Chadashot Online

Why has this week in school been different from all other weeks in school? To prepare for Pesach, our students have been busy with many different age-appropriate activities from singing to creating their own Haggadot for their family Seder. The first graders held their annual model Seder on Thursday. The students sang the order and watched their teachers model each part. The students ate matzah, maror, and haroset, drank four cups of grape juice, and watched the ten plagues attack the Egyptians on the SMARTboard, even though the students know they can't have a SMARTboard at their family Seder.

The second graders are hard at work preparing for theatrics at the Seder. Ask your second grader to use his Pharaoh mask or her Shifra and Puah puppets to act out the Maggid story. They can also use their pointers to point to the matzah, maror, and pesach, to make sure you are fulfilling the three big mitzvot of Pesach. 2Y and 2Z, specifically, have learned about all the hard work we have to do before the holiday, and look forward to doing bedikat chometz in their homes. Ask to see his or her personal Haggadah, with a picture in costume looking like your child has just left Egypt!

Ask your third grader if you can use his or her Haggadah at the Seder. You can, because it has the complete text inside, complete with divrei Torah, pictures, and words written by the students.

Beyond the classroom, in fourth grade library, librarian Morah Beth showed the students her personal Haggadah collection. Together, they looked at the pictorial representations of the four children. One Haggadah, written in memory of those who died in the Holocaust, used books, not people, to describe the four children. The Russian Haggadah showed the Russian disregard for Jewish values and customs, while one Haggadah didn't label the children at all and asks the reader to decide which is which. Finally, Morah Beth shared her special Moss Haggadah, with playing cards as the children.

The fifth graders would love to share their group-effort Haggadah with you. Each class created a Haggadah with a d'var Torah written about every section of the Haggadah by the students in each class.

The sixth grade Haggadah is a joint effort with the entire grade. Ask students in 6W about their Pesach Treasure Hunt at the Food Emporium!

Out oldest students are busy with their books, learning the halachot of Pesach and the gemara sources for everything we do at the Seder.

Our students will have lots to say at the Seder this year. Encourage their questions and ask them some of your own! This Pesach, no matter your age, may we all learn a little more from each other.

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Second Grade Biography Dolls

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As a culmination to the study of biographies, second grade students designed puppets to portray historical figures they studied. They then presented them to classmates with fascinating information they had learned. For example, they learned that heroes come in all shapes and sizes, contribute many wonderful things to our world and can often be the ordinary people that we encounter each day in our lives.

Stop by second grade for a travel through time via our biography puppets.

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Shemoneh Esreh

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On Thursday, March 26th, SAR's 4th graders were treated with a visit to an exhibit created by their classmates on the Shmoneh Esrei. As part of the 4th grade Judaic Studies enrichment program, a group from each class studied several brachot of Shmoneh Esrei, learning about their meaning, origin and framework. They then wrote summaries in Hebrew, chose visual images, created 3-dimensional objects and interactive activities that helped teach their fellow students about the brachot of Shmoneh Esrei.

As the visitors made their way through the display, they were given an "Exhibit Challenge," a set of questions to help guide them. Among the questions they were asked were: "What do we add to the ברכה called 'גבורות) 'אתה גיבור)?", and "Which ברכה was added to שמונה עשרה?"

Highlights of the exhibit included a visit by Rabbi Krauss, who was immediately challenged by students to a stacking game, meant to represent the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash and the brachah of "Binyan Yerushalayim". Other interactives that delighted students were the game "Operation" representing the brachah of "Refuah," and a matching game that incorporated many of the brachot of Shmoneh Esrei.

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Schreck II . . . Watch The Movie!
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                                  "The games were great! The teachers remained
                                    undefeated. It was exciting. There were even more

                                     people playing this year."
                                                               -SAR students

Click here to watch a film clip of the Mike Schreck Memorial Basketball Games.