"I like the Hebrew studies a lot and the way we are considerate of each other."
Hebrew Language Arts
In Fourth Grade students continue to expand their vocabulary and improve their oral comprehension skills. Through a variety of games and dramatic exercises, students are given frequent opportunities to use the new vocabulary in their oral expression. The Tal Sela Language Arts series as well as additional literature taken from many different sources, provide students with the opportunities to increase their ability to comprehend literary material. In grammar the focus is on sentence structure, parts of speech, and verb conjugations in the present and past tense. Students are encouraged to work more independently on their written assignments.
Torah Study
Students in fourth grade complete their study of the Book of Genesis. Narrative portions starting with Parashat Vayishlach are taught. Students learn grammatical constructions unique to the Torah text as well as new vocabulary words that are essential to the understanding of the text. The ideas and moral lessons contained in the text are fully discussed. While the focus will be on the text itself, commentaries will be introduced occasionally in order to enhance the understanding of the text. During the last quarter of the school year, students will begin to learn to read and understand simple Rashi commentaries.
Holidays
While expanding their knowledge of concepts, vocabulary, and customs associated with the holidays, students experience the joy and richness of the holidays through stories, songs, and art projects. Selections from Megillat Esther and the Passover Haggadah are studied in depth.
Prayer
Students in fourth grade join together with students in third grade and fifth grade for prayers on Monday and Thursday mornings for Shacharit and on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for Mincha. They take their turn leading the prayers and are given the opportunity to read a few sentences from the Torah. The daily morning and afternoon prayers are learned and explained.
Israel
An in-depth study of the city of Jerusalem takes place in fourth grade. A unit of the language arts series is devoted to the study of Jerusalem. In addition, students tour the country of Israel using other texts and source material.
