SHABBAT CLUB AFTER SCHOOL CURRICULUM
The Shabbat Club Curriculum is hands-on and fun! All Shabbat Club lessons are taught through activities, games and projects. In fact, the children are generally having so much fun that they don't even realize that they are learning!
Our Curriculum takes into account that children are joining once a week and come from diverse religious backgrounds; our lessons are designed to be repetitive so that the children retain more information.
Kindergarten children start with the very basics of Jewish tradition, the mitzvahs that we find around our cities. This engaging curriculum is project based. The children create magnetic mitzvah cities, and add buildings to their city; each building representing a mitzvah that we learn about together.
In 1st Grade, children develop the concept of mitzvahs further by learning which mitzvahs can be found in their home. The children create doll houses, and place Jewish objects in their "home," making a long lasting toy.
In 2nd Grade, children learn about Jewish heroes and historical figures in our history. Our year long project is a treasure box filled with clay treasures, each clay creation reminding the children of a different hero and what practical lesson we learned from them.
In 3rd Grade, children explore Jewish culture and kosher cooking. Children learn about intentional eating, the concept of gratitude and blessings on food. They scrapbook their recipes and lessons each week, culminating in a beautiful scrapbook to take home!
In 4th Grade, children learn the stories of the first book of the Torah: B’reshit (Genesis). The children create interactive LEGO timelines for the first 2000 years of Jewish history.
In 5th Grade, children learn the stories and lessons from the 2nd book of the Torah: Shemot (Exodus). The children work on animated films to portray the stories.
6th - 8th Grade
While children in 6th - 8th grade have officially graduated from the Shabbat Club, they are welcome to continue with Rabbi Nosson and Morah Chaya to prepare for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah. More info. about this here.
Shabbat & Holidays
Our curriculum takes a spiral approach, where children review the basics each year, and continually build on their knowledge. Each year, they learn more background to the holidays, and the reasons for the various holiday and Shabbat customs. Many of the holidays we learn about in Shabbat club are paired with family events where children can celebrate with the entire community and in many cases share what they have learned.
My child is in 3rd grade and I'm just finding out about Shabbat Club now. Is it too late to join?
Shabbat Club is first and foremost a fun Jewish place to spend time after school. Children can join at any grade level because, while we do build on previous knowledge, we also review previous lessons through games and stories so that all children will be familiar with the topics. The program is warm and welcoming and we find that when children join at any age they make friends quickly.