10a+-+Lisa+Richman

What a treasury! I first found a Matt Bar Bible Rap entitled, 'A Pesach/Passover Music Video', also known as 'Moses Rap' via the MediaMidrash site. There is a place in which to add curriculum although there is nothing there now. I learned not too long ago that Matt Bar was a student at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. He visited Camp Ramah in the Poconos recently. If anyone can write accompanying curriculum, a Pardes student can. Since this does not come with anything, I will use it in my fifth grade classroom. The children are currently engaged in a 'Plague Project' that I assigned, each of the ten children becoming a plague expert. One of their tasks is to examine the actual verses and do a variety of activities involving Hebrew language, commentaries and so on. Matt Bar's work is unique in that it is based on actual text. Upon completion of the project, I will have the children view Matt Bar's video and check for technical accuracy and what details might have been his own artistic interpretation.

What I have here, however...Shalom Sesame presents Khalikidan's Ethiopian Seder. We follow a young child throughout the family's seder, examining the preparation, customs, family stories, etc. Three things struck me in the lesson plans for fifth grade, two of which I would incorporate and one I would reserve for a younger age. There is a suggestion to have a Question Board in the room, creative an environment of inquisitiveness and curiosity. The Penn Literacy Program from 30 years ago taught that a teacher should elicit from students what they know, what they want to learn and, finally, what they learned. The Question Board would keep all of this highly visible and help chart the class's progress as well. Next, the lesson plan suggests sharing stories. At a seder, there are frequently multiple generations, an ideal time to talk talk about experiences. Immigration/Emigration would be a terrific topic! Last, there is a suggestion that the children bring something to class that they would like to take on a long trip. In the interest of time, I might have the chldren photograph it at home and e-mail it to me and then make a composite. Once those types of objects come into school, the chatter around them can be very time-consuming and I don't think that amount of time should be taken for this activity given all the seder prep the children need to do. media type="youtube" key="6lOZrtivtTE" height="390" width="480"