Lower School Judaics
Our first grade is focused on learning Ivrit as the building block for Hebrew Language Acquisition and all of our Judaic studies. Through reading, writing, speaking and listening students begin to gain the skills necessary for language proficiency. We first focus on learning how to read and write the alphabet in print and in script. Students build their Hebrew vocabulary with words relating to the times of the year, school, and home life. Through games and activities, we begin to speak in Hebrew using short sentences and basic verb conjugations. We meet in reading group to strengthen comprehension, reading, and conversational skills.
Building on these skills prepares the students for the excitement of the Chagigat Siddur. Learning new Tefillot through reading and understanding prepares our students for this momentous life-cycle event.
Chumash - 2nd grade
The major highlight of the year is receiving our first Chumash. Nothing is more exciting than witnessing a child recognize the stories he has learned in the text itself, the Torah coming to life.
In their first year of learning Chumash, students study three parshiyot - Beresheet, Noach and Lech Lecha. We will study the main story of the text and begin to develop our Chumash vocabulary. Students will learn to read the pesukim from the Chumash independently, and learn to find the perek and passuk in their own Chumashim. We connect the pesukim to our daily lives discuss the personal relevance of the Torah to each of us.
- To navigate the Chumash
- To learn the story from the text
- To develop Chumash grammar and vocabulary
- To develop the ability to ask thought provoking questions
Chumash - 3rd grade
Throughout the year, students build their skills as Torah learners by examining common roots of words, prefixes and suffixes. Students also identify and consider the morals and values in each story and consider how these values relate to the present-day.
To further the development of our higher order thinking skills, we will learn how to read Rashi script and practice that skill by studying select Rashi commentaries. While learning these commentaries, students begin to analyze the text utilizing higher order thinking skills by closely reading the text and looking for unusual words, missing words, and/or extra words
At the end of the year the students will be able to:
- Read pesukim with fluency
- Identify morals and values in stories
- Identify common root words, prefixes, and suffixes
- Read Rashi script
Chumash - 4th grade
In the fourth grade we continue to shape our Torah knowledge by developing stronger skills to gain a deeper understanding of the texts we study. We engage in discussion about the journeys, trials and tribulations of our ancestors and the lessons we learn from them. We explore Rashi's commentary beginning to understand the deeper levels of the texts we study.
Throughout the year we will work toward the following goals in our Chumash studies:
- We will decode the Pesukim (verses) of the text
- We will develop the ability to ask questions from the text
- We will begin to understand Rashi, his questions and answers