Religious School Curriculum
Religious School Curriculum
Temple Sinai Religious School classes for Pre-kindergarten through ninth grade are held on Sunday mornings. Confirmation and Post Confirmation classes meet on Wednesday evenings. The staff consists of a Religious School Director, the Rabbi, teachers, and an art specialist. Hebrew classes are offered separately, and meet twice weekly on Sundays and Wednesdays (see description under Hebrew Curriculum).
Pre-K & K - First - Second - Third - Fourth - Fifth - Sixth - Seventh - Eighth & Ninth (Gesher) - Tenth (Confirmation) - Eleventh & Twelfth (Post-Conf.)
PRE-KINDERGARTEN & KINDERGARTEN
At this level, the primary focus is to introduce the children to all the holidays - their observances, symbols, and customs - through songs, games, and arts and crafts projects. Challah
and juice are provided for a Shabbat celebration each Sunday. Holidays are introduced by a sensory approach, so that the children can relate to the holidays personally. Children also study the concept of Tzedakah and its importance in Jewish tradition.
Students use "Let's Discover Holidays" Fall and Spring packets to enhance their learning.
Students participate in the Matzah Factory Workshop.
FIRST GRADE
The first grade class studies in greater depth all of the holidays of the Jewish year. The origins, customs, values, Mitzvot, foods, and songs associated with each holiday are presented. The children gain an understanding of the history of the holidays and ceremonial observances in the synagogue and home.
Students use:
- "Let's Discover Holidays" Fall and Spring packets
- "Building Jewish Life". Students participate in the Matzah Factory Workshop.
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SECOND GRADE
In this grade level the students use the Chai curriculum which was developed by the Union of Reform Judaism. The "Learning for Jewish Life" curriculum goal is to enable students to draw direct connections between Torah study and their lives. This curriculum helps the students to understand that Torah study is a lifelong and ongoing process.
Students discuss several issues during the year, for example:
- Who wrote the Torah?
- How do we know that God exists?
- Did God create the World?
Students use Level 2 of ”Learning for Jewish Life" curriculum.
Students participate in the Matzah Factory Workshop.
THIRD GRADE
In the third grade, the students continue studying from the Chai curriculum. Its educational initiative addresses Jewish learning as a lifelong pursuit. The sessions enhance the student's ability to grow as a Jewish teen and adult. It provides the framework within which Jews build their relationship with God, with one another, and with the world. The approach in teaching the students this curriculum ensures that students' learning goes beyond the specific classroom activities and leads to deeper understanding of Jewish learning and living.
Students use Level 3 of "Learning For Jewish Life".
All students participate in the Havdallah Workshop.
FOURTH GRADE
Discussions about our relationship with God, how to help other Jews around the world, and how to take care of our world are just a few of the topics that the students encounter in the fourth grade. It is the third year of students’ learning from the Chai curriculum, which was developed by the Union of Reform Judaism. This curriculum provides our students with the tools to examine a wide variety of Jewish values in our world. This curriculum is challenging to students, yet it ensures effectiveness in learning the intended concepts.
The students use Level 4 of "Learning For Jewish Life".
All students and parents participate in a workshop of "The Shofar Factory" and bring home their own Shofar.
FIFTH GRADE
Students in fifth grade begin to explore the Torah through class discussions from Genesis and into Exodus. These class discussions introduce Jewish values and ethics on an age-appropriate level. Through this study, the students have a sense of connection to Jewish life, culture, and tradition.
The lessons consist of an overall view of the Torah and how to apply its lessons to everyday life. The lessons include study of text, lecture, and discussion, as well as enrichment of each lesson through art and games.
The students use the "Chumash" as their text.
All students participate in the "Olive Press" workshop in which they learn the process of making olive oil.
SIXTH GRADE
In this grade level we make Israel and its history meaningful to the students who are growing up outside the land of Israel.
The students learn the story of the Jewish people and their homeland from the biblical period through statehood in 1948, to the Camp David accords and later agreements with neighboring Arab states. The students engage in discussions about the current situation in Israel and the history of the Intifada. They learn the importance of Israel to Jews around the world as a symbol, a refuge, and a homeland.
Students study from "A Young Person's History of Israel" by David Bamberger.
All students participate in the Tallit Workshop which enhances their understanding of why Jews wear Tallit.
SEVENTH GRADE
This year-long study of the Holocaust includes class discussions, photographs, maps, and other artifacts of the concentration camps. The study is designed to help the students recognize that hatred and prejudice are aspects of human nature which stem from fear and insecurity. It provides the students with the opportunity to explore the spiritual challenges that people face after traumatic experiences. It helps the students to understand the horrors of the Holocaust, while exploring ethical issues of right and wrong and good and evil.
Students use the "Diary of Anne Frank", "Shadows Of The Holocaust", "The Holocaust - A History of Courage and Resistance", and the critical reading - "Don't Believe Everything You Read".
Students have a guest speaker (often a Holocaust survivor) to share his/her experience and knowledge.
EIGHTH GRADE and NINTH GRADE
The students in these grade levels participate in Gesher Houston. This exciting program is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, and consists of six congregations of suburban Houston and Beaumont. Gesher Houston provides the students with a gesher ("Bridge" in Hebrew) to Jewish adulthood by offering a new way to experience religious school.
The students learn from a curriculum that is specially designed to stimulate their exploration of what being Jewish means to them. In addition to studying the curriculum at their own synagogues, the students from all the Gesher congregations join together four times during the year for special community gatherings or Kallot. The Kallot provide a larger community of peers for these students from smaller congregations; peers who are wrestling with the same issues and questions about Judaism.
The two components of the Gesher program are designed to complement each other. Each Kallah explores subjects that have recently been or are about to be discussed in class. The result is that the classroom materials prepare the students for the upcoming Kallah.
All students use Gesher materials for their curriculum
Eighth Grade Gesher Houston
The eighth grade curriculum is composed of three units:
Unit 1: The Community and My Role focuses on the concept of community. As Jews we are commanded to be responsible members of a community. During this section of the course our students explore their relationships with their classmates, their families, and their friends.
Unit 2: Jewish Ethics and Values - Why Should I be Good? focuses on the Ten Commandments as a guide to how one should behave. The materials presented during this part of the course don’t teach the students what to do, but rather they help the students develop a personal way to make ethical decisions.
In Unit 3: Social Action - What Good Can I Do? the principles that the students have learned are put into practice. We apply Jewish ethics and values to contemporary issues. Some of the issues we cover include: the ecology, euthanasia, addiction, abortion, and Tzedakah. The students are also involved in a Social Action project of their own design.
Ninth Grade Gesher Houston
The ninth grade curriculum is composed of four units:
Unit 1: Jewish Identity - A Personal Journey focuses on the concept of identity. The students examine the influences of their community, their country, and the world on their individuality, and on their Jewish Identity.
Unit 2: Jews Among the Nations asks the questions "Who are you? What do you think? What are your concerns? How do you express your Jewish Identity?”. The students are then challenged to answer these most basic questions about being Jewish.
Unit 3: Confronting Our Past, Facing Our Present - Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust presents the students with the roots of stereotyping, prejudice, racism, and anti-Semitism. They examine how these attitudes can manifest themselves in very hurtful and destructive ways. They then trace how prejudice and racism are connected to the Holocaust.
Unit 4: Israel - Land, People, or State? examines the roots of our existence. The students start with the promise made to Abraham and Sarah that the Jews would be given the land of Canaan as a homeland. The students then explore how it was that our people entered and possessed this land, were later exiled from this land, and eventually returned to it in the 20th Century.
TENTH GRADE -CONFIRMATION CLASS
Confirmation class is taught by Rabbi Belford. The students spend time exploring different theologies. They begin the course by defining the "traditional" view of God as expressed by the Sages - the idea that God is an external being who is all powerful, all knowing, and all good. Then they look critically at the implications of this traditional view focusing particularly on the concept of "theodicy", which posits that a God who is all good, all knowing and all powerful would not tolerate the existence of evil.
Students view clips from modern movies and television shows which portray God in different ways. Then they connect the different theologies to Talmudic stories and commentaries which help them understand them in Jewish context.
The students are confirmed on Shavuot in a special ceremonial service.
ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH GRADE - POST CONFIRMATION
Post Confirmation class consists of 11th and 12th grades. Students meet every other Wednesday from 6:45 - 8:00 pm. The students have the opportunity to study together, to socialize, to listen to speakers on different topics, and participate in discussions. At the beginning of each session, they enjoy dinner together.
The topics and speakers vary. Students have three sessions on "Being A Jewish Student In College" and the challenges they might face. In three sessions they explore issues about "Israel", its history and the challenges and problems facing the people of Israel. Students learn about the different Jewish organizations that are available in the Houston area and their functions.
