Education – 6th Grade (Wurtzel)

10/6: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week
  2. Discussion about prayers and the meanings they have now that we are 1 year since October 7th – connection to how this effects our values as Jews and how might our values have changed in the last year (if they have). 
  3. At Shira, Morah Alexa taught 4th – 6th graders new songs for the High Holiday season that will be sung at the Youth Services here at Beth Am, as well as a Debbie Friedman variation of Oseh Shalom Beemromov.
  4. Class Discussion about what values we will portray for our final group project in 3 weeks.
  5. 4th – 6th grade gathered for Tefilla led by Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa.  We talked about what we can do when things are open, and what we can’t do when they are closed.  Rabbi Prass reminded us that on Rosh Hashanah, the Gates of Heaven are open and our prayers are extra heard thru Yom Kippur’s neilah service.  We continued to hear the call of the shofar. We also recalled the tragic events of October 7, 2023.

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/29: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week.  Some of the things shared were: passing a quiz, having a good game in a sport, something family related.
  2. We continued our discussion about Jewish Values
  3. 4th – 6th Grade gathered for Shira. Morah Alexa taught us new songs for the High Holiday season that will be sung at services here at Beth Am.
  4. Class Discussion about “”What Would You Do?” – The students created their own situations where Morals/Values would be compromised. They shared out with the class and we discussed what we would do and why.
  5. Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa led 4th – 6th grade inTefilla. Rabbi Prass got us all in the spirit of the upcoming High Holiday season and the new year of 5785 by blowing the Shofar; additionally. we expressed our hopes for things to be  better in 5785!
  6. L’Shanah Tovah – Have A Great Start To 5785

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/22: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week (passing a quiz, having a good game in a sport, something family related).
  2. Class Discussion about “”What Would You Do?” I gave them each 2 situations and what they would do in that situation based upon their values.
  3. At Shira, Morah Alexa taught 4th – 6th grade new songs for the High Holiday season.
  4. The students all worked together to complete a scavenger hunt to get to know our physical Sunday learning spaces, our wonderful Sunday staff, and how their work makes us feel.  We will be sharing the answers out next week once all the classes have completed it. Ask your student about it!
  5. Start a Discussion about Values of Judaism
  6. At Tefilla, 4th – 6th grade joined together with Morah Alexa and Rabbi Prass. Rabbi Prass got us all in the spirit of Chodesh Elul by blowing the Shofar. 

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/15: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week (passing a quiz, having a good game in a sport, something family related). This was a great icebreaker and roundtable for everybody to share some good news from the past week.
  2. Class Discussion about “What are Values?”
  3. Started Worksheet about 5 Values you have and why they are your values
  4. 4th – 6th grade joined together in Shira led by Morah Alexa
  5. Shared and Discussed with classmates about what we value.
  6. Discussed how I can connect my values to Judaism
  7.  Gan –  6th grade joined in our first Sunday t’fillah of the school year led by Morah Alexa and Rabbi Prass.  We talked about where we “find inspiration for our own words” and how silence helps us find other inspiration.  Rabbi Prass shared two rabbinic stories, and a Ringo Starr story about this.   

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/8: Today in class we worked on:

  1. We enjoyed an Opening Ceremony, with all the grades together, Morim & Madrichim, Rabbi Bellows, and Rabbi Prass. We reenacted Mt Sinai by each kitah (class) sitting in the large circle to pretend we were encircling Mt Sinai.  Then we chose 2 people from each class to go closer to the middle of Mt Sinai to do some running for a scavenger hunt.  Morah Alexa led us as we sang blessings and we ended with a streamer/confetti burst to kick off our Torah learning party of a year!  It was great to have so many parents join us.  Pictures of the kickoff can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=BethAmBuffaloGrove&set=a.906074391552343
  2. Introductions (Name, School We Attend, 1 Hobby We Have, Why Are You Here?)
  3. Rules and Formalities in our classroom.
  4. Rock – Paper – Scissors – Move: If you won a game, you added a thought to the sheet about what you thought of with that topic. Topics were our 4 units we will discuss in class (Values, Prophets, Comparative Judaism, Comparative Religion).
  5. Discussion of what was written and how all of these topics are intertwined.
  6. 4th – 6th grade joined together with Morah Alexa for shira.
  7. On the way out, each of us were offered a popsicle both to hold onto summer weather, and to begin our Torah learning with some sweetness.

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A