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SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Around the
Community Welcome Back to School at HANC
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fter many months of meticulous preparation, HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead welcomed the students back to school on September 1. Despite the fact that their faces were covered with multi-colored masks, the happy expressions on the children’s faces were glowing through their excited eyes. It has been almost three months since school ended in June, and the children have been waiting so long to return to HANC, their second home. Despite the rain that was falling, nothing could dampen the excitement as the children approached the school building. Towering over the entranceway was a huge arch of balloons, and as each child entered the doors, they were personally welcomed and cheered as they walked the red carpet that led the way to their classrooms. The students were thrilled to be reunited with their old friends, and looked forward to getting to know the teachers and new students in their classrooms. For the teachers, the return to school began weeks ago. As the staff returned to school to begin preparing their classrooms, they were pleased to see all of the renovations that had taken place over the summer. In a
very short time, the dedicated teachers created new colorful and exciting bulletin boards and transformed their classrooms to welcome back the students that they had missed so much during the long separation. As the children became acclimated to their new classes and teachers, preparations for the upcoming holidays have begun. In addition to learning about the mitzvot and minhagim of Rosh Hashana, HANC’s backyard playground was transformed into a hands-on Shofar Factory. The knowledgeable staff from Tzivos HaShem gave the students an overview of how a kosher shofar is crafted from animal horns. Amazement, wonder and surprise were just some of the experiences of
the sixth graders as they explored the various steps necessary to create a hollow, kosher shofar. Once the students had the opportunity to explore the displays and the lesson was concluded, each student selected a horn and transformed it into a shofar. Protected with gloves and goggles, the children worked hard at sawing the ends off of the horns, sanding the surfaces and then polishing their magnificent creations. As they worked, the sounds and smells provided the children with an active, multi-sensory learning experience. Noa Kaye really enjoyed the hands-on experience. “We learned about which animals are kosher and which ones have horns. When we got our own horn, it was hard cutting
off the end with the small saws, but in the end, the shofar was shiny and smooth and easy to blow.” The Shofar Factory was presented by Tzivos HaShem and sponsored by the HANC PTA. It was a wonderful way for our sixth graders to start off their school year. As the first week of school concluded, the students gathered in the school auditorium for a Shabbat assembly. The program began with a resounding rendition of Sholom Aleichem, led by HANC’s new Head of School, Rabbi Ouriel Hazan, and accompanied by the magnificent music of HANC’s new music teacher, Mrs. Carrie Levine. Rabbi Hazan then shared a story with the children and highlighted some special acts of chessed that had been performed by children in the school. During the course of the program, children were rewarded with raffle tickets for listening attentively and participating enthusiastically during the singing. In addition to the prizes that several children won in the raffle, a special treat was promised to the fifth grade girls class for cheering for their classmate who was a big winner in the raffle. The children celebrated the coming of Shabbat and are already looking forward to next week’s Shabbat assembly.
