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A Viable Alternative to the Midweek Blues

A Viable Alternative to the Midweek Blues. Week 1 – Text Study. A selection of text addressing the topic is chosen. Often the verse is from Torah, sometimes from the Siddur or other texts. Commentary from the Torah or Siddur is shared with students. Midrashim may also be shared.

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A Viable Alternative to the Midweek Blues

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  1. A Viable Alternative to the Midweek Blues

  2. Week 1 – Text Study A selection of text addressing the topic is chosen. Often the verse is from Torah, sometimes from the Siddur or other texts. Commentary from the Torah or Siddur is shared with students. Midrashim may also be shared. Students are encouraged reflect on the text, share their own experiences to support or refute it, or ask questions about it. Students are free to comment on thoughts shared by previous students, as long as the focus is on the thought and not a personal attack or endorsement. Teachers are invited to comment as the student participation winds down. Students are invited to respond to teachers’ comments. Text Study ShomreiAdamah Guardianship of the Earth Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till and tend it. Commentary: to till and tend it From the outset, God intended humans to be farmers, to work the soil. Thus they might learn that success depends both on their efforts and on the blessings of Heaven – that is, favorable weather [Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev]. Presumably, God could have created a maintenance-free world but decided that it would be better for us to take responsibility for the world we live in. We tend to value something more when we have invested our own labor in it. (Source: Etz Hayim Torah and Commentary; Rabbinical Assembly; USCJ; 2001.) YotzerReading God, grant me the ability to be alone; may it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grass, among all growing things, and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer, to talk with the One to whom I belong. --Reb Nahum of Bretslav Morah Mary Consulting, LLC www.morahmaryconsulting.com

  3. Week 1 – Text People At least once a year, instead of studying written text, we study with “text people.” Our text people are individuals who have a lesson to teach us, whose lives or experiences incorporate the values we’re trying to learn. Students see how Jewish values can be lived. When text people share their stories with students, the learning becomes concrete. Our text people add an immediacy, a vibrancy, to Jewish learning. Students validate the contributions text people make through their interest, their questions, and their feedback. Morah Mary Consulting, LLC www.morahmaryconsulting.com

  4. Week 1 – Brainstorming After text study, students meet with their Chuggim teacher to brainstorm . Often, they expand on the ideas expressed during the text study session. Some students are more comfortable sharing in a small group. A course of action is discussed which will direct the student work for the next few weeks. Frequently, students will ask questions or for more information regarding a specific aspect of the text study or their work. In the intervening week, the teacher will search for more information. Morah Mary Consulting, LLC www.morahmaryconsulting.com

  5. Weeks 2-5 – Time on Task Most of the Chuggim offer a variety of experiences during the work weeks. Drama students work on skits, role play and improvise responses to specific situations. They begin each session with warm-up exercises. Art students explore the topic through a variety of artistic techniques, some by Jewish artists. The emphasis is on process instead of product. Music and Movement students work with rhythm instruments, listen to music CDs, and move in response to music. They also explore Israeli dance and modern dance. Writing students experiment with different forms of creative writing: poetry, essays, journal entries, newspaper articles, and skits. Cooking students use the principles of cooking to explore Jewish values. The food they make relates in some way to the topic. They also cook one meal during each rotation for the local food pantry. Morah Mary Consulting, LLC www.morahmaryconsulting.com

  6. Week 6 – “Show and Share” “Show and Share” provides students with the following opportunities for learning: Students practice speaking in front of a group, beginning in third grade. Students practice being good listeners. Students practice articulating what they have learned. Students practice asking and answering audience participation questions. Each student demonstrates what s/he has learned about the topic. Morah Mary Consulting, LLC www.morahmaryconsulting.com

  7. Student Work: As Varied as Those Who Do It Clockwise, from the upper left: shomrei adamah (recycling materials); ohev zeh et zeh (journal entry); din v’rachamim (abstract depictions of justice and mercy); shomrei adamah (dancing to Mayim); kibbud av v’im (posters depicting respect for the elderly); Diversity in Israel (an Israeli delicacy) ; shmirat haLashon (a skit on careful speech). Morah Mary Consulting, LLC www.morahmaryconsulting.com

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