The Goodman Initiative - The Negev

If Today Is Monday, We Must Be In...

Natalie Blitt — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:16:43 +0000

"If Today is Monday, We Must Be in..." allows campers to learn about specific places in Israel by "visiting" a different place one day each week.

Curriculum Themes:

A Land & Its People

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

15 Minutes

Number of Campers:

Large Group (75+ campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Israel is a small but very diverse country, as seen by the differences between each of the cities and locations campers will "visit"

Note: Depending on the location of the week, the core learnings may differ and address one or more of the essential questions below

Explanation:

"If Today is Monday, We Must Be In..." is not a stand alone program, rather it is a way to turn one day a week into Israeli geography day.
Geographic highlights of Israel may include:

Cities:

Jerusalem
Tel Aviv
Haifa
Eliat
Be'er Sheva
Sderot
Degania

Sites:

The Negev
The Dead Sea
The Golan Heights

Choose one day a week that will be the Israeli Geography Day. On that day, include the following elements:

A one page sheet that includes a picture of the city and fun facts can be posted around camp, in the bunks, etc.
Two to three counselors will respresent the Israeli place. They will have costumes that identify them as the place (i.e. a special hat or sign). The counselors will have a few stories they can tell and a bunch of quiz questions. Campers can approach these counselors during the day to ask them about their city or ask them for quiz questions. If the campers successfully answer the quiz questions, they get special "shekel" tokens.
Schlichim or counselors who have visited the locations can add their own personalized fun facts -- either during announcements, at meals, or at other moments.
At the end of the day, the camper who has the most shekel tokens wins a prize!

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Curricular Subjects:

Mr. and Mrs. Israel

Naomi Brown — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:34:33 +0000

It's a talent show! It's a beauty pageant! It's Mr. and Mrs. Israel, where camper teams representing places in Israel compete for recognition and bragging rights. With costumes, songs, cheers, and the like, campers won't even realize how much they are learning in the process. This is ideally a multi-period activity, with campers preparing earlier in the day for the evening competition. However, the entire program could be as big or small as you'd like.

Curriculum Themes:

A Land & Its People

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Campers will learn about important Israeli cities (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Eilat, Tsfat), regions (the Negev, the Golan Heights) and landmarks (The Dead Sea)

Israel is a small but very diverse country, as seen by the differences between each of the cities and locations campers will represent

Explanation:

Stage 1: The Prep Stage (for the campers)

This stage could take anywhere from 15 minutes to several periods, depending on how extensive you want their entries to be.

Campers are introduced to the camp-wide/unit-wide competition, where each bunk will represent a place in Israel and compete in several events

Once they learn which area they will represent, have the campers brainstorm what they already know about the location.
Depending on how much time you are setting aside, they could either be sent to find out more information from counsellors/staff/schilichim/other campers or you can just give them the fact sheet and a map of Israel.
Help them think about the following questions:
- Where is your city in relation to the rest of Israel (north, middle, south)?
- What is around their city? Is there water? Are there mountains? Are there other cities?
- What do they think their city looks like?
- What do you think people like to do in your city?
- What makes your city unique/special/different?

Stage 2: Planning for their event

Each bunk should divide into three groups -- one for each of the talent competitions. Here are some suggestions for competitions but feel free to add others:
- Costume Competition: Campers will use the fact sheet and pictures to dress in a costume that best represents their city/area.
- Talent Competition: Campers will come up with a talent that they can demonstrate for their city based off of what they learn about their city. For example, Tel Aviv's talent could be roller blading on the boardwalk looking pretty. The desert's talent could be gardening because they can make the desert bloom.
- Art Competition: Campers create a giant mural that represents their city using butcher paper and art supplies.
- Song Competition: Campers will adapt a popular song (their choice) to reflect what is great about their city.
- Jingle Competition: Campers will create an ad campaign for their city.
Let the campers know that they will be judged for creativity AND how much they know about their city.

Stage 3: The Competition

This is the fun part! Make the competition as exciting and wild as you can to hype up the audience.
Here are some ways to do it:
- Think about using a panel of judges. You could use:
  - Senior camp leadership
  - Your schlichim
  - Other international staff. Even better if they don't know anything about Israel!
- Your judges could each play a role that comes across as they comment on each of the acts (American Idol style).
- Between events, have Israeli music playing.
- If you use AV equipment, flash pictures of places in Israel.
- Have your Israeli staff or American staff who have been to Israel introduce each of the cities with a personal story or connection.

Variations:

Variations in format:

Make this an all-camp activity. You could have a winner per age group or have each group have campers from different bunks/units working together.
Have this activity build up all week. Your specialists (art, music, etc.) can be brought into it to help the groups create their events.
Certain events can be displayed throughout camp. Murals can be affixed to buildings, songs or jingles can be played over the loudspeaker. Or each group can be given a different area in camp to represent their city.

Variations in content:

Instead of having campers represent cities and places, they can represent famous Israelis. See Amazing Autograph Race for information on different Israeli leaders and heroes they can choose.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Curricular Subjects:

The Edible Map of Israel: A Land of Milk, Honey, and…CHOCOLATE?

Natalie Blitt — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:13:13 +0000

Help your campers discover the land of Israel -- at least the edible version! After a brief orientation about the geography and topography of the country, campers will create their own maps of Israel out of ice cream and candy (or veggies or cake or you name it!). The maps will be photographed with their creators, and then everyone will eat their creations.

Curriculum Themes:

A Land & Its People

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

90 minutes

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Campers will learn how to say 'north,' 'south,' 'east,' 'west' and 'center' in Hebrew

Campers will know the shape and some of the geographic regions of the State of Israel: Galilee, Golan, Center, and Negev (desert)

Campers will be able to locate the following cities on the map of Israel: Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva, and Eilat

Explanation:

Stage 1: Build the Map

Divide the pieces of the puzzle map between the campers, giving each of them as many pieces as possible.
Explain to the campers that you are going to build the map together but you must do it in silence -- with the exception of being able to speak 5 words: tzafon, darom, mizrakh, ma'arav, and merkaz. Have them repeat the words a few times, and then do a few quick exercises with them. You can identify one part of the field as each of the directions and then either play "simon says" with moving in different directions, or have them just run toward each area. Once you feel that they can remember the directions (with the aid of the giant compass), have them build the map, reminding them that they can only give each other help by using the five Hebrew words (i.e. if someone is holding a piece with Eilat, another camper could tell them "darom" if they didn't know where it went).
If directions are too hard for younger campers, have them construct the map in silence.

Stage 2: Discover the Map

Once the map is complete, seat the campers and any staff around it. Ask them what they noticed as they put it together?
Remind the campers that while this is a huge map, the State of Israel is actually very small:
- It can fit into the state of Wisconsin 8 times
- It is only 263 miles from north to south (i.e. about 4 hours on the highway -- is that further than the distance some people drove to camp?)
- At its narrowest point, it is only 9 miles across
Have campers point out places they've been (if any) or what they know about places on the map. Israelis or North American staff members who have been to Israel should join in with stories or information about the various places. In the absence of people who have personal experiences in the various locations, you can use the information and pictures provided. You will not be able to paint a picture of all the places on the map, but campers should learn about:
- The desert, forest areas, mountains, and the Dead Sea
- The uniqueness of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be'er Sheva, and Eilat.

Stage 3: Building Your Own Maps

Bring the campers into the dining hall or outside (provided that it isn't too hot!). Campers should sit around tables and each small group of 3-4 campers receives a foil tray. Pointing to small maps of Israel, the counselors challenge each group to build a map of Israel using ice cream, candies, and sprinkles. You may want to include:
- chocolate, vanilla, and mint ice cream
- chocolate syrup
- chocolate sprinkles
- M&M’s
- Hershey’s kisses
- jelly beans
- green jelly candies
- candy fish
- graham crackers
Alternatively, you could use sheet cakes with icing, or trays with veggies.
Counselors distribute scoops of ice cream and campers select colored candies and food coloring as needed to depict the State of Israel. Campers should be reminded that their maps will be judged, so they should make deliberate choices about candy and decorations.
When all campers’ work is complete, a staff member should photograph each map twice: once by itself and once with its creators.
The campers then eat their work!

Variations:

Variations in format

If this activity is done in a large group, you can stagger the groups who look around the big map and then who make their creations.
For younger campers, the explanation about the map of Israel should be curtailed and counselors should help with the creation of the candy maps.
This program can be done as part of a cooking activity.
You can also create a giant map of Israel with lots of little cupcakes. Campers could work on one area of this edible map by decorating their cupcake.
While not as delicious, this activity can also be done with art supplies.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials: