MIVASERET MERCAZ
מבשרת מרכז
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Learning never slows down at Mercaz Academy, and we have been as busy as ever! We have traveled into the future and up on ropes, barbecued for guests and enjoyed pizza and a visit from the ice cream truck, made oobleck and played detective, planned dream vacations and finished a parsha to boot. Scroll down for a glimpse into life at Mercaz Academy...and stay tuned for our Graduation Supplement next week!
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Sixth Grade Enjoys Privileges of Seniority |
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The sixth grade enjoyed a day of fun for their Senior Trip, unexpected surprises included! Accompanied by Rabbi Rubel, Mrs. Papaccioli, and Mrs. DeMeo, as well as parent chaperones, the seniors played miniature golf and tested their strength and speed in batting cages. After working up an appetite, they set off for a backyard barbecue at Rabbi Rubel’s home in the Five Towns, and followed that with a trip to the ropes course and zip lines at Adventure Park.
The adventure was interrupted by a stubborn cloudburst, but Mercaz sixth graders’ spirits were undampened. In fact, sixth graders reported, while waiting for the rain to stop, they met a seventh grade class from another Jewish day school and had great fun talking and singing Hebrew songs together! When things continued wet at the ropes course, the sixth graders jumped over to Sky Zone for trampolining, finishing the day with a delicious dinner at Bagel Boss. The lucky students all agreed that it was an amazing trip, with much gratitude to Rabbi Rubel for organizing the day of fun.
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Mercaz Welcomes HANC Sixth Graders for Barbecue |
The Mercaz Academy sixth grade class welcomed fellow sixth graders from HANC for a lunchtime barbecue and an all-around good time. Students from both schools enjoyed getting to know each other at a beautiful, sunny outdoor lunch. Groups of students chatted, checked out the playground equipment, and played informal games of touch football and volleyball as the delicious smell of grilled delights wafted overhead. As they sat together at picnic tables scarfing down hamburgers, hotdogs, and fixings, HANC students complimented the extensive playground and Mercaz students were impressed to see so many sixth graders from HANC. It was a fun (and delicious) get-together for both schools. |
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Special Treat: PTA pizza and a visit from the ice cream truck! |
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Parrot Rebbe Finds New Chassidim at ECC |
The Parrot Rebbe visited the Early Childhood Center at Mercaz Academy, educating and delighting the students with more than a dozen trained parrots. The Parrot Rebbe (Shlita!) opened with Chuckles, a cockatoo that said hello to the children and danced to music (along with the Parrot Rebbe and Rabbi Fogel). Pairs of colorful parrots raced up ladders to the cheers of the children, flew to perches, and rested on the heads and shoulders of staff members...
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Kitah Aleph Plays Detective to Determine: Shin or Sin? |
Kitah Aleph students learned a new Hebrew word, בלש (detective): Suddenly, the game was afoot! They donned their detective badges, pulled out their magnifying glasses, and set out to determine the difference between two nearly identical letters, שׁ and שׁ. If there’s a dot on the upper right side of the letter, it’s shin, and must be sounded as “sh.” However, if there’s a dot on the upper left side, it’s a sin, and must be sounded as “s.” Kitah Aleph students know that it’s important to pay attention to detail to become excellent readers of Hebrew. After scouring the pages of their workbook and examining even the smallest clues, these balashim are able to spot the difference at a glance. In fact, for Kitah Aleph, it’s elementary!
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Sixth graders create masks--this one is Medusa! |
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Nursery Aleph and Bet afterschool art group makes Love signs. |
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This student just completed a yearlong weaving project. |
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See the U.S. on $2,000 a Day with Grade Four |
Using the lessons they learned in math, language arts, and social studies this year, fourth graders have been planning a one-week (theoretical) “dream vacation.” Each student received a budget of $2,000 per person (partners were permitted to pool their money). The fourth graders found that their budgets went farthest when they stuck to domestic travel, and selected fun destinations and activities. The accommodations were varied, ranging from tents to RVs to Air BNBs to hotels, all chosen with their budgets in mind.
Students had a wonderful time debating the relative merits of different forms of travel and places to go. Some students saved a great deal of money on the food budget by eating only pizza on the trip, while others chose to save money by driving (but then had to calculate how much gas they would need to get to their destination). This exciting co-curricular activity instilled an appreciation of planning and budgeting and prepared them to serve as advisors regarding any travel plans their families might have this summer!
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A Reading Comprehension Rainbow in Kitah Hay |
Kitah Hay students have been using a color-coding technique to demonstrate their decoding and comprehension abilities in biblical Hebrew. Rabbi Kramer shared an electronic document with a section from the Chumash, followed by a (Hebrew language) list of questions about the text. Each question was highlighted in a different color to create a question rainbow. After translating the questions, students highlighted the section of original text that answered each question–and, of course, the colors for questions and answers had to match! The incorporation of technology turned an assessment of Torah comprehension into co-curricular and colorful fun.
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STEM: The Third Grade and the Oobleck |
The third grade has been studying the four states of matter: liquid, solid, air, and plasma. To demonstrate plasma, which has some qualities of a liquid and some qualities of a solid, students made a colloidal suspension of cornstarch and water. When students pressed on their cornstarch colloids, it felt like a solid because its molecules had lined up. But the colloid looked and acted like a liquid when there was no pressure. Mrs. Gonzalez-Spagnuolo called the mixture “oobleck” after the strange precipitation from the classic Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck, and the third graders had a wonderful time testing its properties.
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Kitah Bet Finishes Their First Parsha |
Kitah Bet has come a long way in their Torah studies this year. Students received their Chumashim in January, and they have already completed their very first parsha, Lech Lecha. Kitah Bet used their Hebrew and text decoding skills to learn all about the life of Avraham Avinu. Rabbi Fogel makes sure that the entire school celebrates when a class completes a parsha by announcing the milestone in a schoolwide announcement over the loudspeaker, and this was no exception. Kitah Bet relished their first opportunity to read the last pasuk of their now-completed parsha and the first pasuk of the next parsha, and enjoyed the congratulations and “Mazel Tovs” ringing out from every classroom in Mercaz Academy. Of course, the occasion called for a grand party, and Kitah Bet celebrated their accomplishments with delicious treats that embodied the sweetness of their Torah study.
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Kindergarten Sees the Future in Kitah Aleph Tefillah
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Last week, kindergarten students got a peek into their future at a joint tefillah session with Kitah Aleph. Students from both grades davened together in a large circle on the floor. Kindergarteners demonstrated how well they knew their tefillot, and Kitah Aleph introduced the younger students to the tefillot they will be learning next year. Kindergarten students also got to check out the room they will call home next year. Both grades enjoyed the tefillah get-together and are grateful to Morah Batsheva and Morah Shani for arranging this prayer excursion.
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Banana Splits for the Banana Splits! |
Banana Splits is one of the many groups facilitated by school counselor Stephanie Bobroff. In this group, students undergoing family changes meet and feel supported by peers who understand and can offer helpful advice. The Banana Splits celebrated the end of the school year with a delicious banana split party, featuring vanilla and chocolate ice cream, non-dairy ices, bananas, sprinkles, and amazing mix-ins of all sorts. As one student pointed out, the truest measure of a great party is how many colors your friends see when you stick out your tongue, and all members of the group agreed that it was a delicious (and colorful) treat.
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Sixth Graders Calculate the Contents of a Castle |
Sixth grade math students have finished their unit on volume and surface area, and they used the opportunity for some project-based learning. The sixth graders put their knowledge to the test by designing their own buildings and/or cities, and calculating the volume and surface area of each and every shape they used. They did this by using nets, which are flattened, two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional shapes (graph paper made this easier to calculate). They used the shapes on the net to construct 3-D paper forms, which they combined to form cities, complex buildings and, yes, a castle. Not only can they tell you the exact volume and surface area for each project, their efforts added up to an artistic and architectural triumph. |
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GrowTorah Garden Inspires Gratitude |
In the final week of the Mercaz GrowTorah garden program, students examined the importance of positive thinking. In last week’s parsha, Shelach, the Torah tells the story of the spies’ focus on the negative instead of the positive when reporting back about Eretz Yisrael. Students discussed how having a positive mindset can cause a person to accomplish more, encourage gratitude and just make us feel happy. They decided to enter the garden ready to see the products of their time and effort, with hakarat ha’tov (recognition of the good) to Hashem for making it grow! As students explored the garden, they noted how many beautiful flowers were blooming, how fragrant the herbs smelled, and that the plants had grown to be both healthy and huge (akin to the produce of Eretz Yisrael as reported in the parsha).
Farmer Menuchah led the students on a “hand salad trail,” collecting produce from throughout the garden to hold and sample as they explored the garden. Together, they harvested chives, cilantro, spinach, pea leaves, collard greens, sugar snap peas, and radishes, both for their “hand salads” and for tzedakah (they will be donated to a food pantry). Students also said brachot on the delightful scents of sage and lemon balm, and helped prepare the garden for summer break by installing trellises to support the tomatoes. Everyone is looking forward to another successful Torah and garden experience this fall.
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Thursday, June 22
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12:30 dismissal, all grades (Last day of school)
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Graduation:
- Kindergarten 9:00-10:00 am,
- Nursery Aleph 10:00-11:00 am,
- Nursery Bet 11:00-12:00 am,
- Sixth Grade 7:00-8:00 pm
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