education – 7th grade

Today in class we worked on:

10/9:

  1. We began the day with an all school t’fillah in our CBA sanctuary.  As part of the t’fillah, we talked about what makes our sanctuary space unique.
  2. Then we broke into 6 round robin rotations by grade:
    1. An ice breaker to get to know our classmates better
    1. Sukkah visit: with Rabbi Bellows where we shook the lulav & etrog
    1. Movement: Practicing reading/saying the words lulav and etrog by playing duck, duck, goose with the words lulav, etrog
    1. Craft: Talking about ushpizin (sukkot guests) and which ushpizin we want to spend time with this week of Sukkot.  Their ideas were turned into sukkah decorations.
    1. Building: we studied one of the original rabbinic texts (Mishnah Sukkah 1:1) about the Sukkah construction and then built a sukkah with either Legos, Lincoln logs, or designed them with colored pencils.
    1. Sukkot Brachot: We studied the traditional 3 Sukkot brachot, and then wrote our own creative ones based on the traditional themes.
  3. We all came back together for an all school shira in the sanctuary
  4. After shira we met with the mother and sister of Zac, who started Zac’s Zoo.  Our learners had lots of great questions for them and were clearly inspired by this project.
    1. The project continues thru Sukkot & Simchat Torah which is Tuesday, October 18th.  Our learners set the goal of bringing in 100 new stuffed animals.  Thank you to our 7th grader, Hayden Kidd who brought this project to Beth Am.

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Next week, Religious School returns to JCYS
  2. Please remember tzedakah.

Today in class we worked on:
9/21-
1) We enjoyed an all-school t’fillah with Rabbi Prass where we heard the sound of the shofar for the month of Elul.
2) We discussed the difference between charity vs tzedakah. Charity is for the love of another and tzedakah is a commandment.
3) We continued brain storming tzedakah organizations for the entire congregation. We did stump the rabbi asking Rabbi Prass various questions about Jewish ‘stuff’
4) We shared that while sitting at Rosh Hashanah worship and meals is not the same high as six flags, what is worth celebrating during the holiday
5) Rabbi Prass brought in 10 shofarot, and we had a Hebrew school band learning how to sound the shofar.
Homework to be completed by next class:
9/21-
1) Practice reading Hebrew aloud for at least 15 minutes each day. Try to focus on dialogue in chapter 1 of your Hebrew book and we will begin studying it next week.
2) Also bring in ideas for a class tzedakah project for the year and ideas for synagogue projects for the next couple of months.

Today in class we worked on:
9/14-
1) Today was our first day of Hey/7th grade together!
2) We discussed the passage and song from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Ancestors) that states the world rests on three things: Torah, Prayer/Service, and Acts of Loving Kindness. We talked about what that means, why it would be considered important, and what it has to do with our first semester studies of tzedakah and tikun olam.
3) Students will be working together to select tzedakah projects for the Synagogue for each of the next 3 months, as well as learning about why tzedakah is important in Judaism, learning about the impact of poverty and hunger on people, and more.
4) We also began working on conversational Hebrew with a review game of letters and sounds.
5) Great class – looking forward to a wonderful year.
Homework to be completed by next class:
9/14-
1) Practice reading Hebrew aloud for at least 15 minutes each day. Try to focus on dialogue in chapter 1 of your Hebrew book and we will begin studying it next week.
2) Also bring in ideas for a class tzedakah project for the year and ideas for synagogue projects for the next couple of months.