Celebrate Tu BiShvat with JNF

Plant a Tree in Israel.

 

Sell trees in your school and win prizes!  Search for your school’s page here. 

  

TBS in the Schools

Connect to Israel and JNF:

 

Jewish National Fund provides special opportunities to enhance the way you celebrate Tu BiShvat and connect to the land and people of Israel. We proudly think of Tu BiShvat, the world's first Earth Day, as JNF's holiday, as it embodies our dedication to Israel's environment.

 

 Choose the way you participate: 

 

TU BISHVAT IN THE SCHOOLS PROGRAM (for schools of all types):

 

JNF has planted over 260 million trees in Israel. While this is an impressive achievement, there is always a need for more, due to natural forest regrowth, forest fires, and arson. We encourage every student to help continue to build up Israel by purchasing one or more trees. This year we are pleased to make ordering and planting your trees in Israel very simple. We have created an online tree ordering platform. In January, you will receive an email with your school’s predesigned page.  You can then share the link with your students, families and faculty to make their purchases. Tree certificates will be fulfilled immediately and should be received in homes within two weeks. You will be able to keep track, in real time, how many trees your school has sold, by looking at your page’s thermometer.  If you have not received your link by mid-January, please email [email protected] and let us know, or you may search for your school’s link here.

 

If you are choosing to use the paper tree form, as you did in the past, one tree form, personalized with your school’s VIS number, was included in each box. Feel free to make as many copies of the form as you need and distribute to your students and their families. If you use this method, tree orders should be brought home, forms completed, and returned to the school with payment as soon as possible.

 

Send all orders in one large envelope, to:

JNF Tu BiShvat in the Schools Program

78 Randall Avenue

Rockville Centre, NY 11570

 

Please mail all tree orders to JNF by Friday, February 28, 2020 so you may receive your tree certificates in a timely manner. Paper tree forms take 3-4 weeks to process.

 

*All orders must be received by the Friday, February 28, 2020 deadline and winners will be announced by April 1, 2020.

 

JNF RECOGNIZES STUDENTS AND SCHOOLS FOR PROGRAM PARTICIPATION:

 

Schools that plant 100 trees or more ($1800+) will receive special recognition listing at American Independence Park in Jerusalem. A certificate will also be sent to the school.

  • This year, each school that participates in our annual tree sales competition will be entered for a chance to win two round-trip tickets to Israel. In addition, based on your school’s volume of tree sales, you can earn cash prizes for your school. The more trees you plant, the bigger the prize money. 
  • Prize levels are based on collective tree purchases for the whole school. Online tree sales and tree forms must be postmarked by Friday, February 28, 2020 to be included in our raffle and to win some great cash prizes!

 

PRIZE LEVELS:

Level 1*: Every school that plants 50 trees or more will receive $180.

Level 2*: Every school that plants 100 trees or more will receive $360.

Level 3*: Every school that plants 200 trees or more will receive $720.

*Please note that prizes are not cumulative.

 

Nationwide Student Tree Sale Contest: Encourage your students to promote your school’s tree sale campaign and they can win prizes.  All they have to do is share your school’s link with their family and friends.  When checking out, the buyer should put the students name in the Student Referral box on the checkout page and they will get credit for that sale.  Prizes for the students are:

 

1st place nationwide: iPad Air and a $500 scholarship to Alexander Muss High School in Israel

2nd place nationwide: iPad Mini and a $250 scholarship to Alexander Muss High School in Israel

3rd place nationwide: AirPods and a $100 scholarship to Alexander Muss High School in Israel

**Must have a minimum of 36 trees credited to you.

Download the  Student Tree Sale Contest flier.

 

2020 Tu BiShvat program:

 

Over 400 schools have received our Tu BiShvat program materials in the mail.  If you need additional copies, or if you didn’t receive them via mail, you may download the materials here:

 

Letter to Parents

Letter to Educators

Facilitator's Guide

Science Experiments

Text Study

Tree Sale Form

Tu BiShvat Poster


TU BISHVAT ACROSS AMERICA (for synagogues and organizations):

  • Request a speaker for your Shabbat services, Tu BiShvat Seder or special program at no cost to you. JNF is proud to offer Makor, a cadre of trained and dedicated speakers.  Complete this form.
  • Order trees at jnf.org/trees or download this tree order form.

 

Additional Tu BiShvat Resources are below!

Supplemental materials to Tu BiShvat in the Schools program

As noted in the Facilitators Guide, below you will find additional materials including photographs, articles, and videos to use in the classroom with the program or to help clarify or show examples of the materials.

 

Article on connection between Ben-Gurion and Tu BiShvat

 

Photographs 


Yatir Forest

 

Yatir Forest

 

Click here to download this photo. 

  

Arava Institute

 

Arava Institute

 

Click here to download this photo.

 


Arava Institute 2

 

Click here to download this photo. 

 

Kibbutz Lotan

 

Kibbutz Lotan

 

 Click here to download this photo.

 

Kibbutz Lotan 2

 

 

Click here to download this photo. 

 

Halutza

 

Halutza

 

Click here to download this photo.  

 

Halutza 2 

 

 Click here to download this photo.  

 


Halutza 3

 

Click here to download this photo.   

 

Halutza 4

 

Click here to download this photo.  

 

Wadi Attir 

 

 Wadi Attir

 

Click here to download this photo.

 

David Ben-Gurion

 

Ben Gurion

 

Click here to download this photo.

 

Videos

 

Jewish National Fund: Making the Desert Bloom

How to Grow an Avocado Tree from an Avocado Pit

The Trick to Growing Your Own Avocado Plant

How to Grow an Avocado from Seed

 

Arava Institute: Watercolor Changes

The Celery Experiment and How Plants Absorb Water from Their Roots

The Color-Changing Celery Experiment

Celery Science Experiment

 

Yatir Forest: Growing Trees in the Desert

Types of Soil Activity & Quiz

Science Fair Projects About Growing Beans and the Life Cycle

Does the Type of Soil Affect the Growth Rate of Plants?

 

Kibbutz Lotan: Making the Desert Sprout

How to Sprout Anything

How to Grow Sprouts in Your Kitchen

How to Grow Sprouts at Home

 

Halutza: What Lies Beneath the Soil

Science Projects for Kids: Soil Experiments

The Jam Jar Experiment

How to Do Your Own Soil Experiment

 

Wadi Attir: The Next Milestone

Wadi Attir 2017

Project Wadi Attir 2016  


Other Activities

Desalination

Solar Water Distiller

Drip Irrigation

Plastic Bottle Drip Water Irrigation System

 

Composting 

 

How to Compost  

10 Reasons Why You Should Compost

 Learn about composting with rock musician Steven Van Zandt (for preschool and lower elementary grades): https://bananaslugs.bandcamp.com/track/decomposition

 Words to the Song

 

Program Ideas


Sermons/Divrei Torah

 

The following is a collection of sermons, compiled over a number of years, appropriate for Tu Bishvat. The sermons were written by rabbis from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. These sermons were gathers to serve as inspiration in understanding and teaching about the holiday of Tu Bishvat. We hope that they will contribute to making Tu Bishvat 5779 a time of growth and renewal for you and your congregation.

 

Haggadot

 

JNF offers Branching Out: Your Tu BiShvat Haggadah. This unique Haggadah is a wonderful and fun way to enhance your Tu BiShvat Seder. If you wish to download a black and white copy please click here.


Additional Haggadot:

 

Additional resources from JNF-KKL in Israel

 

Tu BiShvat

Tu BiShvat Seder

Tu BiShvat Song Book

Trees of Israel

Questions? Contact us at 212-879-9305 ext. 245 or at [email protected]

PLANT TREES IN ISRAEL