Hebrew Language Curriculum
Kitah Gan
Let’s Discover the Alef Bet! The Kitah Gan Hebrew curriculum is based around beginning to learn the letters of the Aleph Bet. Gan students will use the Behrman House Book Let’s Discover the Alef Bet!, where they will be introduced to each letter of the alphabet, its sound, and some ritual vocabulary words that begin with that letter. Students will explore each letter through games, art projects and classroom activities.
Kitah Aleph
Kitah Aleph will continue working on letter recognition and also begin learning about the different sounds and shapes of vowels and beginning to put together some short word combinations. Using Behrman House’s Shalom Alef Bet the students will learn and review the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and be introduced to final letters and vowels. The students will learn creatively through stories, songs, art projects and games.
Kitah Bet
Kitah Bet begins its deeper exploration of the Hebrew language with the book Shalom U’Vrachah by Behrman House. Through use of this book, students will learn how letters and vowels come together to form words that will be the building blocks for participation in prayer and Jewish life. Students will focus on specific prayers including the first line of the sh’ma, oseh shalom, the barchu and the first paragraph of birkat ha’mazon, grace after meals.
Kitah Gimmel
Kitah Gimmel will spend the year doing an in-depth exploration of part of the Shabbat morning service, using the book Hinei: Hebrew Through Prayer 1 by Behrman House. This book focuses on the shema and the prayers that surround it, such as the barchu and mi kamocha. Kitah Gimmel students will begin to learn about the root system of Hebrew, which consists of three letters, and understand that any words that contain these letters are related.
Kitah Dalet
Kitah Dalet will spend the year doing an in-depth exploration of parts of the Shabbat morning service. Kitah Dalet will use the first book Torah Aura’s S’fatai Tiftah series to delve deeper into prayer while exploring what it means to pray. S’fatai Tiftah Volume 1 focuses on brachot (blessings), the shema and the prayers that surround it, kiddush for Shabbat, and prayers that are said first thing in the morning. It teaches new words through shorashim, roots. These three letters have a meaning; all words that contain those three letters are related.
S’fatai Tiftah also teaches students about the importance of having kavanah (intention or focus) when praying and uses stories to teach midrash (stories written by the rabbis based on text) and help the prayers come alive. At the end of each chapter, there are activities to review and reinforce the material covered in that and in previous chapters.
Kitah Hey
Kitah Hey will continue with the S’fatai Tiftah curriculum by using S’fatai Tiftah Volume 2. The book focuses on the amidah, which is the center of every prayer service, and also teaches hallel (a series of psalms recited on holidays), birkat hamazon (grace after meals), and various songs sung on Shabbat. It teaches new words through shorashim, roots. These three letters have a meaning; all words that contain those three letters are related.
S’fatai Tiftah explains different ways to pray to God, how people have prayed through Jewish history, and explains the origins of the prayers. It also explains the choreography of different prayers, allowing students to fully participate when they apply what they have learned to services in the synagogue. At the end of each chapter, students review what they have learned so far and do exercises to strengthen their grasp on the language and ideas in each prayer.
Kitah Vav
Kitah Vav will use the last part of the S’fatai Tiftah curriculum. In S’fatai Tiftah Volume 3, students will study all of the different parts of the Torah service, and also learn parts of the musaf service. They will conclude the book by learning havdalah, the concluding service for Shabbat. The book continues to use shorashim to teach words and explain prayers.
S’fatai Tiftah Volume 3 continues to use midrash to teach and connect the prayers to different Jewish values. It also teaches about the prophets in the section devoted to the haftarah. S’fatai Tiftah Volume 3 focuses on how prayer can be used to strengthen connections with God and encourage a person to live a better and more ethical life.
Kitah Zayin
Please refer to the to the Judaic curriculum for more information about the Zayin class.