Grades 6 and 7 – Kitah Vav and Gesher Update
Posted on November 8, 2017
This past week has been a busy week for Grades 6 and 7!
Sunday: Grade 6
On Sunday, Grade 6 focused on furthering their Hebrew prayer curriculum, learned about the Prophet Gideon, and continued their Boston-Haifa projects with Temple Israel’s Shinshin (Israel fellow), Bar.
Special Project of Note: HebrewStudents were introduced to their Homework Calendar, that they will be using throughout the rest of the year, following in the same model as previous years. During the month of November, we are working on the “Hatzi Kaddish” prayer, that every student will recite during their bar/bat mitzvah.
Each Sunday, we will be introduced to the lines that we are responsible for practicing that week. Every night, only 1 new line will be introduced, and each line has around 2 – 4 words.
Please sign your student’s calendar every day that they read and practice.
On the top of every page (both prayer pages and the calendar), there is a QR code that is linked to Cantor Ken chanting this tefilla. My google voice is on the calendar as well: students are asked to call the google voice once a week to recite these lines (the days to call are written on the calendar).
Each student also has an incentive chart and when they fill up their chart (by competing HW, calling Google Voice and getting lines signed-off), they will each a small treat.
Tuesday/Wednesday
On Tuesday and Wednesday, 6th and 7th grade continued the B’nai Telem Curriculum. We begun class with the afternoon prayer service, specially led by Rabbi Liben. We then returned to our classroom for a special program on Judaism and Poverty, and concluded by splitting into the 6th grade troupe class with Cantor Ken, and 7th grade program with Katie.
Special Program of Note
This week’s B’nai Telem program was particularly exciting and noteworthy. To start the class, we wrote various numbers on the board, and guessed what types of items could cost the different amounts. Ultimately, we learned that these numbers represented the official Poverty Line, as well as amounts that we might spend per person, per year. We then discussed how we might prioritize between things such as Food, Shelter, Clothing, Music, Sports, Electronics, Entertainment, and more. We walked around the room, discussing what we believed in common with our peers, and where we might differ, explaining how we prioritize the things most important to us.
Finally, we discussed that we are not commenting on the politics of our community, rather are learning what we (as Jews, as well as Middle Schoolers) can do in the community around us. We discussed that Judaism has a special approach to discussing these issues, and left motivated to learn and make a difference together.
I was in awe at the quality of these discussions. Our students were really motivated and engaged in these conversations, leaving me extremely positive about their ability and drive to make a difference.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with (and learn from) your students this week!