HSRS Announcements (Hodaahot הוֹדָוֹת) New Information HSRS will be closed from March 10-17! When we return from break, we will be celebrating Purim on March 24. Costumes encouraged (nothing scary, bloody, or with weapons)!!
Previous Information Sent! DRESSING FOR OUTSIDE RECESS! On Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, our students crave breaktime. Most sessions, we do go outside. Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather; bringing coats, hats, gloves, etc.
VOLUNTEER AND SUBSTITUTE TEACHER NEEDS We have some current needs for volunteers as well as to expand our substitute teacher list. Take a look at the SIGN UP GENIUS and see if there are any ways for you to help!
SERVICE ATTENDANCE The next few months is the perfect time for your student to meet their service attendance requirement. As a reminder, Kindergarten and 1st grade students are encouraged to attend 1 service; 2nd grade attends 2 services; 3rd grade attends 3 services and so on. Attending grade level services, zoom services, bar/bat mitzvahs out of town all can count toward this goal.
Important Dates & Upcoming Events March 10-17- NO HSRS for SPRING BREAK March 22- Shabbat Jr at 5:30pm, oneg to follow March 24- Purim celebrated during HSRS, costumes encouraged March 30- 6th Havdalah from 5:30-7:30pm (NOTE THE GRADE CHANGE) March 31- NO SCHOOL FOR 6TH GRADE (NOTE THE GRADE CHANGE) March 31- Beresheet Day 6 at 10:30am April 12- Gil Hersh Hospitality Dinner, hosted by the 7th grade April 14- Beresheet Day 7 at 10:30am April 19- Shabbat Jr at 5:30pm, oneg to follow April 20- 4th/5th grade Saturday morning Shabbat service April 21- NO SCHOOL FOR 4TH AND 5TH GRADES
BBYO & Teens We are very excited to invite all your teens to Rocky Mountain Region’s Spring Regional Convention (SRC), taking place April 19-21! We already have our first teen from FoCo signed up to attend (for the first time in 5+ years!) and are ready to show RMR that Fort Collins BBYO is BACK! SRC will take place at DoubleTree Denver Tech Center, and we will coordinate carpools for all teens signed up. Please see Mollie's email for full details about the convention – your teen must be a member to attend, so if you have not yet purchased membership, please connect with Mollie ASAP to purchase membership at Har Shalom’s discounted rate. Regional conventions are one of, if not the best way for your teens to meet other Jews in our community, learn about BBYO programs & traditions, and get inspired to bring ideas back to our chapter. 😊
Synagogue & Community News
From Our Teachers Beresheet (Preschool) We will be back for Day 6 of Creation on March 31! Land animals and people!
Kitah Gan (Kindergarten) We will return on Sunday, March 24, ready to celebrate Purim!
Kitah Alef (First Grade) We will return on Sunday, March 24, ready to celebrate Purim!
Kitah Bet (Second Grade) We will return on Sunday, March 24, ready to celebrate Purim!
Kitah Gimmel (Third Grade)- Wednesday from Morah Robin- In Kitah Gimmel, we discussed Torah Lesson 9 – Parashat B’chukotai: Rules, Laws, and Teachings – Passing It On. This is the last Torah portion in the Book of Leviticus. This portion talks about the importance of passing down the rules, laws, and teachings in Leviticus from generation to generation. We read from “My Weekly Siddur”, reviewed the six major laws/rules/teachings in Leviticus we’ve learned this year, then each student was asked which they felt was the most important. After a short break outside, the class broke into two groups. Each group had to decide which one law, rule, or teaching in Leviticus they felt was most important. They then did a presentation to explain their opinion. I wish I recorded their presentations! I was so impressed, proud, and inspired! In a short period of time, they came up with such strong articulate arguments. Please ask your kiddos what the presentations were about.
Kitah Dalet (Fourth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Merav and Morah Sophie- We had T’filah with Josh after the weekly pizza party. He is awesome. Thank you Josh. We spent our kitah time catching up and sharing. All the students had some great shares. Some kids got real deep and shared how it can be challenging being the only Jewish kid at school or in a class. Many expressed their gratitude for being together with Jewish kids in a safe space. We are always grateful and happy to see them grow whether it’s through their Hebrew and Aleph Bet, or like last night seeing the community they’re developing with one another. They are all so lucky to be a part of such a great group of Har Shalom kids. We talked about all sorts of things, some silly, but mostly about friendship and community. Thank you for sharing your kids with us. Have a great spring break! Big things coming up after break. Mark your calendars: Purim celebration on March 24 (don’t forget a costume), and of course our student led service on Saturday April 20.
Kitah Hay (Fifth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Debbie, subbing for Morah Lauren- Lots of fun in Kitah Hey tonight. I showed the students a photo of a sloth that Morah Lauren sent from Costa Rica. We then played a game of Concentration using the words of the Shema and V'ahavta. I was really impressed -- even our newest students were reading the words correctly! Finally, as part of their study of Prophets, we read a story about the birth of Samuel and also reviewed some of the other Prophets they've studied this year. Once again, thanks for sharing your students with me!
Kitah Vav (Sixth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Leah- After Te’filah (prayer) in the sanctuary, we moved to Hebrew language session. **If you choose** I encourage you to have your student read some Hebrew at least 2 times for about 10 minutes to maintain their level of fluency. I can email texts as needed. Feel free to reach out. All good if not. We finished our unit on Jewish Weddings as part of Life Cycle events. Please share with your student about your wedding or a family members wedding - Jewish or not. All customs and faiths are welcome. Wishing you all a safe and fun break. See you all soon. Shavua Tov (a good week!) Morah Leah
Kitah Zayin (Seventh Grade) Wednesday from Rabbi Finestone- Due to illness, I have been absent for the past two weeks, so we used the first part of class to get reacquainted and to catch up. I asked each student to give me an example of an action that they have taken in the last two weeks that was positive, and then asked them which Jewish value that action represented. Most of the examples involved helping friends at school. Then I asked the students to share a negative example of something they had done in the past two weeks, and to identify what Jewish value it violated. Most of these examples involve losing patience with younger siblings. It turned into a really great discussion about Jewish values, and how we can live them even in our day-to-day lives at school. For the second half of class, we studied an ethical dilemma where people lied in order to get other people to give more money to the synagogue building fund. This was an easy case. Even if it is for a good cause, one cannot tell a lie in public, nor can one raise money under false pretensive. I hope everyone has a wonderful March break.
From Our Specials News from Tefillah We spent the night reviewing. A giant todah rabah to our 7th graders who led much of the evening with Tefillah Josh's help.
