Children love listening to stories. Whether they’re family stories told around the table, or books read aloud before bedtime or in a group with peers, stories are powerful ways of communication for young people.
Ann Koffsky, an editor at Apples & Honey Press, points out that “our Jewish tradition is full of stories. It starts with the Torah and continues with the Aggadah and Midrashim in the Talmud.” Storytelling is also part of our more modern tradition with the Haggadah on Passover and the stories of Chassidic masters, like the Baal Shem Tov and Rebbe Nachman.
In The Secret of Happy Families, author Bruce Feiler describes research findings that “knowing stories of their family and the history of their family is best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness.” When we tell our children the traditional stories that have been handed down to us from generation to generation, we are not just transmitting a code of behavior
How are you teaching Rosh Hashanah this year?
We've tapped into our rich materials and rounded up a few new ideas for you to enhance student learning this new year.
Few learning experiences are more meaningful than those students create for themselves. Help students recount the story of Isaac's birth, traditionally read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, through a skit. Bring the characters, events, and ideas of the story to life with the script, from Sedra Sc
If you are a teacher of young children or have children in your own life, get ready for October, when our children’s book imprint, Apples & Honey Press, releases five new titles.
One of them has just earned a prestigious starred review from Kirkus Reviews. Regina Persisted: An Untold Story by Sandy Sasso tells the true story of Regina Jonas, the first female rabbi. Though she faced opposition every step of the way, Regina did not stop until she accomplished her goals of becoming a religious leader within her temple.
Read the starred review from Kirkus below:
Regina Jonas was determined to become a rabbi, but she faced nearly insurmountable opposition.
While other girls played house, she played rabbi
When Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle adopted Hebrew in Harmony last year, educators wanted to ensure that the students had access to the rich content of the app in class. With more students than ipads, the school turned to small groups as a strategy.
Stacey Delcau, director of education at the school, invested in headphones and splitters so two students could be on an iPad at the same time.
Teachers in grades four and five devised small-group stations for students to rotate through during their lessons. While a teacher worked on reading with a small group, students at other stations worked on assignments in the Hebrew in Harmony journals, or related art projects, while other students practiced their Hebrew reading or watched the videos explaining the meaning of a prayer on the iPad.
“We’ve had success with stations and small groups using this curriculum,” says Delcau. “It gives teachers one more tool at their disposal
We all respond to music in powerful ways. For students learning Hebrew prayer, music allows them to make a spiritual connection with the message and theme of prayers.
Watch how one fifth grade class in New Jersey connects with music related to the Yotzer Or prayer.
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