Overview
In 4th–5th grade, students deepen their Jewish learning through thoughtful exploration, discussion, and creative engagement. Building on earlier experiences, students explore prayer, Torah, holidays, ethics, Israel, and Jewish identity with greater curiosity and responsibility, learning to ask meaningful questions and connect Jewish values to their own lives. Through shared ritual, learning, and community experiences, students grow as confident, caring members of the Jewish community and the wider world.
May we work together to bring more peace and goodness into the world.
As a school community, our 4th–5th grade students gather each Sunday to learn, reflect, and grow together. The day begins with a Havdalah service and selected morning prayers, creating a shared rhythm that connects students to Jewish time, ritual, and one another.
Havdalah & Morning Prayers: 9:30–10:00 AM
T’filah (Prayer)
Text: Pirkey Tfillah, Making T’fillah Meaningful.
May our voices rise in song and prayer.
In 4th–5th grade, students deepen their connection to Jewish prayer as both a personal and communal practice. Through core prayers and holiday blessings, students explore the values at the heart of the prayer; gratitude, community, peace, creation, responsibility, and joy. Guided by a Reconstructionist approach, students build Hebrew reading confidence, engage in discussion and reflection, and are encouraged to ask how ancient words speak to their lives today.
Prayers explored include:
Holidays
Text: Experiencing the Jewish Holidays. My Jewish Year.
May we celebrate being Jewish with joy.
Students experience the Jewish holiday cycle as living traditions that blend beloved rituals with Reconstructionist values. Through storytelling, creative projects, discussion, and celebration, holidays become opportunities to explore Jewish history, community, and ethical values such as teshuvah (repair), gratitude, courage, freedom, joy, and responsibility.
Throughout the year, students celebrate:
Students practice blessings, learn symbols and rituals, and create lasting memories with peers, families, and the wider school community.
Torah
Text: Jewish Values in Genesis and journal
Jewish values in Genesis
Students explore the opening stories of the Torah (Bereishit/Genesis) through a Reconstructionist lens, discovering Torah as a source of values, questions, and meaning rather than literal history. Stories such as Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob, and Joseph invite students to explore responsibility for the earth, courage, fairness, hospitality, family relationships, forgiveness, and faith during challenging times.
Through discussion, drama, art, and midrash-making, students learn how Torah has been interpreted across generations and how it continues to shape Jewish life today.
Ethics, Mitzvot and Jewish Identity
Text: Living Jewish Values
May our learning help us grow in kindness.
Students explore mitzvot as meaningful ways of living Jewish values, not simply as rules. Through study, reflection, and hands-on experiences, they engage with values such as kindness (gemilut chasadim), justice, caring for the earth, welcoming others, and building respectful community.
In partnership with the congregation’s social action committee, students put values into action through age-appropriate projects, discovering Jewish identity as both inherited and chosen, and Jewish life as purposeful, connected, and lived each day.
Life Cycle
Text: Circle of Jewish Life
The Circle of Jewish Life
Students explore the Jewish life cycle and the milestones that shape Jewish identity. Through stories, rituals, and blessings, they learn how Jewish tradition helps us celebrate beginnings, mark transitions, and support one another through times of joy and loss. The unit emphasizes inclusion and honors the diversity of Jewish families and experiences.
Students learn about birth and naming, Bar/Bat/B’nai Mitzvah, Jewish weddings, and Jewish approaches to end-of-life and memory. Learning takes place through storytelling, art, discussion, and role-play, culminating in a shared class project representing the Circle of Jewish Life.
Israel – A Living Land
Text: My Land Israel and independent research
Students explore Israel as a living land connected to Jewish history, culture, and peoplehood. Through a Reconstructionist lens, they learn about Israel in the Torah, the modern State of Israel, its symbols, language, holidays, and diverse voices. Using music, art, storytelling, and discussion, students reflect on what Israel means to them and how it connects Jewish communities around the world.
