When Mercaz General Studies teachers first began implementing The Writing Revolution strategies in their classrooms last year, they immediately noticed it was not like other writing programs.

Rather than focusing on producing perfect essays right away, the strategies helped strengthen students’ thinking and writing muscles step by step, starting with simple sentence building and gradually moving towards longer-form writing. Along the way, students learned to organize their ideas, use vocabulary correctly, and express themselves with clarity.

Vice Principal Karen Leeper saw that teachers were excited by the program’s potential – so she decided to take The Writing Revolution to the next level. This summer, the general studies teachers from grades 3-6, the special education teacher, and Ms. Leeper participated in an intensive three-day professional development training program by The Writing Revolution, providing the teachers with new resources and insights.

“Writing can be one of the hardest subjects to teach,” explained Ms. Leeper. Finding a program that not only helped students learn to write, but also energized teachers, was a gamechanger.

“Children have a lot that they want to say, but they don’t always know the most effective way to express it or write it. Having a clear path to teaching this skill is going to help teachers teach it well, which will obviously benefit the students as well.”

Teachers love how it sets up students for success over time. “The strategies build upon each other so what they did in first grade is going to support them in the next grade and the next grade, and so on,” said Ms. Leeper. “Students will feel more confident as writers because this is going to scaffold them from one step to the next.”

In today’s quickly shifting world of tech advances and AI, it’s more important than ever that kids have a firm foundation in basic skills like clear, cohesive writing. With the tools and resources provided by The Writing Revolution and implemented by the knowledgeable teachers at Mercaz Academy, students will become stronger writers easily able to write grammatically correct sentences, paragraphs, and coherent, well-developed essays – and beyond that, stronger thinkers who can integrate and express new ideas with clarity and confidence. 

JOY is the word! Over the summer, a major upgrade brought new life to our Early Childhood Center playground, creating a bright, inviting place where our youngest students can play and connect. The fenced-in space is dedicated to our toddler and preschool students, who have been thrilled with the refresh. Every day, said ECC Director Joanne Mlotok, the children can’t wait to get outside.

“Little kids love anything new, but this playground really is beautiful,” said Morah Jo. “It has newer, updated features like a rock wall and multiple slides, which we didn’t have before. For the little ones, having a structure like this to climb on and explore is so important for developing gross motor skills and promoting healthy play.”

She added that outdoor play is essential on so many levels. “The kids are not only building their physical strength, they’re also building confidence, friendships, and imagination. They’re using problem-solving skills. They’re testing the boundaries of their abilities, learning that they are able to do things that can seem scary or hard. And most importantly, they’re having fun while doing it.”

Having a newer, more modern and more thoughtfully designed structure, she said, boosts every one of those benefits.

The new playground was fully funded by anonymous donors from the community whose own children went to HANC-Plainview years ago. “This school has been such a meaningful part of our lives. It’s the yeshiva in our community, and we felt strongly that we wanted to support it,” they told us.

“We’re at a place in our life where we felt fortunate that we could give something back, and we wanted to give in a way that would benefit the whole community, with something that would last. We hope Mercaz will be here forever and ever, and we want to leave a piece of something behind to benefit future generations, not just past ones.”

Echoing Morah Jo’s words, they added: “We wanted to leave a little piece of joy here.”