Congratulations 6th Grade! I could not be prouder of all of you. Yesterday, all of you successfully passed our Torah Trope Challenge. Each student chanted the V’ahavta in trope, and the Blessings before and after the reading of Torah. This challenge demonstrated your knowledge of Torah trope – identification of the symbols, the melody, how each trope mark functions (m’chaber/connector or mafsik/separator), and the syllabic stress.

What’s next? We will spend a week or so completing Torah trope. We will learn the 6th and final clause, segol, and we will learn about a few rare trope symbols. Then it is on to Haftarah. Haftarah trope uses the same trope symbols, their names are the same, the way each symbol functions is the same, and the syllabic stress is the same – the only difference is that each symbol now has a different melody. We will begin this process as we began Torah trope, learning each clause, using color-coding, hand symbols and call and response. We use this holistic approach so that the students will be Torah and Haftarah readers for life.

I will be absent this coming Sunday. I am going to a 2-day music conference in Baltimore. The 5th grade Hebrew teacher, and our B’nai Mitzvah tutor, Shari Granat will be our substitute. She is really looking forward to connecting with her old students again.

Mazal Tov on this marvelous accomplishment!