JCast Network

Regardless of the textbook series we use, teaching prayers includes developing students’ basic translation skills. We expect students not only to decode (pronounce words accurately and fluently), but to demonstrate a level of understanding of the prayer text. To achieve that outcome, we teach word roots, prefixes, suffixes. The text books usually provide the English […]

Shavuah Tov! Many of my recent posts have described display models which can make you classroom walls an asset to every lesson. There is another type of display which is quite versatile – the project display board or tri-fold board. When opened up, these corrugated boards can stand alone on a table top or on […]

Shabbat Shalom! Cue the theme from Twilight Zone. Grab a four-leaf clover. Watch out for black cats. It’s Friday the 13th! Wait! Stop cowering in the corner. Put away that rabbit’s foot. You’re Jewish! Can Friday, Yom Hashishi, ever be unlucky? On Friday, we prepare to welcome Shabbat. We polish the wine cup, bake a […]

At one of the stops on my journey as a Jewish educator, I directed a community Jewish Teacher Resource Center housed in the basement of a Day School. We had a basic collection of resources, and coordinated a number of worthy events and programs. However, our main attraction, by far, was a laminating machine. The […]

As part of your classroom displays, include Hebrew labels for classroom objects – shulchan, sefer, aron, kiseh,ritzpa, luach, keer, tikra, chalon, delet, etc. Providing labels encourages students to learn a whole set of vocabulary informally, as they repeatedly see the label and hear objects called by their Hebrew names. Even during Judaic Studies, students may […]

In organizing a Teacher Resource Center for our synagogue, I came across religious school texts that dated back to the 1950’s. They were printed in black and white and the contents were rather bland and a bit stuffy by today’s standards. An important development in Jewish education over the past few decades has been the […]

In our determined search for free items to use in our classroom displays, we may have to resort to a bit of what my Bubbe might have called “schnorring.” Schnorring is asking for something in such an earnest and endearing way that the giver actually feels good about agreeing to your request. Schnorring goes somethng […]

E-h-h-h, what’s up, Doc? With a nod to Bugs Bunny for that opener, what is up, on your classroom walls? In recent posts, I’ve suggested ways to create wall displays and to encourage students to gather information from these displays. How about the raw materials that go into the displays? Where do we find items […]

What’s a nice buffalo like this doing in a Jewish education blog? In the process of learning how to add photos to my blog, the very knowledgeable, patient college student who was helping me, needed a photo to use as an example. The buffalo happened to be in my photo file and was uploaded into […]

How is an office supply store like a religious school classroom? Well, both have pencils, chalk, notebooks, and loads of copy paper. But that’s not the answer. You knew that, right? So, in the spirit of Midrashim and shtetl folktales, let me tell you a (true) story. Recently, I attended “Teacher Appreciation Day” at a […]