ShirChadashShul School 2016-2017: Curriculum Overview
In both Judaics and Hebrew, every class inPre-K through 6th Grade engages with:
Text - Torah
- Jewish bookshelf (Torah, Tanach, Rabbinic literature) stories, and liturgy
- Hebrew decoding, reading texts in Hebrew, Hebrew as an ancient language
Ritual - Avodah
- Holiday and Shabbat observance,mitzvot, prayer, Jewish action, Jewish time
- Hebrew terminology for prayer and ritual, praying in Hebrew, Hebrew as an ancient language
Identity - Zehut
- Global Jewish history, Israel, the arts, food, pluralism, American Judaism, the Jewish self
- Hebrew as a living language of the Jewish people, spoken Hebrew, Hebrew writing
Values - Midot
- Tzedakah, tikkunolam, ethical mitzvot, treating one another with respect, and more
- Immersing in Hebrew terminology for universal values as a way to connect Jewishly to said values
In addition to Judaics and Hebrew, every class will have Tfilah (prayer),ParshatHashavuah (Torah portion of the week),Shira (song session),and Chugim (game time.)
GanNitzan, Preschool:
Text-Torah
- Explore key stories in the Torah and Tanach, learn that these stories have been inherited and passed on from generation to generation.
Ritual - Avodah
- Learn about Shabbat and holiday rituals and celebrations
- Engage in prayer, introducing prayer service structure, language, and choreography.
Identity - Zehut
- Understand the ways in which Jewish ritual, celebration,and learning can play a part in students’ lives. Students will identify with their family community, GanNitzan community, Shir Chadash community,and broader Jewish community.
- IntroduceIsrael and Israeli culture.
Values - Midot
- Become familiar with key Jewish values, including treating others with respect, repairing the world, creating peace at home, welcoming guests, visiting the sick, caring for those in need, and more.
Illanot, K and 1:
Text - Torah
- Explore key stories in the Torah and Tanach, learn that these stories have been inherited and passed on from generation to generation.
- Introduce the themes of each of the five books of the Torah,
- Enhance Torah study through midrashim, contemporary stories, and other relevant texts.
Ritual - Avodah
- Learn about Shabbat and holiday rituals and celebrations, as well as engage in prayer, unpacking Jewish prayer structure, language, and choreography.
- Engage in a unit on Torah service ritual.
Identity - Zehut
- Understand the ways in which Jewish ritual, celebration, and learning can play a part in students’ lives. Students will identify with their family community, Ilanot community, ShirChadash, community, and broader Jewish community.
- Complete a special family tree project to explore their own family’s Jewish history, as well as celebrate the diverse histories and stories our community members bring to the table.
- Engage in a unit on Israeli history and culture.
Values - Midot
- Become familiar with key Jewish values, including treating others with respect, repairing the world, creating peace at home, welcoming guests, visiting the sick, caring for those in need, and more.
- Identity “Jewish responses” to challenging situations.
- Complete mitzvah projects in teams
Parparim: 2nd Grade:
Text - Torah
- Explore key stories in the Torah and Tanach, learn that these stories have been inherited and passed on from generation to generation.
- Enhance Torah study through midrashim, contemporary stories, and other relevant texts, introducing Hebrew as a key element in text study
- Study select tfilot (liturgy) as text
- Learn the values of hevruta, learning in pairs
Ritual - Avodah
- Learn about Shabbat and holiday rituals and celebrations, as well as engage in prayer, unpacking Jewish prayer structure, language, and choreography.
- Focus on prayer in Hebrew
- Study the Jewish yearly cycle, including Rosh Chodesh and the Jewish months, counting the Omer, etc.
- Engage in a unit on Jewish lifecycle events, including Brit Milah/Simchat Bat, B’nai Mitzvah, and weddings
Identity - Zehut
- Understand the ways in which Jewish ritual, celebration, and learning can play a part in students’ lives. Students will identify with their family community, Parparim community, ShirChadashcommunity, and broader Jewish community.
- Engage in a unit on Judaism around the world, exploring global Jewish history and practice
- Engage in a unit on Israeli history and culture, with a special focus on Israel’s diverse population
Values - Midot
- Unpack key Jewish values, including treating others with respect, repairing the world, creating peace at home, welcoming guests, visiting the sick, caring for those in need, etc.
- Study traditional texts that relate to Jewish values
- Work collaboratively on a class mitzvah project
Tzipporim:3rd-6th
Text - Torah
- Explore key stories in the Torah and Tanach, learn that these stories have been inherited and passed on from generation to generation.
- Study including selections from the books of Prophets and Writings
- Study rabbinic literature (mishnah, Talmud, midrash)
- Study select tfilot (liturgy) as text in Hebrew
- Participate inhevruta, interactive learning in pairs
Ritual - Avodah
- Learn about Shabbat and holiday rituals and celebrations, as well as engage in prayer, unpacking Jewish prayer structure, language, and choreography.
- Focus on prayer in Hebrew
- Learn how to lead sections of liturgy
- Introduce Torah trope (cantillation)
Identity - Zehut
- Understand the ways in which Jewish ritual, celebration, and learning can play a part in students’ lives. Students will identify with their family community, Tzipporim community, ShirChadash community, and broader Jewish community.
- Explore their own family’s Jewish history and identities with a special family artifact project
- Engage in a unit on Judaism around the world, exploring global Jewish history and practice, with a focus on the history of Jewish immigration to the United States, as well as an introductory unit on the Holocaust
- Explore Israeli history and culture, with a focus on relating our own identities as Diaspora Jews to those in the Jewish state
Values - Midot
- Unpack key Jewish values, including treating others with respect, repairing the world, creating peace at home, welcoming guests, visiting the sick, caring for those in need, etc
- Study traditional texts that relate to Jewish values
- Tie in themes studied in Jewish history: Looking back on the Holocaust unit, students will explore the imperative to not oppress the stranger as a people with a history of oppression. Looking back on the Israel unit, there will be a focus on thinking critically about inclusion of Jewish values in a Jewish state.