The+Kavana+Cooperative+-+Seattle,+WA






 * I. Publicity & Marketing Materials**

All of Kavana's communications are electronic - we send out a weekly email newsletter, maintain a sophisticated webpage, and we also use social media such as Facebook and Twitter. We have put a lot of time and energy into creating a friendly and welcoming web presence. Please feel free to check out our webpage at www.kavana.org or to view our Family Education page at [|www.kavana.org/family].


 * II. Family Education Mission and Values**

In thinking about what we do and why we do it, we assembled a dedicated group of parent-volunteers, who have articulated the following: __Vision:__ Kavana’s family education programming engages children and parents in dialogue with Jewish tradition to help families forge identity and generate personally meaningful Jewish life.

__Mission:__ Kavana’s family education program implements its vision in the following ways: By pursuing these goals together we foster a close-knit community.
 * It addresses the whole family with programs designed for children and parents to learn both together and separately.
 * It creates desire to participate in Jewish life through experiential, hands-on, and inquiry-based learning.
 * It cultivates self-sufficiency by teaching the rituals and skills for lifelong, personally relevant Jewish living.
 * It provides an opportunity for families to explore Jewish values together.
 * It helps individuals see themselves as part of a larger community by linking learning to social action and the wonder of the natural world.


 * III. Programmatic Offerings**

Kavana offers an "a la carte" system of programming, where families can chose as many programs as they want, in whatever combination is best for them. Here is a listing of all our family programs (below). Note that each has a link to its own web page, which has more details:

__SUMMER 2010 (5770):__

Shabbats for the Whole Family
 * [|Family Shabbat at the Mercer Island JCC] - Fri. June 25, 5-6:30pm
 * [|Family Shabbat in the Park] - Friday evenings, July 9, July 23, Aug. 20

Camp Fun for Kids
 * [|Summer Camp] (for kids in grades K-5)
 * [|Mini Summer Camp] (for kids ages 3-5)

All-Kavana Camping Trip
 * [|Camping Trip] - Aug. 13-15 at Rasar State Park

__ SCHOOL-YEAR PROGRAMS (Sept. - June): __

Just for Parents
 * [|Bar & Bat Mitzvah Conversations] - Quarterly meetings to discuss what we want for our kids, families & community.

Kids & Parents
 * [|Family Shabbat] – A monthly Saturday morning program exploring Jewish values through music & arts.
 * [|Prep & Practice] – Helps families prepare for Jewish holidays together. Held around holiday time (about monthly).
 * [|Hebrew Immersion Playgroup] – Start young! Parents and tots (ages 0-3) learn Hebrew together with games and songs.

Just for Kids
 * [|Moadon Yeladim (Kids Club) in Queen Anne], or at the [|Mercer Island JCC] – An energetic afterschool program for ages K-5 featuring Hebrew language immersion and arts-based learning.
 * [|Havdalah Club] (ages 8-11) – A short service to end Shabbat, dinner, and guided conversation about Jewish issues (from the serious to the silly).
 * [|Gan Kavana Preschool] (ages 2-4) – A nurturing, creative, Hebrew-immersion preschool, 2 mornings/week.

Past Programs
 * [|Click here to see our archive of past programs.]


 * IV. Themes**

Our organization as a whole has adopted the theme of **"food"** as a unifying topic that we can use to bring people in, and to create connections between programs.

We also has a **Hebrew Immersion** focus for many of our programs (such as the Gan Preschool, the Hebrew Playgroup, and Moadon Yeladim - our after-school kids club.) Parents like that kids get exposure to a second language, and we have been able to draw a large crowd, since we are the ONLY place in Seattle offering a Hebrew immersion experience.

We also have themes that run through specific programs. Prep & Practice, for example, focuses on upcoming holidays. **Family Shabbat focuses on //middot//** (Jewish values, or character traits). Here is an overview of the middot we have focused on in 2009-2010:
 * October: Foods of the High Holidays, and the rituals that surround them
 * November: Being thankful for the food we have – brachot, mindfulness, not wasting (bal tashchit)
 * December: G’milut Hasadim and Tikkun Olam – our obligation to feed the hungry
 * January: Our Shabbat table – foods, rituals, table as a sacred place
 * February: Tu B’Shevat seder, blessings for the trees
 * March: Shmirat HaGuf (Caring for our bodies) and nutrition
 * April: Hiddur Mitzvah (beautifying the mitzvah)
 * May: Shivat HaMinim (the seven species) and the connection to the land of Israel


 * V. Notes from the Bar & Bat Mitzvah Conversations**

We are actively engaged in the process of gathering parents to re-envision how the bar and bat mitzvah process can me made more meaningful for their children, their families, and our community as a whole. Here are some of the notes from one of our recent meetings, offered as an example of our process:

MINUTES Kavana Bar/Bat Mitzvah Planning Session April 8, 2010

Recap: Where We Are in the Process A group of parents started meeting about a year ago. Tonight is the fourth meeting. It is anticipated that we will meet for at least another year. Goal: identify a pilot project, implement it within the next year, evaluate, and make decisions based on that evaluation. Topics of three prior meetings:

1. Our own experiences & Jewish sources about bar/bat mitzvah 2. Developmental issues surrounding bar/bat mitzvah (interests, challenges, family) 3. Articulation of values and goals for bar/bat mitzvah process

VALUES ALREADY ARTICULATED: a. Participants are producers and not just users b. Open and diverse, welcoming and non judgmental c. Multiple points of entry and ways of being Jewish d. Innovation is constant e. High intellectual quality

GOALS ALREADY ARTICULATED: a. Integration of Jewish values into core self b. Whole family participates c. Living, doing, actively learning, apply learning d. Child will have meaningful peer and community experiences e. Child will experience intellectual challenge and mastery of content f. Joy and celebration are imbedded into the process and event

Goal for Tonight's Meeting: Turn Input Thus Far into Action/Program(s)

Ideas for Content Areas/Curriculum a. Hebrew Decoding b. Hebrew Speaking c. Community Service/Tikun Olam d. Basic Jewish literacy e. Jewish values f. Learning Responsibility/Leadership g. Bible/Torah Narrative/Text Analysis h. Haftarah/Torah Trope i. Shabbat service/prayer j. Why bar/bat mitzvah? Why do Jews do what we do? (a theological, identity, literary, cultural question) k. History l. Israel and the Israel/Palestine conflict m. Interfaith topics n. Culture/food o. God/spirituality

Ideas for Various Structures/Approaches/Processes for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah

a. Regular meetings of the kids - Peer Learning: kids take turns leading/teaching what they know - Questioning/Critical Analysis/Ability to Make Meaning - Learn through doing, i.e. learn prayer by trying it out, synagogue visits - Art/craft/hands-on doing - Exploration of ways to enhance ownership/buy-in - Continue after13; lifelong learning; bar/bat mitzvah = starting point - Engage in conversation about core values of Judaism

b. Regular meetings of families, less frequent, perhaps longer/more intense - Parents and kids meet separately, then together, to discuss same topic - Parents as learners of all the same content areas offered to the kids - Parents learning to parent teenagers

c. Home-based, individual learning with an element of choice - Home reading program - Provide morsels of content to parent and child to use at home

d. Celebration itself: group and/or individual celebration

Next Steps: 1. Parents only meet again in late May or early June. 2. Pilot cohort (six 5th graders and parents) meets before June 2010.