8th Grade Kehillah Special Programs:
Sunday, April 1st- 11:30am-2:00pm- Field Trip to JCC for "Game Day" with ACCESS Sunday Friendship Group.
Sunday, April 29th- Family Engagment Program (parents & students) Guest Speaker Katie Rodrigues Banister, founder of Access-4-All
2011/2012 8th Grade Kehillah Schedule- click to download
2011/2012 8th Grade Retreat Information & Form- click to download
8th Grade Curriculum Overview
The eighth grade curriculum this year will connect students to three different areas of commandments from the Torah. We’ll begin by focusing on Jewish values/mitzvot that are related to the food we eat---Showing kindness to every living thing, Taking care of the land, Not wasting, Leaving the gleanings of the field for the poor, Protecting and caring for our bodies, etc. We’ll get the year off to a great start by being able to celebrate the harvest holiday of Sukkot together during a retreat the weekend of October 14-15 at beautiful Trout Lodge Retreat center in the Ozarks. Students will get to do some cooking, take at least one field trip, see the movie, “Food, Inc.” and hopefully be able to look at the food they eat through new and Jewish eyes.
The middle section of the year will let the students concentrate on the topic of poverty. Through simulation and class discussion, students will be reminded that the Torah teaches us that we should “love your neighbor as yourself” and that we “should not stand idly by” watching others around us struggling to live.
During the final weeks of the school year, we’ll be discussing how to implement the mitzvah of “Kibbud Z’kaynim,” (Honoring the Elderly.) Through interaction with older adults who will visit the classroom, students will come to appreciate the wisdom those visitors can share, and begin to understand the challenges involved in the aging process. They will also have the opportunity to end the school year with a special inter-generational musical performance.