Overview of the Academic Program by Grade

Ganon: preschool, 3-4 years old

Time 10:15 am -12:15 pm, two Shabbats a month
Program:

• Music or Tot Shabbat with Rene Boni
• Snack - Challah and juice provided by families on a rotating basis.

Kitot Gan (K), Aleph (1), and Bet (2)

Time 9:30-12:30 every Shabbat
Program

• Shabbat morning services
• Challah and juice provided by families on a rotating basis
• Music and Art on a regular basis
• Major themes:
  Gan - Survey of Judaism through Torah
  Aleph - Torah, Holidays, Aleph/Bet (Hebrew Alphabet)
  Bet - Jewish Values, Israel, Aleph/Bet with vowels

Kitot Gimmel (3), Daled (4), and Hey (5)

Time 9:30 am -12:30 pm every Shabbat for Judaics 4:15-6:15 pm Wednesdays for Hebrew.
Program

• Participation in age-appropriate services led by Sue Marx (Shabbat) and Hazzan Rachel on Wednesdays
• Music and Art on a regular basis
• Major themes:
  Gimmel - Understanding God from a Reconstructionist point of view, Prophets and Writing
  Daled - Israel, Book of Genesis and life cycles
  Hey - History (Middle Ages to Present) and Jewish Ethics

Kitot Vav (6), and Zayin (7)

Time 10:00 am -12:30 pm every Sunday for Judaics & 4:15-6:15 pm Wednesdays for Hebrew.
Program

• Students participate in age-appropriate Minyanim (services) led by David Silberman on Sundays and Hazzan Rachel Epstein on Wednesday afternoons.
• Each student in these grades is expected to attend at least six Shabbat services in their entirety over the course of the school year.
• There will be two scheduled times when these classes will be expected to attend regular Shabbat morning services and join their teachers in the library for a Torah discussion.
• Kitah Vav (6) will go to Ellis Island in the fall for a class trip to reinforce their learning; Kitah Zayin will go on a class field trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., in the early winter, to reinforce their learning.
• Major themes for these grades are:
  Vav - We were strangers: American Jewish Experience and Book of Exodus
  Zayin - Holocaust, Israel, Torah Study and Jewish lifecycle

Enrichment for 8th graders (with Sam Book)

Time 7:30 - 9:00 pm every Monday
Program

• The students learn Hebrew Israeli style. They learn to read from the Siddur and learn the modern-day spoken language.
• They explore Reconstructionist Jewish Values within one of Judaism's oldest and most sacred texts by studying Pirkei Avot in Hebrew and English.

Kitah Chet (8)

Time 10:30 am -12:30 pm, two Sundays a month
Program

• Attendance at Shacharit services from 10:00-10:30 am is optional.
• The major themes for this curriculum include comparative Judaism, comparative religion and periodic art/cooking projects to enhance their learning. Additional dates for Tikkun Olam projects and a weekend trip will be announced.

K'nafayim or "Wings" (Grades 8-12)

Time 6:45 - 8:30 pm on the first and third Wednesdays each month
Program

• Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb and Rabbi George Driesen teach K'nafayim.
• The students have decided on the weekly topics, which include comparative religion and comparative Judaism; ethical and moral issues for teens; current events, politics, social justice and the environment; Israel; and Judaism for adulthood.