A Siyyum – End or Completion
Siyyum Ha-Sefer, celebrating our third grade, alef students finishing their first year of formal Hebrew study, is Friday, May 11 at our 7:00 service. The service will be preceded by a dinner at 6:00. Dinner costs are $9.50 for adults, $7.50 for children ages 4-12 ($11/adults and $9/children for non-members). All are welcome to join us at dinner and the service.
Religious School Registration Forms
By now you should have received religious school registration forms for the 2012-13 school year. The mailing went out last month to all families with religious school aged children Please contact Rabbi Barolsky with school questions or Laurie Kestelman with financial questions. who are members in good standing.
Bookworm Club
The Library Committee is once again sponsoring the Bookworm Club for Kindergarten (4 and 5) through 3rd grade students. Students who read and fill out the Bookworm form get a free book for every five books read. See the progress of our students on the bulletin board outside the Children’s Library in room 204.
Our Philosophy
“Who is wise? One who learns from every person, as it is written:
‘From all those who taught me, I have gained understanding’” (Psalm 119:99).
Pirke Avot 4:1
In our religious school, we focus on holistic education, combining the formal and informal, academic and social, cognitive and affective, through integrated experiences. These experiences include text study, hands-on interactive learning, experiential activities, field trips, family education, youth groups, and camp and Israel programs. The result is young adults who see Judaism as an integral part of their lives, not something that is reserved for the synagogue. Through this approach, we strive to fulfill the mission of the congregation and to instill in our children a strong Jewish identity and a love of Jewish learning.
We follow the Chai Curriculum for Jewish Learning, published by the Union for Reform Judaism, focusing primarily on Torah (sacred texts), avodah (God, synagogue, and worship), and gemilut chasadim (mitzvot, values, and ethics). Additional curricular components for all grades have been revised using the Understanding by Design curriculum model and include holidays and customs, history, Israel, Tanach, life cycle events, comparative religion, and Hebrew. Weekly parasha study, art, library, music, assemblies, current events, social action projects, and field trips round out our program.
Our religious studies and Hebrew programs are integrated for Grades 3 (Aleph) through 5 (Gimel). Students in these grades have one teacher on both Sunday mornings and Wednesday afternoons for all subject areas, allowing us to provide two Hebrew lessons each week instead of just one. Although in most cases class time will be evenly divided between Hebrew and other curricular subjects, this arrangement gives teachers greater flexibility in planning engaging and interesting lessons that use the available time to its greatest potential. Students in Grade 6 (Dalet) study Hebrew on Wednesdays with Cantor Barash, focusing on the Shabbat morning service as well as Torah and Haftarah trope (cantillation), and Judaic studies on Sunday.
We also offer special programs, including children’s choir, family education, Totpalooza, a congregational family retreat, and selected Shabbat services led by religious school students.
Contact Rabbi Jessica Barolsky, Director of Lifelong Learning, for more information, at 414-228-7545.
“Passport to Israel” provides funds for youth travel to israel
For those participating in Passport to Israel, it’s time to make your annual $150 contribution! It will be matched through contributions from CEEBJ and Federation, giving your child at least $2400 saved for a peer-group Israel trip! Please have your check turned in to the Lifelong Learning office by January 15. Interested in participating? Students are first eligible in third grade. If you have an eligible child and didn’t receive a letter (or did, but still have questions), call Rabbi Barolsky!