MIVASERET MERCAZ
מבשרת מרכז
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This week, Mivaseret Mercaz prepared to start a new year...by washing their hands. |
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A message from our principal, Rabbi Kalman Fogel |
Forty-three years ago, a short paragraph in a little white book forever changed my Rosh Hashanah.
On Rosh Hashanah, we strive to answer the call of the shofar and become better people, better Jews. Unfortunately, as we fall back on our routines, we realize that we are trying to improve aspects of ourselves that are apparently too deeply embedded for us to change. In the little white book Moadei HaRav, Rav Kook opened my heart to the sounds of the shofar, redefining them in a way that brings me to honest reflection and real personal growth.
Why does the shofar begin with the slow tekiyah, progress to the three medium length shevarim, dissolve into the short bursts of the teruah and end by returning to the long, thoughtful tekiyah gedolah?
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Mercaz Academy in the News |
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Photo credit: Barry Sloan |
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School's in session at newly opened Mercaz Academy in Plainview, as seen in Newsday
..."We wanted to tell parents unequivocally that we are going to be providing a top-notch, secular education without cutting corners,” president Jeffrey Lichtman said. “There is going to be, you know, an excellent program in English and math and science."
Parents who have enrolled their children in the school “are declaring their interest in making sure that their children will grow in appreciation of their Jewish roots,” he said. Beyond their secular studies, students “learn about all sorts of different aspects of Judaism and our history and heritage,” including the study of Hebrew and the Talmud, Lichtman said..."
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Some of the washing cups created in art classes |
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The first grade performs "This Is the Way We Wash Our Hands." |
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Inspirational Netilat Yadayim poster from the third grade. |
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Mercaz Tefillah Initiative Kicks Off With Focus on Netilat Yadayim |
...The first grade opened the show with a spirited rendition of "This Is the Way We Wash Our Hands," featuring the rules and a demonstration of how to properly perform the mitzvah. This was followed by a performance by the fourth grade, featuring an airplane trip to Israel and someone determined to wash netilat yadayim, even if it meant disturbing fellow passengers. Finally, the sixth grade presented a live poll about the halachot of netilat yadayim...
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First Graders Explore Piracy as a Career Option |
Ahoy there, mateys!
The first grade celebrated National Talk Like A Pirate Day on Monday, September 19. Students read the book How I Became a Pirate by David Shannon, one of the first grade's favorite authors. They made newspaper pirate hats and practiced their favorite nautical phrases. The first grade is looking forward to reading the next pirate book in the series, Pirates Don’t Change Diapers.
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Kindergarten Students Working on Writing, Pattern Recognition |
Kindergarteners have started writing sentences! They began with "My favorite apple is..." and then selected and wrote the name of the apple each preferred. They repeated the exercise to choose their favorite seasons.
In math, the kindergarten students learned about patterns and that, as long as the series repeats, it is a pattern. Kindergartners demonstrated their own pattern by lining up in the pattern of girl, boy, girl, boy, and ask you to guess what comes next.
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Morah Racheli has joined our new Learning Center to assist students in Hebrew language and religious studies. She has been working with students from first through sixth grade and in addition to teaching small groups of students in the Learning Center, she is currently completing her master's degree in speech and language pathology at Yeshiva University...
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Kitah Bet Moves Learning Outside |
This week, Kitah Bet decided to move their learning outdoors, where they studied the Hebrew names for all the colors of the rainbow. They examined flowers in the GrowTorah garden and other colorful items they found outside, and then identified them in Ivrit. Kitah Bet loves to learn surrounded by natural beauty!
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Fourth Graders Examine Hurricanes |
The amateur meteorologists in the fourth grade are studying hurricanes with STEM teacher Mrs. Elizabeth Gonzales-Spagnuolo, and they report that it's hurricane season...right now! Students will be choosing a past hurricane to research as the subject for their first mini-project of the semester.
The class learned about storm chasers, daring meteorologists who fly or drive right into hurricanes, tornadoes, and other dangerous storms to gather data. Fourth graders discovered that the information storm chasers collect helps meteorologists understand and even predict dangerous weather.
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Creating New Year's Cards in Ulpan
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Morah Carmit Akhavan, the Ulpan (Hebrew language) teacher for grades four through six, led students in writing cartisei bracha, greeting cards, to celebrate the new year. Students all signed a card for our teachers, and then designed and wrote their own to take home.
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Kindergarten, first, second, and third grades joined school counselor Mrs. Stephanie Bobroff for a thoughtful reading of How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Don Clifton. Students discussed the way that kindness not only helps others, it makes the person being kind feel good, too. Each student had the opportunity to think about how he or she might fill someone else's bucket...with kindness.
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Monday & Tuesday, September 26 & 27
Wednesday, September 28
- Tzom Gedaliah, school in session
Thursday & Friday, September 29 & 30
Tuesday, October 4
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No school, Erev Yom Kippur
Wednesday, October 5
Thursday & Friday, October 6 & 7
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The Mercaz Academy Kindergarten says... |
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