Community Building for 1000 Jews & Muslims, 11-13

On April 16th a joint educational outing took place with the environmental leadership of the 5th graders from the two schools – A-Sallam and Kalanit – at Compost 2000, near Haifa. The students learned how it is possible to utilize waste, recycle it and reuse it in order to reduce the amount of garbage and keep environment clean. 50 students took part in this excursion.

Out of the basic assumption that it is important to keep our environment clean, the environmental leadership of the two schools, A-Sallam and Kalanit, held a joint environmental day.

5th graders of the two schools went out to the streets and cleaned them. Then they entered the cemetery, cleaned it and tidied the plantation in it. In this day that took place on April 24th, took part some 150 students from both schools.

At the end of the day the students distributed papers for the parents, with guidance for the parents on how to increase awareness for preserving their environment clean.

On Sunday, March 9th 2008, the 6th grade students of Kalanit School in Karmiel hosted their peers from A-Salaam School for a joint experiential activity around the theme of "Emotions", following the general events and the war in the south. This activity was in the happy spirit of the month of Adar that started on that day, as it says: "When Adar enters – happiness is growing".

First we met in the classrooms. The children were happy to meet again their friends from last year. They set in circles and heard explanations about the course of the day. Then we started with "Balloons of Emotions" – a personal page that we created based on the Hosen program, to identify the students' mood and emotions. To our joy, all students – from both schools – marked the first balloons and explained that the chose them because they were happy to be part of this activity. The conversation took place in both languages (Hebrew and Arabic). The students of Kalanit were especially happy as they could practice their Arabic. The events of the day were not brought up, although in the morning the students shared their educators in their feelings following the massacre in the Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

After joint breakfast in the classroom and joint activities during the break, we turned to the activity of "Mood Balloon". This is creative work around balloons: the kids chose the color of their balloon and designed it according to their feelings. We made chains of emotions' balloons to decorate the class for Purim – a mixed chain for each class.

After the creativity activity the boys' soccer teams from both schools competed. The game took place in a respecting and respected way. The girls from both schools cheered the game. The referee was the teacher Nader Taha from A-Salaam School. When the game ended with the victory of the Kalanit team, the girls took the field for a dodge ball game. In this game the referee was the teacher Ayelet Yihya from Kalanit School and the girls from A-Salaam won.

To end the day we took a joint excursion to the nearby Galilee Park. The guiding was given, in both languages, by the geography teachers Amir Lazar and Nader Taha. We viewed our joint Galilee and learned about the scenery formations. We used this excursion as a summary for the joint Geography theme of the Galilee. During the excursion children from both schools were walking hugged together.

The encounter ended with social games organized by the children and we fare welled with lots of satisfaction and wish for further encounters.

Reported: Osnat Freiberg-Boacio Group's Coordinators: Najeeba Sirhan & osnat Aram-Daphna

This day that was held in A-Sallam School with participation of teachers, students and parents – from both Majd el-Krum and Karmiel.

The students went through different stations where they fulfilled assignments related to the number 100. They heard from the teachers a short presentation about the number 100 and how many times it is mentioned in the Koran, with examples of verses that include the number 100. During that day they learned mathematical thinking and were exposed to the principles of mathematics.

The goal of this joint encounter was to develop strong ties between little children who will grow loving each other and building joint citizenship.

On Tuesday, June 19th 2007, we held the a day that marked the highlight of the joint activities of Jewish and Muslim students around the theme of "Coexistence". The activity took place in Kalanit School in Karmiel.

We had the pleasure of hosting representatives of the Embassy of the United States of America, who were nicely greeted by the 3rd graders and enjoyed the singing of the joint coir. The students presented to them the fruits of our efforts during the year – processes and products of joint work.

The school principle and several teachers went with them to visit a joint art workshop where they watched the joint activity and had a conversation with the students about the joint encounters and their meaning.

They got explanations about the project that includes three circles: encounters of the children, encounters with the parents and activities for the educators. The goal is to create openness and awareness among the children to the issue of living together and education for tolerance, peace and coexistence – through experiential encounters and internalization of basic concepts in the two cultures, while emphasizing joint and similar values in the religions and the cultures. A parallel goal is to integrate the parents of the students into a circle of acquaintance and experience in joint encounters. During all the years of the project we highlight joint learning and enriching of educators and all those who work on the theme, through educational and inter-religious programs.

In the second part of the day we all gathered for artistic program and performance of the joint coir of the two schools.

The distinguished guests summarized by expressing how much they appreciate the activity and the educational investment manifested in the school children and how much they enjoyed to see students who are partners for joint doing and are full of aspiration to study together.

Group's coordinators: Najeeba and Osnat