Free to be…display materials…for you and me

E-h-h-h, what’s up, Doc? With a nod to Bugs Bunny for that opener, what is up, on your classroom walls? In recent posts, I’ve suggested ways to create wall displays and to encourage students to gather information from these displays. How about the raw materials that go into the displays? Where do we find items to cover those blank walls and bulletin boards?

First – the magic word – FREE! Free, as in display materials available at no cost to you or your school.

Some examples:
– Every year, in September, my synagogue receives Jewish calendars from a local funeal home. (There are probably businesses that give out Jewish calendars in your community, too.)The calendars have colorful pictures of Holiday scenes and sites in Israel – a different set of pictures each year. I’ve saved several years worth of these calendars and use the pictures for my Israel and Holidays displays. They can also be used to illustrate Hebrew vocabulary including Holiday words, colors, verbs, and foods. In addition , I give each of my students a calendar which we use throughout the year to discuss Holidays, Hebrew months, Rosh Chodesh, Shabbat.

– Rosh HaShanah, Hanukkah, and Pesach bring greeting cards. Save the covers and add them to your displays.

– Certainly you or someone you know receives “Hadassah Magazine, which not only has interesting articles, but also pictures of cities and sights in Israel; synagogues and other Jewish sites in the U.S. and abroad; and Judaic art.
Plus, there is always a one-page article called “About Hebrew” which describes a Hebrew word root and the varieties of words and meanings derived from that root. “About Hebrew” is made to order as the centerpiece of a Hebrew display, especially for the upper grades.
Check any Jewish magazines you receive for display items.

– Solicitations that arrive in the mail from Jewish organizations, mailings from Jewish publishers, catalogs from purveyors of Judaica are all sources of display material. I built a Yom Haatzmaut display around the graphics and text that I cut out and re-mixed from a JCC flyer announcing their Yom Haatzmaut celebration.

From the mortuary to the mailbox – collect free display materials for your classroom.

More to come…the search for display materials continues.

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Ronni Sims

Ronni has been a Jewish educator since Moses was in preschool (almost!). She has had the pleasure of teaching all age groups in a variety of formal and informal settings, as well as directing a Jewish Teacher Resource Center. While teaching in a Jewish Day School, Ronni coached an award-winning Odyssey of the Mind creative problem solving team.Ronni was an active participant in the former Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education (CAJE), where she held leadership positions including Network Chair and Conference Co-Chair of CAJE 29 at Hofstra University. She currently teaches Hebrew at the Congregation Albert Religious School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Talmud teaches: “The Torah cannot be learned unless it is learned among friends.” Ronni views blogging on JCast as such a learning opportunity.

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