Rodef Sholom Temple Partners with the Goldring Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life

The ten key content areas are: Community, Culture and Symbols, God, Hebrew and Prayer, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Holidays, Jewish Lifecycle Events, Mitzvot and Jewish Values, and TaNaKh (Torah, Prophets, and Writings).The curriculum is developmentally appropriate, nurturing students’ Jewish identity, equipping students to live rich and meaningful lives.  Each grade has thirty two-hour lessons including Hebrew. There are a variety of activities in each lesson that implement the idea that students have different learning styles. Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic learning activities are used throughout each lesson.

The ISJL curriculum provides class-by-class lesson plans for each grade, which include both the big picture (big ideas and the objectives) and the nitty-gritty (supplies and other things to prepare). We have even provided a script and a time allocation for teachers who want further guidance in the classroom.Finally, the curriculum has a delivery system. Our implementation component consists of traveling Education Fellows. Each community is assigned a fellow who visits 3 times a year providing programs such as teacher trainings, all school programs, service leading and anything else the community needs. The education program kicks off with our annual education conference, designed to train Jewish leaders and religious school educators from across the South to implement the curriculum and improve their schools.