Kindergarten at Temple Shalom is tuition free and open to Jewish households in the community. This class meets on Sunday mornings for eighteen sessions throughout the school year. The students in the Kindergarten class have their own curriculum that is geared to young, inquiring minds who just might be intimidated by a big building and lots of older kids around. Not only do kindergarteners get library time, they have music and participate in Shalom Theatre.

The religious school of Temple Shalom strives to instill an understanding and appreciation of our Reform Jewish heritage and a fulfilling relationship with God. Our students will learn Shabbat, holidays, history, Hebrew and mitzvot in a creative and enjoyable way. Together with our families we will develop secure, confident Jewish members of the community.

The first and second grades meet on Sundays from 10:00am-12:00pm while the third through seventh grades meet on Sunday (same times) and on Wednesday evening from 6:00pm-7:30pm.

This program is an interactive drama program that uses the stories of the Bible as its scripts. With Rabbi Jacob as the director, children take the parts of the characters in the biblical stories and act, adlibbing their lines and adding their own creative touch to the scenes.

This successful program has been a part of the religious school curriculum for over ten years. Using the bimah as a stage, our students in Kindergarten through Third Grade learn the Bible and gain the team skills of playful storytelling. At the end of the day, everyone gets to take their bow.

This worship community is a teaching tool for the fourth through seventh grades. On every Sunday at 11:30am, the students assemble in the sanctuary or the Snyder Social Hall for morning services led out of their own student prayer book. Students in the B'nai Mitvah Academy stand as Sheliach Zibor (public leader of the service) and as Hazan (music leader). The service is open to the congregation and parents are encouraged to attend.

The academy is a nine month tutorial program that prepares students to lead services, read Torah, and teach Torah to the congregation. The half-hour sessions are held on Tuesday evenings throughout the calendar year. Temple Shalom requires two years in the religious school and a basic proficiency in Hebrew in order to enter the academy. Students transferring from other synagogue or day school programs will be considered on a case by case basis.

Confirmation throws out the desks and the textbooks. For students in eighth through tenth grades, students begin to master two processes: how to hold conversations like an adult and how to understand Judaism as an adult. Our teachers are specially trained to work with these age groups and to teach in this unique setting under the auspices of the Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education (ACAJE).

Tenth graders study with Rabbi Jacob. While the end of the year is celebrated with a Confirmation service, during the year the students take field trips, plan and run the religious school Shabbaton, and travel to Washington for the Religious Action Center's L'Taken Conference.

All the Reform congregations in the Philadelphia area participate in an eleventh and twelfth grade teacher certification program through Gratz College, called the I. M. Wise program. Students attend courses at centrally located synagogues and take up paid positions as student teachers at their home congregation. Students take Hebrew, Jewish History and Classroom Management from faculty at Gratz College. Students earn college credits and receive a teaching certification in Reform Judaism upon completion of the program.

At present, Temple Shalom has two alumni of I. M. Wise on our faculty.

While Temple Shalom has standalone classes in all areas of Jewish Life, the Sisterhood, Brotherhood, and the Mavens also host lectures and classes throughout the year. Classes for adults are held on Tuesday or Wednesday evening, depending on the yearly schedule; Thursday morning and Sunday morning, concurrent with Religious School. The synagogue hosts a year long study program, mini-courses and "one-shot" evenings. Many courses are open to the community.

Temple Shalom does not have a separate set of programs based on the family education model because all of the education programs for both children and adults are based on a family education model. The congregation, its staff and its congregants, assume the responsibility for teaching ourselves how to live a Jewish life in this day and time.

All of our education is a "hands on" approach that welcomes parents, grandparents and children into almost all of our education and programming endeavors. What happens in a classroom on Sunday morning may appear in services on Friday night. The Maven staff our ten station workshop on the Holocaust for the religious school while our older students learn the mitzvah of living Jewishly by helping us clean after our monthly Shabbat dinners. Everything we learn within one area of the congregation is deliberately connected to other parts of the synagogue.