HSRS Announcements (Hodaahot הוֹדָוֹת) New Information With the first two days of Passover being non-working holidays, I apologize that you are receiving this middle of the week.
Previous Information Sent!
Drop Off Safety Reminder- When dropping off your student, we ask that you park the car before students exit. When a car drops off in front of the sanctuary, we are causing a safety concern as cars become backed up on Drake. Photography Reminder Just a reminder- We have many upcoming bar/bat mitzvahs as well as grade level services. Please remember that photography and videography are not allowed on Shabbat.
Recordings of various prayers Needing to practice one of the prayers? Take a listen using this website. https://soundcloud.com/heeb-1
Important Dates & Upcoming Events April 28- Matzah Mania during HSRS for grades K-2 May 3- Kindergarten/1st grade Saturday Morning Shabbat Service at 9am May 4- NO SCHOOL FOR KINDERGARTEN AND 1ST GRADES May 15- HSRS Yom Ha'atzmaut Celebration May 19- Mitzvah Hour and End of the Year Carnival, Last Day of HSRS
BBYO & Teens TeenS of the Week! We had a great turnout at the Regional BBYO convention this past weekend. It was so fun being together while making new friends.
Synagogue & Community News
From Our Teachers
Kitah Gan (Kindergarten) From Morah Melanie, subbing for Morah JoJo- We started looking back at all Kitah Gan has learned this year. We each chose our favorite holiday after talking about what we liked most about the holiday. Each kiddo colored worksheets from that holiday. We read books about Passover and learned a new Israeli dance with Judy. Rabbi also helped the kids pick out parts for the upcoming service they will lead with Kitah Alef.
Kitah Alef (First Grade) From Morah Laura- We had so much fun celebrating our great behavior. Since we filled our jar with compliments, we decided to have ice cream sundaes for breakfast. Some of us added a little banana to make it healthier. Next, we enjoyed doing Israeli dance with Judy and the kindergarten class. After a little recess, we went back to our class to play Passover games. My favorite was Passover headbands and others enjoyed a board game or playing with puppets. Finally we had a surprise performance by third grade and we practiced the 4 questions. I hope that everybody has a wonderful Passover.
Kitah Bet (Second Grade) From Morah Nicki and Morah Becky, subbing for Morah Anne- After wonderful sessions of shira and Israeli dance, the students successfully completed a challenging Passover escape room scavenger hunt and worked well together to solve the clues. They also made Passover fortune tellers.We also completed some Passover mystery pages using recognition of Hebrew letters.
Kitah Gimmel (Third Grade) Wednesday from Morah Shoshanna, subbing for Morah Robin- Morah Mollie started the evening working on Hebrew Riddles with the students. Morah Shoshanna then went over the process of the Passover Seder, the 4 questions, and the blessing over wine and candles.
Sunday from Morah Alison, subbing for Morah Robin- Kita Gimmel learned more about the story of Passover. We first read a book where all the students participated and answered questions. We explored the Passover plagues and made a wheel describing all of the plagues. Then a group of students performed a skit for their class and another class demonstrating all of the items on the sedar plate. We also danced to an Alef Bet song with Judy.
Kitah Dalet (Fourth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Sophie- On Wednesday, we wanted to leave time to practice for our service on Saturday. That left us with very little class time, but we filled that with a Passover trivia game. The students knew some of the most specific facts, and I was very impressed!
Wednesday from Morah Merav- We practiced our Dvar and our prayer for Israel for our student led Service. It was great to see everyone on Shabbat at Har Shalom. I was so proud of all the kids. Chag Sameach everyone.
Kitah Hay (Fifth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Lauren- Kita Hay delivered potted flowers to hospice on Wednesday. They had great questions for Dr. Shamis. Afterwards we went for Dairy Queen and Boba Tea. Wonderful mitzvah project from Kita Hay!
Kitah Vav (Sixth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Leah- After T’filah, and putting on our gloves - we walked the mile route from Har Shalom to Dairy Queen. We filled four kitchen trash bags and left the path behind much cleaner. The students did a great job and thank you so very much to all the parents for being flexible with pick-up location, for walking with us, for providing rides for humans and trash bags.
Sunday from Morah Leah- After Shira and Hebrew lessons we talked about Wednesday’s class - how each doing something without the expectation of something in return feels good, can create kindness ripples and lasting impact. We then spent the day having a bit of a Passover themed party. Making crafts (origami frogs, and paper flowers). The day ended with a rousing Israeli dance lesson - thank you Judy for teaching us. Shavua Tov - a good week and Chag Sameach Pesach - Happy Passover!
Kitah Zayin (Seventh Grade) Wednesday from Rabbi Finestone- We finished working on the prayers for returning the Torah scroll to the ark. After reviewing the Hebrew, all the students sung the prayer with the proper melody. For the second half of class, we began the last chapter in our Topical Bible book,, which focuses on dealing with change and new challenges. The example given is Moses at the burning bush. We will continue working on this chapter next week.
Sunday from Morah Michelle- Kitah Zayin discussed why Jews are overrepresented in the sciences and other academic pursuits. Jews are only .2% of the world's opulation, but have won 20% of all Nobel prizes. Did you know that half of all world chess champions have Jewish ancestry? We read and discussed this Mark Twain quote:
If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk.
His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished.
We then read a children's book about Albert Einstein. We ended class by decorating seder plates. See you next week.
From Our Specials News from the Sifriyah (Library) Thank you to madrichot Alexis, Maya and Lila for coming in early and helping me sort donated children's books Wednesday evening before their BBYO meeting. There have been many donations and having them sorted according to topic is a big help.
Passover book giveaway: I had so many extra Passover storybooks that students in K-3 got to choose a Passover book to keep. I took the names of everyone who chose a book, and they will get that book added to their Book Bingo card to help them earn a prize.
Israeli Folk Dance K/1: Because of the snow giving extra water to the trees, we circled back to Tu B'Shvat and learned "Ha'skeydi'ah porachat" (the almond tree is blooming). We discovered lots of ways to move in a circle, including walking, skipping, hopping, jumping, marching, jogging and crawling!
2/3: Everyone could recite the alef bet so we did the alef bet dance. See if your student can show you how to "wring the dishrag"!
6/7: We were in a disco mood so we did "Jessica" by the Israeli 80's rock band Ethnix. It's a line dance that changes direction each time it repeats, sort of like an Israeli "hustle".
News from Shira We had a fun morning of singing Passover songs!
News from Tefillah We concluded the learning the Friday evening Kabbalat service. Over the next month, we will work on review Friday and Saturday services.
News from the Kitchen A giant Todah Rabah to Morah Ellen, Morah Shoshanna, and everyone else who has helped our students with cooking this school year. It has been so much fun and we hope that the students have found a new food they like.
