Chadashot Online

Michael Schreck Memorial Basketball Games

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The 4th Annual Memorial Michael Schreck (z"l) Memorial Basketball games took place on Wednesday, March 25th to a crowd of cheering students and faculty. The atmosphere was electric. After the Star Spangled Banner and Hatikva, our students heard about who Michael Schreck, z"l, was, and his contributions to SAR. "This Tzedaka Basketball Tournament is in honor of a very special man," began Morah Sarah Richter. "Michael Schreck was our Executive Director for many years at SAR. There are, among many other qualities, two very important things we can learn from him. He was always smiling and happy, and he figured out ways to help people who needed help buying things to do so while keeping their dignity intact.He never made people feel badly that they needed help. We want to remember this special man at this moment."

Staff teams remain undefeated!

In the first match up of the day, the women's staff team defeated the 7th/8th Grade Girls' basketball team by a final score of 60-41. The returning men's team with the help of new additions, Evan Pare and Yona Singer, defeated the 8th Grade Boys team with a final score of 80-42.

The true success of the day was that through the teams' fundraising efforts, they have raised over $3,000 for the Michael Schreck Scholarship Fund (with donations still coming in).

We were so glad to have Vera Schreck in attendance at the games. A special thanks to Lynn Zadoff for coaching the women's staff team and to Harvey Augenbraun for stepping in as the men's coach.

Yasher koach to all!

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M.I.O.S.M.--What's That?

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Music teachers across the country celebrate national "Music In Our Schools Month" during the month of March. Teachers offer a variety of activities to celebrate this time of year. At SAR, the month of March is dedicated to "Music Show and Tell". Students are able to either share their talents with their classmates or bring in music to listen to that they love.

Children in grades 1-4 participated in this event. Kids played the piano, guitar, drums, oboe, and sang various songs. Many genres of music were heard through a wide array of CD's and MP3 players. Enthusiasm for music could be felt in the music room during the entire month of March.

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Sea or See? Roeh or Roeh?

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See or sea? Roeh or roeh? 4Z is studying homonyms, homographs, and homophones in English and in Hebrew. This is a paradigmatic example of a cognitively appropriate and fun way to integrate the Jewish and General Studies curricula. The students are in the mode of learning the concept of the homonym/homophone, and are synthesizing the concept for both languages.

Come visit 4Z's bulletin board of "cool cards", each of which has written a word, an accompanying sentence, and an illustration of the idea. The Hebrew words come with a translation as well. Each card is displayed with its counterpart for the students to refer to when they are writing, and to remind them of the correct spelling of the word they intend.

Morah Bina and Morah Mindy are looking forward to integrating more of their curriculum throughout the year. Be on

watch! (No, there's not a bee on your watch!)

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Native American Workshop

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On Monday, March 23, the third grade participated in a thoroughly educational and fun day immersing themselves in Native American culture. The multi-purpose room was transformed into a museum with an authentic longhouse and objects from the Eastern Woodlands tribes. The knowledgeable guides, Jamie (a Cherokee Indian) and Bob (a cultural anthropologist who was adopted by an Indian family) split their time teaching and facilitating activities with the third graders. They stressed how clever the Indians were at utilizing their environment to address basic needs such as clothing, shelter, food, and tools. Many of the children were struck by the sensitivity shown toward animals. Prayers of forgiveness were said before killing them and every part of the animal was used.

Bob and Jamie taught the children that games were not simply for fun, but to teach valuable skills in coordination and cooperation, learning to prepare for later in life. The children had a blast playing games with dice and corn kernels on an animal skin as well as ring toss. In other workshops, the students learned about Iroquois government and how the women picked the male leaders according to a list of qualities. When making unanimous decisions, they practiced making sure all voices had an opportunity to be heard by using a talking stick. Another highlight of the day was learning how Native Americans caught ducks by making duck or swan decoys out of clay. In each workshop, storytelling was featured as a means to explore Native American history and culture, to help teach morals, and to explain the origins of certain ideas or rituals. Have you ever wondered why dogs and wolves don't get along? Or why we have dogs as pets? Ask a third grader to tell a story that gives insight into these questions!

Two of the most important messages of the day were to treat others with respect and to be thankful for all that we have. We ended the fabulous day with song and a resounding 'thank you' said in the Cherokee language--Wado!

chadashot 3-27 native america2