Children

Children

Machon Micah: A Place of Learning

For students grades Pre-K – 12

Machon Micah students engage in a lively curriculum which covers Jewish holidays and traditions, Torah stories, Israel, Jewish values, and various aspects of social justice. 

Hebrew instruction at Machon Micah is primarily delivered via our online, one-on-one E-vrit tutoring program. Students in grades 3-7 meet for 30 minutes per week with a tutor to learn Hebrew decoding and prayers. Once students complete the Temple Micah prayer curriculum, they can choose to work in a modern Hebrew phrase book.

Additional opportunities are available to families with young children (birth – grade 1). To get involved, join our Young Family Shabbat email newsletter.


Machon Micah 5785 (2024-2025): Registration will open on April 15, 2024 in ShulCloud

Enrollment Requirements

Temple Micah membership is required for enrollment in Machon Micah. For more information about joining Micah, please contact info@templemicah.org. If you are interested in pursuing membership, our Director of Membership Engagement will assist you in scheduling an introductory meeting with a rabbi. After speaking with a rabbi and determining that Temple Micah is a good fit for your family, please contact Director of Education Sharon Tash to set up an appointment to discuss Machon Micah.

What’s New for 5785?

  • Fourth Grade is moving to Tuesdays. In order to best accommodate all of our students, Fourth Graders will meet on Tuesday afternoons with 5th-7th graders from 4:30-6:30 p.m., and NOT on Sundays, as they did in the 2023-24 school year.
  • Seventh Grade E-vrit is not mandatory for all students. Based on the Hebrew proficiency indicated on our progress reports, Seventh Graders may opt out of E-vrit unless they have not met our Hebrew literacy benchmarks. If this is the case, students will continue E-vrit tutoring as they prepare for b’nai mitzvah. Seventh graders will have separate b’nai mitzvah tutoring and they will spend some time reviewing b’nai mitzvah Shabbat liturgy during Tuesday classes.
  • Special programs for 5th and 6th Graders will continue. Monthly 5th and 6th Grade Shabbat mornings will continue and a highlight for this group will be a special Fall nighttime late stay with dinner and a program at Temple Micah.
  • New E-vrit scheduling program will provide more flexibility. Starting in Fall 2024 there will be more opportunities to reschedule E-vrit sessions using the new Pearl software. Although we cannot guarantee that rescheduling will always be possible, using Pearl, parents will indicate when their child is not able to make a session and they can search for open slots vacated by other students. Tutors can also indicate availability. We are optimistic that this will allow for significantly more flexibility in rescheduling sessions than we have been able to provide in past years.

Members: To access Machon Micah information, please login to your ShulCloud account. (If you are having trouble accessing your ShulCloud account, please contact info@templemicah.org).

To view the most up-to-date class schedule, please see our Calendar.

5785 At-A-Glance

Our Machon Micah team is excited for our year of in-person learning opportunities and All-Community Programs. Please refer to the chart below for an “at-a-glance” view of our plans. Checkmarks indicate mandatory programming for each grade.

 
Machon At A Glance - FY 24-25

5785 By Grade

Pre-K (age 4)

We will have ten spaces available in our Pre-K class; registration is first-come, first-served — all participants must be fully potty trained. Pre-K will meet once per month on Sunday mornings from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Parents are expected to join their children from 9:30-10:00 a.m. for our Family Boker Tov opening session in the sanctuary.

Grades K-3

Beginning in Fall 2024, Sunday Morning classes are for grades K-3, and they meet from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Parents are expected to join their children each week from 9:30-10:00 a.m. for our Family Boker Tov opening session in the sanctuary. This clergy-led session combines song, prayer, and learning, and it is a great way to meet other Machon families. After Boker Tov, students are dismissed to their classrooms for time with their teachers and specials including Israeli dancing, music, and Jewish-themed yoga.

Grades 4-7

Beginning in Fall 2024, Tuesday Afternoon classes are for grades 4-7, and they meet from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Many students come to Temple Micah directly from school. The students meet in the library to do homework or socialize before Machon begins. On Tuesday afternoons, students have classroom lessons, with Torah Trope taught by our rabbis for 6th Graders. Following our classroom lessons, the students participate in electives, which rotate every 4 weeks. We have offered the following electives over the past couple of years: learning about Jewish scientists, cooking, Israeli spy stories, journaling, mindfulness, art, discussions with the rabbis about God, the history of Jewish involvement in the cartoon industry, and Jewish perspectives on climate change. Each rotation offers different choices. 

The afternoon always culminates with Erev Tov, a short prayer service with the rabbis. Parents are invited to join their children in the sanctuary for Erev Tov at 6:10 p.m.

Grades 5-6

5th and 6th Graders also attend our popular monthly Shabbat Morning program, which provides a short camp-style service, interactive games, and a brief discussion on the weekly Torah portion. This program takes place once a month from 9-10:15 a.m. We encourage students to stay on for the Shabbat morning congregational service and kiddush lunch.

Grades 8-12

8th-12th Graders are invited to join R2B (Reason 2 Be) on Tuesdays from 6:30-8:00 p.m. R2B begins with dinner together as a class and follows with discussion-based lessons on topics addressing Jewish identity, ethics, current events, Israel, Jewish ritual, the Holocaust, and general Jewish history. Our R2B cohort also takes field trips. Recently, we visited the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Students must be enrolled in R2B to participate in these field trips. For more information about high school programming, please contact Mckinley Edelman.

Terms We Use at Machon Micah

Boker Tov: Led by Rabbi Beraha and Machon Staff, Boker Tov is a lively morning program filled with learning and song. Parents join their children on Sunday morning at the start of class for the first thirty minutes at Temple Micah.

E-vrit: One-on-one online Hebrew tutoring for students in grades 3-7. Each student meets with a tutor for 30 minutes per week. E-vrit tutoring includes Hebrew instruction and lessons around Shabbat, holidays, and Torah stories. Fun fact: E-vrit is a pun on the Hebrew word for the Hebrew language, ivrit.

Machon: A place of learning.

R2B: Reason to BeTeen learning for students in grades 8-12. R2B meets Tuesday evenings from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

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