Noar Blog

During our first IN PERSON teacher training in over a year, Noar Sunday teachers learned how to see the forest through the trees--with outdoor, experiential learning! At Noar Sunday, we first teach the teachers by modeling what a Noar Sunday outdoors should look like. We started with "Boker Kehilah," our morning community meeting, where we learned about the Mensch Middot (Jewish Values in Action to be our best selves!), Tzedakah, and engaged in a community-building game. 

Then, we moved into stations that hit the "Big 3" learning modalities: Kinesthetic, Art, and Hands on. Print and cut out this Memory Game from the Hands on station to play at home before the first day of Noar so you know the Noar Sunday lingo!

We then turned our brains on as adult learners, and moved into the research of how to build a positive learning culture at Noar Sunday. 

Why Outdoor Learning?

At the end of last school year, our in person Noar Sunday program pivoted to being an outdoor only model at the Weber School. Look at some of these statistics and anecdotes from last year:

• Attendance (compared to virtual learning of the same year) increased by about 15%

• Behavior incidents went down by about 98% (compared to being in the building the same year)

• Parents were happy with the content their children were learning (anecdotal)

• Parents were happy that kids were being exposed to “fun Jewish learning” in a way that prepares them for Jewish summer camp (anecdotal)

• Students were happy to be in an outdoor environment, which made it different from “school” (anecdotal)

• Teachers embraced experiential education to the fullest (anecdotal observation)

• 90% of teachers said that they were happy with being outside

• 5 teachers stated outdoors was their favorite iteration of Noar Sunday

What do these observations tell us? That we need to be outside on our new Mercaz (Center)!

Positive Noar Sunday Culture Research: See here for our Mensch Middot and how they address positive school culture and behavior management at Noar Sunday.

We can't wait to see everyone on Sunday, August 29th! Check your email on Tuesday for more information.

Sincerely,

Rachel Moldovan, Director of Youth Learning and Engagement