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Youth Education Programs |
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SHABBATON A PROGRAM FOR FAMILIES TO CELEBRATE AND LEARN TOGETHER ON SHABBAT 5768/2007-08
This year, we celebrate
Frequently Asked Questions about Shabbaton: Who participates in Shabbaton? Beth Am families with children in grades pre-K to 5 can choose Shabbaton as an alternative to the Sunday Judaica program. New families are warmly welcome. Current participants are encouraged to continue. Parents and children participate each time Shabbaton meets. Families who enjoy and value spending time together, life-long Jewish learning and building strong friendships with other Beth Am families certainly will enjoy Shabbaton. Is Shabbaton a part of Beit Midrash? Yes. Beit Midrash is the new name of our youth education programs for children in Pre-K to 8th grade. Beit Midrash encompasses Hebrew and Judaica learning for these age groups. Beit Midrash includes the following youth education programs: Hebrew, Haggiah, Shabbaton, Sunday and Tuesday Night Programs, and Tzavta: Family B’nai Mitzvah Enrichment. When does Shabbaton meet? Shabbaton meets Saturday afternoon from 3:30 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. usually three times each month. Regular attendance, punctuality and full participation by parents and children at each session are essential for the success of the program and to each family’s experience. Please consider the commitment carefully when registering for Shabbaton. How can my family register? Return your registration as soon as possible. Check the appropriate Shabbaton box(es) for each of your children that are in pre-k thru grade 5. Parents are automatically included! Let us know if you have younger children for whom we need to save a space in Shabbatots (see the next question). What about siblings younger than 4 years old? We encourage families to bring all family members to Shabbaton. Therefore, we offer Shabbatots for children under 4 years old. Shabbatots is a wonderful, supervised playtime program where babies and toddlers are cared for by teenagers who are carefully supervised by an adult. What about siblings in 6th grade or older? For our 6th grade students, we will be offering a section of 6th grade Hebrew instruction. Students will be able to participate with their families in Havdalah and complete their weekly Hebrew instruction during the learning time of Shabbaton. For our other middle school students, we invite them to help out in our Shabbatots program. Along with our Shabbatots coordinator, our teens help to supervise playtime for our children 4 years and under. The students can either be paid for this time or gain community service hours. This is a wonderful way to learn how to work with small children and continue to be a part of our Shabbaton program. For our high school students, we invite them to be madrichim (teaching assistants) in our classes. We welcome and encourage students to be active members of our Shabbaton teaching team. How is time spent at Shabbaton? As a Jewish family education program, each session begins and ends with family togetherness time. We also learn in parallel, age appropriate groups. Here’s an example of a typical Shabbaton schedule:
Our Shabbaton program also includes potluck dinners following Shabbaton and other special events during the year including an extended-day retreat. Friends, classmates and family groups are encouraged to find tikkun olam activities that they can do together. In addition, each family participates in an on-going family project that they will share with their mishpachah class at some point during the year.
What will we learn in Shabbaton? Families learn that spending time together with friends at Beth Am on Shabbat is FUN! Also, we learn to participate in Jewish music, prayer, culture and holidays. Shabbaton is a great way for families to feel more connected to and at home at Beth Am and to our larger Jewish community. Please see the front of this page for the details of our curricular focus for 5768 (2007-2008). Why do families choose Shabbaton? Comments from a few participants: “We like being together as a family on Shabbat. We feel more connected to Beth Am because we got to know a group of families with children around the same age as ours. We also enjoy the opportunity for adult study.” -- Leanse Family “We have a great time learning together; and our children see that we value Jewish education by participating as a family.” -- Crankshaw Family “We feel Shabbaton provides an opportunity for family time where we can all do and learn together. Shabbaton creates a smaller more intimate setting in our large congregation. We enjoy Shabbaton immensely.” -- Kalb Family "Shabbaton is really neat. It's great that you can learn about Judaism, combined with hanging out with your friends. The teachers are all really cool. And babysitting is the best! I get paid to hang out with a bunch of cool, funny, little kids, along with my other friends. I can't wait to start again next year."– Max Lloyd (7th grader) Have more questions? Please contact
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