Lesson#1

MishnahSukkah
FifthGrade

Goals:

PracticalissuesandlawsthatarisewhilebuildingaSukkah*

ReadingandcomprehendingthetextoftheMishnah*

WorkingroupstoreadanddiscussMishnayot*

HaveanenrichedexperiencelearninghandsonHalacha

WhatisthedifferencebetweenaKosherandnonkosherSukkah?

Objective:
ToreadandinterpretthefourthMishnahusingaPowerpointpresentationandthenapplythe
informationtodetermineifaSukkahiskosherornot

Activities:

ShowaPowerpointontheMishnahdiscussingaruleregardingkosherSukkahs

Havethestudentsworkingroupstorereadthemishnahandwriteanyquestionsthey
have

Chartandshortworksheettobefilledoutbasedonthemateriallearnt

CFU:

Circletheroomduringgroupworkaskingquestions

fillingoutthechartandtheworksheet

Assessment:

AfterthestudentsworktogetheringroupsdiscussingandlearningtheMishnah,they
mustwritedowntwoquestionstheycameupwithontheMishnah.Theythenhaveto
switchtheircards(whichthequestionsarewrittenon)withanothergroupandanswer
them.Theywillallbecollectedbymetolookover.

Lesson#2
MishnahSukkah
FifthGrade

Goals:
Historicalcontextbirthofthewrittenlaw*

BiographicalinformationonRabbiYehudaHanasi*

ThekeyandvitalroleofTorahSheBalPeh

Objective:
Tounderstandthebackground,historyaswellasimportanceoftheMishnayotandTorah
Shebalpehingeneral.

Activities:

ReadashortarticleaboutRabbiYehudaHanasiandwhyhedecidedtowritedownthe
Mishnayot

WatchavideoabouttheprohibitionofwritingdownTorahshebalpeh

GroupdiscussionregardingwhetheritwasagoodorbadideafortheMishnayottobe
writtendown

CFU:

GraffitiwalkpostersonthewallwithtopicsorquestionsregardingMishnahandthe
historyofhowitwaswrittenstudentswalkaroundwritingtheirownthoughts.Discussat
theend.

Assessment:

Aworksheetdiscussingthematerialcovered,askingdetailedquestionsaboutthehistory
andstorybehindthebirthoftheMishnah

Lesson#3
MishnahSukkah
FifthGrade

Goals:

TorahSheBalPehvs.TorahSheBktav*

ThePsukimintheTorahregardingSukkot

TofeelaconnectiontoTorahSheBalPehingeneral

Objective:
TohaveadeeperappreciationforTorahshebalpehanditsimportanceinoureverydaylives

Activities:

ReadanumberofpesukimregardingSukkottogetherandtranslate

Listtheambiguitiesandquestionsthatarisefromthesereadingsalone

Groupdiscussionwithasharednotepadlistingstudentsresponsesabouthowimportant
TSBPisandwhereitcomesupinoureverydaylives

CFU:

Scenarioworksheetwherestudentsmustanswerquestionsusingtheirknowledgeof
TSBP

Assessment

Studentsshoulddrawapicturedepictingsomethingimportanttotheireverydaylivesthat
isaffectedthroughTSBP

Reflections:
Beforeeachlessonplan,Ifoundmyselfgoingthroughtheunitgoalsandcopyingandpasting
manygoalsatatime.Irealizedthatasateacher,thereissomuchIwouldliketocoveratonce.
This,however,isnotonlyunrealisticbutdetrimentaltothestudentslearning.Ithentriedto
narrowitdowntotryandfocusthelearningandbeabletostructurealessoninamoreconcise
way.IthinktheseareeffectivelessonsplansbecauseItriedtokeepitsimplywithoutassigning
anoverwhelmingamountofactivitiesorassignmentsbutstillcoveredground.IalsolikehowI
balancedclassdiscussionswithgroupworkaswell.