Fifth Grade End-of-Lower School Ceremony Highlights the Theme of Journeys

This morning, the fifth grade class led their families and third and fourth grade peers in an end-of-lower-school ceremony, which centered around the class-selected theme of journeys and included a grade-led tefillah service, along with singing and dedications.

During the tefillah, fifth grade students wove the journeys concept into an introduction to each prayer, relating the prayer to either the journey of the immigrant family member they wrote about in their Judaic studies project, to the journey of the Israelites, or to their own personal journey through lower school. “My grandma came over to the United States and had a really difficult time,” explained one student. “I imagine she might have said “Modah Ani” when she woke up each morning.” Following the tefillah, students sang the song “Hey Artzeinu.” In addition, Judaic studies teacher Jonathan Ferris created a book of the class’s immigrant stories and each student presented the book, along with a personal dedication to their immigrant family member, to their families.

“It was such a pleasure to watch the students synthesize all they have learned this year into a unified theme for our end-of-year celebration," says Mr. Ferris. "I am so proud of their ability to take ownership and lead with such confidence." MORE PHOTOS