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Upcoming Events
June 3
PTA Moms Paint Night
Private Residence
730pm
June 5
8th Grade Graduation
Beth Jacob
5:30pm- doors open
6:00pm- begins
June 6
Pre-1-5th
Celebration of Learning
5:30pm
June 11
Pre-1 to 7th
Step Up Assembly
Upper Gym
9:00am
June 11
Last Day of School
Early Dismissal
11:00am
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MOMS PAINT NIGHT OUT
THIS SUNDAY! Don't miss out on the very last PTA event of the year - designed especially for Moms! Join us as we indulge in decadent wine and cheese and enjoy our live violinist, while we paint the night away!
Don't wait!
Prices increase tonight.
(*Moms Paint Night out is in lieu of Ladies Day Out / Garden Party)
Thank you to our generous sponsors for supporting this event and the Hillel PTA
all year round.
The Gomperts, Nelson, Katz, Deutsch, Gottlieb, Gruenbaum, Talansky, Feinblum, Goor, Hoenig, Khoshnood, Lalazary, Mintz, Rostami, Selick, Serure, Surpin, Wintner and Winter Families!
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BIRTHDAY CLUB
Enroll your child in the
The last celebration of the
school year is
this Monday, June 4th.
This include
all students who were born in June, July and August to include all the birthdays over the summer break!
Your birthday child will get to choose a new book for the library with a dedication to him or her inside, check that book out first, and have their picture proudly on display in the library. Kids love to see their names in the books!
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LIBRARY TOP READERS
Today is the ice cream celebration for this year's top readers!
Kol Hakod on all your hard work and dedication to reading
and learning.
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Parnas Hayom
Parnas
HaYom
is a beautiful way to honor a yarzheit, merit a refuah shelemah, or celebrate a simcha. Dedicating the Torah learning of students at Hillel to mark an occasion helps us to imbue both a love of learning and appreciation for the value of Torah scholarship.
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May 29- June 1
.... is sponsored by Bubby Malke, Daniel Sentchuk's great-grandmother, in honor of Daniel, his classmates & all of their dedicated teachers. May their years at Hillel be a source of continued inspiration for life long love of learning & yiddishkeit
May 31, 2018
....
has been dedicated by Sue & Arnie Garelick, grandparents of Daniel Sentchuk, in honor of the Bar Mitzvah of Elijah Stern.
June 1, 2018
...has been dedicated by Sue & Arnie Garelick, grandparents of Daniel Sentchuk, in honor of the Bat Mitzvah of Abigail Kestenbaum.
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ISSUE NO. 031
Friday, June 1, 2018
18 Sivan, 5778
Parashat Beha'alotecha
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A Platform for the Future!
By Rabbi Sufrin, Head of School
If a person cannot fulfill the
mitzvah
of קרבן פסח -- "the paschal lamb sacrifice" because, for instance, he was far away from Yerushalayim and could not bring the sacrifice on time - he may instead bring the sacrifice one month later. In a certain way, when a person misses a due date as a result of miscalculating time, this person is guilty of not prioritizing the need to bring the
korban pesach.
Surely he could have done a better job at managing his time. Nevertheless, the Torah prescribes a make-up date for this person.
The Talmud states:
af al pi shechatta Yisrael hu
- "even if he sins he is still a (member of the) Jewish (nation)." Maimonides writes that every Jew truly wants to perform Hashem's will through His commandments, it is only due to the challenge of the evil inclination that at times a person errs. These principles of a Jew always being connected to Hashem, do not condone a person intentionally violating a commandment, but rather, it leaves room for him or her to rectify errors or negative actions for the future. This is the basis for the
mitzvah
of
pesach sheni.
Mistakes and omissions are part of life, but pesach sheni teaches us there is always room to learn from those mistakes and to improve for the future.
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Transitions and Connections: the 5th and 6th Grade Buddy Program
The academic, social and emotional move from 5th to 6th grade is not an easy one. Beyond the adjustments in the number of classes, teachers, the need for independent study and organizational skills in order to feel school success, this transition takes place while students are going through enormous developmental shifts and growth. No wonder they are expressing a wide arrange of emotions and responses. Now let's throw in Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation and expectations, and you have quite a challenging moment in a young person's life!!
Last week we buddied our 5th graders with our current 6th graders for activities meant to start the process of transition into Middle School. Instead of waiting for the end of August, 5th and 6th graders did icebreaker and team building exercises meant to make our 5th graders feel part of the MS experience. Our 6th graders got the chance to lead, lend their advice and put an arm around the 5th graders to make them feel welcomed and recognized. 5th graders were also able to participate in a 6th grade Jewish Studies class while our 6th graders returned to their old 5th grade teachers to write letters and welcome cards for the 5th graders to be read on the first day of Middle School in the fall.
The program culminated with an Oneg on Friday with the 5th and 6th graders together, locked in arms, as Rabbi Sufrin led them in songs and stories in preparation for Shabbat.
Transitions can be challenging for all of us. Our goal with our buddy program is to make the landing a little softer, with students connecting and supporting each other along the way.
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By Marlene Baruch, 5th Grade Teacher
"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there!"-John Wooden-
As the year begins to wind down and our 5th graders reflect on all they have accomplished, it is apparent that there has been a common theme within everything we have done this year:
Embrace and celebrate who you are and why you are here.
Throughout the school year we remind our students often, whether it's in assemblies, on posters around school, or in the work we do in our classrooms, that our "Character Counts." However, in order for these words to resonate with them, they need to really know who they are and why they are here. Character is something that needs to come from within and that is not always easy when someone does not see the value in what he or she has to offer. Knowing your worth is the key to building character.
This year in 5th grade, we focused on tapping into our own passions in order to discover our own unique gifts, so that we can gain a better understanding of what we have to offer. We began to understand that we are different for a reason. How boring would life be if we were all the same?
Through the discovery of getting to know ourselves better, our character began to take shape on its own. When you are connected with who you are and comfortable with expressing yourself the way you were meant to, whether it is through song, art, writing, or yes, even making slime videos, you are too busy focusing on your truth, and you are too inspired to waste your time doing anything other than giving back. When you are truly happy with who you are, you are too busy being happy to hurt others.
There were so many wonderful moments during our year when our 5th graders were able to come alive, tap into their true selves, and share their gifts. Our Fulcrum overnight in Malibu, our Colonial Expo, our individual Expert Seminars, our observation towers, our Adobe Spark posters, our iMovies, and our Thanksgiving Banquet are just a few examples of how each student had an opportunity to shine, and shine they did. WE are gymnasts. WE are saxophone players. WE are electric guitarists. WE are pianists. WE are violinists. WE are comedians. WE are readers. WE are writers. WE are tech experts. WE are mathematicians. WE are poets. WE are rock climbers. WE are rope walkers, WE are slime makers! WE are anything we want to be!
On the first day of school we read a poem called Flowers are Red. The poem talked about a boy who was asked to be like everyone else, and he struggled with staying true to who he really was. Starting the year with that piece, set the tone for the next nine months, and I could not be more proud of my 5th grade class for taking chances, pushing through challenges, and embracing the gifts they were given. It is my hope that they will continue to celebrate who they are for the rest of their lives!
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Enrollment is now open for Camp Hillel - Summer 2018!
For more information, contact Alexis Newman, Camp Hillel Director, at (310) 276-6135 or email
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Creating Masterpieces in Nursery
By Stefanie Etshalom, Nursery Teacher
According to the International Child Art Foundation, "Research indicates that a child who is exposed to art acquires a special ability to think creatively, be original, discover, innovate, and create intellectual property-key attributes for individual success and social prosperity in the twenty-first century
."
This shines light on why we make art a key part of our Nursery curriculum at Hillel. Art in our Nursery classrooms encourages fine motor skills, neural development, and problem-solving abilities. It helps our 3- and 4-year-old children to process their world, allowing them to deal with emotions in a safe way and giving them critical sensory input.
Their brain synapses fire away as they experiment and create, squishing paint between their fingers, mixing colors and materials, or drawing from imagination or what they see in front of them.
This week, proud Nursery parents attended our Celebration of Learning during which each child displayed his or her portfolio of 26 masterpieces- the culmination of a year's worth of work- each based on a different letter of the Alphabet and each using a different artistic style, expression and medium. The children decorated each letter using an art form beginning with that letter. For the letter "B" they stomped in paint with their feet covered in bubble wrap; for letter"G" they did gravity painting where they used an eye dropper to drip liquid paint down a paper taped to the side of a table, letting gravity dictate the design; for the letter "T" they used tea bags as paint brushes, enjoying the aroma and seeing how different flavors of tea create different colors on the canvas. The artwork is a beautiful product of our learning and a wonderful keepsake for parents, but each page is so much more. The process involved
helped the Nursery children develop self-control and a positive self-image, encouraging them to master themselves, their bodies, and a variety of tools and techniques. By engaging in hands-on art activities, Hillel Nursery children are on the road to learning better in all disciplines and one step closer to being successful in the years to come.
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The Health of Gratitude
By April Figueroa, School Nurse
"No kind action stops with itself." - Amelia Earhart.
We all know that gratitude can go a long way but how far does it really go? Recent studies have shown a relationship between people who practice gratitude daily and the health benefits of such practice, both mental and physical. Gratitude is a way for people to appreciate what they have instead of always reaching for something new in the hopes that it will make them happier.
Time
magazine
listed seven health benefits of gratitude. Gratitude can make you more patient, improve your relationships, improve self-care, help you sleep, may stop you from overeating, help ease depression, and give you lasting happiness. This mental state grows stronger with use and practice.
Here are some ways to express gratitude on a regular basis:
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Write a thank-you note
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Thank someone mentally
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Keep a gratitude journal
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Count your blessings
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Meditate
Creating an attitude of gratitude will encourage our children to practice these healthy habits as well. Encourage your children to express gratitude by working discussions of gratitude and appreciation into daily conversation, encouraging generosity, or finding something positive in an upsetting situation. Our children watch us and the more gratitude we express and share with them, the more they are likely to follow our example for a healthy, gratifying life.
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The 8th Grade Israel Trip Fundraising Committee says todah rabah for everyone's support throughout the year!
Todah rabah
to
everyone
who supported the 8th grade fundraisers throughout the year.
Baruch HaShem
, our class of 2018 delegation enjoyed their 15-days trip to
Israel! The large delegation of 8th graders, rabbis, and teachers reconnected with friends and colleagues from Zeitlin School in Tel Aviv, in partnership with Los Angeles Jewish Federation-Tel Aviv Teen Twinning Program.
Students from both schools had a great time together and learned a lot about Israel,
chessed
, and Judaism. For many graduating Hillel students, this was their first opportunity to travel to Israel - what a wonderful first experience! For those who had been to Israel before, they also had the experience of a lifetime.
Thank you again and have a great summer!
8th Grade Israel Trip Fundraising Committee
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Join the excitement as we launch our Middle School Drama Program for the 2018-2019 school year!
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