Rabbi Shavit-Lonstein is very involved in both our informal and formal education programming such as the Honors and Confirmation programs. Rabbi Shavit-Lonstein leads Sunday morning services for our primary grades with the help of our music specialist Wendy Baldinger and has educational input for our informal youth activities. Wendy Goodman supervises, changes and adjusts our curriculum of our various programming. Wendy Goodman administrates the formal youth education programming for the Shabbat and Sunday schools as well as the Hebrew school and Honors program, hiring staff, supervising the Youth Department, and watching the various budgets intensively.

Hebrew School
Our children study in our building with a program providing two days a week of Hebrew plus other effective Jewish education classes. With strong input and involvement from our clergy, the education committee and our parents, we are developing innovative ways to meet the educational needs of our congregants and their children and to create a supportive environment for religious and spiritual growth.

Parent/Toddler Program
The Toddler/Parent Program features a full range of Jewish fun and educational activities for parents and toddlers ages 1-4. Activities are centered around the Jewish holidays, Jewish values and learning about the synagogue and ritual objects. Each week children and their parents participate in music, art and other hands-on activities, as well as sharing in special programming of the Religious School.

This program meets from 10:00 - 11:45 am each Sunday that Religious School is in session. Parents who have older children enrolled in the Religious School have the option of arriving between 9:00 and 10:00 to play with their children before the programming begins.

This is a rewarding experience for both parents and toddlers and a great opportunity to meet other families with young children!

7TH Grade Hebrew
The 7TH GRADE HEBREW Program is now in its 8th year and it was developed in response to requests from parents over the years. It is an educational choice for Temple of Aaron 7th graders. The 7TH GRADE HEBREW Program consists of two formal days of classroom instruction. Participants meet on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings when they share dinner with our Honors student. Wednesday classes include study of Bible, Hebrew, Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience, life cycle and mitzvot.

Sunday class time is the Mitzvot-based program where the students learn a variety of Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World) mitzvot and then participating in fulfilling them. One-on-one translation and interpretation for each student of their individual B'nai Mitzvah Torah portions is added to the B'nai Mitzvah tutoring.

Honors Program
The Temple of Aaron Honors Program for 8-10th graders has grown from six students to over 50 this year. The students attend five hours of classroom instruction during the week - Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.

On Wednesday evenings the students study with Ernie Gulner, Eddie Winthrop, Alex Locke and other teachers. They study Pirke Avot, Jewish Wisdom Skills for Living, Jewish Practice and Jewish Beliefs, and the theology of our Siddur, and Hebrew Reading.

SCHOLARSHIPS - Contact Wendy Oskey for further scholarship information.

Teachers' Corner

*2010/2011 to be updated soon*

Year	Teacher
Toddler Parent	MARGIE SCHNEIDER
PK/K	BONNIE REINKE
1	MAUREEN GITLIN
2	HEATHER MARKS
3/4	DEB JOPP
5	ANNE BLOOMBERG LINDSAY BERG WENDY OSKEY
6	MARK DIVINE MAUREEN GITLIN BONNIE REINKE
7	WENDY BETH GAHM ROBIN TAPLE EDDIE WINTHROP DINA GOODMAN LISA ROTHSTEIN
8	SETH SALENGER RACHEL WINTHROP CHARLES GOODMAN
9	ELYSE LEVINE-LESS WENDY OSKEY ERNIE GULNER ALEX LOCKE
Confirmation	RABBI ALAN SHAVIT-LONSTEIN ERNIE GULNER
Art	TRACEY AGRANOFF
Music	WENDY BALDINGER
Hebrew Evaluation	LARRY EISENSTADT

6th Grade Stories

Over the course of the 2008-2009 school year, the sixth grade class learned about the history of American Jewry, personalizing this experience by exploring their own families’ pasts. They spoke to their parents and grandparents, and then spent time in class composing a story based on their history. As they wrote, the class learned about the Spanish Inquisition, Pogroms, the Holocaust and the idea that the streets of America were paved in gold. They learned about the struggles and excitement of leaving one’s homeland to venture to a new unknown land. They read about the first Jewish congregations, the first Temples and how Jews (and their own families) made it to Minnesota. Here are their stories.

6TH GRADE STORIES

School Music

Thanksgiving Song Sheets Tu B'shvat Songs

Consecration Songs Purim Songs

Simchat Torah Songs

UJFC Passport to Israel Program Partnership for Jewish Continuity

Passport to Israel Program is a savings incentive program designed to encourage families to begin saving early for their children's educational Israel experience. Our Jewish community feels this type of experience is important for our youth and has developed a partnership among the family, Temple of Aaron and the United Jewish Fund & Council to make such an experience more affordable. Temple of Aaron and UJFC will contribute every year in April to match a $150 family contribution.

Eligibility: All Jewish children ages 8-21 are eligible to enroll. Also, students between the ages of 15 and 21 participating in programs sponsored by a reputable organization which has a solid educational thrust. For more information contact Wendy Goodman.

Brochures and application forms are available. Join the many families who are taking advantage of this unique opportunity.

Wendy Oskey , Interim Principal