About Fifth Grade

The Hebrew Language program is driven by the belief that mastery of Hebrew will promote students’ understanding of their history, culture and tradition, excite them about lifelong Jewish learning, foster a sense of belonging to the Jewish people, and cultivate strong ties with Medinat Israel (the State of Israel) and Am Israel (the Jewish people).

The multi-dimensional program focuses on the four major communication skills — listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Student language acquisition is promoted through immersion in the target language and exposure to everything from classical Hebrew texts to Israeli music, and from historical documents to poetry and drama.

The curriculum is sequential and based on a structured linguistic progression. Lessons are centered on themes of interest to children, ranging from the child’s close surroundings, leisure activities to friendship and freedom. Each theme is presented using different instructional approaches so that the student will have multiple options for taking in the information, absorb it naturally, and use it effectively in the appropriate settings.

Through this curriculum students will

• Learn new words, phrases, and grammatical elements through stories, songs, and plays
• Write a summary of a Hebrew story
• Write sentences using vocabulary words
• Use context to understand unfamiliar words
• Conjugate simple pa’al verbs to correctly match the noun form
• Follow along while being read to
• Comprehend simple instructions given in Hebrew
• Write sentences correctly combining verbs and infinitives
• Match pi’el verbs to their noun forms
• Use new vocabulary to comprehend written texts
• Write short stories using new vocabulary and grammar
• Discuss stories in simple Hebrew
• Match “haya” (was) forms with the pronouns he, she, they (m.) and they (f.)
• Change infinitives into verb forms
• Speak about a selected topic
• Summarize a story
• Use the words “kodem” and “achar cach” to express chronology
• Describe a treasured family heirloom in writing
• Present an heirloom and speak about it to the class
• Write a play about a plagues in Sefer Shmot
• Circle all words in past tense
• Underline all words in present tense
• Write past tense words correctly to match the given pronoun
• Write a story using multiple characters
• Order five sentences into the correct sequence
• Write a story using both past and present tense
• Deduce who is doing what in a new story
• Chart p’al verbs in past tense
• Use the “I” and “We” forms of pi’al verbs in spoken conversation
• Discuss cooking and eating using present and past tense
• Write sentences using sham hapoel
• Write a short poem about favorite food
• Comprehend a simple recipe
• Write a simple recipe
• Conjugate lamed/hay verbs in past tense
• Speak simple sentences using lamed/hay verbs in past tense
• Write simple sentences using lamed/hay verbs in past tense
• Read and comprehend conversations between a waiter/waitress and a customer
• Converse with a classmate about ordering a meal
• Write a restaurant menu
• Verbally request the price of an item
• Use contextual clues and reading strategies to correctly fill in the missing words in a story
• Write a food related joke

The study of Jewish Tradition is designed to provide students with the core knowledge, skills, and perspectives that will enable them to be active participants and potential leaders of the Jewish community. Gesher’s students are engaged in a variety of significant cultural, religious and academic activities that allow them develop an understanding of and appreciation for Jewish history and culture as expressed through our prayers, our sacred texts, and our religious rituals. Throughout these experiences, students will develop a strong sense of Jewish identity and pride. Students will incorporate Jewish practices and Jewish values in their lives. By studying Jewish communities around the world and throughout time, our students come to learn about the multiple perspectives existing within Judaism while respecting individual traditions in their home and synagogue environment. Families play an important role as participants in school life and as partners in Jewish learning.

Students continue their study of holiday rituals and customs. To help students gain knowledge and understanding of text study, class discussions, review activities, and art projects are used. For each Jewish holiday, students study one prayer recited on that holiday, a section of the Torah which talks about the holiday, and learn holiday songs.

Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach, Yom Ha’atzmaut, Yom Yerushalayim, Shavuot

Through this curriculum students will

• Explain how the different names for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur indicate different aspects of the holidays
• Describe how Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are both happy and serious
• Describe how we do teshuvah
• Explain how the mitzvot of Sukkot helps us feel connected to God
• Explain how the celebration of Sukkot help us feel connected to the agricultural cycle in Israel
• Explain how the mitzvah of pirsoomai nisa/ pirsoom ha’nes informs our tradition about where and when to light our chanukiot
• Describe the two miracles we celebrate on Chanukah
• Recall what the Torah says about protecting the environment
• Describe our responsibilities to the earth
• Explain what we can do differently to protect the trees
• Determine if King Achashverosh is silly (tipesh) or evil (rasha)
• Explain how Mordechai and Esther’s bravery saved the Jews
• Indicate how many of the events in the Megillah are ironic
• Describe the steps of the Pesach seder
• Explain how the different cups of wine provide structure for the seder
• Explain how the items on the seder plate relate to the experience of the Jews in Egypt
• Explain where the story of Pesach begins
• Explain which symbols on the seder table remind us of freedom and which symbols on the seder table remind us of slavery
• Explain in what ways each region of Israel is unique
• Describe distinguishing characteristics of Israel's major cities
• List and describe important landmarks in the Old City of Jerusalem and in the modern part of Jerusalem
• Explain what we do to commemorate Shavuot
• Describe how the Israelites prepared to receive the Torah
• Explain what the Jews experienced while receiving the Torah
• Describe some customs of Shavuot

Tanach (Bible) study is universally at the core of Jewish day school curricula across denominations as befitting our identification as the “People of the Book”. As such, its main objective is to help students become independent readers of the biblical text in Hebrew, developing skills to navigate through the text as well as increasing their familiarity with the different stories.

Through their studies, students will learn to appreciate Tanach as a multi-vocal text and as the formative narrative of the Jewish people. They will be able to understand and value the central importance of the Land of Israel in shaping the historical, theological and sociological experiences of the Jewish people throughout time. The students will develop an appreciation for the sacredness of Tanach as the primary record of the meeting between God and the people of Israel and as an essential text through which Jews continue to grapple with theological, spiritual, and existential questions. Students will understand, through the study of Tanach and its interpretations, the role of mitzvot (commandments) in the shaping of the ethical character and religious practices of the individual and the Jewish people. They will develop a love of Tanach study for its own sake and embrace it as an inspiring resource, informing their values, moral commitments, and ways of experiencing the world.

Life in Ancient Egypt

Through this curriculum students will

• Explain the beliefs and values of the Egyptian culture surrounding B’nai Yisrael in Egypt
• Explain how B’nai Yisrael progresses from being a large family (clan) to being a nation
• Explain how God works behind the scenes on behalf of B’nai Yisrael
• Explain which women helped save Moshe’s life as a baby
• Describe how Moshe responded to injustice
• Describe how God responded when B’nai Yisrael cried out to him
• Describe God speaking to Moshe from the burning bush and what God asks Moshe to do
• Describe Moshe’s first two refusals and how God responds to them
• Describe Moshe’s next four refusals and God’s responses
• Describe the the three signs God showed Moshe
• Explain Pharaoh’s reaction when Moshe and Aaron were sent out of B’nai Yisrael
• Explain how Moshe is related to Yaakov
• Explain how each plague affected Egypt
• Describe how B’nai Yisrael was protected during the plagues
• Explain the purpose of the plagues
• Describe how Egyptian attitudes towards God and letting B’nai Yisrael go changed over the course of the plagues
• Describe Moshe’s growth as a leader
• Describe God’s instructions for how B’nai Yisrael was to get ready to leave Mitzrayim
• Describe God’s instructions for how to celebrate Pesach in the future (Pesach Dorot)
• Explain why the month the Jews left Egypt was made into the first month of the calendar
• Describe how God saved the Jews’ lives during the plague against the first born sons
• Explain what elements of the Pesach seder remind us of the Jews’ preparations for leaving Egypt
• Describe what the Israelites were feeling when the Egyptians were chasing them
• Explain how the Israelites reacted different in response to internal versus external threats
• Explain what was unethical about the way the Amalekites attacked the Israelites
• Describe how the Israelites showed unity when attacked by the Amalekites
• Recall Yitro’s advice to Moshe
• Explain how the Israelites acted like a united nation
• Recall what metaphors God used to describe his past and future relationships with the Jews
• Describe what the Israelites saw, heard, and felt before the Ten Commandments were given
• Recite the Aseret HaDibrot (Ten Commandments)
• Explain which of the Ten Commandments is most and least important to you
• Explain which of the commandments apply to the relationship between people and other people (bein adam l'chavero) and which of the commandments apply to the relationship between people and God (bein adam l’makom)

American Jewish History: Students learn about the growth of the American Jewish community from the 23 first Jews until today; they study why Jews came to America as well as their immigrant experiences; students research their own ‘Coming to America’ stories which they present to the class.

Through this curriculum students will

• Recall the year Jews arrived in America
• List the countries these Jews had come from
• Describe the Spanish Jewish experience in 1492
• Discuss whether Columbus was a Converso
• Describe how Peter Stuyvesant treated the Jews
• List the eight countries colonial Jews came from
• List the five cities with the largest colonial Jewish populations
• Describe how Jews made a living shipping and trading
• Explain why all of the largest Jewish communities were located on or near the Atlantic Ocean
• Draw a Sephardi synagogue
• Name the oldest synagogue building
• Name the oldest Jewish congregation
• Define patriot and loyalist
• Discuss how Jews decided whether to be loyalists or patriots
• Define Constitution and Bill of Rights
• List the four rights given in the First Amendment
• Explain how the Louisiana Purchase influenced Jewish life in America
• Explain the challenges to living Jewishly in frontier towns and big cities and how reformers attempted to address these challenges
• Describe changes to Jewish practice occurring during the 1800s in Germany
• Explain how Jews responded to the enslavement of others
• Explain who different Jews sided with during the Civil War
• Recall how Lincoln defended the Jews from Grant's exile
• Explain why so many Jews immigrated to the United States between 1880 and 1924
• Recall ways in which America restricted immigration
• Retell what life was like for Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants
• Explain what challenges Jewish immigrants faced
• Explain some differences between Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardic Jews
• Explain how Jews were discriminated against before World War II
• Explain how the bat mitzvah ceremony originated and developed
• Describe how Jews contributed to the Civil Rights Movement
• Explain why it is important to defend the civil rights of others
• Describe what contributions Jews have made to American society in the last forty years
• Describe what challenges Jews have faced in America during the last forty years