The Chai Curriculum was developed for synagogue religious schools and is based on three vital threads of Judaism: Torah study; Avodah (prayer study); and G'milut Chasadim (behaving righteously).

The curriculum authors wrote clear teaching goals using the "Understanding by Design" model of curriculum construction. Each teacher writes out "essential questions" to guide their teaching and their students' learning. These questions are overarching questions that are broken down into smaller parts, helping students question and think about the subject matter and helping them make connections to prior learning.

Levels 1 through 7 Themes and Lesson Titles

Level: Since some of our classrooms reflect mixed-age groupings, the Chai Curriculum uses the word "level" instead of "grade" to specify a set of 27 lessons to be used during the course of any one year.

Strand: Each of the three strands (Torah, Avodah and G'milut Chasadim) contains nine lessons and is connected to each other by a thematic thread.

Thematic Thread: Each level has a thematic thread that connects all three strands together and reinforces central ideas throughout the year.

Overall Theme: Each strand within a level has its own overall theme that connects its nine lessons together.