Religious School
The main goal of Beth Israel’s youth and education program is to ensure that our children emerge with a strong Jewish identity. We want them to love being Jewish, to have fun at Religious School and other Beth Israel activities, to learn about Judaism, and to feel part of a larger community. We also want their parents to grow in their love for Judaism and gain a greater knowledge of our traditions. Lastly, we want to foster intergenerational connections in order to help make the Beth Israel community a congregational family.
Our Religious School is based on these values. Our school is directed by an energetic, full-time educator who supervises dedicated volunteer teachers and madrichim, teenage student assistants.
Our School uses the Union for Reform Judaism Chai Curriculum. Each core level contains 27 complete one-hour classroom lessons in Torah, Avodah and G'milut Chasdadim plus family education lessons. The CHAI lessons follow a curriculum model known as "backward design," as outlined in the book Understanding by Design (UbD) by Wiggins and McTighe and published by the Associate for Supervison and Curriculum Development (ASCD). This approach, and that of the CHAI curriculum is designed so that student learning will go beyond the specific classroom activities and will reach a deeper enduring understanding, establishing the basis for later Jewish learning and living.
The curriculum is build on a set of overall Enduring Understandings constant pillars throughout our students years in religious school:
Torah
Torah is an ongoing dialogue between the text and its students.
Torah is real in our daily lives; it goes with us wherever we are.
Developing the skills to study Torah is essential to integrating Torah into our lives.
Avodah
Avodah is the work we do to find sacred connections to God, community, and self.
Engaging in the work of avodah can bring order, beauty, meaning and insight to our lives and our community.
G'milut Chasadim
We have a responsibility to perform personal acts of g'milut chasadim to make the world a better and holier place.
For more information about the URJ Chai Curriculum, please visit www.chai.urj.org
|
