In this Issue:

Dear All,

It is amazing how quickly time flies - a short while ago it was the beginning of the school year and already the summer hholidays are in sight!

I hope that you all feel that this year has been one of mutual learning and development - I certainly do.  I am extremely grateful to all the 3000 or so teachers that participated in the in-service courses we held this year on the New Curriculum in Hadera, the Krayot and in Haifa.  I enjoyed working with you all so very much and I feel that I learnt an enormous amount from your experience and insights.  These courses were only made possible by the tremendous hard work and effort of the counsellors, who literally sat for days and days planning and working on the sessions.

The "Curriculum" is coming into effect from September of this year.  It is vital that all teachers know what is involved in the curriculum and how its implementation throws a new light on what has been done in the past.  We are planning a mini-course at the beginning school year for teachers that were unable to attend the courses last year and we hope that as many teachers as possible will attend.  In addition to this mini-course we will also be continuing working on the curriculum in the forthcoming year but in smaller local groups (according to geographical area) where you, the teachers, will be instrumental in planning the content of the course to fit your own personal needs.  Letters to this affect were sent out to schools before the Pesah holiday - if you are interested in area in-service training and haven't yeat returned the forms plea;se do so as quickly as possible.

We are planning to hold a course for co-ordinators this year which will also be dealing with the implementation of the curriculum, the proposed and required changes in the Bagrut, problems and dilemmas facing coordinators etc.  In addition, we hope to hold a course for teachers that have just begun teaching in the High School.  We will be providing them nbot only with factual information about what is involved in the different parts of the Bagrut but will be working together to plan teaching units in order to ease their transition from the Junior High to the High school.

These courses will be in addition to the courses that are annually held for teachers using material from Educational Television, courses fro new teachers etc.

Mondays and Wednesdays will be our Hishtalmut days - please keep them free.

I would like to end on the optimistic note that this year there are pupils in the 5th and 6th grapdes who have mastered reading for the first time and have made the switch from being non-readers to being readers.  All this thanks to the pilot "Sunshine" programme which was introduced with the help, support and encouragement of "Agaf Shachar"  DEtails of this pilot programme appear later on in this edition but I owuld like to take the opportunity of thanking a very special team of couselors - Gaby Shoshani, Naomi Roffman and Tova Teitelbaum, who workied untiringly on the programme to make the drean a reality.

May I wish you all a very pleasant summer holiday and I really look forward to meeting you again next year,

                                All The Best
                                          Miriam

 
 

SMILING IS INFECTIOUS

Smiling is infectious, you catch it like flu,
When someone smiles at me today
I started smiling to....
I passed around the corner
And someone saw my grin
And when he smiled - I realized
I passed it on to hom.

I thought about that smile
Then realized its worth
A single smile, like mine
Could travel round the earth.

So if you feel a smile begin
Don;t leave it undetected
Let's start an epidemic quick,
And get the world infected!

Jeroen Glorie

THE SUNSHINE PROGRAMME

Perach Volunteers
Haifa English Inspectorate
SHACHAR Department

Forty fifth-grade pupils and their Perach tutors will be able to tell you from their personal experience that this dream can come true.

Over the past school year, forty Perach students participated in the Sunshine Program, dedicated to minimizing the gaps in emotional, social and learning domains among children identified by their English teachers as "non-readers". Each student was both a Big Brother or Sister and an English tutor, teaching a pupil the basics of reading English and making a positive contribution to the child's self-image.

The Sunshine Program empowered students to combat pupils' difficulties by providing educational tools and an extensive back-up support system.

Each student received our Sunshine Kit. This kit, financed by Agaf Shachar - the Department of Educational Welfare, included reading booklets, detailed lesson plans, multi-sensory aids, games, activities and stories to turn learning English into an enjoyable process.

We, the Sunshine Program counselors, met with the students several times during the year. At these meetings we distributed Sunshine Kit materials and demonstrated how to use them effectively. We also engaged in two-way feedback on how the students and their pupils were coping with the Program and the problems they faced.

Perach coordinators accompanied the students throughout the year, visiting schools and homes, talking to teachers, pupils and parents, and providing constant support and encouragement. They also forwarded information on students' monthly progress and their comments to us.

In addition, Haifa English counselors maintained telephone contact with the students and gave advice and explanations as required.

We consequently developed and distributed additional Sunshine Kit components to meet needs expressed by the students and their coordinators.

Working with Perach was a very special experience for us. The coordinators and students truly cared about the children's well-being. They invested tremendous effort, thought and good will to make a difference in the children's lives. We witnessed how greatly appreciated they were in letters of thanks from parents, teachers, and from the children themselves. We can best express our feelings by saying,

WE HAVE SEEN BEAUTIFUL ISRAEL

In our opinion, this year's pilot was successful because it was a community project. The Sunshine Program merged the admirable spirit and organization of Perach with the knowledge and skills of professional specialists and the financial support of the Ministry of Education.

We would like to thank Miriam Melamed and Elana Francis for initiating the Sunshine Program and supporting it throughout.

The Sunshine Program counselors, Naomi Roffman, Tova Teitlebaum and Gaby Shoshani

 
 

HAPPY SUMMER HOLIDAY