Fall 2006

To everything there is a season, and this fall marked the beginning of a new year for our Jewish Studies Children Program. We’re delighted that four teachers have returned to the program. In one case, a supply teacher had such a positive experience last year that she’s back as a permanent teacher. Our topnotch staff includes a new teacher, and we’re lucky to have them all.

We have many exciting things planned for this year: a community Chanukah celebration, Tu’bshevet with Rabbi Eli, the annual Purim carnival, our Children-led Shabbat services, and a few new surprises, including a drumming workshop and a Fabric Art program.

We are always looking for parent volunteers to do many things: photographs, teach songs, assist at our holiday celebration. We want to keep this a community school and what better way to reinforce a child’s Jewish experience than to see a parent involved. Please consider volunteering. A few hours of your time could make a world of difference to us…and you. You may contact Kathy at info@djctoronto.com to be on our Volunteer list.

Jason Leizer, Principal

KITA 1 – Michelle Brown and Ben Plested (teaching assistant)
My name is Michelle and I am the returning teacher for this Kita(grade) I wish to welcome our new students and graciously receive my returning butterflies. It’s amazing how three short months away commands so much change. We have a bigger bunch than ever. They are bright-eyed and eager. We have started off the year on a keen and interested foot. The kids have been taught the first five hebrew numbers and are slowly learning their way around the classroom objects. Shulchan-hebrew for table. We are able to listen for the Hebrew words which mean come and sit, bo, po and shvi, and how to say hello and goodbye, Shalom and Litra'ot. We have explored what it is to do mitvahs for others and shared our feelings about people doing nice deeds for us. We have spent time learning how heroes provide mitvahs for people in need.

Our studies have also introduced House--our first unit where we have learned about mishpacha and bayit. We will continue to build our vocabulary and activities around objects and household activities. Our unit on household and family will culminate in a Shabbat lesson and then we will speak about Shabbat and the mitzvah of Shabbat. The kids have brought home little mitvah books and little bayit books so far. They are keen to work on little projects and partake in story time and discussion.

They have whole heartedly begun to borrow books from our library with the help of our volunteer librarian Janna. Our year is off to a jumping start. If you have any questions ort concerns please feel free to approach me any time before or after class.

Kita 2 – Carolina Botbol
My name is Carolina and I’m the Second Grade Teacher. This year I will be teaching about Jewish Life Cycles, and so far I have been enjoying the students and they seem to be enjoying the class.

I have already taught them about Baby Naming and I will be introducing them to the Brit Mila Celebration with interesting activities. We have celebrated Sukkot by making a Sukka out of food and Simha Torah with a nice Greeting Card.

The students are familiar to the important concepts of Mitzvah and Tzedakah. The aim of this course is definitely that children will have fun while discovering the treasure of Judaism.

Kita 3 – Tiferet Haberman-Browns
Dear Parents,
My name is Tiferet (in case you are wondering how it is pronounced-- it's "T" like the letter, followed by "ferret" like the little furry animal). I am the new grade 3 Hebrew School teacher at Danforth Jewish Circle.
I am a fourth year student at the University of Toronto, where I'm studying Human Biology. Have no fear-- I am also doing a minor in Jewish Studies and have been working with kids since before I was a teenager. It is hard to say where I am from, since I have lived in quite a few different places, but I lived in Israel for 10 years, as well as Boston, and Ottawa, among others. I was a camp counselor at Ramah Nyack, and I have done internships in inner-city elementary school classrooms; I have worked with young immigrants at an immigrant youth village in Israel, and am also currently the Children’s Program Coordinator at Congregation Darchei Noam. Not to mention the fact that I have four younger brothers!
We have had a great start to the year so far. We started by learning a bit about the holidays, especially Simchat Torah, when we start the new cycle of reading the Torah, and we made our own mini-Torahs. We studied the creation story, and learned about Adam and Eve. Another focus of the year is learning some Hebrew, so we have started to become familiar with the first few letters of the Hebrew alphabet. We even made sure to have a sweet start to learning Hebrew by having aleph-shaped (aleph is the first letter of the alphabet) cookies! For the rest of the year we will be focusing on stories from the Torah, and we will continue learning the Hebrew alphabet and studying the holidays as they come up. We will be putting on plays about Torah stories for the younger classes, playing games, and doing art projects—look out for these in the coming weeks. I'm really excited to be teaching grade 3 here at Danforth Jewish Circle. I would love to hear any input before or after the program. I look forward to meeting all of you!

Kita 4 – Sara Price
Hi. I'm Sara Price, the grade 4 teacher. This is my third year teaching for the DJC and I'm pleased to be back. The grade 4 class are a very energetic group of students. Through art, the students have explored their family history and the aspects of Judaism that are important to them. We have begun learning about Orthodox Judaism and Maimonedes' "8 Levels of Tzedakah". We are exploring these topics through games and skits. In every class, the students learn some Hebrew vocabulary pertaining to the main topics of the week. In the coming weeks, the students will continue to learn about the different branches of Judaism, explore the concepts of Tzedakah even further and review the story and customs of Hanukah. Have a great fall!

Kita 5 – Rina Goldberg and Max Rannie (teaching assistant)
This first term with Grade 5 has been a huge success! We began by making personal mitzvah goals to help us improve ourselves in the new year. We introduced the tzedakah unit with the viewing of the movie Pay it Forward. We considered the question posed by the teacher in the movie, “How would you change the world?” We then added mitzvah goals to our personal goals on our identity cards. We added all of the mitzvot that we accomplished on to our class mitzvah tree. We reinforced the different ways of giving tzedakah through a fun and lively Tzedakah Idol contest! All of the candidates represented Maimonides’ levels of giving tzedakah. We feasted the way others in the world would eat and decided to work together to beat world hunger. Every week, we play a game with new Hebrew vocabulary words, such as the numbers ehad through hamesh. We have also been getting to know each other and have been having lively discussions about various topics related to Israel and Jewish values. We are very excited to continue to learn about more Jewish values during this term.

Kita 6 – Assaf Weisz
This year, Kita 6 is off to a great start! The curriculum for this group is focused on an important pillar of Judaism - Tikkun Olam. Loosely translated, it means Social Justice, and is comprised of two stages: awareness, followed by action. Tikkun Olam is the understanding of our place in the world as Jews & as individuals, and the moral obligations this entails. We will be covering issues ranging from Israel to climate change, to current world events, to human & civil rights movements, to examining the influence that different forms of popular media have on us. These issues are and will continue to be presented in a fun, creative, and interactive way. Moreover, the main goal of these lessons is not to impart particular beliefs, but to arouse interest, deliberation, and personal pursuit of knowledge on the topics covered. Given the momentum Kita 6 has already gathered, the rest of the year is shaping up to be one to remember!

Kita 7 B’Nei Mitzvah Program – Assaf Weisz
This year’s Bnei Mitzvah program is both a continuation of past experiences, and a culmination of the Jewish Studies program. Last year’s Kita 6 was focused primarily on Tikkun Olam – bringing about an awareness of social issues, and how they connect with us as Jews. This year aims to elaborate, intensify, and ultimately bring about self-chosen group action. The year is split into four thematic parts: Group Bonding, Jewish History, Israel, & Tikkun Olam action. We are just on the heels of our introductory Seminar, which was very successful in starting to form a cohesive group! The next step is to utilize this group identity to become an impact-center for not only the DJC community, but the Toronto community at large. Through an exploration of our Jewish identity and our place in the community, we will arrive at a chosen Tikkun Olam Project that will be undertaken as a group, and will serve to create a meaningful experience not only for your children but also for those they positively affect.

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