Volume 2, Issue 6 | November 22, 2023 | |
MIVASERET MERCAZ
מבשרת מרכז
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Mercaz students are thankful for so much! We expressed our gratitude in poetry and prose, Hebrew and English, sculpture and sand painting. We analyzed tefillah for expressions of gratitude and studied thankfulness in other Jewish cultures, in Tehillim, and in the parsha. We also discovered the doctor is in and the robot invasion starts here. Scroll down for a glimpse of Thanksgiving (and more!) at Mercaz Academy...
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Mercaz Academy Prepares for Thanksgiving | |
Nursery Bet students make cornbread for Thanksgiving. | |
A handmade turkey in Nursery Bet. | |
Kindergarten students disguised their turkeys for protection, and this one is pretending to be a peacock. | |
Toddlers made multimedia Thanksgiving baskets. | |
Second graders finishing their booklets on Native Americans. | |
Nursery Aleph student creates a handmade Native American headdress. | |
First graders mash sweet potatoes for the Thanksgiving feast. | |
Kitah Gimel listed items to be thankful for in Hebrew. | |
First graders wrote their suggestions for foods to substitute for turkey. | |
Thanksgiving Feast for First, Second, and Third Graders |
Students in the first, second, and third grades collaborated on a Thanksgiving feast, with each class filling a different role. Third graders, under the guidance of Mrs. Vasiliou, prepared for their role as Pilgrims by reading about the events of the first Thanksgiving, comparing and contrasting it with a modern Thanksgiving. They have also become experts on the table manners and customs of Colonial times. At the feast, they contributed fruit salad to the meal, and performed the songs “Albuquerque Turkey” and “Over the River and Through the Woods” for the guests at the feast...MORE PHOTOS
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Thanksgiving Poetry Reading Enlivens Pre-Thanksgiving Lunch |
Students in grades four, five, and six have been writing poems about Thanksgiving thankfulness, and shared them with each other and with third graders. Several groups of student poets, which included members from each of the three participating grades, were seated at circular tables to eat lunch together. Each table had a Hebrew name related to Thanksgiving and thankfulness, and as they ate, students discussed the meaning of their table names. The highlight of the meal was when each poet had the opportunity to deliver a spoken word performance of his or her composition. The exercise sparked reflection and discussion of the many things we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and made for an entertaining pre-Thanksgiving meal. | |
Thanksgiving Feast for Toddlers, Nursery Aleph, Nursery Bet, and Kindergarten |
Our younger students enjoyed their own Thanksgiving feasts in their classrooms, sharing a delicious menu of student-made cornbread, sweet potato chips, Craisins, and string beans with dip. The beverage of choice was apple juice. Toddlers opted for Veggie Straws and applesauce instead; Nursery Aleph students added apple pie and store-bought cornbread.
The bounty was accompanied by much activity. Kindergarten students enjoyed a Thanksgiving-themed freeze dance and volunteered what they were thankful for afterwards. Nursery Aleph students donned Native American headdresses and Pilgrim hats they had made for the feast, while the headgear of choice for Kindergarteners was a turkey crown highlighting the number of feathers on the turkey. But every feast had some things in common: gratitude and fun.
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Nursery Aleph's Thanksgiving Feast. | |
A Nursery Bet student enjoys a string bean. | |
A kindergartener freeze dancing. | |
Kitah Daled Teaches Mercaz Academy About Sigd |
Kitah Daled learned about Sigd, a holiday that is celebrated in Israel around the same time as Thanksgiving. These students created an informative bulletin board to educate Mercaz about Sigd, which was brought to Israel by the aliyah from Ethiopia.
One poster explains that Jews known as the Beta Yisrael have been living in Ethiopia for thousands of years, mostly isolated from other Jewish communities. Before the 1800s, the Beta Yisrael had never heard of Chanukah or Purim. Why? Because their ancestors left Israel in the exile of the first Beit Hamikdash, before those holidays became part of the Jewish calendar...MORE
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Intercurricular Explorations: Thanksgiving Art |
Mercaz Academy artists have been incorporating their studies into their art, with beautiful results. Grade one students explored the Native American art of sand paintings. They used sandpaper and crayons to emulate the materials that traditional Native Americans used to create culturally significant sand art. Along the way, these artists learned about symbols and used Native American symbols in their sand paintings.
Second graders enriched their studies of Native American life by making ceramic tepees. They used texture plates and various tools to create decorative textures on their tepees, in a similar style to what is used in Native American written symbols.
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Morah Diane Miller, the assistant teacher for our toddlers program, was looking for a change in career after her children grew up. She decided to take college courses in education, and she’s never looked back! Morah Diane has studied special education as well as early childhood education, and is always eager to learn new things. She has been delving more deeply into Judaic Studies for several years.
Morah Diane, who comes to us from the Jewish Family Initiative Children’s Learning Center in East Meadow, has worked in many early childhood educational settings. However, she says that Mercaz Academy’s toddler education program is on a whole different level. Morah Diane loves her adorable students, working with Morah Tikva Goldberg, and the professionalism she’s found in the Mercaz Early Childhood Center. “This isn’t just daycare,” she explained. “This is school!”
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Kitah Aleph Meets Dr. Kamatz |
Kitah Aleph was delighted to welcome a special visitor to their class, Dr. Kamatz. Looking strangely similar to Morah Shani, Dr. Kamatz visited Kitah Aleph to teach them the sound that the Hebrew vowel kamatz makes. The students learned that a kamatz adds the vowel “Ahh” to a letter, the same sound we make when a doctor checks our throats with a tongue depressor. Even better, Dr. Kamatz distributed Veggie Straws for each student to construct his or her own edible kamatz! This was a doctor’s visit that Kitah Aleph could really
ahh-ppreciate.
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They’re Alive! Mercaz Student Get Ready For Robotics Competition |
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The first date for the CIJE Lower School Robotics Competition is rapidly approaching, and Mercaz fourth and fifth graders who were interested in entering are getting ready. They have already assembled their game board, a “field” on which their robots compete. This year, the theme is “Ocean Science Exploration Mission,” and the game board represents an underwater lab with four task areas. The student-designed robots will have to navigate the underwater lab and repair a pipeline, align a turbine, place a sensor on an underwater volcano, and remove a pearl from a clamshell.
Robots were assembled only from authorized VEX GO parts and were allowed only one battery and one “brain” apiece, but were otherwise completely designed by students. Two teams have already completed their robots but, even for the completed robots, the arduous task of testing, rethinking, and redesigning based on the test results continues. Mercaz students are looking forward to cheering on the teams this December 20th!
To see the robot navigate the game board, click here.
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Thursday, November 23-Friday, November 24
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No school: Thanksgiving Break
Monday, November 27
- Join us! ECC Pajama Night, 6:00-7:30 pm
Tuesday, November 28
- Join us for a Home Game! Mercaz Mustangs Boys Basketball vs. NSHA, 7:00 pm
Wednesday, November 29
- Join us! Remote Parent-Teacher Conferences, 6:00-9:00 pm
Friday, December 1
- Join us! ECC-K Grandparent/Special Someone Chanukah Event, 9:30 am
Sunday, December 3
- Join us! Mercaz Mustangs Girls Basketball vs. North Shore Hebrew Academy, 10:30 am
- Join us for a Home Game! Mercaz Mustangs Boys Basketball vs. MDY, 6:30 pm
Tuesday, December 5
- Join us! Mercaz Mustangs Boys Basketball vs. Yeshivat Har Torah, 7:15 pm
Friday, December 8-Friday, December 15
Tuesday, December 12
- Join us! Chanukah Chagigah, 6:00-8:30 pm
Wednesday, December 13
- Rosh Chodesh Tevet PTA Pizza Day
Thursday, December 14
- Join us for a Home Game! Mercaz Mustangs Boys Basketball vs. HAFTR, 6:15 pm
Sunday, December 17
- Join us! Mercaz Mustangs Boys Basketball vs. Yeshivah of Flatbush, 4:30 pm
Monday, December 18
- Join us for a Home Game! Mercaz Mustangs Girls Basketball vs. Yeshivah of Flatbush SH, 7:30 pm
Thursday, December 21
- Join us! Mercaz Mustangs Girls Basketball vs. Yeshivah of Flatbush RD, 7:30 pm
Tuesday, December 5
- Join us! Mercaz Mustangs Boys Basketball vs. Yeshivat Har Torah, 7:15 pm
Monday, December 25
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