshops for our senior grades on gender diversity and inclusivity through a Jewish lens.

NSKA Storyboards:

Chronicling the first half of our time at Neshamah School of Kol Ami, our students used pictures and critical thinking prompts to create a storyboard reflecting on activities they experienced at our school.

This activity is deeply rooted in our school values…..

הִתְבַּטְּאוּת (Hit-bat-oot) expression, we want our students to know that what they have to say is important to us and we are listening. הִתְעַסְּקוּת (Hit-as-koot) engagement, their storyboards will help us plan with their learning in mind. שַׁיָּכוּת (Sha-ya-chut) belonging and שְׁלֵמוּת (Sh’lay-moot) well being. Our teachers want to know what makes our students excited to come to school on Sundays, and this activity is all about learning how we can do more of the things that tap into that excitement.

It is fitting that our learning theme this past week was “lomed m’kol adam”, learning from and listening to all people!

Upcoming dates:

• Classes resume Sunday on January 13th 2019

• Our NEXT classes resume on February 3rd

Thank you to Rabbi Streiffer for leading an engaging parent talk on December 9th at the Lebovic campus. Thank you to Adam Fisher and Dana Glickman for helping to organize the event!

And thank you to our school families who donated to the Chai Lifeline Chanukah Toy drive!

Want more updates? Follow us @kolami on our Facebook page.

Have a happy and healthy winter break!

Cally Rootenberg