Chumash tip: Portfolios

The students learn a lot of new skills and vocabulary each perek. But what happens at the end of the perek? What do they need to remember and what can they forget? This is a process of learning that students must develop as they mature. New knowledge must be stored in the brain in an  easily accessible place. One way to help students understand the process that their  brain is doing  is to have them replicate this process physically in the classroom. After each perek, we empty the chumash section of the binder. The students discard the worksheets and staple the translation sheets together. They put their saved work in their Judaic Studies portfolio (Moving from short term knowledge to long term storage). It is important that the students understand that they must put the new packet into the portfolio in the proper order. Otherwise, they will not be able to find it quickly and easily when they need it. At the end of the year, all the students  have resources to review what they learned during the year. They  can reflect on how much they have learned and use the sheets to review their material over the summer.