Education – 6th Grade (Wurtzel)

12/15: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Today was Yom Chanukah! It was great to see so many of our learners in ‘Chanukah swag’
  2. We began in our assigned classrooms where each grade divided into teams and came up with their own team names based on chanukah themes.
  3. Then we gathered for an all school t’fillah led by Morah Alexa, Rabbi Bellows, and Rabbi Prass. We talked about Chanukah and how the prayers connected to our upcoming festival of Chanukah. Rabbi Bellows shared how Chanukah means dedication and that we need to give thought to rededicating ourselves to many of today’s challenges and not giving up on them.
  4. Then we divided up by grade and the teams we created for 4 stations of “13 Minute to Win It activities”.  We will share out some of their work in the days to come. The stations were:
    • Chanukah is about HEROES with Moreh David.  We looked at the Chanukah story and thought about the heroes in the Chanukah story, Israeli heroes, our own heroes, and ways that we can be heroes.
    • Chanukah is about LIGHTS with Morah Wilgus.  We talked about the Chanukah rituals, where we have lights in Chanukah, What we can do to create light.
    • Chanukah has Dreidels with Morah Rachel & Mr & Mrs. Popper. Our congregants brought in some of their 250 dreidel collection to share.
    • Chanukah Write-Pass-Write with Morah Kaufman. We retold the Chanukah story in creative contemporary formats.
  5. We then gathered back together for an all school shira led by Morah Alexa where we sang Chanukah songs.
  6. As we left Rabbi Bellows and Rabbi Prass handed out Chanukah Gelt and dreidels.

Homework to be completed by next class:

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12/8: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week
  2. Stayed as one group today and worked on one reading about one of the prophets (Elijah).
  3. Discussed what we knew about Elijah – Passover story, sign of the messiah
  4. Finished reading through the story and discussed as a group about how they prophet they read about would help solve our modern day problem of hunger.
  5. At Shira, Morah Alexa started to teach 4th – 6th grade songs for the upcoming festive holiday of Chanukah!
  6. Finally, 4th – 6th grade enjoyed Tefilla led by Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa!  Rabbi Prass began to remind us about Chanukah thru the lens of our prayers.

Homework to be completed by next class:

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11/24: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week
  2. Broke up into two groups and each group worked one reading about one of the prophets (Deborah or Isaiah).
  3. The 4th – 6th graders enjoyed Shira with Morah Alexa.
  4. Finished reading through the story and discussed as a group about how they prophet they read about would help solve our modern day problem of hunger.
  5. Each group shared about their prophet, who they were, how they became the prophet they were and what they got out of their story to believe their prophet can help solve hunger.
  6. Then, 4th – 6th students, and 4th grade parents gathered for t’fillah led by Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa.  At Tefilla, Rabbi Prass connected our limmud theme of Jewish history to each of the prayers in that each of the prayers connect to a snapshot in Jewish history.  Rabbi Prass again talked about the Jewish concept of saying Todah or gratitude as we draw closer to the US Holiday of Thanksgiving, as well as challenging everyone to help out at their homes with what was needed to pull off a festive holiday celebration!

Homework to be completed by next class:

  1. Have A Wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

11/17: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week
  2. Broke up into two groups and each group worked one reading about one of the prophets (Hannah or Solomon).
  3. At Shira, 4th – 6th grade enthusiastically joined with Morah Alexa and sang out some favorite numbers from our songster.
  4. Finished reading through the story and filled out a think sheet about how they prophet they read about would help solve our modern day problem of hunger.
  5. Each group shared about their prophet, who they were, how they became the prophet they were and what they got out of their story to believe their prophet can help solve hunger.
  6. 4th – 6th grade joined Rabbi Prass & Morah Alexa for t’fillah. Rabbi Prass talked about the Jewish concept of Hakatoret Ha-Tov or gratitude/recognizing the good as we draw closer to the US Holiday of Thanksgiving.  We also talked about our Jewish prayers in our t’fillah, and how they teach us to recognize the good by offering praise.

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

11/10: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week
  2. Rehearsed and filmed 2 of our 4 skits from our Middot unit.
  3. At Shira, we welcomed Morah Alexa back, who taught 4th – 6th grade new songs.
  4. Rehearsed and filmed the final two of our skits from the Middot unit.
  5. Had a discussion about what the final project of our Prophets unit will be and then discussed what our overarching modern day problem will be for our prophets to solve – hunger.
  6. Morah Alexa and Rabbi Prass led 4th – 6th grade in T’fillah.  Rabbi Prass talked about the attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam this past week, but stressed that since we have a Jewish country, Israel was able to successfully rescue everyone.  We compared the Israeli planes bringing the Israeli fans out of Amsterdam into safety in Israel like a modern day Mi Chamocha moment.

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

11/3: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week
  2. Opened our unit about the Prophets by asking the students to write down where we get our Jewish Values and then What is the Tanakh? Students were then asked to share with others in the class and then have a classroom discussion.
  3. At Shira, 4th – 6th grade enjoyed spending time with Morah Ari who was with us again this week.
  4. Now that we know where we get our values, and what the tanakh is, the students were asked to write down a prophet they remember and to summarize their story if they remember. They then shared with classmates and have a classroom discussion about these stories and what we can learn from these stories.
  5. Morah Ari & Rabbi Prass led 4th – 6th grade in T’fillah. Rabbi Prass stressed the importance of finding holiness, as Jews, in Chesvan.  We had the opportunity to debate if the Talmudic rabbis were right, that this is MarCheshvan (the bitterness of Cheshvan) because there are no holidays in this month OR if Rabbi Prass’ t-shirt was right, some modern rabbis love Cheshvan because it is a slower pace than the previous month of Cheshvan.

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

10/27: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week
  2. Broke up into two groups and started writing our scripts for the 4 skits we are going to be portraying
  3. At Shira, 4th – 6th grade welcomed Morah Ari back and enjoyed learning new songs from her.
  4. Finish Scripts For Filming on 11/10. Discussion about values and how our values can change or why our values change.
  5. 4th – 6th grade gathered again for Tefilla led by Morah Ari and Rabbi Prass.  Rabbi Prass led a discussion where we talked about transitioning away from the structured “Holiday Time” of 4 holidays in Tishrei as we go into the month of Mar Cheshvan where we just live out lives, as Jews, in “Ordinary Time” with Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh. Students also shared what makes them uncomfortable: structured time or unstructured time.

Homework to be completed by next class:

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10/20: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Today was a special day where all of K – 6th grade met at CBA instead of JCYS so we could spend time in the Sukkah.
  2. We began our session in the sanctuary.  We look around this room and talked about what makes a room “chol” Hebrew for secular, and what makes our sanctuary “kodesh”, Hebrew for holy.  The students shared answers like the Torah scrolls, Israeli flag, Jewish stars, and one 6th grader said the community. We then made Havdalah together, having some of our 6th graders hold the 3 symbols.
  3. From here the entire school broke into 4 stations/rotations focusing on Sukkot.  They were:
    • Sukkot Charades: Reviewing Sukkot topics by playing charades
    • Sukkot STEM: Learning about Sukkot through the lense of STEM questions
    • Sukkot Visits: We went out to the Sukkah with Rabbi Bellows, shook the Lulav/Etrog and talked about what middot (Character traits) we need to invite into the sukkah this year.
    • Paper chains with a 2023 twist:  We made paper chain decorations by writing the name of a hostage being held in Gaza on each piece of paper.
  4. The entire school gathered back in the sanctuary for Shira led by Morah Alexa.  There was a lot of Ruach (spirit!)
  5. Then Michael Greenwald, an associate Camp Director from OSRUI, came and we enjoyed a presentation from him on the amazing opportunities for fun, learning, and Jewish community from Reform Judaism Summer camp in Wisconsin.  The camp website is: OSRUI.  The Reform movement runs the following speciality camps:  6 Points Creative Arts Camp, 6 Points Sci Tech Camp, 6 Points Sports Academy,
  6. Lihitaot (good-bye)! See you next week back at JCYS!

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

10/6: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week
  2. Discussion about prayers and the meanings they have now that we are 1 year since October 7th – connection to how this effects our values as Jews and how might our values have changed in the last year (if they have). 
  3. At Shira, Morah Alexa taught 4th – 6th graders new songs for the High Holiday season that will be sung at the Youth Services here at Beth Am, as well as a Debbie Friedman variation of Oseh Shalom Beemromov.
  4. Class Discussion about what values we will portray for our final group project in 3 weeks.
  5. 4th – 6th grade gathered for Tefilla led by Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa.  We talked about what we can do when things are open, and what we can’t do when they are closed.  Rabbi Prass reminded us that on Rosh Hashanah, the Gates of Heaven are open and our prayers are extra heard thru Yom Kippur’s neilah service.  We continued to hear the call of the shofar. We also recalled the tragic events of October 7, 2023.

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/29: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week.  Some of the things shared were: passing a quiz, having a good game in a sport, something family related.
  2. We continued our discussion about Jewish Values
  3. 4th – 6th Grade gathered for Shira. Morah Alexa taught us new songs for the High Holiday season that will be sung at services here at Beth Am.
  4. Class Discussion about “”What Would You Do?” – The students created their own situations where Morals/Values would be compromised. They shared out with the class and we discussed what we would do and why.
  5. Rabbi Prass and Morah Alexa led 4th – 6th grade inTefilla. Rabbi Prass got us all in the spirit of the upcoming High Holiday season and the new year of 5785 by blowing the Shofar; additionally. we expressed our hopes for things to be  better in 5785!
  6. L’Shanah Tovah – Have A Great Start To 5785

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/22: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week (passing a quiz, having a good game in a sport, something family related).
  2. Class Discussion about “”What Would You Do?” I gave them each 2 situations and what they would do in that situation based upon their values.
  3. At Shira, Morah Alexa taught 4th – 6th grade new songs for the High Holiday season.
  4. The students all worked together to complete a scavenger hunt to get to know our physical Sunday learning spaces, our wonderful Sunday staff, and how their work makes us feel.  We will be sharing the answers out next week once all the classes have completed it. Ask your student about it!
  5. Start a Discussion about Values of Judaism
  6. At Tefilla, 4th – 6th grade joined together with Morah Alexa and Rabbi Prass. Rabbi Prass got us all in the spirit of Chodesh Elul by blowing the Shofar. 

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/15: Today in class we worked on:

  1. Tell Me Something Good – we started off by sharing one good thing that happened to us this week (passing a quiz, having a good game in a sport, something family related). This was a great icebreaker and roundtable for everybody to share some good news from the past week.
  2. Class Discussion about “What are Values?”
  3. Started Worksheet about 5 Values you have and why they are your values
  4. 4th – 6th grade joined together in Shira led by Morah Alexa
  5. Shared and Discussed with classmates about what we value.
  6. Discussed how I can connect my values to Judaism
  7.  Gan –  6th grade joined in our first Sunday t’fillah of the school year led by Morah Alexa and Rabbi Prass.  We talked about where we “find inspiration for our own words” and how silence helps us find other inspiration.  Rabbi Prass shared two rabbinic stories, and a Ringo Starr story about this.   

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A

9/8: Today in class we worked on:

  1. We enjoyed an Opening Ceremony, with all the grades together, Morim & Madrichim, Rabbi Bellows, and Rabbi Prass. We reenacted Mt Sinai by each kitah (class) sitting in the large circle to pretend we were encircling Mt Sinai.  Then we chose 2 people from each class to go closer to the middle of Mt Sinai to do some running for a scavenger hunt.  Morah Alexa led us as we sang blessings and we ended with a streamer/confetti burst to kick off our Torah learning party of a year!  It was great to have so many parents join us.  Pictures of the kickoff can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=BethAmBuffaloGrove&set=a.906074391552343
  2. Introductions (Name, School We Attend, 1 Hobby We Have, Why Are You Here?)
  3. Rules and Formalities in our classroom.
  4. Rock – Paper – Scissors – Move: If you won a game, you added a thought to the sheet about what you thought of with that topic. Topics were our 4 units we will discuss in class (Values, Prophets, Comparative Judaism, Comparative Religion).
  5. Discussion of what was written and how all of these topics are intertwined.
  6. 4th – 6th grade joined together with Morah Alexa for shira.
  7. On the way out, each of us were offered a popsicle both to hold onto summer weather, and to begin our Torah learning with some sweetness.

Homework to be completed by next class:

N/A