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- Israel Interactive Centre
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Israel Interactive Centre
The Israel Interactive Centre (I.I.C.) is a unique educational program established in 2000 with the generous support of the Max and Beatrice Wolfe Charitable Foundation.
It is a powerful place with a unique program that provides our students with a very exciting and memorable learning experience. It is an inspiring, enriching and engaging program through which students experience a voyage of self-expression, self-discovery and development of profound love of and a strong bond with Israel.
This bond becomes, for the students of SK –Grade 5, a personal, emotional and a sensational bond through multi-sensory and live-event learning. For example, Israel becomes “real” to the SK students through a simulated “in-house trip", using state of-the-art technology as well as concrete special items and artifacts, such as soil and rock collections brought directly from Israel. The special ambiance of the IIC, with its tone of Israel provides exciting learning experiences. In this "trip" the young students feel the fun of swimming in the Red Sea, skiing on Mt. Hermon, praying by the Kotel, touching soil and rocks from the Negev desert and picking oranges in an orange grove. In Grades 1-5 the bond with Israel becomes visual and concrete through the addition of stimulating and creative “hands-on” activities.
In the Senior Division (Grades 6-8) the bond becomes more informative, through a series of interactive activities, and through live-broadcastings and video-conferencing with Israel, using our state of-the-art technology.
The Centre constantly changes its ”appearance” by changing its decor and atmosphere, providing an ambiance in which the students are totally immersed.
All studies in the IIC are integrated with our General-Studies and Jewish-Studies curricula. Classes of each grade have at least one unit of study in a year in the IIC. Topics for the preschool and elementary school (SK–Gr5) include simulated live-events from the Torah stories, the study of the ancient Israel during the Biblical era, simulated visits to modern Israel, topics in science, such as comparison between soils, habitats and energy in Canada and Israel. The map of Israel is learned through hands-on building of the relief map of Israel. In the Senior Division (Grade 6-7) the story of Israel in maps from the biblical time to the present is studied with the use of interactive learning. In Grade 8 emphasis is put on contemporary Israel, including the roots, the spread, the return and the diversity of the Jewish people in Israel.
The IIC is a living museum, serving as a home to a wide variety of visual and concrete artifacts from Israel. In addition the IIC maintains an extensive collection of student-made models and exhibits, which are displayed and used in the IIC. It houses state-of-the-art video-conferencing and multimedia facilities that bring together Bialik students with schools and institutes from Israel, enabling students to celebrate holidays such as Tu B’shvat or Yom Ha'atzmaut with students from Israel. The video-confencing technology is also used by our teachers for distance learning, and developing curriculum with experts from Israel.
The Israel Interactive Centre – is a unique place where students learn about something by SEEING it with their own eyes, by HOLDING it in their own hands and by FEELING it in their own hearts.
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