School News February

Half Way through the School Year

The end of the first semester in the primary school was a cause for celebration. The day of activities on February 12 included games, singing, art projects, food and meals eaten with the class, as well as some reflexive writing exercises and talk about the half school-year the kids had just completed. The children received certificates of good behavior. The day ended with musical performances by two groups of students who are learning to play in their extracurricular lessons: drumming and oud.

Nadwa Jaber, a first-grade teacher wrote: “We are proud of all our students, of the progress they have made in every area and of their success in coping with the many challenges they have had to face in this period.”

Challenge to Walk

Despite a rainy end of the year, the parents and children of the fourth and fifth-grade classes managed to finish building the first half of the “challenge track” made of raised posts and ropes. So far it has proved quite popular, and the kids run to it the second recess is announced.

We soon hope to complete the second part, to be built by the third and the sixth-grade children, together with their parents.

Teachers’ Retreat

The primary school teachers had a two-day retreat in Acre in February. “It was an amazing experience,” says school principal Neama Abo Dalu.

The purpose of the retreat was to provide an intensive space to discuss and create plans around several issues identified by the leadership, namely strengthening language skills as well as the ties between Palestinian and Jewish children, working on planning school holidays for a school that includes three religions, and working on the new pedagogy for the years to come. The teachers split themselves into three working groups, and by the end of the two days, they had crystallized a vision for moving forward and proposed working plans for application in the school curriculum.

In between, the teachers enjoyed a tour of Acre and its market, as well as two special meals together, helping cement the relations among this unique group of Palestinian and Jewish educators.