MIVASERET MERCAZ
מבשרת מרכז
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Mercaz Academy celebrated Israel and remembered fallen IDF soldiers, partied in pajamas and displayed our art. We met an author and wrote some poetry. We traveled, rotated, and experimented. Scroll down for a glimpse of the last week at Mercaz Academy...
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Exciting News About Next Year's ECC Program |
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Extended Toddler Program Announced at Pajama Night |
The Early Childhood Center’s third and final Pajama Night of the year was, as always, an exciting opportunity for students in Toddlers, Nursery Aleph, and Nursery Bet to eat dinner, play, and get ready for bed while still in school. However, an exciting announcement took center stage for the parents: Mercaz Academy will be offering a full-day program for toddlers in the 2024-2025 school year, with the option of extending care from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM–all while maintaining the academic component that has always been a highlight of the Mercaz Toddler program.
Director of Admissions Debra Gold led the group in fun gymnastic activities, with parents and their children teaming up to race on scooters and with balls balanced on tennis rackets (and exercise gross- and fine-motor skills as well). Having gotten lots of time to run around, parents and students then split up for a little “quiet time.” Children listened to stories and enjoyed a bedtime snack of cupcakes and milk in the ECC classrooms, while grown-ups gathered in the cafeteria to meet each other over slightly more sophisticated fare.
Adding to the big news of the expanded Toddler program that Rabbi Fogel shared, Rabbi Elazar Grossman of the Long Island Torah Network let parents know that the opportunity to get a Mercaz education is not limited to children. Parents looking for a chance to educate themselves and find a community can attend LITN classes right on campus, conveniently placed to fit Mercaz schedules…and with coffee and pastries, too.
As the program ended, children met their tired-out parents, assured them that they were not at all sleepy, and went home to dream of the fun they’ll have at Mercaz next year.
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Toddlers making a bonfire in two dimensions... |
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...and in three dimensions! |
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Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's cave |
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Yom Ha'atzmaut and Yom Hazikaron |
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Mercaz Stands With Israel in Sorrow and in Joy |
Mercaz Academy marked Israel’s 76th year of independence with a parade and dancing for students, staff, and parents on Yom Ha’atzmaut. The event opened with Rabbi Fogel reciting a heartfelt Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel on the front lawn of the school. The annual parade around the bus loop began with ECC and kindergarten students and their parents, who were then joined by the entire student body, flags waving high. With live music provided by Mercaz music teacher, Craig Resmovits, the parade dissolved into dancing on the lawn, with blue-and-white-clad students, teachers, and parents weaving in and out of circles and lines. Of course, even at this time of celebration, the situation in Israel was not forgotten. The celebration ended with students seated with arms around each other, singing “Vehi She’amda” and “Acheinu,” songs of Hashem's enduring protection through the generations.
After lunch and a delicious treat of PTA-sponsored blue-and-white cookies, the sixth grade welcomed the younger students to their interactive exhibition on great figures in modern Israeli history exhibition on great figures in modern Israeli history. These students, guided and advised by Morah Carmit and Rabbi Rubel, offered their visitors booths of information, games, and activities. Options including poetry writing (Chaim Nachman Bialik), decision-making simulations in negotiating for a state (Theodor Herzl), navigating a maze to release hostages (Yonatan Netanyahu), shooting hoops (Israeli basketball great Mickey Berkovich), and more proved popular with students and teachers alike.
As in Israel, Yom Ha’atzmaut at Mercaz was a celebratory sequel to the somber Yom Hazikaron, Israel Memorial Day. On Yom Hazikaron, every student was assigned a fallen soldier and made a commitment to do an extra mitzvah in his or her memory. By accompanying Israel on its annual journey from sorrow to joy, Mercaz students found a deeper meaning in celebrating the Jewish homeland.
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Mercaz Academy Hosts Memorable Art and Memorabilia Auction |
Mercaz Academy’s first Art and Memorabilia Auction took place in Plainview on Sunday, and attendees had a wonderful time sipping wine, nibbling on sushi and cheese, and strolling school halls transformed into an art gallery.
Staff, parents, and art lovers admired the paintings as they placed their bids in a silent auction. Featured art included a collection by local artist Ahuvah “Bebe” Dushey, an innovative multimedia artist. In addition to paintings, Dushey’s jewelry–wearable art–was available for purchase as well as her hand-crocheted bags. Sports and other memorabilia were up for bid, and a separate gallery displaying a broad array of student art work in various media, beautiful but not for sale. Additionally, raffle tickets were sold for a wide variety of gift packages, including a tuition discount for the coming academic year at Mercaz.
The live auction was conducted by auctioneer Marc Comerchero, a retired teacher who enjoys volunteering his time to help raise funds for worthy organizations. Mr. Comerchero drew in his audience with his witty quips and engaging personality, and items up for auction included a silver seder plate and other valuables as well as swimming parties, art lessons, and other experiences. The most coveted item of all was the opportunity to be principal for a day, contributed by Mercaz Principal Rabbi Kalman Fogel.
While the efforts and talents of all our numerous Mercaz volunteers and lay leaders made the Art and Memorabilia Auction (and all their endeavors) a huge success, Chairman Gary Katz took the opportunity to recognize one particular volunteer with Mercaz Academy's first ever Nediv Lev award. Avi Ossip, our Financial Secretary, has dedicated himself to the school's finance committee and devoted countless hours for the wellbeing of Mercaz Academy. Yasher koach to him on this well-deserved honor.
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Author and Illustrator Douglas Florian Shares Trade Secrets With Mercaz |
Author and illustrator Douglas Florian stopped by Mercaz Academy this week, dazzling students from kindergarten through sixth grade with his rapid rhymes and quick-draw sketches. Mr. Florian is the author and illustrator of more than 70 books of poetry for children, with titles like Insectlopedia (1998), Dinothesaurus (2009), and UnBEElievables (2012). Using his own poems and assistants selected randomly from his audience, Mr. Florian demonstrated the usage of literary techniques such as rhyme, rhythm, repetition, onomatopoeia, symmetry, and wordplay.
Mr. Florian told Mercaz students that his career was inspired by his father, who was also an artist. After working as an artist for the New Yorker and the New York Times, he began writing and illustrating poetry for children, preferring collage and gouache to working with pastels. This opinion found a surprising amount of support among the children in his audience (“Too messy!”).
Mr. Florian also played a drawing game in which he would begin a drawing, stopping intermittently for guesses from the students and continuing to fill out the drawing until someone guessed correctly. In one of these drawings, a visually perceptive student quickly identified a frog, and Mr. Florian explained that this frog wasn’t willing to eat just any fly. This was a very picky frog, so the artist finished the sketch with the frog’s long tongue capturing a “French fly.” Almost as an afterthought, he quickly sketched in the ultimate frog thirst-quencher, a can of “Croaka Cola.”
Mercaz students had many questions for Mr. Florian, asking how he got his ideas (he suggested that ideas can come from anywhere, but that it helps to get out of the house to look for them) and inquiring about the details of the process of taking a book from idea to reality. “How do you find all those rhymes?” a student asked, and the author introduced him to rhyming dictionaries. (“They’re online, too,” he explained).
As a parting gift, the fifth grade–inspired by his witty rhymes–wrote him a thank you poem, which they presented to him with the entire school’s thanks for an entertaining and educational morning.
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Second Grade Conducts Absorbency Tests With Surprise Results |
In a science lesson on absorbency (with a nod to the scientific method), second grade students disproved every paper towel commercial of the 1980s with their recent classroom experimentation.
To conduct the experiment, students each received a cup with approximately an inch of blue-tinted water , to make results easy to spot. After distributing four possible materials to soak up the liquid–paper towels, aluminum foil, writing paper, and terrycloth–Mrs. Kirschenbaum directed her students to dip each type of material into the liquid and record how much was absorbed by drawing the amount left in the cup after the material had been removed from it. Students noted that aluminum foil didn’t seem to absorb any liquid at all, while the writing paper absorbed only a little. The big winner in absorption was the terrycloth, which–contrary to all those old commercials–was the only material to absorb all of the liquid. Sorry, Bounty!
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Rotation Stations in Nursery Bet Tailor Education to Fit Each Child |
Most teachers throughout Mercaz Academy use the rotation model of learning at least some of the time for its obvious academic benefits: small group instruction is more individualized, activities can be differentiated to appeal to challenge various skill levels, and students enjoy the movement and novelty of a variety of activities. Our Early Childhood Center, located in the academic setting of an elementary school, also uses this teaching technique to provide the best education to even our youngest students.
In Morah Jo’s Nursery Bet class, a recent rotation featured four different learning stations. Morah Jo led one station, at which a small group practiced the proper technique to write a lowercase letter h. Students at Morah Jen’s table were experimenting with a balance scale as they prepared to complete a worksheet on weights and measures. inspired by the caterpillars busily spinning cocoons in their classroom enclosure, students at a third station fashioned butterflies under the direction of Morah Barbra. To create the butterflies, students dropped watercolor paint on a coffee filter, observing the capillary action as the color spread before bundling the centers to form colorful wings. Finally, students at Mrs. Last’s technology table worked on number and letter recognition on their iPads.
Nursery Bet students were focused and intent on their work as they rotated through the menu of activities, and their teachers welcomed the opportunity to use more personalized instruction to “teach each child in the way they should grow.
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Fifth and Sixth Grade Trip to Philadelphia |
Fifth and sixth graders hit the road for a trip to Philadelphia, where they visited the Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Congregation Mikveh Israel, the oldest continuously operating synagogue in the United States. Please click here to see a slideshow of their adventures.
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GrowTorah: Shabbat for the Land in Parshat Behar |
This week in the GrowTorah garden, Mercaz students continued to learn about mitzvot teluyot ba’aretz, the mitzvot that can only be performed in the Land of Israel. This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Behar, discusses the laws of shmittah, the mitzvah to let the land “rest” every seventh year by letting it lie fallow for twelve months. Farmer Menuchah pointed out that these Israeli farmers must have tremendous emunah, the faith in G-d, to keep the laws of shmittah, and students empathized with the relief that people in need may have felt knowing they had access to food that would grow from this land for the whole year.
Mercaz students explored the GrowTorah garden, clearing space to plant the next round of seedlings–including lettuce, basil, fennel, tomatoes, tomatillos, and corn.
In the spirit of shmittah, students harvested some crops to donate to those in need. Remembering that farmers may also eat the produce of their own lands during shmittah as long as the earth remained uncultivated, Mercaz students picked and carefully washed radishes, rainbow chard, kale, lettuce, and herbs. After making a bracha, they enjoyed their delicious “hand salads” fresh from the garden.
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Sunday, May 26
Monday, May 27
- NO SCHOOL: Memorial Day
- Plainview-Old Bethpage Memorial Day Parade, 9:00 am
Wednesday, May 29
Thursday, May 30
- Lag B'Omer Field Day, Grades 1-6, 12:30-3:55 pm (don't forget hats, water, sunblock)
Sunday, June 2
Wednesday, June 5
- Yom Yerushalayim: In-school program ECC-6, no trip
- 5 & 6 Grade Mishmar Dinner
Monday, June 10
- 3rd & 4th grade field trip to Planting Fields Arboretum State Park, 9:15 am-1:00 pm
Tuesday, June 11
- EARLY DISMISSAL, 1:45 PM: Erev Shavuot
Wednesday, June 12-Thursday, June 13
Monday, June 17
- Music Man program for ECC & K, 10:00-10:45 am for Toddlers, Nursery Aleph and Nursery Bet; 11:00-11:45 am for Kindergarten
- 6th Grade Class Trip, 9:00 am-6:30 pm
- Last day of classes for 6th grade
Tuesday, June 18
- Kindergarten Graduation, 9:00 am
- Sixth Grade Graduation, 7:00 pm
Wednesday, June 19
- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
- NO BUSING
- Nursery Aleph Graduation, 9:00 am
- Nursery Bet Graduation, 10:00 am
- Toddler Graduation, 11:00 am
- EARLY DISMISSAL: 12:30 PM
Tuesday, Sep. 3
Wednesday, Sep. 4
- FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, ECC-6
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