For information about B’nai Mitzvah, please click here.
Congregation Agudath Achim’s Religious School, located at the Jewish Community House at 133 High Street in Taunton, provides a comprehensive curriculum for children from early childhood through high school in small classes with credentialed lead teachers. To begin the conversation about your child becoming a part of our Religious School and your family becoming members of our community, please contact Ken Marin, Membership Chair.
The mission of our Religious School is to help our children grow to be Jewish adults who are able to cultivate a relationship with God and who can demonstrate love and pride in their Jewish heritage. Our students develop a strong understanding of Judaism to enable them to build their lives around its ethics, history, and practices with an appreciation of, and basic skills in, the Hebrew language and for our spiritual homeland, Israel.
Our school year mirrors that of secular schools, with a start date right after Labor Day and concluding in May (before Memorial Day), with appropriate breaks for secular and Jewish holidays. Classes for Grades 1 to 7 are held on Sunday mornings, from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM and on Thursday afternoons from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM. In addition, Shabbat Rishona services are held the first Saturday of the month at Congregation Agudath Achim at 9:30 AM for young children, students in grades 1-7, their families and the congregation. (On weekends when Shabbat Rishona is scheduled, there is no school scheduled on Sunday)
Our class sizes are small, at most 10 students per classroom, with a credentialed teacher and frequently with a teen or adult teacher’s aide participating in class lessons. Our educational programming for children younger than first grade and the adults in their lives is described below, as well as full information about B’nai Mitzvah education.
We are pleased to be using a variety of published resources from Behrman House and Torah Aura – major publishers of Jewish educational material for all ages. In addition, beginning in 2020, the older grades started using an engaging and accessible Shalom Learning Curriculum. The curriculum components used in our classrooms have as their foundations the three vital threads of Judaism: Torah (study), Avodah (worship), and Gemilut Hasadim (deeds of loving kindness). The enduring understandings for each of these threads may be summarized as follows:
Our students begin learning Hebrew Alef-Bet in Shalom Kids, our preschool family education program. In first and second grades they continue enhancing skills with the Aleph-Bet and core, everyday vocabulary. Students study independently and in small groups with teachers and teens who are “guides by the side” rather than “sages on the stage”. Accommodations are made for learning styles and abilities. All students begin with the first post-decoding level and work their way through the curriculum by the time they complete 7th grade.
First steps in Jewish learning, community and celebration parents and children together (birth to kindergarten)
Shalom Kids and Shalom Kids/Gan meets two Sundays a month from September through April at the Jewish Community House, 133 High Street, Taunton, in a classroom designed just for them. Parents, grandparents, and caregivers are part of this casual, relaxed family education program. Congregational holiday observances include our Shalom Kids families, as do our Shabbat Rishona (first Saturday of the month) services. If you are rearing children Jewishly, we can help enrich your efforts in a comfortable and supportive setting where you can meet other parents/grandparents/caregivers and their children. No prior knowledge needed. We will meet you “where you are” and help you get to where you want to go within the world of Jewish living, learning, and celebrating. You are welcome in our community.
We pride ourselves in maintaining an experienced faculty of credentialed lead teachers who at times are assisted by adult assistant teachers, volunteer teachers, and teen teacher aides (madrikhim). Religious School faculty includes Principal, Reb Josh, and Teachers Stacey Gay, Gail Nathan and Jessica Yarman.
We appreciate the classroom and individual assistance that our teen madrikhim provide.
The Religious School Committee, chaired by Stacey Gay and Sharon Seltzer, meets regularly to establish and review policies and procedures. In addition, they plan holiday celebrations for our students and organize fundraisers for our school. The full committee consists of Lisa Bellardino, Megan Bizarro, Stacey Gay, Sherry Ginsburg-Perry, Kassie Kaplan, Sharon Seltzer and Elizabeth Sisskind.
Sisterhood underwrites religious holiday celebrations and enrichment items year after year. Everyone in the Religious School sends their deepest appreciation. Thanks!
