First Grade

The first grade class builds on the foundation presented in kindergarten. The goal is to help the children understand and begin to personalize the Jewish aspects of their lives. We do this by exploring various themes of Jewish life:

Jewish Holidays - The holidays and ways in which Jewish people celebrate them continue to be presented in a variety of fun and entertaining ways; stories, songs, music, dance, crafts, handouts, field trips, etc. The holidays are explored through class discussion and experiential learning. The relevance of Shabbat is discussed at length.

Biblical Characters and Bible Stories - Bible stories are integrated into the context of Jewish Holidays.

Aleph bet - The Hebrew letters introduced in Kindergarten are reviewed. The children learn to recognize, recite and write the aleph bet, sequentially.

Hebrew Vocabulary - Various Hebrew words are incorporated into the classroom vocabulary. The students learn to recognize and recite basic words such as colors, numbers to 14, days of the week, months of the year, etc.

Blessings- The children learn to recite basic blessings for Shabbat (candles, wine bread), Havdalah (candle, spices), Chanukah (candles) and Passover (4 questions).

Talmud Torah (Jewish Learning) - The children learn to understand Jewish Ethical Teachings. The students learn that a lasting commitment to Jewish learning can be a source of meaning and connection. Through classroom discussions and activities such as role-playing the students begin to personalize these themes. Specifically, these values include mitzvot (commandments) such as tzadakah (righteous giving), ma’achil re’eivim (feeding those who are hungry), Derech Eretz (treating people with respect), and visiting the sick.

Texts and Teacher Resources:

• Let’s Discover the Synagogue
• Let’s Discover Mitzvot
• Let’s Discover Fall & Spring Holidays
• Let’s Discover Aleph Bet
• Let’s Discover the Bible