Jerusalem

This week we ventured to the city of Jerusalem by watching the award winning film Jerusalem, which focuses on the connection of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to the city. If you are interested, this documentary is available on Amazon Prime. 

Israeli Music

Given our lessons/discussions about Tel-Aviv, Israeli food, and the diversity of the Israeli culture, yesterday's lesson focused on the different genres of Israeli music. We sampled music from various artists, both modern and classic. Some songs were a little too "weird" for the students, but we enjoyed laughing at the videos together. Here are a few below:

Netta - "Bassa Sababa" (This artist was this year's Eurovision winner)

Static & Ben El with J Balvin - "Tudo Bom" (Portuguese, Hebrew, and English; Played on the radio here in the US)

Liora Isaac - "Mala mala" (Indian-Israeli Artist)

Idan Raichel Project - "Mi Ma'amakim" (Band sings songs in Hebrew, German, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, Amharic, and English)

Next week is our Saturday family program! We are looking forward to seeing you all then!

Tel-Aviv

This week we explored the "City that Never Sleeps", Tel-Aviv! The students watched a brief video about the city and also wrote skits about different sites.

Check out Facebook for the skits! 

Next Week: Taste of Israel Family Program!

Haifa, Caesarea, and Akko

This week we "traveled to" Haifa, Caesarea, and Akko. Given that the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) is in Haifa, we also learned about some Israeli inventions.

For homework, the students have been asked to Google/Ask Siri and/or Alexa about Israeli inventions and present about 1 to the class next week.

Old Acre "Akko"

 

Bahai Gardens in Haifa

Caesarea

Videos:

The Israel Coast - A tour of Caesarea, Haifa, Acre and Rosh HaNikra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4neoP8V2ps.

Haifa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW0nnaoTHo8

Made in Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-C3UYq-UxA

Israeli Lego: https://www.israel21c.org/make-your-lego-electric

Northern Israel

Over the past 2 weeks we have explored Northern Israel. The students had the opportunity to research various locations and present a poster or travel brochure to the class about the place they researched.

The places that the students researched were: Rosh Hanikra, Meggido, Gilgal Refaim, Banias Nature Reserve, and Mt. Hermon.

Gilgal Refaim

Meggido

Rosh Hanikra

 Banias Nature Reserve

Mt. Hermon

 Next week we will travel to Haifa, Caesarea, and Akko!

Kibbutzim Projects

This week we completed our Kibbutzim project!  The students  were tasked with creating their own kibbutz and drawing it out on a poster. As you can see below, they had some very creative ideas!

We wrapped up our lesson on Kibbutzim with a video about one of the more famous Kibbutzim in Israel, The Ayalon Institute. The Ayalon Institute was an underground bullet factory, located on Kibbutz Hill in Rehovot, Israel, disguised as a kibbutz that ran a laundry service. 

When we return from the break, we will start our travels through Israel from the North to the South and learn about the topography, cities, and people!  Have a wonderful vacation!

Israel Defense Forces

Today we had a very special guest visit our class. Former CBI 5th grade teacher, Jay Epstein. Jay is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces. 

After speaking with the students about his time in Israel, Jay showed them some of the things he had to do in basic training. The students all did a great job listening to their "Mefaked" (Commander).