Recently while in Israel, my daughter, Lara, and I visited a school in Ramle which is supported by the Israel Center for Educational Innovation (ICEI).
Unlike most schools in Israel, schools aided by ICEI use different techniques to teach reading to elementary school students. Currently there are 60 schools which are helped by ICEI and using these techniques.
I first became aware of ICEI schools when I served on Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s Israel and Overseas Committee. During a visit to Israel, I visited some of the nonprofits that the Federation supported in our sister city, Ramle. One of the then two ICEI schools in Ramle was part of this visit. Since I saw the start of the program in Ramle, I was excited that on this trip I had a chance to see how it has grown. There are now five ICEI schools in Ramle, and they are hoping to add more, including Arabic-speaking schools in addition to Hebrew-speaking schools.
My chance to visit the school came after I met with two representatives of ICEI in Kansas City several months ago. Deputy Director of Development Rivka Cohen and Deputy Director Sally Awad Asfour were trying to raise additional funds for the schools. They shared the vision with me, to continue expanding in Ramle. They extended an invitation for me to visit a school.
Pictured are ICEI staff, school staff and visitors: Tzion Moshe, Limor Gouliger-Hakim and five teachers, behind them Lee Perlman, Ellen Portnoy, principal Gila Aroussi, a teacher, Rivka Cohen and Amit Yaniv-Zehavi. (Ellen Portnoy)
Our visit to the Ariel School was a joy. Previously when I went, I only saw the beginning of the process: how children in first and second grade were learning to recognize letters and read. This time, we once again visited classrooms in these grades and saw the students beginning the road to successful reading.
But now, I also saw independent readers who were loving the books that the ICEI program makes sure are in every classroom and the library. Without the ability to read, students get left behind. With the ICEI program, every child is guided through the learning to read process, helping everyone become a successful reader. The school’s principal, Gila Aroussi, leads her teachers to excel with the help of ICEI Literacy Coach Limor Gouliger-Hakim. This is the second year that the program is at the Ariel School. Each year, a new grade will be added until all students at the school are being taught using the ICEI program.
Seeing the students of the third grade was the highlight. We had the opportunity to see the “King and Queen of Reading,” two children who were selected to share a book they read to their respective third-grade class. We heard a bit of both of their reports. They read out loud from their selected book, told why they recommended it and presented three vocabulary words from the book they thought were important.
The other children listened and then told them what they liked about the report or asked the king and queen questions about how they chose the book or how they felt about giving the report. It was exciting to see the students give each other moral support and encouragement in their love of reading — something that my daughter and I share.
At the Ariel School, I became reacquainted with educators I had met years ago: Tzion Moshe, the principal of the school I saw in 2018, was now the ICEI principal mentor at the Ariel School; Hila Halin, who was the school’s literacy coach, is now working with several school facilitators as the ICEI pedagogical supervisor. I also met with Lee Perlman, the director of development, who I also met years ago. Rivka, from my meeting in Overland Park, was there. We also met Amit Yaniv-Zehavi, Kansas City’s new community representative to Ramle.
Watching several teachers working with the children on different grade levels, seeing the advances that the children were making and knowing that Federation was helping the schools in Ramle gave me a wonderful feeling. By helping children learn to love reading, Kansas City is helping the children of Ramle succeed.
After visiting the classrooms, we went back to the well-stocked library to hear more about the program, ask questions and learn from the teachers about how they were now teaching and the successes they were achieving.
We left feeling so glad that Federation was supporting the ICEI schools in Ramle. My daughter and I were fans of “Reading Rainbow.” While at the school, I kept thinking of the words of its theme song: “Butterfly in the sky/I can go twice as high/Take a look/It’s in a book/A reading rainbow.”
The children at ICEI schools are learning about the wonders of the reading rainbow.
