It is with great excitement and anticipation that I write this month’s article, as we plan to move our religious school to the synagogue in the fall.  The current sub-committee (myself, Jim Rothenberg, Naomi Wilensky, Kathy Berggren, Jennifer Halpern, Amy Rebera, Lisa Machlin, Rob Danberg) has been working hard to develop a stimulating program. Given our space and the number of students, we are currently working with a school structure that will give students more choice and interaction with a wider group. I would like to share with you our plans.

Every Sunday morning will be divided into 4 different periods: elective activities (chugim); lessons in Judaism; Hebrew lessons; and prayer (tefillah).

We will start with the elective activity (chug) where students can choose a cultural activity in which to participate. We will be offering opportunities for arts and crafts, cooking, book discussions, midrash writing, drama, and music, among other choices. Each chug will extend for 3-4 weeks to provide continuity and development. We hope this allows children of different ages to get to know each other better, and for each child to find a spark of interest in Jewish culture. We will be asking for volunteers from the entire community to help with this. Please, if you have a skill or are willing to share your time, it’s a wonderful way to contribute to our community!

Hebrew studies will follow, using the Mikadem curriculum we have used for a few years. During Hebrew time, teachers, madrichim and parent volunteers will work with small groups or individual students, to give each student the opportunity to work at his or her own speed.

The groups will then come together for prayers (tefillah) and music. Sometimes the whole group will come together, and sometimes we’ll divide students up into older and younger groups for more focused learning.

Judaic Studies classes will be grouped by grades (2/3, 4/5, and 6/7) to give us 10-15 children per group. Each group will have two teachers and at least one madrich (assistant). This gives us the flexibility to work in one larger group or a few groups of 4-6 students. Again, this allows a larger group of children to get to know each other, and to get to know different teachers. We will be using the CHAI curriculum that was developed by the URJ. The CHAI curriculum focuses classroom learning on Torah, Avodah (ritual and holidays) and G’milut Chasadim (ethics). By having all teachers use this flexible, modular-based curriculum, our program will be more coordinated with balanced coverage across the years. Our teachers will attend a workshop this summer with a URJ Educator to learn how to best use these teaching tools.

 The Gan/Alef class (K/1st grade) will meet for the second half of the morning, as they work on alef-bet games, Torah stories and holiday crafts and music.

We feel this program has many strengths. The children interact with varied groups, the curriculum across the grades is more coordinated and balanced, children get a time to choose their activities according to their interest, and teachers can work together to generate the best possible program. 

Please join me in thanking Naomi and the other members of this committee for their dedication in making this happen. Our children belong to this entire community. As such, we are all commanded to teach them well. So please, be generous with your own time and energy when we ask for volunteers. I promise you will find rewards beyond what you give of yourself. They will amaze you, make you laugh and keep you young. For it is true:

“As we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is truly about.” (Angela Schwindt)