News from Kol Ami

I venture to say that what we teach at Kol Ami school is typical of most of the schools in the GTA: Hebrew, Torah, Life Cycle events, holidays, the value of Tikun Olam and prayer are part of Jewish curricula across the city. However, what is not typical is how we teach these lessons!

Every Saturday, I walk around the school and visit each class, talk to the students, ask questions and see what they are up to. This past Shabbat was no different. Here are just some of the things I witnessed this past Shabbat, which happened to be Shabbat Shira (Shabbat of Song), celebrating our freedom and the week of T’u B’shvat (The New Year of the trees).

Our Gan students had completed their Hebrew Through Movement session, read T’u B’shvat stories with their reading buddies from Grade 7 and were conducting taste tests of various dried fruits from Israel.

In Grade 1-2, the students were putting away their Hebrew materials, and preparing their own ceramic pots with designs, getting ready to plant parsley seeds to take home and watch grow just in time to put on the Seder plates on Pesach.

The Grade 3-4 students were busy creating mini-Torahs and tallitot for their “babies” (stuffed bears) for their B’nei Mitzvah unit as they learn about the Jewish life cycle. They had just finished marking Shabbat at their Shabbat Table and were preparing their T’u B’shvat seder learn about and taste the Sheva Minim**.

In Grade 5-6 the students conducted their own T’u B’shvat Seder and were now in the middle of making intricate and colourful T’u B’shvat pictures to bring home.

One peek in the door of our Grade 7 class showed the students busy sorting and bagging all of the donated items for their Blessing Bags mitzvah project. The finished bags were being collected together to redistribute to our families at SFT so that our school community could engage in the mitzvah of giving to those in need.

Our Madrichim were already busy in each of the classes, taking pictures, working with the students and assisting our teachers after an hour of learning about Jewish ethics and modern issues.

We finished the morning at SFT with a special D’var Torah from Rabbi Streiffer. With the Torah opened wide for all of us to see the uniquely presented weekly portion of Beshalach, Rabbi Streiffer chanted the portion while the families lifted their arms and recreated the parting of the sea. It was a lovely way to mark Shabbat Shira.

I welcome all our parents to join me on a Saturday morning and take a peek into what happens each week and see that each week brings a special celebration, unique experiences and anything but typical learning.

**Traditionally, we celebrate T’u B’shvat by eating The Sheva Minim, or, Seven Species: fruits and grains that are native to the land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Try it at home!

L’shalom,

Judy