Torah School

Children's children are the crown of the elderly; and the glory of children are their parents.—Prov. 17:6, Pirkei Avot 6:8

Chaya Silver-Alford , Director of Education and Youth

Torah School Registration Materials

Torah School Happenings

Academic Program

At the Adat Shalom Torah School, our goal is to provide a warm and nurturing classroom environment for your child that stimulates an interest in Jewish learning, a sense of community, and openness to questioning. We are committed to instilling a love of Judaism, while conveying a sense of joy and celebration of the Jewish people--our history, beliefs, customs, language, rituals, and other teachings--taught from a Reconstructionist perspective.

As Reconstructionists, we don't insist on a particular point of view in our discussions on God, Israel, and traditions. We allow students and parents to explore whatever questions they express in an open and caring environment.

The Torah School believes in ensuring that our students get a balanced survey of Judaic and Hebrew education. We use a spiral curriculum to teach about holidays, history, Torah, Israel, Prayers, mitzvot, etc. In a spiral curriculum, topics are revisited year-to-year, using age-appropriate materials, content, and instructional techniques, while avoiding teaching the same old lessons year after year. Curricula are being written for each of the major holidays and for each grade of the Torah School. This task is a three-year process of writing and editing with teacher feedback at every step.

Tefilot

Tefilot are an important part of the Torah School program because we want our students to feel comfortable within Jewish liturgy. We are blessed to have a talented group of leaders to facilitate our services. On Shabbat, all students in grades Gan (kindergarten) through Vav (6) participate in Tefilot with either Sue Marx or Jay Marks. Services are divided by grades and are also reinforced using spiral ideology.

Our Judaics Program

• Saturdays for Ganon (preschool) through Vav (Grade 6)
• Sundays for Sundays for Kitah Zayin (7) and Atid Shalom (grades 8-12)

Our Hebrew Program

• Lower grades receive an introduction to Hebrew
• In Kitah Gimmel (Grade 3), the students begin a formalized Hebrew program.

Most children attend Hebrew School at Adat Shalom on Wednesday afternoons from 4:15 - 6:15.

Adat East is a satellite Hebrew program that meets on Tuesdays for students who live in the Silver Spring area and have a difficult time making it to the Adat Shalom building for Wednesday classes. The grade levels offered through this option vary from year to year, depending on enrollment. This year we have three classes: Kitah Daled (Grade 4), Kitah Hey (Grade 5), and Kitah Vav (Grade 6). Adat East students attend Saturday sessions at the synagogue.

Click here for an overview of the program for each grade of the Torah School.

In addition to classroom teachers, the Torah School draws on a talented group of resource teachers who provide special services or programs to enhance the children's experience and education.

Torah School Calendar

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Upcoming Events

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Frequently Asked Questions