News from Kol Ami

Hebrew School is a little bit different this year!

Hebrew learning at Kol Ami starts with ordering Pizza and snacks in Hebrew and ending with T’fillah! This year our two-hour Wednesday Hebrew program is filled to the brim with three main components:

• Individual reading time
• Everyday Hebrew
• T’fillah

Individual reading time begins at 5:30 on Wednesdays. This time is devoted to our students developing their reading skills at their individual reading levels. Our Hebrew program is designed so that each student works at their own pace and level. Every Saturday and Wednesday, blocks of time are given to the students to read and advance through their levels with the guidance of their teachers. You may have witnessed the excitement during SFT when a student reaches a next level and their hard work is acknowledged with a certificate and gift from the school.

Hebrew focuses on Modern Hebrew. The students respond through movement to Hebrew questions, instructions and commands in our Hebrew Through Movement program (HTM) now in its third year. This program starts in Gan and progresses all the way through Grade 7 with students actively engaging in Hebrew. In Conversational Hebrew the students learn to talk to each other, respond appropriately while learning more vocabulary and grammar along the way.

T’fillah Teams enable the students to work together in mixed grade groups to learn not just how to say the prayers, but also to learn about the meaning of the prayer itself. Each small group is led by a teacher and will focus on one prayer at a time. The students will have the opportunity to practice reciting the prayer, as well as discovering the themes, key words and root words found in each prayer. Throughout the year, the students will create short presentations for SFT or Hebrew School T’fillah, based on their exploration.

We finish our day off with T’fillah. Rabbi Streiffer and Noam Streiffer lead us in a weekday service. The younger students sit with older students as they read the siddur, sing and pray. It is a wonderful way to end the day.

Our Grade 7 B’nai Mitzvah class joins us for Everyday Hebrew and T’fillah Teams between their own core studies.

Come join us on a Wednesday and experience learning Hebrew by discovering, learning from each other and having fun!

Judy Silver, Director of Religious Education, Temple Kol Ami