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| Fall 2004 | |
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Behrman House Books Enrich Chai
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If you know me, you know that I am all about books. I have collected children’s books for decades, long before I was a parent. I lead three book groups and participate in one other as a regular member. I started mother-daughter book groups in my congregation, Temple Beth Israel, and have helped many develop such groups in other communities. I believe children should use Jewish textbooks they can be proud of. Books that will help parents see supplementary religious education as “real school” and that will help build a Jewish library. The new and exciting texts, and the books I have loved over the years, have a significant place in my school. My copy of Behold the Land circa… (I won’t say exactly what year) reminds me fondly of the special time growing up with my friends in Hebrew school. |
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Having adopted the Chai Curriculum four years ago, I wanted to share with you a few ways in which I have enriched my religious school curriculum through the use of Behrman House texts. For the introduction of Hebrew in grades K-1, we will use the Hebrew readiness series, Let’s Discover the Alef Bet, for the first time this year. The materials are developmentally appropriate, attractive, and have a wonderful “at home” component. Our entire Hebrew program is based on Behrman House books, including Shalom Ivrit-Welcome to Modern Hebrew. With the Chai Torah strand in third grade, we use A Child’s Bible, an excellent illustrative example for kids to actually hold in their hands as they read Bible stories. The new A Kid’s Mensch Handbook is just what I needed for my fourth graders using Chai. The dynamic text is engaging and creative and the parents I asked to review it were wowed. One parent remarked, “Why didn’t we have texts like this when I was in school?” Our fifth grade curriculum comprises lifecycle and prayer. The Time of Our Lives compliments perfectly the prophets, prayer, and g’milut chasadim strands in Chai. Although a bit of a stretch for our fifth graders, they like being gifted with such an engaging grown-up text. They will grow with the book and will continue to refer to it for years to come. |
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Israel plays a significant role in all aspects of our congregational life including the school curriculum. In third grade,
The Great Israel Scavenger Hunt anchors our Israel awareness unit. In sixth grade each student receives
A Young Person’s History of Israel, which systematically maps the history of Israel from biblical times to today.
To avoid the refrain “we learn the same holiday stuff every year,” we created a holiday curriculum that will compliment
My Jewish Year in second grade and The Book of Jewish Holidays in fourth and fifth grades.
We will continue to use Chai as it grows, but our seventh-grade American History unit will be anchored by Challenge and Change: History of the Jews in America. This is truly one of the finest Jewish textbooks out there. I am grateful to our friends at Behrman House for continuing to bring quality, creative materials to those of us in the field. They understand their role as surveyors of the highest order, even as the landscape changes.
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