Parashat Chukat

The last Lower School link for the year should have a major trumpet introduction!!!  Another year (or your first year!!!) We did it!! Your kids did it!!! Our teachers did it!!!  We have completed successfully another major step in your children’s lives.   Growth is obvious from the sheer new heights they’ve reached physically, to the advancements they’ve reached academically.  We are heartened by the wonderful programming we’ve been able to offer and the receptiveness of our students to the excitement and challenges.

What lies ahead for next year?   The major change is that the entire Lower School will be adopting the Singapore Math curriculum.  This year, it was taught in grades 2 and 3, as well as in the Middle School (for the second year) and is being received with much enthusiasm and acclaim (by teachers, students and parents).  At Back to School Night in September, there will be a presentation for the parents about this program.  Teachers are already receiving training, with more on the schedule.

Another change is in a few staff members.  Hamorah Gali and Mrs. Freedman, as well as Lea and Shlomit, our Bnot Sherut are returning to Israel, and Rabbi Moses is pursuing another direction.  Last night we had a staff get together/farewell party which was so poignant and bittersweet.  The bonds of friendship and respect are so strong; so difficult to say goodbye to people who have become entwined into our everyday lives.  We wish them all hatzlacha!  I am confident that our staff will be equally welcoming to new staff members and that you and your children will grow to love and admire their successors. 

Part of the charm of the Lower School is the manner in which newcomers, both  students and staff , are received and taken in to your hearts. Both family and student buddies have proven to be special and pave the way for new friendships.  We ask all parents to encourage their children to include newcomers into their summer and start of the school year activities (think guests for Succot!!) Plan Ahead.   As we have seen over the last few years, we have quite a few new students enrolled, transferring in from area schools and moving in from out of town (and country).  It is with great sadness that we say l’hitraot to our families who are leaving to return to Israel.  You certainly will be missed!

On a personal point, I am so excited to say that after school today, I am going to the Hebrew Home to pick up my husband – so he may return to our home!!!  It has been a very long haul and I so appreciate all your support and encouragement.  Ayn rah blee tov – there is no bad without good.  I now possess a much stronger understanding of the need for and strength of bikkur cholim – both as a mitzvah we are privileged to fulfill and as an organization.  Thank you for your kindnesses.

Another year draws to an end.  I thank assistant principal Tammie Rapps I thank assistant principal Tammie Rapps for her assistance, creativity and warmth, which have helped create such a  positive environment in the Lower School, Naftali Quartey, our administrative assistant, who makes everything possible, Suzy Israel, head of Education Support Services, for her dedication to each child’s education, and Rachel Handloff, Guidance Counselor, for  strengthening our caring community.  To all the teachers, who have worked so diligently to sustain each student, to the MJBHA personnel who have worked so hard so that we may serve our students in a clean and safe surrounding. Your work is recognized and appreciated. To our beautiful students, you are the heart and soul of our school, and make every day beautiful!!  I also acknowledge and am grateful to our parents  who trust us with their children; we recognize – and take seriously - our responsibilities.   And of course, I am ever so grateful to Hakodesh Baruch Hu for watching over us and guiding us.

I look forward to seeing you at Tuesday’s 10:30 (prompt) Step Up ceremony, as we say farewell to our 5th graders and move our other students up a grade.   Shabbat Shalom

Parashat Korach

Last night’s Showcase truly was amazing.  I, like you parents, am a bystander; I watch the rooms come to life; I see the children working on projects; I smile when I hear their excited voices talk about their efforts; I am pulled into room after room by students wanting to show me their work; I marvel at the teachers’ ability to turn their class rooms into display rooms, with joy and excitement – with pride in their students.  Thank you to so many of you who came last night, to share our pleasure in your children’s achievements!

As Showcase unfolds, it is exhilarating to watch your children leading you from exhibit to exhibit, showing off their own work, sharing – and praising - their friends’ attempts, and curiously looking into other rooms – to reminisce about what already was and to preview what might be in the years ahead.  One of the keys is that this is the children’s work; this is the result of their own labor, creativity, skill, thoughtfulness, and time.  Obviously there are teachers behind each child, teaching, guiding, suggesting, helping, allowing the children to use their own ideas, shaping those ideas – but not confining them, encouraging their students to soar.

We always talk about the home-school partnership, how we partner with you the parents.  As we head into the last full week of school and into a glorious summer, we think of the numerous ways we benefit from this partnership.  Obviously there are the usual expectations that parents will help their children keep their academic skills sharp, by helping find the time and space to read, use their math skills, practice writing (as in thank you letters, journals, letters to relatives and friends – I’ll answer!!! ).  But there are also the other areas that we work to instill or develop in our students, such as taking responsibility, showing caring and kindness to others, making good choices.   Each summer I offer the students a challenge – to practice a middah, announced at the Step Up ceremony.   But sometimes, it gets lost in the last minute hectic rush.  And so I present it to you today as this will need parental assistance.  The children will be asked to make good choices, to think for themselves, to use their beautiful brains to choose to do the right things. 

And you?  Please, please, please help them learn this essential skill by providing them the logical consequences when necessary.  If they spend all their allowance, they will not be able to buy ice cream; if they don’t write a thank you to their grandparents (how’s that for a plug!!), they won’t be able to use the gift, leave your ball outside, it might not be there in the morning, forget to put your bike away…… you get the idea.  There actually are many websites that discuss “Letting natural consequences teach your child to make right choices is a powerful learning tool. Experience is the best teacher ….. Children make unwise choices on the way to becoming responsible adults. Children must experience the consequences of their actions in order to learn from them.”  There also is the positive side to making good choices – praise for the action, praise for the right choice, the unexpected treat – “you have been such a big help with extra chores that I have the time to go for a walk, read a book, etc. with you….” We would appreciate your adding derech eretz to this adventure.  Expect to be respected, expect your child to exhibit appropriate demeanor, language, and behavior.  We will all be the beneficiaries – especially your child.  Shabbat Shalom