Lifelong learning at Har Shalom-
Where every experience teaches you how to discover your Jewish self.
2011-2012 School Information
For information please contact the Religious School directly at religiousschool@harshalom.org
WWW: World-Wide Wrap, Sunday February 5, 2012:
Join the Religious School and the Men's Club as they together participate in the World-Wide Wrap on Sunday February 5th. The World-Wide Wrap is a tefillin awareness program encouraged by the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs. During this event we will observe the ancient tradition of putting on tefillin for the Sunday morning service at 9:00 am. The upper classes of our religious school will join the regular Sunday morning minyan. Men's Club members will lead the morning minyan and will assist the kids and any adults whose tefillin skills are rusty in the technique of laying tefillin. Please bring your tallit and tefillin, and join us for this worldwide acknowledgement of our religious heritage. Feel free to bring along your post-b’nai mitzvah children, if desired, and plan to stay for the Sunday brunch!!
About the Religious School
Har Shalom Religious School strives to provide students with a learning climate that fosters the development of their Jewish identity. Through varied learning experiences incorporating a multitude of learning styles and techniques, students will apply Jewish values and ethics to their daily lives and develop the skills and literacy needed to become an integral member of the Jewish community.
The general goals for the students of Har Shalom Religious School are:
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To motivate our students with a well-rounded Jewish education which includes rituals, heritage, values and religious practice;
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To provide our students with Hebrew literacy enabling them to become active participants in synagogue life;
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To allow our students to develop their own sense of Jewish identity.
The newly developed Har Shalom Religious School curriculum strives to achieve the following:
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To challenge our students using an approach that fosters creativity, use of multiple intelligence learning techniques and self-realization;
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To foster a greater in-depth understanding of Judaism – using a thematic, spiraled curriculum to build and expand their knowledge base;
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To promote a higher level of Hebrew – with the end goal of having students read fluently and not memorizing prayers, of understanding key words in the prayers and a better understanding of the prayer itself. Once reading proficiency is fully achieved, modern conversational Hebrew will be offered as well.
The curriculum uses a themed, spiral approach to curriculum development. This approach allows students to work on the same themes throughout their religious school education with age-appropriate materials and newer knowledge layers added each year. The themes that are incorporated into the curriculum include Israel, Torah, God/Ethics/Jewish Values, Hebrew, History (Primary grades K-2 will replace history with haggim and Jewish practice).
The Kindergarten through 2nd Grade program is open to families who may or may not be members of the congregation. Classes are held one day a week - on Sunday mornings from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.
The 3rd through 7th Grade program is for members of the congregation. Classes are held two days a week, on Sunday mornings from 9:00 am – noon and on Tuesday afternoons from 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm.
The 8th-10th Grade program is called “Kesher” and takes place on Sunday evenings from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. This innovative program will feature dinner to be followed by thematic learning modules on a variety of subjects and will incorporate the arts, the media, guest speakers and more. For 11th and 12th Grades, we offer a once-monthly post-confirmation program. The Kesher and post-confirmation programs are open to the wider Jewish community through a special arrangement with the Director of Congregational Learning.
For any further information or questions, please call the Religious School office at 301-299-7087 Ext. 228, or contact Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen, Director of Congregational Learning.
