Israel Education and Advocacy at Wornick
Wornick creates strong and lasting relationships between our students and Israel. Our innovative and evolving Israel curriculum is the leading such curriculum in the Bay Area and one of the best in the nation.
As a Jewish educator with 35 years experience in schools throughout North America, I also must commend you on your work. I have, in fact, never run across a school that is doing such good work to create a real and meaningful connection to Israel for its students. Thank you for all you have done and for the work you will do in the future.
Robert E.Tornberg
Education Director, DeLeT
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Wornick Jewish Day School is an exemplary model of proactive and effective Israel education. Wornick is a leader in connecting its school community with Israel through a vibrant twinning program with the Reali School in Israel and in integrating Israel into its curriculum and the life of the school in meaningful ways. We value our partnership with Wornick as we work together to connect the next generation with Israel.
David Waksberg
Executive Director, BJE
Read the Israel Trip Blog for 2013.
Read the Israel Trip Blog for 2012.
In 2004-2005, our school determined that Israel education needed to create personal connections. In addition to starting the first eighth grade Israel trip in the Bay Area, Wornick initiated the Bay Area’s first twinning program as well with the Reali school of Haifa. Starting in kindergarten, our students learn about Israel and in the first grade, Wornick students begin an eight-year correspondence with their Reali “twins.” These student-to-student relationships are cultivated by multi-year teacher-to-teacher relationships. By the eighth grade exchange trips, the relationships extend to family-to-family and often last for many years.
In 2008-2009, Wornick innovated again in Israel education as part of the BASIS program, in partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Bureau of Jewish Education. Wornick is creating and rolling out a fully integrated Israel curriculum to bring an overall view of Israel through leadership and identifying opportunities to teach our students about Israel and leadership as we teach Social Studies, Literature, Science, Judaic Studies and Hebrew. We brought our teachers to Israel to develop this curriculum and bring Israel educators such as Dr. Rachel Korazim to Wornick to advise us.
Our curriculum integrates Israel into existing curricular units. For example, while we study great speeches in 8th grade, we select famous speeches that were given in US and Israel. When our third graders study the California gold rush, they study the newly established Jewish community there. What was it like to travel to a new place and set up a community? While studying the Gold Rush, our students could also study Jews traveling to 19th century Palestine, and how they set up new communities there.
At the center of Wornick Jewish Day School's vision for our graduates is that they become active participants in our local and global communities, advocates for Jewish peoplehood and the land of Israel. Step by step, we build a learning community based on Jewish values and a "kesher," a connection with Israel.
Reali connection (password required)
