Curriculum Overview
Language Arts
The goal of WFHA's English language arts (ELA) curriculum is to teach students the language skills they need to communicate effectively as individuals and as contributing members of society.
Our curriculum is a spiraling course of study that allows our students to learn, develop and master skills over time.
At each grade level, students are taught skills in the three language strands: oral language, written language, and media/technology use. The specific expectations, however, varies by grade level. First graders and eighth graders, for example, all read and write and use technology, but the expectations about what they read or write and how they use media differ.
Likewise, there is common content at all grades. All students study:
- Language of the discipline - plots, themes, setting and more
- Language conventions - including sentence structure, mechanics, spelling and punctuation
- Various literary genre - such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama
Additionally, the teachers help our students to see the real life connection between reading and writing. Our writing program explores the use of writing for a variety of purposes. Our students learn to be authors who see writing as a process, understand their audience and are comfortable writing in different genres.
Torat Chayim
Torat Chayim - Jewish living - is a program unique to WFHA that emerged from a collaborative process between our teachers and the scholars at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. This curriculum is presented to grades five through eight, our middle school students.
Educators at WFHA strive to create a positive Jewish learning environment where students learn from authentic Jewish sources and relate the text to their lives. We include the pillars of Torah - learning, avodah - spiritual practice, and gemilut hasadim - kind and ethical practice. Our students learn in a supportive environment where they examine and learn three modes of participation in Jewish life: believing, behaving, and belonging.
Based on a collaborative model, educators meet weekly to research, develop and improve the curriculum. Unique features include team teaching, reflection on practice and a pooling of resources. Skills taught in Torat Hayim may be integrated with the humanities subjects, language arts and world Jewish history. Much planning is involved to integrate general and Judaic studies in the teaching of skills as well as content. Ongoing research of sources and careful planning of exciting methodologies occur among the teachers at WFHA.
We believe that studying Jewish texts can transform the culture of the school, as the vocabulary in the sources selected infuse our lives with deep values that relate study, ethics and actions.
It is our belief that studying Jewish texts within a supportive learning community offers invaluable skills that enable one to navigate through daily life conflicts and respond creatively and critically to life changes.
Hebrew Program
Hebrew is the language of the Jewish people. It is the ancient language of our Torah and continues to be the living language of our homeland, Medinat Yisrael - the State of Israel. Our goal is, first and foremost, to develop within our students a love of the Hebrew language and an understanding of its central value to the Jewish people.
Our Hebrew language program focuses on teaching Hebrew as a modern living language. Newspapers, literature, poems and songs familiarize students with Israeli culture and stimulate them to converse in Hebrew.
Hebrew Language Objectives:
- Students will be exposed to classic and modern Israeli culture through Hebrew games, songs, poems, short stories, newspapers, T.V. shows and movies.
- Students will learn to read, understand and answer questions on a wide variety of both classic and current Hebrew literature.
- Students will be able to listen to and understand age-appropriate stories, radio programs, movies and other Hebrew media.
- Students will become skilled at holding conversations in Hebrew on any day-to-day topic, using correct grammatical conventions, i.e. gender, singular/plural, and tense, on or above grade level.
- Students will be trained to write full sentences, paragraphs or essays/stories, accessing an extensive vocabulary, while using correct grammatical conventions.
World Jewish History
Our integrated world and Jewish history program begins in grade four and continues through to grade eight. WFHA developed this course of study to teach our students who we are - as Jews, as Americans and as citizens of the world. Throughout the curriculum, events in Jewish history are presented along side the events taking place in world history.
In the fourth grade, students learn about the history of early man, and the history of Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations.
Our fifth grade curriculum begins with the Israelite period, using the Tanach - the Bible - as a primary source document. Students then move on to learn about the Greeks and the Romans, continually following events in Jewish history. Students discover that the story of our Chanukah is also the story of the Greeks. Students learn about the rise of the Roman Empire, at the same time as they learn about Herod and the subsequent destruction of the Second Temple.
Our sixth grade students study the period from the fall of Rome to the Enlightment and the Age of Exploration. Major events in Jewish history, including the Crusades and the Golden Age of Spain are also covered.
Our seventh graders concentrate on American history, covering the period from the colonies to the Age of Industrialization. Throughout the year they discover the contributions of Jews to American history.
The eighth grade learns about the rise of Zionism, World War I and interwar period in Europe. All topics are studied from both a world and Jewish perspective. Eighth graders will also learn about World War II, the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel. In the latter part of the year, the class will concentrate on the period of the Sixties, the Vietnam War, the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. The class will close with recent events, as the 21st century began.
Science
The goal of the Westchester Fairfield Hebrew Academy's Science course of study is for our students to achieve scientific literacy. The National Science Education Standards define scientific literacy as "the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for scientific decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity." Ultimately, we expect our students to not only communicate scientifically but to apply the concepts learned.
Using a variety of experiments, hands on discovery lessons, real life experience and recognizing science principles in the world, our program concentrates on four major strands:
Students at any grade level learn and develop skills in the four science strands of Nature of Science, Science as Inquiry, Science and Technology and Science in Social and Personal Perspectives
Each year, the K-8 Science program includes goals and objectives from Life, Physical, and Earth Sciences each year. However, the specific expectations for what students study at different grade levels vary.
Math
The mathematics curriculum is designed to teach students the skills that will enable them to formulate, analyze and solve problems efficiently.
Our mathematics teachers utilize math manipulatives, real life applications and a variety of teaching methods to concentrate on five major strands: number and operations, measurement, geometry, data analysis and probability, and algebra. Computational skills, number concepts and the use of technology are essential components of the curriculum.
WFHA teachers focus on mathematical thinking and reasoning by guiding the learning process in their classrooms and manage the classroom environment through a variety of instructional approaches directly tied to the mathematics content and to students' needs. Learning mathematics has been enhanced by placing math content into context and by connecting it to other subject areas. Our students are given multiple opportunities to apply mathematics in meaningful ways as part of the learning process.