BH.
Adar 19, 5777 / March 17, 2017
ב“ה
Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 6:46 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 7:47 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
This newsletter is sponsored by Morah Rochel and Family in memory of her father
R’ Michel Piekarski Yartzeit: Shushan Purim (Katan)
SNOW: BIG STORY THIS WEEK We had two back-to-back snow-days this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, and lots of snow to play in and with when coming back to school on Thursday. Everyone had their stories of fun with the snow, stuff they did at home, digging out their cars and walkways, and driving down roads that weren’t properly plowed yet… so much snow (especially when most put away their snow-shovels and snowpants) that it feels that Purim wasn’t this past Sunday… (see lots of Purim photos inside >>)
THE MAD SCIENCE SHOW ON PURIM
FESTIVE BULLETIN BOARDS Morah Rivi’s art students did a wonderful job with these colorful Purim bulletin boards all made of colored paper—3D objects and all.
MAIMONIDES A BLAST FROM THE PAST Here’s a photo from many years ago (when our school was housed at Beth Emeth on Academy Road) from a Megillah reading practice class. Tzemach is now in Kingston Ontario, Zalmy is in S. Barbara California, Yaakov is in Queens NY, Levi is in Dayton OH (his son Menachem goes to school here at Maimonides!) Adam lives locally in the Capital District and Rabbi Shmuly teaches at Maimonides…
404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
Some of our kids knew the Bernoulli Principle from Science Enrichment to blow up those giant balloon bags with a few breaths, the fireball wowed everyone, and it was interesting to see how paper cups (distributing the weight) can hold up two kids. But best of all was the HOVERBOARD!!!! Wow!
QUINTUPLE CONNECTION 4th graders came up with this amazing 5-way connection: In Navi class they are learning how Shimshon’s wife Delilah sold his Nazir secret for money, and this week’s Parsha we see how gold was used to make a Golden Calf. Just as gold was melted to make the golden calf, they learned in Navi about the idol Micah made out of melted gold. Speaking of all this FILL IN THE BLANKS gold and money and coins, they are learning Ms. Arika Ford’s students did a joint writing decimals in Math class and Mrs. Maher is workshop. They had to fill in the blanks of a using different amounts and breakdowns of story with verbs and nouns, adjectives and money (especially coins) as the example. adverbs. A Mad Libs for little kids!
ICE-CREAM CAKE QUESTION
SURPRISE MORAH MUSHKY!
Boys davening class enjoyed a delicious dairy As Morah Mushky will be moving to Florida ice-cream cake this morning—as a Kiddush after her wedding (April 2nd) her 4th grade treat for some recent nice davenings. What a students threw her a surprise party and special treat! But they had a question about wrote her very nice cards and letters. It the proper Bracha to make: Is the ice-cream was very thoughtful and well-executed. the Ikar and cake the Tafel or are both key ingredients, do you make a Mezonot (for the cake) or Shehakol (for the ice-cream) or both blessings, one for each? It’s beautiful to see how much they care about saying the proper blessings and how they brought Mishna and Halacha (and ice-cream cake knowledge!) to bear on the issue. (In the same vein, we’d like to acknowledge another morning “Kiddush” where pita was one of the snacks, and the boys didn’t eat it because they weren’t sure if it was Hamotzee or Mezonot. Good for them!)
Paint emphasizes the various strokes of each letter and helps these Nursery students become more familiar with the letters in an artistic and tactile way.
TRIP TO THE LONGHOUSE Rescheduled from the snowday, Mrs. Maher is taking 4th graders on a field trip to the NYS Museum to see The Longhouse and other Native American artifacts on Wed March 22.
RIVERS AND THE NILE DELTA 5/6 grade science is learning about rivers and irrigation, and what makes some areas more fertile than others—and that ties right in with their Chumash learning about the Nile and why it was so venerated by the Egyptians.
RE: RECYCLING AT SCHOOL
BETTER2WRITE ESSAYS FOR BETTER TOGETHER! Wow, there was a big buzz in school at the end of the week with students finishing up and touching up their PESACH LEARNING UNDERWAY essays in time for the deadline. On Morah Devorah’s students standing at the big Friday HS Girl volunteered and board chart of the 15 Steps of the Seder, teamed up with 5/6 graders to read learning one step at a time! over and edit their essays. Good luck to all the middle and high school essay writers, DO YOU HAVE BOXTOPS? looking forward to the local judging first and Each one is worth a dime to the then onto the national judges. For those who school. It adds up! If you find a didn’t finish—you can still email it to Rabbi bunch while Pesach cleaning Yossi by Monday morning, but no later. bring them into the school office, thanks!
READING PRACTICE
Reminder to parents and students: Reading practice can be fun and it doesn’t have to be long, but doing it every night can make a huge difference in reading fluency and comfort. This is especially true of Hebrew reading. Even 5 minutes of reading aloud with a parent, a few times a week can go a long way. Plus, it can be a nice bonding time. Picture books or interesting stories can make it more enjoyable.
PAINTING HEBREW LETTERS
BIG GULP SLURPIE TRIP Rabbi Yossi took 5/6 grade off on a trip to get Erev Shabbos slurpies! Their favorite part was mixing and matching flavors.
FRACTIONS OF THE PIE We missed Pi-Day thanks to the snow, but 5/6 is right now learning fractions, focused on mixing whole numbers and fractions.
Please remember BLUE BINS in classrooms are only for paper and paper products. The blue bin in the lunchroom is for all types of single-stream recycling. The wheel-out garbage bins near main entrance and office are exclusively (only) for paper recycling (please do not put any garbage there). Thanks!
THE BIG COPIER QUESTION Hard to believe but our copier is now 13 years old, Bar-Mitzvah! but in copier years (especially in a school setting) that’s like 120. It’s breathed its last and while resuscitation may be a possibility (as we are under service contract with the company that maintains it) it may no longer be worth it at this point. Every school needs a reliable copier but especially a school likes ours that relies on a lot of customized, multiage & creative materials. The school is exploring our options to see what deals we can get, whether new or used is the better way to go—in the meantime, this newsletter will be sent only via email and not in print. To sign up for weekly MC emails (for yourself or out-of-town family) email: maimonidesschool@gmail.com to subscribe.
CAKE OR CUPCAKE
4TH GRADERS AS GIANT EMOJIS, NAVY ARCHERS, CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS, GREEN & RED CRAYONS, BASEBALL PLAYERS... BUSY BEE AND A BUTTERFLY
QUEEN ESTHERS, SHEEP, A KALLAH AND A IDF SOLDIER
WHAT DID YOU DO FOR A TWO-DAY SNOWDAY? Here’s a collection of student responses in five general categories.
1
SNOW: Everyone had some fun in the snow, there was so much of it! It wasn’t really packing snow for snowballs and snowmen, but some kids managed to built forts anyways. A lot of kids they went sliding around in it, some went sledding, some families even went to a golf course to make the most of the sledding experience (fun going down, but a shlep getting back up the hills). And a lot of our students helped their parents shovel walks, and clean off cars, and dig them out, too!
2
BETTER2WRITE: Many of our middle school and HS students said they used the two days off to write or touch up their Better Together essays about interactions with seniors, lessons learned from seniors, and ways to respect and appreciate seniors.
3
PESACH CLEANING: Some kids used the extended (and unexpected!) time off to clean up their rooms, throw out stuff, and get ready for Pesach. The Passover food shelves have been stocked at Price Chopper since Tu Bishvat but now the holiday is really around the corner. Time to get ready!
4
RELAXED: A lot of kids enjoyed sleeping in (though some were up early rearing to go in the snow!) or catching up on reading. Some loved the feeling of sitting around in pajamas till late. Sipping hot chocolate was a big favorite, especially after coming in from the cold.
5
NOTHING, JUST STUCK AT HOME: We got that answer, too. Yes, some kids were itching to get back to school, get out of the house, see friends, learn & do things!
NURSERY IN COSTUME FROM QUEEN ESTHER’S TO CHEERLEADERS CHICKENS TO EMOJIS, PIRATES TO PRINCESSES FAKE NEWS NETWORK REPORTER, A COAT, A MISER, A SINGER-SONGWRITER, AND BOY IN STRIPED SHIRT
RACCOON AT SCHOOL
PURIM TREATS BAKER
“REBECCA RUBIN” AMERICAN GIRL DOLL
A BRAVE YEHUDAH HAMACCABI WITH A CHICKEN LOOKING ON...
HAIR STYLIST
MISHOACH MANOT MAILLADY TOURIST
A SNAIL
ABOUT THE SCHOOL’S BLUE
at Maimonides and in the Community 3/18: SHABBOS KI TISA & PARAH
3/24-25: SPECIAL SHABBOS AT CBAJ
This week we read of the half-coin, and the story of Special program with guests that weekend at CBAJ. the sin of the Golden Calf and its forgiveness. Plus, now at 3 of 4 seasonal bonus Torah Readings, the 3/24-25: REGIONAL SHABBATON reading of the Red Heifer (Chukas) as the Maftir. Chabad on Campus Regional Shabbaton to be hosted at Shabbos House: JewishWeekend.org
3/18: KIDDUSH THIS WEEK
Ted Levin is giving a “B’Makom she’Ayn Ish Kiddush” at Shomray Torah.
3/26: JEWISH IMMIGRANT STORY
Jewish Federation & NYS Museum will be hosting a special workshop for 4th grade school children on 3/19: ARTSCENTER TRY-IT DAY the Jewish immigrant experience to New York State Arts Center of the Capital Region (265 River Street on Sunday, March 26, 10-11:30am. Questions? Call in Troy) is hosting its 2nd annual open-house day Marci Galinkin at the Jewish Federation: 783-7800. free for everyone to try all kinds of art mediums they have to offer (usually for a fee) from print3/26: “FROM BITTER TO SWEET” making to silk-screening, pastel and chalk, working 9:30am at Beth Israel, Schenectady. $10 Sisterhood with clay—all kinds of workshops 12pm-3pm. See members, $15 others. Breakfast & film on seniors www.ArtsCenterOnline.org for more info. and Ladino sponsored by sisterhood, open to men and women. RSVP/Info: 377-3700.
3/19: RECORDER MUSIC @NYS-M 1-4pm at the NYS Museum’s Adirondack Hall, hear diverse group of recorder musicians play.
3/19: CAN-STRUCTION AT NYS-M It’s back on the State Museum’s 4th floor. Company teams compete to build some very elaborate objects out of cans which are all later donated to the Food Bank. Bring cans of your own to donate (they also served as votes).
3/26: GARDEN CIRCUS @ ARMORY Shows at 1pm, 3:30pm & 6pm. Kids $8 each, adult tickets $28, but some adult tickets are available for $10 online at www.GardenBrosCircus.com
3/25-27: FARBRENGEN W/GUEST Plans are being developed for a farbrengen with a guest speaker as we enter the month of Nissan. Stay tuned for exact date and other specifics.
3/19: “CAPTAIN AMERICA” SUPERHERO MUSIC BY ORCHESTRA
3/30: CHAMETZ-TIME AT SCHOOL
3/21: WHY? THE HOLOCAUST
Professor Berk to speak on new wave of antiSemitism—at the Jewish Federation. $5pp.
Get your last pizza fix before Pesach! 3:30-5pm at 3-4pm $20 per adult, kids free (thanks to GE) school. Order 2 pies ahead of time, get free fries. Albany Symphony Orchestra plays superhero music Sushi only by pre-order. Pre-Order at: at the Palace Theater. Come dressed in superhero bnoschayaprograms@gmail.com costume or just to enjoy. “Musical Instrument Petting Zoo” 2pm. Proceeds benefit Jeremy’s Circle 4/4: RUBIN-DENBURG SHEVA in Israel. You can order tickets online at: BRACHOS AT SHABBOS HOUSE albanysymphony.com (remember, kids are free!) Mushky’s Albany Sheva Brachos, 7pm on Tuesday. NOTE TIME CHANGE: 7:00pm start instead of 3/19: MAPLE AT SUGAR OAK FARM the originally announced 6pm. 12-4pm in Malta. Maple Weekend with sugaring, samples (check for Kosher) and interactive tours. 4/25: DR BERK ON ANTISEMITSM 8pm at Federation Building with Professor and author Peter Hayes of Northwestern on explaining the Holocaust. This talk is open to the community.
3/24: FBI TOWNHALL AT J-FED TownHall Meeting at the Jewish Federation ($5pp) with FBI and State Police representatives on what they are doing to keep us safe. Light breakfast & coffee. 184 Washington Ave Extension.
6/11: FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE WALK 10am-12pm in Tawasentha Park, Guilderland. More info: tinyurl.com/Walk4Friends
STILL OPEN FOR CONTIBUTIONS: www.maimonidesschool.org/ScienceLab
MAIMONIDES SCHOOL & COMMUNITY (Nursery / Elementary / High School) 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 maimonidesschool@gmail.com Founded in 1980, Maimonides is chartered by the NYS Board of Regents and is a JF-NENY Beneficiary “A Beautiful Blend: Torah & Worldly Experience!”