February 14th, 2020 ~ 19 Shevat 5780
Events at a Glance
Sunday, February 16th - 10:00 am - PJ Library Birthday & Pool Party 
Monday, February 17th - No school, Presidents' Day
Friday, February 28th - 1:45 pm - Kabbalat Shabbat/Rosh Chodesh
Thursday, March 5th - 5:30 pm - An Evening of Mathtivities
Sunday, March 8th - 1:00 pm - Community Purim Carnival
Tuesday, March 10th - Purim
Tuesday, March 10th - 8:45 am - Women's Megillah Reading
Sunday, March 22nd - 10:00 am - 75th Anniversary Brunch & Reunion
A Message from the Head of School
This has been an exceptional week at The Silver Academy! Our week began with the celebration of Tu B’Shevat, was filled with engaging learning, and ended with the Middle School students going to The Jewish Home for their monthly Better Together program.

Tu B’Shevat at The Silver Academy was very meaningful for our students this year. Our day began with a special presentation by Dr. Kris Novak, also known at school as Grace and Eli’s dad. Dr. Novak works for the Department of Natural Resources and is an expert in forestry. He led the students in a thoughtful conversation about trees - their function in our environmental health, what we use them for, and how we can help to keep them healthy. We learned that 58% of Pennsylvania is forest, that trees can absorb and contain pollution and are used in so many of the items and tools we have around us. Some of our Middle School students showed off their science knowledge by sharing the equation for Photosynthesis! We are very grateful to Dr. Novak for leading such a wonderful presentation!

In their Jewish Studies classes, our students all enjoyed Tu B’Shevat Seders. They really liked eating all different kinds of fruits that grow on trees. The third grade class even made their own fruit salad for their class celebration, all while speaking in Hebrew!
Our final Tu B’Shevat activity was led by Sasha Tsimmerman, one of our 7th grade students. Sasha participates in the Better Together program and was inspired to have the whole school do a project to benefit the residents at The Jewish Home. Sasha designed a project to plant succulents, which are easy to care for. On Rosh Chodesh Shevat, the students decorated flower pots; on Tu B’Shevat the students planted the succulents. The Middle School students then took the plants with them to The Jewish Home for their Better Together visit where they were really appreciated!

The Middah (value) this week was Areyvut , community mindedness. Our Tu B’Shevat celebrations fit so beautifully with this Middah , as we discussed our responsibility to care for the environment, prepared celebrations for our school community, and did a nice project that will benefit other members of our Harrisburg Jewish Community.  
Shabbat Shalom,
Samara Sofian
Head of School
A Peek Inside Our Classes
3rd Grade
Mrs. Wenzelburger
Over the past few weeks, the third graders have been reading the book  Third Grade Angels  by Jerry Spinnelli. The book focuses on a third grade boy who goes by the name Suds, and focuses his quest to learn right from wrong. Now that we have finished the book, the students worked on individual, end of book projects such as: an ABC book, a newspaper, a photo album, comic strips, and a crossword puzzle. All of these projects were intentionally designed to push student thinking and assess their comprehension skills of the book. 

Morah Alla
In the Month of Shvat we learned about Tu Bishvat, the Holiday of the trees - Rosh Hashana Lailanot, how to celebrate the holiday in our community and we learned how to observe the world around us by using all our senses. When we observe the world we see that it is constructed in 6 cycles. Students experienced a thorough exploration of the cycles in the world around us. They found out that the cycles are part of creation in the Torah. The students learned to explore and understand each cycle by using their senses, and that there are different ways to show our gratitude for G-d’s creation of these cycles and his wisdom. We talked about the Brachot that are relevant to each cycle in order to express our gratitude for the existence of cycles in the world including “...al nitilat yadayim” when we wash our hands, “..shehakol nihiye bidvaro” when we drink, “... mashiv haruach u-morid hageshem” when we ask hashem to give us rain, “... oseh ma’aseh be-reishit” when we see a beautiful river and “... she-asah et ha-yam hagadol” when we see a great ocean.

The children read how Rabbi Hillel, Rabbi Shamai and their students agreed to celebrate Tu Bishvat and thus kept the unity of Am Yisrael.  

On the day of Tu B’Shvat we had a big celebration in our class. Children made a fruit salad and we all enjoyed eating it with 7 species of fruits from Israel. Of course, there is no celebration without the songs!!! And… we speak Hebrew all the time! What a fun month we had! 
Upcoming Events
An Evening of Mathtivities

Join us on Thursday, March 5th from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at The Silver Academy for An Evening of Mathtivities! Enjoy a delicious dinner and engage in hands-on math games and activities led by Sara Romano, The Silver Academy's Math Teacher. The event is FREE and is for students in Grades 1-5 and their parents. Space is limited to 20 students so make sure to register ASAP at:   An Evening of Mathtivities Registration
Sunday, March 22nd
10 AM - Noon
Harrisburg Jewish Community Center
75th Anniversary Brunch & Reunion
Registration Link Below
Todah Rabah - Thank you!
  • Thank you to Dr. Kris Novak for sharing his forestry knowledge with the students on Tu B'Shevat.
Condolences
  • We extend our condolences to the family of Irving Ansel z"l. May his memory be for a blessing.

  • We extend our condolences to the family of Sheryl Brenner z"l. May her memory be for a blessing.

  • We extend our condolences to the family of Marty Lamanoff z"l. May his memory be for a blessing.

  • We extend our condolences to Oren Yagil and his family on the passing of his father Reuven Yagil z"l. May his memory be for a blessing.

  • We extend our condolences to the family of Robert Haft z"l. May his memory be for a blessing.

  • We extend our condolences to Bob and Jodie Raffensperger on the passing of Bob's mother Ruth Raffensperger z"l. May her memory be for a blessing.
D'var Torah
Joshua Jackson's D'var Torah for Va'eria
Ways to Support The Silver Academy
smile.amazon.com  - The Silver Academy. 

  • The Silver Academy will get .5 percent of each eligible purchase.

  https://shop.shopwithscrip.com/Login/Enroll    Code: 5417A14L62452 

  • Raise money for our school by using gift cards where you are already shopping! Buy egift cards, physical gift cards and reloadable gift cards at face value and use for your everyday shopping. Easily pay online and earn a rebate between 2%-16% that goes right to our school.
Order your Challah!
Challah With a Twist 

Offers Weekly Challah Order and Delivery To Students and Teachers

  • Order your challah by 8:30 pm Thursday evening at challahwithatwist.com. The fresh baked challah will be given to your child to take home on Friday.
  • To pay, please send an envelope with your name on it to the school office, including cash, or a check payable to Challah with a Twist, or use Paypal or Venmo.

Challah With a Twist, (a.k.a. Varda Challah), has been providing home baked challah to the Harrisburg community for over 24 years.
For any questions, please call or text Varda Gewirtz at  717-919-1358  .
Support The Silver Academy!
Contributions to The Silver Academy are always appreciated and every dollar makes a difference for our students!

Looking for a way to celebrate a birthday or special occasion? Do you have someone you would like to honor? Do you want to make a donation in memory of a loved one? Consider making a donation to The Silver Academy. We will send them a lovely card to share with them that a gift has been made in their honor.
You may contact the school's office to make a contribution or do so online here .

Community News
JCC Summer Camp Registration Now Open!
 For information and to register  Click Here
PJ Library Birthday & Pool Party
Sunday, February 16th 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Free Event for Ages 8 and Under
Please bring a book or school supplies to donate.
Register online at jewishharrisburg.org/pjbirthday
Community Purim Carnival
Sunday, March 8th 11:00 am -1:00 pm
$10 a Family
Walk-ins welcome

Women's Megillah Reading
Tuesday, March 10th 8:45 am
Our community is Powered by You! Support Jewish life in Harrisburg through the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg's Annual campaign. This year's Annual Campaign will take place from February - April 2020. Visit  jewishharrisburg.org/give  or call 717-236-9555 to support our community. 
Silver Snapshots