Volume 4, Issue 2 | September 30, 2025 | | This fall, Mercaz Academy students have been reading, experimenting, and creating their way through the start of the year. We measured mitzvot, DIYed bubbles, braided challah and harvested from our garden for Farm-to-Table cooking. As Sukkot break approaches and the air cools, as the High Holidays bring reflection and growth, we’re feeling grateful for the abundant blessings of thoughtful, Torah-infused experiences, gaining knowledge of the world around us, and growing through play at Mercaz Academy. Read on for more! | |
📚 Rockstar Readers bring the joy of
summer into school 🍦
| | To no one’s surprise, it turns out that Mercaz Academy students love to absorb knowledge, use their imaginations, and explore new worlds even when school is not in session. Extending the joys of summer a little bit longer, we celebrated our students’ summer reading achievements at the beginning of the school year with certificates presented by Rabbi Fogel along with parties (ice cream parties, of course) recognizing each student who completed their local library’s summer reading program. | | |
Younger students gathered in Rabbi Fogel’s office for their party, while older students had their names announced during lunch, with an extra-special spin: each “rockstar reader” was entered in a raffle to win an ice cream party for their class. The entire fourth grade erupted into cheers when their summer reading compatriot won the grand prize. We love how this friendly “competition” builds peer support for extracurricular reading!
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🍞 Building school community,
one challah at a time 🤝
| | Separate strands came together for something special when we combined fifth grade and kindergarten to braid challah dough with our B’not Sherut, Einat and Mevaseret. First, the students performed the special mitzvah of hafrashat challah, separating the dough with a blessing, and learned that when we make challah, it’s an auspicious time to pray for the people we love. Our students closed their eyes and concentrated on filling their dough with blessings. The older students then sweetly guided the younger ones by demonstrating and teaching how to roll out the dough neatly and braid it into small challot for Shabbat, pairing fine motor skills with experiential Jewish learning. The pride on their faces was (almost) as delicious as the bread. | | ⚖️ Fourth Grade: Feeling the "Weight" of Mitzvot & Aveirot
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Using LEGO and a real scale as a visual aid, fourth grade Religious Studies class explored the concept of how mitzvot and aveirot might be weighed in an exercise preparing the students for the Yamim Nora’im. Students observed how each action, whether a good deed or a misstep, carries weight in Hashem’s judgment, and that every mitzvah, no matter how small, can always help outweigh an aveirah, just as we learn that repentance, prayer and tzedakah throughout the High Holidays can “outweigh” a negative judgment. The hands-on demonstration helped them visualize the balance between positive and negative actions, turning what can be an abstract idea – moral accountability – into something tangible and engaging to inform the students’ davening and intentions on the High Holidays – and how it influences choices year-round.
| | 🧼 Nursery Bet Lavan: Bubble Problems? Smart Solutions!
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Problem solving was in full swing for some of our youngest learners as Nursery Bet Lavan students asked themselves during a science lesson: Without wands, how can we make bubbles? They experimented with creating their own wands using popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners, and were amazed and delighted when their DIY wands worked! Through this hands-on activity, students learned to think creatively, test solutions, and enjoy the excitement of discovery – important concepts which will prime them for the (only slightly) more methodical science experiements of elementary school.
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New Teacher Feature:
Meet Morah Chavatzelet
Education is a second career for our new Kindergarten General Studies teacher Chavatzelet Graber. After raising her own children, she realized there was a deep need for teachers who understood that not every student fit into the same mold. Newly motivated, she left her position in the world of fashion and went back to school, where she earned a Master’s Degree in Education and Special Education. She began teaching in hopes of making a difference in classroom culture. “I am really, really passionate about making sure that every child feels valued and appreciated and part of the community, and that their strengths are important and that everybody's there to support each other,” she says.
Morah Chavatzelet loves that Mercaz’s smaller size means its staff and administration know and care about every student – and teacher. “The administrators pay attention, and notice what some of my needs are before I even get to voice them,” she says. “It's been really amazing how compassionate they are.”
| | | | Rosh Hashana Blessings from Our Garden | | |
For our first two GrowTorah sessions of the year, students explored the symbolism of the Rosh Hashanah simanim, select foods that are eaten on Rosh Hashana, each carrying their own special messages for the year ahead. After discussing the traditional simanim, the students created their own, using plants from our garden such as tomatoes, ground cherries, sunflowers, and zucchini to represent their personal hopes for the new year.
Students then enjoyed their first Farm-to-Table experience of the year. Farm-to-Table is a new GrowTorah initiative in which students enjoy the fruits (and veggies!) of their labor with hands-on cooking activities that connect Jewish values of gratitude and land stewardship to the delicious food they bring to the table. This week, they harvested, chopped, and sautéed our zucchini with fresh herbs from the garden. It was a tasty way to celebrate the season’s blessings!
To conclude, we harvested produce for tzedakah, ensuring that others in need could also enjoy simanim at their Rosh Hashanah meals.
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| | Mazal tov to our award-winning GrowTorah educator! | Farmer Menuchah Schuman Hirschman received The Covenant Foundation’s 2025 Pomegranate Prize honoring ten exceptional emerging Jewish educators this year! | | | | |
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Wednesday, Oct. 1 - Thursday, Oct. 2
Yom Kippur - No school
Monday, Oct. 6 - Wednesday, Oct. 15
Sukkot Break - No school
Thursday, October 23
Noah's Ark Program: ECC-K
Sunday, November 2
Meet Me at Mercaz ECC Program
Tuesday, November 11
Staff PD Day - No school
Tuesday, November 18
Parent/Teacher Conferences (in person)
Thursday, November 20
Hackathon Field Trip: Grade 6
Friday, November 21
Grandparent/Special Someone Day: Grades 1-6
Monday, November 24
Grandparent/Special Someone Day: ECC-K
Wednesday, November 26
Thanksgiving Feasts
Thursday, Nov. 27 - Friday, Nov. 28
Thanksgiving Break - No school
Monday, December 1
Parent/Teacher Conferences (remote)
Monday, December 8
Pre-Chanukah Pajama Night
Tuesday, December 9
Robotics Field Trip: Grades 4 & 5
Wednesday, December 10
Robotics Field Trip: Grade 6
Monday, December 15
Chanukah Break - No school
Monday, December 22
Chanukah Sparks Parent/Child Program: K & NB
Thursday, December 25
NO BUSING
Davening & Danish
Chag HaChumash
Thursday, January 8
Chag HaSiddur
Thursday, Jan. 15 - Friday, Jan. 23
Winter Break - No school
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