16 Facts About Miriam Roth

Miriam Roth was a preeminent pioneer of Israeli preschool education, author and scholar of children's literature, with a long career as a kindergarten teacher and educator.

Miriam Roth was born in 1910 to Helen and Jeno Roth.

Miriam Roth was born in the Austro-Hungarian town of Ersekujvar, now Nove Zamky, where the main language at the time was Hungarian, and which later became part of Czechoslovakia and then Slovakia.

Miriam Roth studied psychology and earned a bachelor's degree in pedagogy and natural sciences at Masaryk University.

In 1937, Miriam Roth was one of the founders of Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan, in what was then Mandatory Palestine, where she worked as a kindergarten teacher and lived for many years.

In 1960, Miriam Roth went to New York to study at the Bank Street College of Education, and later, she earned a master's degree in education from Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York, and an MA in pedagogy from City College of New York.

Miriam Roth's great-granddaughter, Amit Ivry, is an Israeli Olympic swimmer, Maccabiah Games champion, and national record holder.

Miriam Roth died of pneumonia on November 13,2005, at Kibbutz Sha'ar Hagolan, at the age of 95.

Miriam Roth taught preschool education and children's literature to kindergarten teachers at the Oranim Academic College until the age of 70, and trained teachers and taught children's literature at Seminar Hakibbutzim.

Miriam Roth wrote textbooks on kindergarten education, and lectured and published articles on education and on children's literature.

Miriam Roth believed that educators should be responsible for the production and promotion of children's books.

Miriam Roth was a founder of Kibbutz Artzi's "Theory of the Nursery", and in 1958 advised parents to follow the advice of professional educators, saying:.

Miriam Roth published 23 books for children in Hebrew, many of which became best-sellers, and 6 books on education and children's literature.

Miriam Roth started writing relatively late in life, and authored popular Israeli children's literature classics.

Miriam Roth was revolutionary, in that she created a new literary genre focused on children's emotions and experiences, instead of on collective themes.

Miriam Roth was awarded the Ze`ev Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 1990, the UNICEF Smile Award in 1998, and the Bialik Prize in 2002.