Teachers & Educators

We're in the Inclusive Mindset. Now What?

February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month and we have been working hard to help congregations commit to inclusion. Where do we go after the commitment? In a recent article in The Jewish Weekly by Michelle Steinhart, inclusion is put to the test.  "As educators and community leaders, we work hard to create inclusive environments," Steinhart writes, "But it's up to all the other individuals in that environment to set the tone."

We Need YOUR Help to Improve Our Site

We are always at work making our website work better for you.  Behrman House recently hosted two different usability tests to see our website and digital materials at work from an outside view - and did we learn a lot! Thanks to our testers we have been able to sort out problem areas, get great feedback, and even test out some new products. 

Hot Topics: What's a French Jew to Do?

The recent terror attack in a Parisian kosher supermarket and the rising anti-Semitism throughout the country raise the question of whether France's Jews belong in Israel. This, in turn, leads to the bigger question: What is a Jew's place in the Diaspora? The newest Hot Topic: What's a French Jew to Do? helps students independently discuss whether French Jews should make aliyah or remain in France and why.

The 5 Apps Your Students Should be Using NOW

Today's students are digital geniuses. Expand their learning beyond Trivia Crack and Candy Crush with these five fun and educational Behrman House Apps. Augmented Reality

New Picture Books are Coming to Behrman House and You Can be the First to Preview Them

They're coming! Six new picture books are on their way to Behrman House for their Fall 2015 debut, but YOU can preview them before everyone else when you sign up for the Golem Express.  This year we are releasing 15 titles including four new picture books; Kayla & Kugel, Farmer Kobi's Hanukkah Match, Hanukkah Cookies with Sprinkles, and Avi the Ambulance, King David & Akavish the Spider, and The Littlest Pair. 

Inclusive Education and the Faces of Tomorrow

Inclusive education has come a long way. In the past children with disabilities would not be seen sharing a classroom with their typically-developing peers. Thankfully, students today are growing up in a different school environment. For many classrooms today students with disabilities learn alongside their peers, proving that inclusive environments benefit everyone and help break down barriers. 

Your Favorite Passover Titles are Coming to a Bed Bath and Beyond Near You!

This Passover you can visit your closest Bed Bath & Beyond* to get your copies of Simply Seder, Family Haggadah: A Seder for All Generations, and Frogs in the Bed: My Passover Seder Activity Book. 

Hot Topics: Teen Drinking

The legal drinking age in the United States is 21. However, according to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 24 percent of teens aged 12 to 20 drink. Jews traditionally have a glass of wine on Shabbat and drink four glasses of wine at the Passover seder. What should our attitude be towards alcohol and underage drinking? Help your students consider why some teens drink and write an anti-drinking TV commercial with the newest Hot Topics: Teen Drinking lesson plan.

Jewish Identity - The Debate about What it is and What it Means for Jewish Education

How do we measure Jewish identity? Stanford professor, Ari Y. Kelman has been actively studying "how people learn to be Jewish" and recently shared his views in jweekly.  Even as a teenager Kelman questioned why all the educational questions seemed to be connected with the value of a strong Jewish identity. 

Celebrate Tu B'Shevat with Mama Doni and Chocolate Bark

The possibilities are endless with this great fill-in-the-blank chocolate bark recipe from A Jewish American Family Cookbook by Mama Doni and Recipe Rachel! This yummy chocolate bark can be made in four easy steps and offers a chance for you to get creative with your own choice of toppings. 

Available Now: Augmented Reality App Brings the Alef Bet to Life

Help Students interact with the printed pages from Let's Discover the Alef Bet using the new Augmented Reality App from Behrman House.

10 Ways to Celebrate Jewish Disability Awareness Month with Your Synagogue

With the start of Jewish Disability Awareness Month under way, we can start to consider ways that we can commit to inclusion and celebrate with our synagogues.  Coordinator of the URJ-Ruderman Family Foundation Partnership for Inclusion of People with Disabilities, Rabbi Edythe Held Mencher, recently created a list to help Jews across the world come together to help all feel included and commit to the needs of all abilities and disabilities. 

We're Bringing the Alef Bet to Life and You Can be the First to Try it!

Now students can interact with the printed pages from Let's Discover the Alef Bet in an entirely new way, using the new Augmented Reality App from Behrman House. Watch the pages come alive with help from the camera on your mobile device or tablet to activate digital elements in the popular folders that introduce the Hebrew letters. 

Hot Topics: The Deaths of Garner and Brown

The deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown—both black Americans killed by white police officers—have sparked protests around the country, reawakening the debate about whether America’s criminal justice system is racist.  With the latest Hot Topics: The Deaths of Garner and Brown resource, you can help students discuss the need to improve the relationship between police officers and citizens of all races.

Make It Happen: A Tu B'Shevat Proposal

How can we help students celebrate the beginning of a new year of growth for trees by showing our gratitude for all that the natural world gives us? What can you do to promote bal tashchit in your school?  This activity from the student journal, Jewish Holidays, Jewish Values, helps students understand bal tashchit and put it into action!

Looking for Quick Resources for Tu B'Shevat? Our Pinterest Board Has You Covered.

Pinterest is a great place to collect educational resources for almost any need in your classroom, but can sometimes take an excess of time to find just the right thing you're looking for.  This Tu B'Shevat leave the searching up to us and use our 'Our Place in the Universe' board for all of your resource needs. 

How Well are Your Students Decoding? Find Out Now!

You're back in the swing of the second half of school, but are your students? You can help them brush up on their Hebrew skills while tracking their progress in decoding with the Hebrew Reading Assessment by Lesley Litman. 

The Gateways Haggadah: A First of Its Kind

Behrman House proudly collaborated with Gateways: Access to Jewish Education to welcome families with children of all abilities and disabilities to their Passover table with the help of our new haggadah.  In a recent article from The Jewish Advocate by Director of Marketing and Communications at Gateways, Rachel Fadlon provided a little insight behind The Gateways Haggadah: A Seder for the Whole Family.

Hot Topics: Making Football Safer

Professional football is America's most popular sport and the Super Bowl is the most watched television in the country.  With the 49th Super Bowl less than two weeks away, it is a great time to discuss the safety measures and the price of a good tackle with the new Hot Topics: Making Football Safer lesson plan.

Are Part-Time Religious Schools Getting the Support They Deserve?

Have we demoralized supplemental school education directors? Lisa Harris Glass and Stephanie Hausner seem to think so. In the recent article, "Synagogue-based Religious Schools: A Community Responsibility," Glass and Hausner touched on the idea that we have consigned our number one opportunity - to inspire a lifelong love of Judaism and positive Jewish identity -  to a "less than" status.

Teach Israel

 Experience Modern Israel

New from Behrman House. Fly to Israel without a plane ticket.

Discover Israel

 Let's Discover Israel

Offer younger children an exciting and age-appropriate introduction to the Jewish homeland