An amazing on-line resource for enrichment activities is the website BabagaNewz.com BabagaNewz provides a wealth of information, activities, and lesson plans for a multitude of Judaic topics. One small sampling of the offerings on BabagaNewz – I selected “Learning Torah” from a long list of “Jewish Values.” Among the activities featured were a virtual tour […]

In the past few weeks, I’ve written a number of posts detailing the Lesson Plan G.A.M.E. We’ve arrived at the fourth element: E=Extensions and Enrichment. Lesson extensions and enrichment activities enhance and personalize learning as the class progressses toward meeting curricular goals for a topic of study. Example: According to your Lesson Plan, by completing […]

The Gates have closed. The notes of the shofar are a memory. The evening to evening observance of Yom Kippur has provided us with an extended opportunity to think Jewishly about ourselves, our families, our world, and our God. On Yom Kippur, we recall events both joyful and troubling from the past year. We try […]

“… Yom Kippur has become the moment when most Jews individually and the Jewish people collectively experience the strongest sense of partnership and covenant with God – the strongest sense that if the people have striven with all their energy to redress the wrongs they have done, God will forgive them and give them a […]

*Posts entitled “Shalom Kitah Gimel Students…” are written especially for my Hebrew students and their families. All are welcome to read these posts and share in the excitement of a new school year. What a wonderful first day of Hebrew School! Our students were pleased to hear that we’re studying modern Hebrew. As this is […]

Shabbat Shalom. After services on Rosh HaShana morning, I picked up a copy of the Jewish Calendar for 5771. The first month was Tishrei – no surprise there! But Judaism can be tricky – as Arthur Waskow explains in the following excerpt from his book, Seasons of Our Joy: “Rosh Hashanah comes in the month […]

L’Shana Tova U M’tuka – A Happy and Sweet New Year May the New Year 5771 be filled with opportunities for joyful living and learning. In the coming year, visit Jewish Educators’ Village – K’far Morim for information and inspiration. Our Gates are always open!

The methodology part of lesson planning is the “how-to.” It’s where you plan what your students are actually going to do in order to achieve the learning goals for their grade. Like goals, methods of learning come from a variety of sources – from teacher’s guides to textbooks; from in-service training and administrative guidance; from […]

Shabbat Shalom Today’s “Words of Wisdom” are from Abraham Joshua Heschel as quoted in Shema Yisrael, the Siddur published by Temple Israel of West Bloomfield, Michigan. “TO CELEBRATE TIME RATHER THAN SPACE” The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things […]