Kindergarten
Today we learned about what a synagogue is. We learned about 3 different types of beit (house). We learned about beit midrash (house of study), beit tefillah (house of prayer), and beit knessett (house of community). We drew a picture of our synagogue and wrote Temple Emanu-El on it. Lastly we took a tour of our own synagogue to see where things were located. We had an awesome first full day!
Ask your child: 1. What is a synagogue? 2. What is one type of house you learned about?
1st Grade
This week we continued to get to know each other. Learning about mitzvot will be so much more fun when we know our community. We also designed figures all about ourselves.
Ask your child: 1. Can you name 2 new friends from your class? 1. Can you tell me something about your teachers?
2nd Grade
This week we learned about the Torah. What is it? What can we learn from it? How is it made? We get a sneak peak into the first story we will be learning about and had the students share all of their favorite stories from the Torah. The students then got to use their own “quills” and “ink” to write out the first few words of the Torah. This year they will be making their very own miniature Torahs to take home with todays lesson being the first page.
Ask your child: 1. What do we learn from the Torah? 2. What is the first thing the Torah says?
3rd Grade
Judaics - The objective of this first lesson is to help students, madrichim and teacher establish a relationship quickly and successfully. We did it by playing games that will help students remember each other names, help make one on one connections and see things from a perspective of others. We also discussed the theme of this year, Jewish heroes!
Ask your child: 1. Can you name two new friends that you met today in class? 2. What makes a Jewish hero?
Hebrew
Each child pretends they are a different creature and then tells the class how they felt while acting. Followed by Morah Mira reading the creation story to the class and showing them pictures. Then, make a connection between the story and themselves by asking a question: Define the word B'tzelem Elohim and explain what it means in the context of the Creation story.
Ask your child: 1. What does this mean for how we treat others and ourselves? 2. What makes each of us unique?
4th Grade
Judaics
Last Sunday we did intro games, and discussed the difference between mitzvot and middot. Talked about Bikkur Cholim and why it is important.
Ask your child: 1. How does a visit to an ill person effect the patient? 2. How does it effect the visitor?
Hebrew
We are going to learn about Moses as a leader and why he chose the topics that he did to speak with the children of Israel before his death.
Ask your child: 1. Why did Moses talk to the Israelites about defeating the enemy that was in the land of Israel? 2. Why did Moses mention the scenes the Israelites did in the past? 3. Was it necessary to speak about the reward for making all the Mitzvot?
5th Grade
Judaics
This week we discussed the story of Creation! We examined Parshah Bereishit (Gen. 1:1-6:8) and the lessons we can learn from it. We also learned about the concept of Tikkun Olam, or “Repairing the World,” and how we can take this concept into our daily lives.
Ask your child: 1. What does the phrase “Tikkun Olam” mean? 2. How can we, as a family, do more to help repair the world around us?
Hebrew
We are going to talk about the word "Midot" related to the Jewish values. Each student will create his won most important Midah and share it with the group.
Ask your child: 1. What was the Midah that you had chosen ? 2. How can we assist you in implementing this Midah at home ?
6th Grade
Today was another WONDERFUL week with your students. This was an introduction to our overall curriculum. We went into the basics of: What was the Holocaust? (and collected questions that the students had for me going into the rest of the semester). I was pleased to see so many raised hands when I asked who had already spent time studying the Holocust in school. Ask them to define the Holocaust and when it took place.
Next, I introduced the term: Zionism. (again, ask them to give a general definition!). The class then broke into teams to try to learn about the different “types” of Zionism. Ask them which types they remember! (Religious, Cultural, Political, Revisionist, Reform, Labor).
Finally, we concluded with a piece on Jewish identity. If we’re going to talk about the Jewish peoplehood of the Holocaust, the Jewish peoplehood of Israel, they will need to explore what it means to them to be a part of the Jewish people! I encourage you to ask them about their Jewish identity and to see when they feel the engaged in their Judaism!
7th Grade
This week we learned how to be successful! We learned a verse from Jewish text called Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Ancestors) and related how we can use the lesson to be more successful in school or in any learning situation--which tends to be everywhere we look or go.
Ask your child: 1. What's the difference between a friend and a Rabbi? 2. What does it mean to study Talmud? How can it make us wiser?
8th Grade
Today we focused on two primary goals: group bonding and leadership.
Since this is a group that knows each other well, we played a guessing game to learn more about each other. Each student completed three sentences (my favorite Jewish holiday is…, the last movie I saw was…, and when I’m not at school I like to…), then we read the answer aloud anonymously. Finally, the class had to guess who wrote which responses. This was a fun and different way to learn more about each of the students in class.
After a little fun, we spent the majority of our time learning about the leadership of Moses and his father-in-law Jethro (still fun, but with more content and Jewish meaning). Moses faced a classic leadership problem: one who takes on too many tasks alone and doesn’t ask for help. Jethro saw that Moses was going to end up burning out. To solve the problem, Jethro suggested that Moses appoint advisors, judges, and sages of all kinds to lead the people with Moses. Good leadership isn’t doing all the work alone. Good leadership is bringing others together to share in the process and to feel a sense of belonging!
For the eighth grade, the lesson was not to take on a task all alone, but to ask for help when we need it. Like Jethro suggested, we need to work smarter not necessarily harder. As our madrichim in training assume more and more leadership roles at Temple Emanu-El, at School, and with their friends, they need to learn how to be effective leaders who work collaboratively—the Jewish way! I know that there will be plenty of opportunities for the eighth graders to shine when it comes to leadership in the classroom, and I expect that we will return to this text many times over the course of the year.
For the next two sessions that we meet, the class will study practical spirituality with Rabbi Spike.
