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Friday LetterFriday Letter Archive | Friday Letter AlertsApril 24, 2009 Fri. May 22 Kabbalat Shabbat – Special Guest Cantor Barnoy, of Evening of the Arts – Thursday, May 21st. This year, we will be celebrating Yom Yerushalayim through the visual and performing arts. At 6:30 in the evening, we will enjoy the music of all grades as well as the band, choir, and drama club. At 7:15, the art gallery will be opened for your viewing pleasure. Each child in the school has created an original painting which has been professionally framed. Parents wishing to purchase their child’s framed art work will be able to do so. The cost of framed artwork is $29.95. If parents do not wish to purchase the frame their child will bring home the unframed painting during the following week of school. Dear Parents and Friends of Solomon Schechter Day School, I am very excited to let you know about a new feature on our Elementary School website. We have upgraded our Photo Gallery to make it much easier for you to view photos of our school events. When you click on Photo Galleries, it takes you directly to our new platform. Click on the Elementary School folder, and then the folder titled 08-09 School Year. You will then see 18 albums of this year’s school wide happenings, plus a Read-a-thon folder with 6 albums of the special Read-a-thon events. You can browse each album by page, or view the album in a slide show. The slide show can be customized by speed of photos and background. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at ssokoler@ssdsnassau.org. I’d also appreciate your feedback on the new photo gallery feature. Enjoy! Sheryl Sokoler Dear Parents and Friends of the Solomon Schechter Elementary School, Welcome back! Though we have only been back in school for a few days, so much has transpired over the course of this week. Returning from Pesach break on Monday and seeing the smiling, delicious faces of the students at Solomon Schechter was such a joy and delight! You may think this sounds corny, but I noticed that many children had grown taller and seemed more grown-up than before Pesach. They returned with exciting stories of their family celebrations of the holiday, and relaxing on vacation, but ready to get back to learning. As this weekly letter serves as a chronicle of events that mark the life of the elementary school, it in necessary to go back to before the break, when the school as a whole was celebrating the approach of Birkat HaChamah and Pesach. We thank the Parent Association for arranging for a wonderful Pesach Puppet Show by Mr. Rogers, whose marionettes told a Midrash of the story of the exodus from Egypt. All of the classes had been learning about Pesach and had been studying the Haggadah and many grades held model seders. I will be honest with you, I have mixed feelings about whether or not schools should do model seders, worrying if this full-blown prequel diminishes from family’s authentic seders at home. On the other hand, there is nothing like practice to build skills and confidence in children. And the in-school sedarim were truly beautiful. I hope you noticed how your children’s education at Schechter enhanced your family’s home celebration and that it was a joyous one for all of you. The other highlight of the short week leading up to Pesach was our in-school celebration of Birkat HaChamah, that unusual occurrence on the Jewish calendar that occurs just once in 28 years, when we recite a blessing for the sun. Our long awaited ceremony to bury a new time capsule created by the 3rd graders had finally arrived. The morning began with a special assembly in the auditorium, featuring music, verses from the Torah’s account of the 4th day of creation (Genesis, 1:14-19), and a movie of “Schechter 2009,” lovingly created by David Lobel, father of Rachel and Alexandra Lobel. The 20-minute movie was filmed all in one day, edited by Mr. Lobel, shown to our student body and then buried in the time capsule, along with the other artifacts that we hope will be dug up by the Schechter community in 2037, the next time the blessing will be recited. I do not possess the proper words to thank Mr. Lobel for his marathon effort to delight out students and create a lasting legacy for future Schechter students. We returned to school just in time to commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. The students from the 5th grade, so ably led by their Judaic Studies teacher Mrs. Lizet Romano, led an assembly for all students in 2nd through 4th grade. The assembly opened with a magnificent piano and violin duet of the theme song from Schindler’s List, performed by our music teacher, Mrs. Elana Stern, and Cantor Bensimhon of the Midway Jewish Center. The 5th graders then read and performed their own original works, several of which had been submitted to an art contest at the Holocaust Museum in Glen Cove. In keeping with the theme of “The Children of the Holocaust,” our 5th graders wrote poetry, prose, and plays, produced songs, created 3-dimentional sculptures, and painted paintings for the museum, and several of these works were incorporated into our Yom HaShoah assembly. The commemoration of Yom HaShoah continues this Sunday, April 26th at 1:30 p.m. at the Museum in Glen Cove, when our student choir will perform. Choir members are asked to arrive by 1:00 PM. Wednesday was Earth Day, (in Hebrew, called Yom HaAdamah) and in the evening, the families of the 2nd grade gathered together for a Parent Association-sponsored Yom HaAdamah program. Parents and children heard the pioneering environmental story by Dr. Suess, “The Lorax,” planted all kinds of flower and vegetable seeds, discussed whether or not environmentalism is a Jewish issue, and created a family covenant of 5 ways their family can be more environmentally friendly in the year to come. This beautiful program was enhanced by the presence and assistance of members of the High School S.A.F.E Club, and their faculty advisor and environmental science teacher, Deborah Lorber. S.A.F.E stands for Student Activists For the Environment. We thank Ms. Lorber and high school students Josh Rubin, Daniel Nassim, Maria Dominguez, Eliana Goodman and Adina Cooper for coming to share their tips of being better stewards of the earth. Huge thanks to the many parents of the second grade who helped plan the program, particularly Deena Katz and Genia Taub, as well as to the co-chairs of the PA Family Programming committee, Sheri Balsam and Lori Kantorowitz. Two special “Yom’s” this week (Yom HaShoah and Yom HaAdamah), and two more in the week to come. On Tuesday, April 28th, the 4th graders, under the direction of Mrs. Hannah Hirsch, will be leading the rest of the school in commemorating Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers. There will be a special assembly for second through 5th grade at 9:50 AM, and a second assembly at 10:30 AM for kindergarten and first grade. Then on Wednesday, Tuesday, April 29th, corresponding to the Hebrew date “Hey B’Iyar,” the school will whoop it up in celebration of Yom HaAtzma’ut, as the State of Israel celebrates its 61st birthday. Regular classes will be replaced by a whole day of special activities and workshops, including singing, dancing, arts and crafts, Israeli cuisine, and special computer activities, all in celebration of Israel’s independence. In the evening, I hope to see all of you at the Jericho Campus for a community-wide family celebration of Yom HaAtzma-ut, sponsored by the Parent Association, from 6-8 PM. See attached flyer, and see you Wednesday evening. Last, I want to mention that special deliveries arrived in Kindergarten and first grade this week. For the next 28 days, the kindergarten students will be carefully guarding their duck eggs, which God-willing, will hatch up to a dozen little ducklings, while the first graders watch and chart the progress of their new tadpoles, who God-willing, will turn into frogs in just a few short weeks. It has been a wonderful week at the Schechter elementary school, and all indications point toward a wonderful upcoming week! Shabbat Shalom, Dr. Cindy Dolgin ____________________________________________________ Dvar Torah Parshat Tazria-Metzora Rachel Alexander Director of Institutional Advancement Circle of Life One of my favorite parts about working at a school is being a part of the broader Schechter family. I love hearing about the college acceptances of the seniors, the new siblings born in the elementary school and the dozens of B’nai Mitzvah in the middle school. After only two years working at Schechter, I feel connected with the deep family ties among your families. Of course, not every family milestone is a celebration. This week I joined with you in mourning the loss of a dear member of our Schechter family, Ruth Steinberg z”l. Ruth was a regular helper with carpool of her four grandchildren, a cheerleader for many basketball games in the Lion’s Den, and the co-chair of Grandparent’s and Special Friend’s Day this past year. PDF filesChesed CornerIsrael's Independence Day Flyer ALL are Welcome to compete in the Jr. Olympics and Pitch Hit & Run Competitions on Sunday, May 3rd! 2009-10 Calendar Form Willy Wonka Flyer and Ticket Information |
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