Our new curriculum flows from years of experience as a teacher, and now rabbi at The Birmingham Temple. It draws upon the world of humanistic psychology, the work of Virginia Satir, and the belief that children thrive in an atmosphere of experiential learning, kindness, and community. You will see that each grade has a major theme and several focus areas. The child is always at the center of the learning experience, and therefore at the center of his or her wheel of life. Each grade explores a major ethic, two major holidays, a yearlong project, bible stories or other Jewish literature, and several Jewish heroic figures. Throughout the year children will study Jewish life cycle events. They will come to understand their historical roots, rituals, music, and celebrations. These focus areas will work to deepen and enliven the learning experience. The child will be encouraged to ask questions like: “Who am I? What do I believe? How can I live a life of courage and dignity? How can I be loving and kind? What are my dreams and goals? Who is my family? Who are the Jewish people? How can the celebration of Judaism enrich my life and help me be the kind of person I want to be?”

At the core of our curriculum is the hope that children will ultimately choose to live a life of mitzvahs or good deeds. We hope that our school and Temple help create children who are responsible for their world and choose a path of love and kindness. We hope that they will identify and appreciate the unique contribution they can make to their families, friends, the Jewish people, and the world. We want each of them to choose to be a mensch, the Yiddish word for a decent and good human being.

We believe that children are valuable, resourceful and creative beings. Learning is hands-on, dynamic and play-based. While all the children celebrate and study all the major Jewish holidays, each grade will become, “experts” in two Jewish holidays and lead the school in decoration, celebration, and explanation. You will also notice that the Bible and Jewish literature appear each year in order to continue to encourage Jewish literacy. Heroes are introduced in conjunction with the grade’s major theme so that by the time the children are ready to choose a mitzvah hero, they have in-depth knowledge about more than twenty Jewish figures.

Grades five and six bring a more intensive historical component to Jewish learning and intensify Hebrew language study. Seventh graders participate in advanced Hebrew language study and learn about the Holocaust. Our youth group program begins in grade eight and continues through high school. These classes are opportunities for specialized learning, molded to fit the needs of individual students. Each grade builds upon the previous, creating a choir of harmonious voices of learning and literacy, as we sing out the Jewish past, present and future.