REACHING KITAH GIMEL: LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE

A few days ago, Kitah Gimel students officially “graduated” from Religious School/Hebrew School. They now move on to B’nai Mitzvah preparation, a post B’nai Mitzvah program, and Confirmation. Our last few school weeks exemplified the experiential approach to Jewish education which has shaped our learning this year. As intensively as possible, I provided authentic, hands-on experiences, as well as background information for prayer study and Holiday celebrations. At our Pesach seder, for example, students could touch, taste, and smell the symbolic foods, while hearing and reciting the Four Questions, various Blessings, and key elements of the Haggadah narrative. For Yom HaShoah, students reviewed the horrific events of the Holocaust through a packet of texts and illustrations which I’d assembled. Students then participated in an activity called “Parparim” (“Butterflies”). This activity was developed by Jewish National Fund www.jnf.org and the Houston Holocaust Museum. www.hmh.org “Parparim” blends art, poetry, and science to enable students to respond physically and emotionally to the enormous tragedy of the Holocaust. A week after our somber observance of Yom HaShoah, students were welcomed to “Beit Cafe Gimel”. Israeli music, Israeli food, and Israeli street signs created the atmosphere of an Israeli sidewalk cafe in our classroom – in joyful celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut. For additional details of the activities done in each Kitah Gimel session throughout the school year, please visit my weekly posts in the Hebrew School section of the religious school blog for my synagogue www.call-me-doll.blogspot.com Looking back on the school year, did I “reach” Kitah Gimel? I hope I gave them some of the knowledge and experience needed for personal and communal participation in Jewish life. There is no end-of-year assessment that will tell absolutely how committed Kitah Gimel students will be to lifelong Jewish learning as they mature and form their own families. In fact, I’ll never actually know whether I reached Kitah Gimel, but I do know that they reached me. I’ll build on what I learned from them and with them to prepare for the new Kitah Gimel students who will fill my classroom next fall.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Ronni Sims

Ronni has been a Jewish educator since Moses was in preschool (almost!). She has had the pleasure of teaching all age groups in a variety of formal and informal settings, as well as directing a Jewish Teacher Resource Center. While teaching in a Jewish Day School, Ronni coached an award-winning Odyssey of the Mind creative problem solving team.Ronni was an active participant in the former Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education (CAJE), where she held leadership positions including Network Chair and Conference Co-Chair of CAJE 29 at Hofstra University. She currently teaches Hebrew at the Congregation Albert Religious School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Talmud teaches: “The Torah cannot be learned unless it is learned among friends.” Ronni views blogging on JCast as such a learning opportunity.

Latest posts by Ronni Sims (see all)

• Home From Camp & Back to School - August 6, 2014
• May Their Memory… - July 2, 2014
• Starting Over, Starting Up, Reviewing and Re-thinking….Again! - June 6, 2014