Volume 4, Issue 10 | February 12, 2026

Testing out new technology, celebrating each others’ wins (in Torah and on the court), families learning together, and deep dives into our favorite books – it was another banner week at Mercaz! Scroll down for the special moments, classroom highlights, and meaningful milestones from this week, and don’t miss our upcoming events at the bottom.

Around Mercaz Academy

🖨️ 3D Printing Arrives at Mercaz

Big excitement in the Mercaz Robotics Lab! Last week, we welcomed a cutting-edge Bambu Labs P2S 3D printer to our Education Technology classroom – and everyone is buzzing. While most kids don’t see – let alone do – 3D printing until high school, our fifth and sixth graders are already designing, testing, and creating with professional-level equipment.

Using Tinkercad, sixth graders are free-designing everything from fidget spinners and toys to personal projects like custom birthday gifts for parents and siblings. Any chance they get, students are rushing to the robotics lab to watch the printer unspool its latest build!

More is coming down the chute. Fifth graders will soon design and print objects for their upcoming state research projects. And while younger students will generally have to wait until fifth grade to try the printer, they'll be able to use it for special projects – like making custom pieces for a fourth-grade student-designed game. After all, the options are nearly limitless!

The printer is even supporting school and administrative needs, with sixth graders designing branded giveaways for admissions tours. We can’t wait to see how many new, exciting and different uses our students and staff come up with as we learn and experiment.

And while 3D printing is (very) fun, we can’t overstate how much of a learning opportunity this new technology really represents. Students are using so many different skills to turn their ideas into tangible realities, and we’re already impressed by their engineering creativity. Print on!

School Snapshots

🥳 A Joyful Sixth Grade Siyum

Sixth graders completed their study of Beshalach this week with a school-wide announcement over the loudspeaker and the traditional celebration, which included serenades and mazal tovs from younger students who rushed in to sing as sixth graders finished the parsha. On to Yitro!

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Parents & Toddlers Together

Toddler parents and relatives joined their little ones for a sweet interactive program this week, reading The Mitten by Jan Brett and then doing a related craft together. It was the perfect opportunity to strengthen the home-school connection and give parents a glimpse of our toddlers’ classroom flow.

🏀 Mustangs Master the Court - Again!

The Mercaz Mustangs won their Wednesday night home game against the Garden City Travel Team with a final score of 32-23, filling the Mercaz gym with cheers and nachat (pride). Said Coach Anthony, "Everyone contributed in a hard-fought defensive matchup. Mercaz played tenacious defense and their teamwork was terrific!"

In the Classroom

🍎 Nursery Bet: Name That Bracha

Nursery Bet enjoyed an exciting round of Can You Name the Bracha?, an interactive game played as part of their unit on brachot, blessings said before eating or drinking. Each child took a turn reaching into the “Bracha Box” to pull out a surprise food item, then proudly shared with the class which bracha should be said before eating it. Rabbi Fogel joined the class for the game and was impressed by how much the students already know! Play-based learning activities like this help students develop a meaningful connection to daily Jewish practices, while encouraging confidence, Hebrew skills, and class participation – a blessing indeed.

🥣 Fourth Grade: Cereal Box Book Reports

Fourth graders got creative – and crunchy – with their latest book reports, transforming empty cereal boxes into creative advertisements inspired by the books they chose. Each box includes a cereal name connected to the story, an ingredient list full of characters, a summary of the main plot problem and solution, a back-of-the-box game or puzzle based on the book, and a themed “prize.” The project encouraged students to encounter the world of a book and its characters beyond basic analysis: by thinking outside the (cereal) box, they created new interpretations of the novel and explored inventive ways to present and share the story with an audience.

📘 Fifth Grade: Book Clubs in Action

Fifth graders continued their in-class book club this week, with the class divided into three “clubs”, each reading a different book. To facilitate thoughtful discussion, club members are assigned specific roles that rotate every week, such as the “Vocabulary Victor,” whose job is identifying and defining new words; the “Savvy Summarizer”, who recaps important details and plot points; the “Cool Connector”, in charge of relating the text to his or her own life, to another text, or to global themes; and the most hotly contested role, the “Imaginative Illustrator”, who picks a scene from the assigned text to turn into a drawing. (For some reason, everyone wants to be the illustrator.) Students are deepening comprehension and learning from one another while strengthening reading, speaking, and critical thinking skills.