Download Curriculum PDFs or review our summaries of Pre-K through 8th Grade below.
Beth Chai Family School Curriculum – Overview
Beth Chai Curriculum – Hebrew – All School
K-1st Grade
2nd-3rd Grade Part 1; 2nd-3rd Grade Part 2
3rd-4th Grade
4th Grade
5th Grade
6th Grade; 6th Grade Alternate
The pre-school program meets twice a month. The children learn about Jewish holidays and selected Jewish stories through the use of games, music, crafts, picture books, and other age-appropriate learning tools.
Pre–school classes meet twice a month. The schedule is to be determined by the teacher and posted by September. All lessons use stories, games, crafts, dramatic play, and music to introduce the students to the holidays and classic Jewish stories listed below. In addition, the pre-school class has music with the music teacher every week.
Holidays:
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Simchat Torah, Shabbat, Chanukah, Martin Luther King Day, Tu B’Shevat, Purim, Passover, Yom Ha’Atzma’ut (Israeli Independence Day), Shavu’ot
Stories:
Creation
Noah’s Ark
David and Goliath
Jonah and the Whale
Something for Nothing
K/1 students review the holidays, with the lessons covering the subject in a bit more depth than in pre-school. They also do many hands-on projects. The projects and stories used are alternated each year so the students do not repeat the same activities two years in a row, even though the basic subject matter of the holidays remains the same. The teacher is to adjust depending on the age of the majority of the students. Interspersed with their holiday studies, the students will study some basic Jewish values embodied in the concept of Mitzvot (obligations). They will alternate a unit on life cycles with a unit on the Hebrew calendar.
Holidays:
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Hanukah, MLK Day, Tu B'Shevat, Purim, Sabbath, Passover, Israeli Independence Day, Shavuot
Mitzvot:
Tzedakah, Mitzvah of Caring for Animals, Mitzvah of Honoring Parents
Life-cycle events (in alternate years):
New baby/naming ceremonies, coming of age, marriage, death and mourning
The Hebrew Calendar (in alternating years):
The difference between the Jewish lunar calendar and the secular solar calendar, the names of the Hebrew months, which Jewish holiday comes in which Hebrew month, the seasons, and how the holidays fit into the seasons.
The 2/3 curriculum is a two-year course of study. The first year covers the early stories of our Jewish ancestors from Genesis through the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the receiving of the Ten Commandments. The students use the textbook The Illustrated Jewish Children’s Bible as a resource. This book contains a wealth of historical and anthropological material on a grade-appropriate level. For example, the students can see pictures of modern-day Bedouins who live much as our ancestors did. The stories are taught for the moral lesson they may have to impart, as well as for an understanding of our ancestors.
The second year extends the study of our ancestors to include life in ancient Israel under the monarchies, shtetl life, and some contemporary issues. Through the use of stories, the students investigate themes of courage, friendship, the value of wisdom, the difference between cleverness and wisdom, and foundational myths of the Jewish people. Some of the stories they read will tie in with each of the Jewish holidays throughout the year.
First-year Bible stories:
Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac and Rebecca, Esau and Jacob, Rachel, Joseph and his Brothers, Joseph in Egypt, Moses in the Bullrushes, Moses and The Burning Bush, Moses and Pharaoh, The Plagues, The Crossing of the Red Sea, The Ten Commandments.
Second-year stories:
Creation, Jonah, The Seven Good Years by I.L Peretz, If Not Higher by I.L Peretz, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba by Blu Greenburg and Linda Tarry, The Story of Chanukah by Marilyn Hirsch, Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco, Rosa by Nikki Giovanni, Queen Esther, David and Goliath, Saul Turns against David, David the Outlaw, The Story of Honi, The Tower of Babel. All Bible stories are from the Illustrated Jewish Children’s Bible unless otherwise noted.
In the 4th grade, the study shifts to a focus on history. The students are introduced to the life of their more recent ancestors — the immigrants from Eastern Europe. The primary text is a historical novel whose protagonist is just about their own age.
Topics:
Pale of Settlement — Shtetl Life
Immigration
Union movement
Zionism, early settlement of Israel (time permitting)
Resources:
Call Me Ruth by Marilyn Sachs, Fiddler on the Roof, Journey Through Jewish History by Seymour Rossel (Chapter 15: Jewish Life in Europe, Chapter 16: Uptown and Downtown, Chapter 18: The Birth of Zionism, and Chapter 19: The Jewish Nation Grows), Immigrant Kids, America, The Jewish Experience by Sondra Leiman (Chapter 9: Wave After Wave of People includes material on the Galveston, Texas, experiment and a bio of Rose Schneiderman in the Labor Movement section), Heroes of American Jewish History, A Young Person’s History of Israel by David Bamberger (Part Two: Early Zionism, Chapter 5: The Birth of a Dream, Chapter 6: One Man Changes History, and Chapter 7: To Build a Land), Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse.
We also make use of maps, both current and historical, and an audiotape, The Jewish Immigrant Experience in America, Songs and Stories by Joe Glazer.
Israel is the focus of studies for the year. The students learn about the geography of Israel, the early Zionist movements, Kibbutz life, daily life in Israel, and the current conflict. Methods include individual and group projects, simulations, games, and guest speakers.
Resources:
Our Land of Israel by Chaya Burstein, Welcome to Israel by Lilly Rivlin and Gila Gervirtz, Understanding Israel by Sol Scharstein, All About Israel by Sara Schachter and Sol Scharfstein, Passport to Israel, published by Torah Aura, Discover Israel, The Israel Travel Magazine, Ha’aretz online English edition.
The focus of the year is American Jewish History.
Overall themes include anti-Semitism, assimilation, and the contribution of Jews to American society. This year may also include a unit on the Holocaust, focusing on resistance and heroes.
History:
The first Jews in America, Jews in the Colonies, Jews in the Civil War, the slavery question, the mass immigration from Eastern Europe, Jews in the Civil Rights Movement
Contributions of Jews to American Culture:
In music, from Al Jolson to Leonard Bernstein and from Bob Dylan to the Beastie Boys. Comedians from the Marx Brothers to Adam Sandler. Hollywood producers, directors, and stars (and their original names). Science: Richard Feynman and immigrants such as Albert Einstein
Resources:
The two primary texts are: This Land of Liberty by Helene Schwartz Kenvin and Let Freedom Ring by Seymour Rossel. The class may also view clips from The Jazz Singer, read from the comics Two Fisted Science and Dignifying Science, listen to various music CDs, and call on other, related sources.
Methods include creating their own pictorial timeline of American Jewish history, plays, posters, and poems, as well as debating.
In the mitzvah year the curriculum is in two parts. Part I focuses on the question “What Does It Mean to Be Part of the Jewish People?” and Part II focuses on Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World).
Topics in Part I:
Overview of Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Jewish Foundational Myths, When Did the Jews Become a People?, the texts of the Jewish people (Torah and Talmud), overview of a traditional service, shared history, Jewish music, Jewish humor, and denominational definitions of who is a Jew.
Topics in Part II:
mitzvah (obligation), tzedek (justice), rachmanut (compassion), g’milut chasadim (acts of loving kindness), pikuach nefesh (saving a life), bal tashchit (do not destroy – protecting the environment), Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World).
Resources:
Talmud, Torah, newspaper articles, Torah Aura publications.
Parents receive a packet of the lesson plans and materials used.
This class deals with some of the difficult and eternal questions of being a human and a Jew: What is human nature? What are good and evil, and what role does each play in human life? What does it mean to be a good person? How should I live my life? Do Jewish tradition and culture have anything to teach? Texts include traditional and contemporary sources from both the Jewish and other traditions.
The overall goal of the all-school Hebrew curriculum is to introduce the community to a basic Hebrew vocabulary. This vocabulary represents a basic kind of Jewish knowledge. By becoming familiar with this vocabulary the students should feel comfortable in most Jewish settings. The goal is mastery of this basic vocabulary by the end of the year. In subsequent years, more words will be added.
These words are introduced at the beginning of each school day at the opening assembly. These will be “Words of the Week.” Generally, one or two words from each of three categories (conversational Hebrew, Jewish practice words, and Jewish value words) will be introduced each week. These words will be reinforced in the classroom and, hopefully, at home. The words learned will also form the basis of the Hebrew reading program in grades K - 5.