Shalom Religious School Parents!

The Kindergarten Class had a substitute teacher named Emily. They enjoyed music with Mrs. Rose and talked more about Shabbat and read an exciting story about Shabbat called "Sammy Spider's First Shabbat." They will be tye-dying their art projects next week!

The 1st Grade classes learned about Adam and Eve and read the story of the Garden of Eden. They did a special Garden of Eden art project and talked about how we help each other out. They then drew a picture of a person who helps them a lot. They ended the day in music with Mrs. Rose.

The 2nd Grade class had an introduction to the Book of Exodus / Shemot. Each child was given his or her own Torah book (Tanakh) and they learned how to find the 5 Books of Moses and did a special art project where they made their own Parasha Card booklets.

The 3rd Grade Hebrew class continued working through their lessons in the Alef-Bet Quest program. They also played more games with Hebrew flashcards. They are starting to read! Students are encouraged to be using their CDrom at home during the week! In 3rd Grade Religious School, the class split into stations and learned about the Shehehyanu prayer and how we each connect to God. They made "people chains" and on each "person" we wrote about a person who helps us connect to God.

The 4th Grade Hebrew class continued working in the prayer book and in their Mitkadem books today. They then worked together to solve some Hebrew puzzles. In Religious School they learned that all Jews are members of "am Yisrael," the people Israel. Moses made a surprise appearance in class and they all went to Mt. Sinai and Moses handed the Torah to each student. We then talked about what it felt like to be given the Torah at Mt. Sinai. They talked about what is special about being a member of Am Yisrael.

The 5th Grade Hebrew class kept working to refresh their Hebrew skills. They continued to work on the Barchu Game and started preparing for the 5th Grade Shabbat service on Friday, November 6th. The Religious School class had a substitute teacher, so they spent time working on their creative writings for the 5th Grade service and did some fun team building games as well.

The 6th Grade Hebrew classes practiced the Torah blessings today and went through the beginning of the Torah service. They also learned some modern Hebrew and learned how to introduce themselves to others and how to ask, "where is the bathroom?" The Religious School group broke up into small teams and learned about the content of the Torah blessings by making raps about them. Ask your 6th grader to recite his or her rap for you!

The 7th Grade class had a great time in class today. They spent some time outside discussing Israel and its importance to us as modern Jews living in the United States. The also talked about the process of becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah and how Israel tied into that experience.

The High School Classes

• Seinfeld to South Park: Today's class they watched the Scientology episode of South Park and debated where the line must be drawn when the media makes light of religion.
• Tattoo Jews: Today the Tattoo Jews class began a new unit today discussing Tattoos and body piercing in Jewish law. They read a responsa about tattooing and began to discuss how the respona relates to our lives. The discussion will continue next week.
• Pray Ball: during class they learned about the 1st Israeli taken as a 1st round draft pick in the NBA draft, Omri Casspi, and they discussed who they root for in the Big 10 to start next week's lesson on sacrifices.
• Tikkun Olam Green Class: Today they started planting their Fall vegetable garden at the Temple near the creek. Check out the pictures of them "working the land!"

CHUGIM!

• Today was our 4th Day of Chugim! Ask your child which Chug he or she is attending during this first 6 week block!
• Jewish Movie Production
• Jewish Girl Talk
• Religious School Band
• Jewish Comedians
• Manaism (Judaism for Guys)
• Modern Hebrew
• Mural Making
• Jews and Sports
• Tikkun Olam

Have a great week!

L'Shalom,

Rabbi Benjy