Kindergartens
"Let's Play on Sesame Street"
Program Expansion: There has been dramatic expansion of our long-standing kindergarten program thanks to a strategic three-year investment of $750,000 from the United States Department of State in partnership with Sesame Street, Hop!, Israel’s leading children’s television channel, and all in full coordination with Israel’s Ministry of Education. The funding is facilitating expansive program development including major development of our teacher-training programs and a multi-faceted media campaign.
Teacher-Training: 15 teacher-training and support seminars reaching around 400 new and veteran teachers from Jewish-secular, religious and Arab-Israeli, including Bedouin kindergartens are taking place in Municipal Pedagogic Centers in Israel's Southern, Central, Jerusalem and Northern districts and at the National Teacher Enrichment Center in Beit Yetsiv, Beer Sheva.
Impact: Last year, teachers reported on a real sense of personal transformation that will, as research has shown, affect the way they run their kindergarten classrooms in the future, by recognizing the diversity of identities and through instilling the concept of fairness in kindergarten children.
"I was skeptical at first about doing another training program but it was amazing-I really commend Merchavim…there were very diverse lectures which touched the subject from every aspect, through every form of media; the lecturers had a lot of patience. I congratulate the program's organizers."
(Kindergarten teacher and teacher-training participant in the Merom Ha'Galil training program, February 2011)
Resource Development: The (2006) "Let's Play on Sesame Street" program DVD was upgraded to include clips from the 2009 season. A new "Family Pack" is now being developed in order to engage parents with their kindergarten children in shared citizenship discourse and activity.
Evaluation: As well as internal assessment run by Merchavim, the Beit Berl Teacher Training College Research Department is conducting Year II of its three year research into the development of our expanded early childhood activities being funded by the U.S. Government. In Year 1, Beit Berl conducted preliminary research using qualitative research methods and questionnaires on perceptions of the term "fairness" among kindergarten children, teachers and parents.