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Kindergarten through Seventh Grade Curriculum

At Temple Isaiah, we seek to give all of our children and their families a living experience of the Jewish tradition and to enable all members of our community to be a part of contemporary Jewish life. We aim to connect our children and their families with the ongoing creative life of the Jewish people. We aspire to provide our students with the tools to understand the Jewish past while being inspired and empowered to create a Jewish life that is committed to tikkun olam. The philosophy and atmosphere of our Religious School calls for our teachers to instill in our students a love of the Jewish tradition and the study of Torah, along with an openness to the questioning that our tradition encourages. Overall our goal is for our children, families, and all members of our community to be challenged, exhilarated, and energized by the power of Jewish ideas and traditions.

Note: Mitkadem is a self-paced Hebrew & prayer program that includes vocabulary, grammar, reading/chanting fluency, and an exploration of the meaning of each prayer. Mitkadem is introduced in 3rd grade and continues through 6th grade.

Kindergarten

Curriculum Focus

  • Holidays: HOW & WHAT of Jewish holiday celebrations
  • Special Focus: Shabbat
  • Hebrew reading readiness: Aleph Bet
  • Shema unit: Exploring listening & ideas about God

Family Education & Programs

  • “B’ruchim Ha’baim” (Welcome to Kindergarten) Family Orientation
  • Consecration Dinner & Ceremony (w/Simchat Torah celebration)
  • Bedtime Sh’ma Workshop
  • Shoshi the Shabbat Bear


First Grade

Curriculum Focus

  • Holidays: WHO of Jewish holiday stories & home-based rituals / observance
  • What is a Jewish Home?
  • Hebrew reading readiness: Aleph Bet
  • Introduction to Modern Conversational Hebrew
  • Modeh Ani unit: “Thank you God…”

Family Education & Programs

  • Mezzuzah Workshop
  • Jewish Home Project


Second Grade

Curriculum Focus

  • Holidays: WHY of Jewish Holidays & synagogue-based rituals/observance
  • Jewish Community: Discovering the synagogue & Judaism outside the home
  • Hebrew reading readiness: Letter recognition (Pre-Primer)
  • Bar’chu Unit: Call & Response

Family Education & Programs

  • Chanukah: Advertise the Miracle Project
  • Purim: Scroll of Esther Workshop
  • Jewish Name Project


Third Grade

Curriculum Focus

  • Torah Exploration & Interpretation (Genesis)
  • I Have Some Questions about God

Hebrew Program

  • Blessing for Torah study
  • Decoding & Phonetic Hebrew Reading (Primer)
  • Introduction to Mitkadem Hebrew Program

Family Education & Programs

  • God, Miracles, and Chanukah
  • Passover Workshop: Putting the “Seder” into your Seder


Shira: 4th-6th Grade Music Track

Visit our Shira page for more information.
Curriculum Focus

  • Jewish Music: History, Holidays, Prayer, and Torah
  • Jewish Music in Israel & Around the World
  • Nusach & Cantillation
  • Jr Choir participation

Hebrew Program

  • “Same as grade-level” (see below)

Family Education & Programs

  • Attend at least 2 Jewish music events in the Bay Area
  • Junior Choir participation at got shabbat? services
  • Shira Jewish Music Fair
  • Optional: Participation in grade-level programs


Fourth Grade

Curriculum Focus

  • “From Egypt to Israel”: A Study of Exodus through Deuteronomy
  • Exploration of the land and people of Israel
  • My Israel Connection (Pen-Pal program)

Hebrew Program

  • Mitkadem: B’rachot, Kiddush, Torah blessings
  • Bonus: Bar’chu / Yotzer Or / Ma’ariv Aravim, Ahavat Olam / Ahavah Rabbah, Mi Chamocha

Family Education & Programs

  • Tu B’shevat Seder
  • Family Journey: “From Egypt to Israel”


Fifth Grade

Curriculum Focus

  • Jewish History
  • Edot: One People, Many Faces
  • Siddur Focus: From Temple to Synagogue

Hebrew Program

  • Mitkadem: Sh’ma / V’ahavta, Mi Chamocha, Avot v’Imahot
  • Bonus: G’vurot, Shalom Rav / Sim Shalom / Oseh Shalom, Amidah Overview
  • Additional Hebrew Units: Pictographs vs. Alphabet, Shorashim, & Letters as Numbers

Family Education & Programs

  • The Shape of Jewish Time: A Parent/Student Workshop
  • Gold Rush Field Trip
  • Ashkenazi Shabbat Seder
  • Crypto-Jewish Seder
  • Edot Fair
  • Family Learners’ Service


Sixth Grade

Curriculum Focus

  • Jewish Heroes in History & their Values
  • Family Heroes & their Values
  • The Jewish Life Cycle
  • Siddur Focus: The Torah Service

Hebrew Program

  • G’vurot, Kaddish / Chatzi Kaddish, Haftarah blessings
  • Bonus: Shabbat K’dusha / V’shamru, Aleinu, Torah service

Family Education & Programs

  • Family Learner’s Service
  • Shabbaton
  • Heroes Café
  • Family Reunion


Seventh Grade

The seventh grade curriculum at Temple Isaiah consists of five components: B’nai Mitzvah University, Weekday Religious School, Sunday Mitzvah Corps, Seventh Grade Fund, and the youth group, Anachnu.  Dan Lange is our Youth Director and Seventh Grade Coordinator and can be reached at (925) 284-9191 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you have any questions.

B’NAI MITZVAH UNIVERSITY is designed so that the B’nai Mitzvah process includes parents and creates a close community of families who are experiencing the same life cycle event. The program encourages parents and their 7th graders to discuss the meaning of becoming Bar/Bat Mitzvah, engage in dialogue about the nature of prayer and mitzvot, and delve into deeper levels of Torah interpretation.  This year our parent, student & clergy sessions will take place during Religious School on Sunday, October 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th.  Rabbi Forrest, Rabbi Shanks, and Rabbi Graetz will be involved in teaching these sessions along with the 7th Grade teaching staff. At least one parent is required to attend these sessions with his/her 7th grader.

WEEKDAY RELIGIOUS SCHOOL classes are devoted to examining what it means to be a young Jew in today’s world. We’ll do this through study of our collective past (primarily focusing on the Holocaust) and through a study of comparative religion, examining Judaism in relation to other world religions. In preparation for becoming Bar/Bat Mitzvah, students will also participate in a weekly prayer service led by Cantor Korn. This service includes central prayers from Shabbat morning worship and discussions of the prayers’ meanings. 

SUNDAY MITZVAH CORPS teams (i.e. Sunday Classes) will go off site every other session beginning in December to give students the opportunity to engage in social action projects throughout the Bay Area. The week before going on a community service project, students will study the specific mitzvah that they will be fulfilling with that project.

THE SEVENTH GRADE FUND is an exciting program that helps Temple Isaiah’s students actively learn about philanthropy and take part in Tikkun Olam through Tzedakah.  The Fund was initiated by the Seventh Grade class of 1998-1999, when students agreed to forego buying each other Bar and Bat Mitzvah gifts.  Instead, each family chose to donate the money that would have been spent on these gifts into the Fund.  With matching grants from individuals and foundations, the class established itself as a charitable foundation.  The class then engaged in a short term grant giving cycle, which included learning about philanthropy, choosing an issue, researching potential grant recipients, and distributing all of the collected money to social service organizations.  Each seventh grade class since then has had an opportunity to discuss and vote on its participation in this voluntary program at the beginning of the seventh grade year.

OUR SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADE YOUTH GROUP, Anachnu, adds an informal component to our students’ Jewish experience. We seek to create a supportive community of adolescents who are committed to each other, the Temple community, and the Jewish tradition. All students in seventh grade will receive mailings about all Anachnu programs.
Save the date now for our annual LA Trip – January 14th - 17th, 2011!
Click here for more information about the Anachnu LA Trip.