Last Thursday, during an unseasonably warm week of January, WTA celebrated Tu B’Shevat. For the first time in years, it felt like spring outdoors during Chag HaIlanot, and the excitement in the building was palpable. Throughout the week leading up to Tu B’Shevat, students were learning—about the holiday, about the changing seasons, and about the life cycles of the plants that are so important to all life on Earth.

This year, Tu B’Shevat was marked by a special school-wide learning session. Middle school students took on the responsibility of teaching their younger peers, dropping into lower school classrooms to work together on a special holiday packet. Together, students learned about gematriya, tzedaka and a special story about the Sanzer Rebbe—all focused on Chag HaIlanot.

In early childhood, Tu B’Shevat was an especially hands-on holiday. Learning all about fruit trees, students had opportunities to work with their hands, to taste new foods, and even to make their own orange juice! Some classes created a fun matching game where students glued material together to make a tree, and then matched the appropriate fruit to each tree in kind. Other classes used their Montessori kitchen skills to prepare their own fruit salads, all of which were enjoyed by the class as well as special visitors from the school administration!