A Glimpse into Mercaz Academy, January 17, 2024

Volume 2, Issue 10 | January 17, 2024

MIVASERET MERCAZ

מבשרת מרכז

In just a few days, Mercaz students celebrated text-based learning and mixed beautiful colors, spoke Hebrew in an Israeli shuk and wrote books about Tu B'Shevat to read to younger students. We connected Martin Luther King, Jr., and our own Torah studies, discovered how eggs are like people, and spoke from inside our own dioramas. Scroll down for a glimpse of the last few days at Mercaz Academy...

Mercaz Academy Celebrates Chag Hasiddur!

Kitah Aleph Receives Their First Siddurim

Kitah Aleph students received their first siddurim this week, marking their ability to read tefillot from the text on their own. Under the guidance of Morah Shani Kaufman, the first graders polished their ability to read in Hebrew and learned the history and components of Jewish prayer. To demonstrate their knowledge and enthusiasm, they presented a thoughtful and adorable performance of spoken word and song. The cast of characters included the Avot (Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov), a chef, the Kohen Gadol, and even Morah Shani herself, as portrayed by the students of Kitah Aleph.

After the performance, Rabbi Fogel addressed the students, telling them that their new siddurim would serve them all their lives...MORE PHOTOS

Rosh Chodesh Shevat: Visiting the Shuk in Israel

Mercaz Academy Flies to Israel on Rosh Chodesh Shevat

Mercaz Academy–usually located in Plainview, New York–loved celebrating Tu B’Shevat by “flying to Israel” last year. This year, however, students in first through sixth grade were upset to learn that Tu B’Shevat would occur during winter break. Would this cause their flight to be canceled? They were relieved to learn that the trip had been rescheduled for Rosh Chodesh Shevat instead.

Once again, they entered the main hallway to find it lined with double rows of seats and a center aisle, just like an airplane–and at the front, an El Al Airlines boarding safety video being screened. After boarding, Mrs. Aileen Kirschenbaum, the second grade teacher, shared her recent experience of flying to Israel in a more conventional airplane to work as a volunteer in Israel. Mrs. Kirschenbaum explained that, with so many farmers serving as soldiers right now, Israel needed help with harvesting the crops, so she picked oranges and cucumbers while she was visiting. However, on this trip, there would be time only to visit the shuk.

It was a remarkably quick flight to Israel...MORE PHOTOS

Nursery Aleph and Nursery Bet students visited an Israeli shuk, too! They used their shekalim and exercised their Hebrew vocabulary to buy delicious snacks...

Nursery Bet at the ECC Shuk

Buying clementines

Exchanging shekalim for Israeli snacks

Nursery Aleph student shopping at the shuk

Asking for juice in Hebrew

Purchasing the quintessential Israeli snack: Bissli!

We Observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

First graders watch a video about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Kindergarten students brainstormed ideas to help people get along better.

Nursery Bet learned MLK's famous quote, "I have decided to stick with love."

Second Graders Perform Experiment, Study Underground Railroad

In an interactive lesson on the powerful message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mrs. Kirschenbaum showed her students two eggs, one white and one brown, and asked the class to identify the difference. Next, the class was asked to develop a hypothesis about how the eggs might differ inside. Some students thought they would be different inside, based on the color of the eggshell, and some did not. Mrs. Kirschenbaum cracked the eggs onto a plate, revealing the insides, and students agreed that the insides of the eggs looked exactly the same. After some discussion, the group decided that just because something looks a little different on the outside doesn’t mean it’s really different inside, where it counts.

Second graders have also been studying the history of enslaved people in the United States before abolition in 1865, with Mrs. Kirschenbaum’s focus on the strength and resilience of Harriet Tubman and those she helped to escape on the Underground Railroad...READ MORE

Kitot Daled and Hay Connect MLK to Torah Sources

Students in Kitah Daled and Kitah Hay were surprised to learn that the Torah and the history of the Jewish people served as an inspiration for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his struggle for civil rights. Morah Leah Levy explained that Dr. King valued the support he received from the Jewish people, and shared the story of Rabbi Saul Berman, a well-known Orthodox rabbi who attended the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama in 1965. Rabbi Berman was arrested along with many other protestors and forced to spend Purim in the Selma jail, where he read Megillat Esther for the prisoners and created a tremendous kiddush Hashem. Rabbi Berman also spent a Shabbat in the jail; when he was released on Shabbat and had to walk to his lodgings, 300 other newly released protestors insisted on walking with him rather than riding on buses.

Students also learned that a famous quote, often erroneously credited, was actually Dr. King quoting another source: Tanach, specifically the prophet Amos. The fifth and sixth graders discovered that Dr. King was supportive of Jews and of Israel, and that there is a street in Jerusalem that bears his name. Particularly during a time of war in Israel, Morah Levy pointed out, it is comforting for young students to realize that the light of Torah inspires non-Jews as well as Jews.

...and more...

Sixth Graders Use Technology to Create Art

In a cross-curricular lesson integrating art and technology, sixth grade art students created paintings with the unexpected aid of several spherical robots. Mrs. Last brought Spheros, programmable robots, for a visit to Mrs. Danziger’s sixth grade art class. The sixth grade artists programmed the Spheros to move in certain directions to create paintings. The process, which was quite complex, required collaborative work, so students were divided into four teams. These teams had the Spheros move through dots of paint in primary colors to create secondary colors, creating designs on the paper with the “tracks” left by their coded movements. The sixth graders really enjoyed the marriage of robotics and art, and created some beautiful paintings.

A Tu B'Shevat Story for Kindergarten