Stand-Alone Lessons and Activities
Jewish Values: Ha-S’vivah – The Environment
Ha-S’vivah () -The Environment:
Engage students in one or more of the following activities to explore the Jewish value of Ha-S’vivah – The Environment:
- Have students complete Worksheet P, or explore the photograph, questions, and texts on the worksheet together through class discussion.
- Have students view the photograph Olive Harvesting and respond to the photo using one of the following creative response exercises:
- Ask students to write about the scene, describing what they think happened just before the picture was taken and what they think will happen next.
- Have students write a monologue from the point of view of one of the people or objects in the photograph.
- Have students paste a photocopy of the image in the center of a piece of white paper and ask them to draw what they think is happening outside the frame of the photo.
- Have students assume the physical positions of the figures in the photograph and then ask them to act out the scene.
- After listing the students’ subjective observations, ask them to create poems about the photo, using the language of their observations. Have students share their work and discuss the relationship between visual art and poetry.
- Make a photocopy of the image along with thought bubbles above the heads of some of the figures. Have students fill in the bubbles with what they think the subjects of the photograph are thinking.
- Have students create a soundtrack for the image, or a “musical collage,” by editing music clips into a medley that expresses something about the photo.
Then have students read the sample texts accompanying the Photograph. Discuss:
- What role does the olive tree have in Jewish history and in Israeli life today?
- Which plants play an important role in our own lives?
- Have students take “portraits” of some of the plants or trees that contribute significantly to our lives.
- Print out some of the “Curriculum sample texts” related to the environment/Ha-S’vivah. Have each student choose one text and take a photograph that illustrates that text.
- Have students take photographs more generally in school, at home, or in the community that reflect the value of ha-s’vivah, or have them create and photograph a series of “tableaux”—staged scenes—that depict the value. Share and discuss.
- What was challenging about this assignment?
- How does your photograph reflect ha-s’vivah? Is it possible to capture this value fully in a photograph?
- What is similar or different among the various photographs students took?
- What title would you give your photograph? Why?