Big Idea #2: Belonging to a Spiritual Community of Practice

Young Learners:

     Essential Question

• What is prayer?

     Evidence of Learning

• Learners can express how prayer makes them feel and give two reasons why they or others might pray.

     Supporting Materials

•  Let’s Explore Being Jewish (gr 1–2): Seven 16-page magazines, each address one major area of Jewish identity and communal life, such as mitzvot, the Bible, Israel, and the Synagogue. 

Elementary Learners:

     Essential Question

• What is prayer and how do I pray?

     Evidence of Learning

• Learners name examples of Jewish time and explain how Jewish time connects us to Jews around the world. 

     Supporting Materials

• Let’s Discover God (gr K-2): Eight 4-page folders include simple poems and easy ways for kids to talk about God. For example, children discuss good things they can do to show they are created in the image of God. 

Middle School Learners: 

• How does prayer help me understand myself more fully?

     Evidence of Learning

• Learners can describe the flow of the Shabbat evening or Shabbat morning service, picking out the important themes and describing how they fit together to create a full prayer experience.

     Supporting Materials

• Building Jewish Identity Series (gr 3-5) Introduces learners to core knowledge that is essential to developing a strong Jewish identity a s strong Jewish community. Using a journal/activity book format that invites personal reflection, these four books give learners an understanding of a distinctively Jewish worldview. The series is designed to be used in four units over two years. 
   

'Why Pray' is a small portion of the new Big Ideas for Jewish Learning Curriculum by Leslie Litman and Ellen Rank. This mini curriculum was created to identify three BIG IDEAS that encompass the key values and purpose of part-time Jewish education programs. Within these big ideas, there is room for flexibility and community-specific choice of subjects, personal exploration, and desired outcomes. 

You can get the whole curriculum when you sign up for the Behrman House Newsletter.