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RELIGIOUS
SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Quick
Links to Curriculum By Grade:
The Religious School curriculum includes Sunday morning classes for primary
grade students in K-2, twice-weekly classes for grades 3-6 and once a
week for grade 7.
The B'nai
Mitzvah program complements
the Religious School curriculum. Beth Israel's High
School offers a comprehensive educational program for students in grades
8-12, with Confirmation taking place in the 10th grade.
The Religious School's emphasis is on Jewish values, Hebrew and Tefillah.
Exploration of Jewish values and how to act on them shapes the way in which students
approach content material in each grade. Learning activities encourage students
to practice Mitzvot, especially those associated
with class themes. Class activities and projects foster students' love of Judaism.
All students have monthly opportunities to visit our synagogue library for Jewish literature experiences and for the opportunity to check out books.
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Curriculum
Kindergarten:
Introduces the rhythms of the Jewish year; holidays, observances and celebration. Israel and its importance to Jews is introduced. Jewish music is a regular experience. Students enjoy monthly prayer services appropriate to their age.
1st
Grade:
Focuses on the synagogue and rituals. The highlight of the year is Consecration. Students are introduced to the Hebrew letters. They also discuss the Hebrew Bible and stories of our tradition. Jewish music is a regular experience. Students enjoy monthly prayer services appropriate to their age.
2nd Grade:
Focuses on Jewish values and mitzvot, holiday cycle and continues with stories of the Bible. A special unit on tzedakah is highlighted. Building knowledge of the Hebrew letters is continued. Jewish music is a regular experience. Students enjoy monthly prayer services appropriate to their age.
3rd Grade:
Focuses on core Jewish values, the Ten Commandments and mitzvot. Biblical texts, including Prophets, are explored. This is the year that Hebrew instruction intensifies. Students move beyond letters to build sound blends and whole word vocabulary identification. Students move at their own rate. Basic prayers are introduced (Bar'chu, Sh'ma, Mi-Kamocha).
4th Grade:
Hebrew instruction builds with emphasis on identifying word roots found in the Siddur. Students build on their previous learning and skills. Selected prayers are practiced and mastered (V'Ahavtah, Birkat Hamazon - grace after meals). The modern State of Israel, geography and highlights of its history is a focus in Judaic Studies. The weekly Torah portion is studied. Students explore the simple meaning and personalize aspects of the biblical narrative.
5th Grade:
Hebrew instruction continues building on acquired skills and learning new prayers and key vocabulary (V'Ahavtah, Avot v'Eemahot, G'vurot). Judaic studies focuses on the Jewish life cycle, holidays and Torah study. Students study the weekly portion, acting out various portions and discussing the ideas of selected commentators.
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4th & 5th
Grade Camp:
Each year our fourth and fifth graders spend a weekend learning and sharing at Hebrew Camp. Camp is an intregal part of the curriculum and is included in Religious School tuition. This year's retreat will take place May 1 - 3, 2009. More information will be mailed to families later in the year.
6th Grade:
The Hebrew Tefillah (prayer) program continues developing key word vocabulary and increasing reading fluency. Judaic studies includes Torah study with commentaries and a curriculum focused on Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). Students study core values of Jewish life and participate in tzedakah projects.
7th Grade:
Seventh grade includes a series of modules that focus on American Jewish history, the creation of a Jewish state in Israel, Hebrew and the study of the values in our core Jewish texts.
6th & 7th
Grade Camp:
An integral part of sixth and seventh grade curriculum is our camp weekend. Our camp weekend this year will be November 7-9, 2008. Camp fees are included in the tuition.
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Preparation: A program to prepare for a child's becoming Bar/Bat Mitzvah is offered in each semester on four Shabbat mornings. Students with B'nai Mitzvah between January and June attend classes in the fall. Students with B'nai Mitzvah between July and December will attend class in the winter. The schedule and syllabus are provided by the clergy's office. For additional information, read the B'nai Mitzvah pages.
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Tefillah Program
Our Tefillah program will help students
understand the meaning of our prayers and develop their own spirituality.
Hebrew Prayers & Spiritual
Growth
For our Hebrew students, learning to read Hebrew fluently and accurately is only
the beginning. Our program focuses on liturgical Hebrew, enabling students to
participate in ritual and prayers in the temple and at home with confidence and
key word understanding. Students' emotional and spiritual connections to Judaism are developed
as students explore the meaning of prayers, discuss their beliefs, and participate
in services.
Hebrew learning begins in primary grades with songs, games, and reading readiness
activities. Our third through sixth graders study Hebrew, and their progress
is carefully monitored. Our tutoring program, incorporating our computer lab,
supports students with special needs. Our klitah integration
program is designed for late entering students without Hebrew background. Students
experience the insights and power of Hebrew words.
Kindergarten: Children get 10 minutes of Hebrew
each week. They are getting familiar with basic Shabbat words
and the vowels.
First Grade: Children are introduced to the
Hebrew letters as graphic elements, connecting them to sounds and visual associations.
This occurs during the regular Judaic class.
Second Grade: Children received a Hebrew Primer textbook that
presents the letters, sound and vowels through games and images. Teachers incorporate
this into their regular Judaic class.
Third Grade: Students begin decoding and reading words. The textbook: Derech
Binah teaches reading through prayers and explains some grammatical skills
that will help them remember and apply their new knowledge. They have some Tefilot that
are a requirement to know at the end of the year. In addition, students are introduced to Hebrew script writing.
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Fourth to Sixth Grades: Students are assessed and place in the level that with
help them succeed and feel comfortable in class. Hebrew vocabulary is included
for every holiday, and the content builds in each grade.
- Fourth Grade: The Hebrew textbook is Hineni,
Part One - Students review previous knowledge through a Hebrew booklet Lehamshich.
Students learn some common expressions, words of praise, they practice reading
prayers to get some fluency, and write some letters to reinforce their learning.
Students have a workbook to reinforce the lessons.
- Fifth Grade: Students start by reviewing
the letters, vowels, sounds and reading fluency. Their textbook, the second
book of the series, Time To Prayer Shema,
gives them many reading exercises, and insights into the different prayers
of the Shema and blessings for both evening
and morning services, the Ein Keheloheinu, Adon
Olam and the Hatikvah, additional
phonics review and practice reading and recitation to expand existing skills.
This grade level includes work on prefixes.
- Sixth Grade: Students work harder on
mastering the Tefilot, and practice reading.
Their book is also part of the Time to Prayer series, book 3: Amida.
They focus on the Shabbat amida, paying special
attention to reading skills. It also includes phonics review. Each prayer's
concepts and values are introduced to assist with the proper pronunciation
and comprehension. The text is gender inclusive and provides translations
to assure understanding of meaning, and to personalize the prayer experience.
Students also learn about sentence structures that reflect the themes of
each chapter. They also work on suffixes.
- Klita: This class is an absorption class
that introduces the letters, vowels, decoding and beginning reading to students
that have no previous Hebrew, are struggling, or are new to our program.
It is a combined class of children in 4th through 6th Grades. Students stay
for one semester and then go back to their regular class.
- Mitkadmim: Advanced Hebrew class for
the highly motivated whose reading is fluent. Students work on modern language
as well as script writing and common expressions.
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