Religious School Curriculum

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Grades K & 1
Holidays: Celebrate Being Jewish

Grades K & 1 focus on Jewish holidays and how we celebrate being Jewish. Our classrooms are full of songs, art, play, and joy. Utilizing a unique approach to learning called Torah Play, Temple Isaiah fosters a strong sense of wonder and exploration in our youngest learners.

Students also begin learning Hebrew using an approach called Hebrew Through Movement, which helps them get used to hearing Hebrew words and associating words with body movements. As well, students learn basic letter recognition and Jewish life vocabulary.

Grown-ups are warmly invited to join their students for t’fillah which occurs during the final 25 minutes of the religious school day (both sessions) where we pray, sing, and enjoy community time with our Grades K - 3 community.

On five Sundays during the year, students and their grown-ups come together for Mishpacha: Family Together mornings (first session only) where we learn and explore together, students and grown-ups.

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Grades 4 & 5
The Jewish People: Heroes, Trailblazers & Israel

Our 4th and 5th grade students extend their Jewish learning to begin to think about the Jewish people outside of their own communities. Specifically, 4th graders learn about Jewish heroes and trailblazers and the Jewish values that animate their lives. 5th graders explore Israel - the land, the state, and the people - as well as the world Jewish experience. Our 4th and 5th graders begin to see themselves as part of a larger web of Jewish life that extends beyond their own lives and our Temple Isaiah community.

In addition to the Sunday experience, the 4th and 5th grade students also attend religious school on Wednesday afternoons from 4 PM - 5:30 PM, where they get to choose an elective where they continue the curricular learning in a modality of their choice including art, drama, and games. 5th graders also do “Hebrew boot camp” where they work 1:1 with a teacher to learn how to decode and read Hebrew.

Our 4th grade families participate in a fall family program exploring heroes and trailblazers in our own lives using the technique of collage artist Hanoch Piven. In the spring, they gather to think about Moses and Miriam through the lens of Jewish heroes just in time for the Passover seder! Our 5th graders have a day-long retreat on Veteran’s Day where we spend the day learning about Jewish veterans, participating in mitzvah projects in support of veterans, and learning about kibbutz and early pioneer life in Israel through games, dance, food, and community! In the spring, 5th grade families celebrate Passover with a Creative Seder in which they are encouraged to interpret parts of the seder through a creative technique of their choice including arts, drama, science, and more!

Our 4th and 5th grade students participate in our weekly, musical t’fillah (prayer/communal worship) which occurs during the final 25 minutes of the religious school day (both sessions) where we pray, sing, and enjoy community time with our Grades 4 - 6 community. 4th and 5th graders also participate in t’fillah on Wednesday afternoons with our Grades 3 - 5 community. Grown-ups are warmly invited to join their students for t’fillah.

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Grade 7
Tikkun Olam: My Role in Repairing the World

7th grade is a busy year for our students! Many of them are preparing to become B’Mitzvah and working on personal Mitzvah projects. We use our 7th grade community time to focus on Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). This curriculum, which has three rotations, strengthens the idea that we are all responsible for one another and that each of us has a personal role in this holy work.

In our first unit, we consider housing insecurity from a Jewish perspective. 7th graders learn about the factors that contribute to housing insecurity, how the issue impacts our community, and they get to know organizations in the Boston areas that are addressing the issue. We bring in guest speakers who have experienced homelessness and housing insecurity so that students may hear directly from those impacted greatest by this issue. We also participate in a group mitzvah project creating Kitchen Starter Sets for Household Goods and take a field trip to Household Goods to learn more about the organization and its mission. The 7th graders explore what they can do to address this issue as citizens and Jews.

In our second unit, we look at Jewish values around honoring our elders. The 7th graders learn about issues facing today’s aging population and hear from guest speakers who work with the aging Jewish population. We participate in a mitzvah project in which the students make cards for homebound seniors and we visit a retirement home to meet with and hear about the unique challenges of growing older. The seniors love seeing and meeting our youth!

In our third unit, we consider Jewish values on equity and inclusion. The 7th grade students study Jewish texts on the topic, meet with individuals with disabilities and their families, learn from these families who have lived experience with inclusion, and learn from a guest speaker about equity in the community. This unit culminates in a desk building project for Volunteer Ventures building desks for students in need. Our entire 7th grade also participates in the Boston Winter Walk for Homelessness.

Finally, our year culminates in the students creating a tzedakah fair to teach the younger grades about various organizations and to help them distribute the tzedakah they collected throughout the year.

7th Grade students also participate in weekly t’fillah (prayer/communal worship) on Wednesdays and are real-time b’mitzvah role models to our 6th grade students.

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