2014 brought so many great things to Behrman House this year. As the year is winding down we wanted to take another look at our favorite additions and what's to come for 2015.
Best Practices for the OLC
Best practices are ideas that make your world run better. We collected ideas from educators who felt successful getting their OLC groups up and running and presented four best practices educators are using for the OLC.
The best practices include fast preparations for the school year, how to guarantee sign up success, encourage students learning, and more.
To view the full article, click here.
Wrestle through Environmental Dilemmas, Reflect on the Values in our Holiday using New Student Journals
This year we introduced two new courses that use journals to help guide students exploration and reflection. Jewish Holidays, Jewish Values features a different way to look at Jewish holidays - by focusing on the values we can draw from them. Our Place in the Universe, a course on Judaism and the environment, lets students consider real dilemmas created when modern life clashes with the natural world, and how Judaism can help us think through everyday choices.
You can read the full article and purchase your copies of the student journals here.
It's All Done! Get Every Volume of ISRAEL21c Now.
Your learners explored the Dead Sea in volume one, met the extreme adventurer for peace and friendship in volume 5. This year we completed their Israel tour with volumes 15, 16, and 17 of ISRAEL21c.
Volumes 15, 16, and 17 take your students to discover Israel's top ten nature reserves, find solutions for desert problems, and so much more.
To read more about the ISRAEL21c volumes and purchase the articles, click here.
Big Ideas for Part Time Jewish Education
Curriculum Writers Lesley Litman and Ellen Rank have identified three BIG IDEAS that encompass the key values and purpose of part-time Jewish education programs and helped us come up with a mini-curriculum for our educators.
The Big Ideas Guide focuses on three essential areas; deep connection to our sacred texts, belonging to a spiritual community of practice, and living our values.
This year we also extended the curriculum to include educational crafts and activities. Download the extended addition here.
An OLC Makeover to Better Suit Your Classroom Needs
This year we welcomed some big changes to the OLC based on YOUR feedback!
Improvements and new features were installed to ensure that you can provide your teachers with a flexible, easy-to-use, and transformational tool that lets students engage in Jewish learning using the kinds of technology they use for the rest of their lives.
You can see all of the new changes to the OLC and get started in your own virtual Jewish classroom here.
New Hot Topics Series Kicks Off with a Free Lesson Plan
How can kids investigate their own responses to sharing on social media, gun rights, food justice, and other hot topics?
This year we released a new series with lesson plans and source sheets to help.
Each resource library item includes an article describing the issue, a lesson plan geared towards teens, and a source sheet that can be distributed to students to enhance discussions.
You can download all of the current Hot Topics articles, including the first Hot Topic: Social Media for free here.
Coming in 2015!
While we were working hard to produce new resources, changes to the OLC, and more we also have been planning for the upcoming year.
Starting in January a brand new set of Hot Topics will become available. In march we will begin releasing a number of new children's books and educational resources, and much much more.
Want to be the first to know about our upcoming products? Sign up for our daily newsletter here.
We wish all of our friends and families a Happy New Year!
