Grade Level Curriculum

Kindergarten

Alef Bet Mitzvot is a friendly introduction to the Hebrew Alphabet. Through open ended art, dramatization, stories and crafts a new mitzvah is discovered and its practical applications discussed. Hebrew words are also introduced and the children are creating their own Mitzvah Scrapbook and Hebrew English Dictionary portfolio (to be completed throughout their Hebrew School experience).

First Grade

In addition to the introduction of the Hebrew Alphabet the children are introduced to Torah (Bible) through an understanding of Bereshit’s (Genesis) storyline. The Biblical narrative is taught through drama, art, stories and crafts. A creative scrapbook is designed weekly both for Bereshit and the Hebrew Alphabet.

Second Grade

Along with the Reading Program, we continue our Biblical Journey with the Book of Shmot (Exodus). This course conveys the historical flow – slavery, liberation and receiving the Torah – which culminates in our birth as a nation. The students begin to understand the dynamics which framed our formation as a people.

Third Grade

My Jewish Home is designed to discuss the mitzvot involved in creating a Jewish Home, such as mezuzah, hospitality, etc. The students grasp that the home is the center of Jewish Life ‘Home is where the soul is’. The children are creating a collage of tools for their own homes.

Fourth Grade

Torahpedia is a cleverly constructed curriculum, focusing on one mitzvah for each letter of the aleph-bet. Using a bright and engaging activity book, the students have fun as they learn 22 fundamental Jewish lessons.

Fifth Grade

The students progress in their Biblical awareness as they study the Book of Bamidbar (Numbers). After leaving Egypt, the Jews spent forty eventful years wandering the desert. Through role-playing, drama and thought provoking exercises the students achieve a first hand appreciation of these events. They are recording their experiences in a Diary of the days in Desert.

Sixth Grade

Life Cycles Curriculum guides the students through various life cycle events (birth, bris/baby naming, bar/bat mitzvah, etc). We aim to familiarize the students with the Torah’s perspective of these important events, and to give them a working understanding of the specific ceremony’s nuts and bolts.

Seventh Grade

This curriculum is entitled Menu for Jewish Living as it indeed describes the ingredients for being a ‘mentch’. It comprises 20 selections from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers), using the actual reading text as a reading assignment. Lessons however do not remain in the classroom and the focus of each is the ‘maseh b’poel’ – bottom line: how did this lesson make me a better person.