6th Grade

The 6th Grade program is designed to mirror the wonders leading up to the Bar/Bat Mitzvah year, providing meaningful Jewish engagement before, during, and after your child’s B’nei Mitzvah. Children at this stage are in formation: building character, life skills, and Jewish identity. The curriculum includes:

• Reflection on a big issue impacting our students, our community, and our world.
• Lab Experiments which are initiatives that allow students to experience Jewish education beyond the classroom, in fun and meaningful ways with friends and family.

Curriculum

Participation in eight workshops designed with each child’s B’nei Mitzah date in mind:

• Holocaust & Human Rights – Part 1 & 2
  Exploring our own Jewish identities, and how we define ourselves in relationship to others and how this affects their “universe of obligation”. Examine historical events of the Holocaust, as well as discover personal stories of individuals living in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s and throughout Europe during World War II.
• Trope Workshop
  Refining the necessary skills to lead the Bar/Bat Mitzvah service from the bimah and introduction to Trope, the cantillation used to chant Torah.
• D’var Torah Workshop
  Developing a D’var Torah, the speech that each child delivers at Bar/Bat Mitzvah, including an exploration of their Torah portion.
• Lo Ta’amod Initiative – Part 1 & 2
  Building an abiding commitment to helping others, understanding root causes of a world in need, and developing a Mitzvah Project that is important not just now, but throughout their lives.
• Hugging and Wrestling with Israel – Part 1 & 2
  Discovering the geography, history & culture of our Jewish homeland, along with the complexities of the people and issues of the modern State of Israel.

Learning Hebrew

• 6th Grade students learn in Chevruta in an individualized, online 1:1 weekly format with an educator for 30-minutes per week to engage and develop Hebrew reading skills at their own pace. Individuals begin the year reviewing material from 5th Grade & continue to explore, read, chant and understand new prayers.
• 7th Grade students (and some 6th Grade students with Fall of 7th Grade Bar/Bat Mitzvah) begin weekly 20 minute tutoring sessions at WRT with DAILY PRACTICE. They receive all preparation materials: recordings, prayers, Torah, Haftarah, photo copies and portion booklet.

The Jewish Learning Lab (JLL)  is a comprehensive program that begins in Kindergarten and ends in 12th Grade.  The curriculum provides the skills and tools to live a meaningful Jewish life and supports the mission of the JLL, “to kindle a lifelong love of Jewish learning and living in children and youth in the WRT community.”

Students must be enrolled by 3rd Grade to receive a preferred b’nei mitzvah date, and to benefit from the core educational elements needed to have a successful and positive experience leading up to their b’nei mitzvah. Students who do not attend the JLL before 3rd Grade will miss the opportunity for vital learning and community-building experiences that provide the foundation of Jewish learning in the upper grades.

Those who wish to join the JLL after 3rd Grade must first speak to the Director of the JLL to discuss any previous Jewish education their child may have.  In such situations, the child may be required to take on additional learning elements, at the parent’s cost, in order to participate successfully in the JLL program.

Schedule

Programming for the JLL typically begins in the middle to end of September. The schedule for 6th grade is:

Wednesdays, 5:15pm–6:45pm +  One  30-Minute Virtual Tutoring session (Chevruta) offered on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, or Sundays.