KOL HAKAVOD!

SAR IN MOTION

Click here to view a clip from our Yom Ha'Atzmaut Color War.

WANTED:

SAR Auction 2011 Volunteers:

If you're interested in helping with this exciting fall event, please contact Zahava at: markoz@saracademy.org, x1202.

Kick-off meeting is Monday, May 23, 8:15PM at SAR HS

LOST AND FOUND

If your child lost a pair of eyeglasses in a black case, please contact Chavie Wilner.

If you have a Target Charge Card, you can designate SAR to receive 1% of your charges as a donation.  

To register your card, visit www.target.com/tcoe
SAR Target ID #11822

                 *First We Remember,

                  Then  We Celebrate*

We especially looked forward to celebrating Israel's 63rd birthday, Yom Ha'Atzmaut, and enhancing the children's understanding and appreciation of the very special gift given to us from Hashem- Medinat Yisrael. We of course, cannot celebrate Yom Ha'Atzmaut without first remembering and showing hakarat hatov, appreciation and thanks, to our beloved chayalim who have served and currently serve to defend and protect Medinat Yisrael.    

So on Monday, May 9th, SAR commemorated Yom HaZikaron, along with Jews across America. We all gathered on the stairs and Rabbi Krauss spoke. "Tomorrow morning we are all going to stand in the same place we are now, at just about the same time, and we'll sing "Hodu LaShem Ki Tov Ki L'Olam Chasdo" to thank Hashem for an incredible gift, which our generation is zocheh to receive; and we're going to say thank you Hashem for the gift of Medinat Yisrael, for the gift of the land being open to us, and to any Jew that wants to live there. That is why we celebrate. But as you learned, hakarat hatov is recognizing where the good came from and we recognize that it didn't come without giving something and that there are young men and women who protect Eretz Yisrael and make sure we don't lose what we were given sixty-three years ago." After a moment of silence, we recited a tefillah for Medinat Yisrael and for the current Israeli soldiers, sang Hatikvah, and then students returned to their class areas.   

Sixth graders traveled to each grade area for four different round robin sessions. The students learned four Israeli line dances in one session and learned about Israel's history in another. They created artistic representations of Israel on posterboard, many of which included elements of the Israeli flag like blue stripes and Jewish stars of all different colors, olive branches, the Jerusalem sky line, and the number 63 for Israel's age. The final session was a video about the War of Independence and the many Americans who made sacrifices to fight in the war and build up Israel with no resources. They made reinforced concrete to build the first buildings. Harvard University students, successful lawyers, and other healthy, wealthy Americans gave up everything because they were drawn to Israel. "Your people are my people." "It was a marvelous feeling." "To not have been a part of it would have been rather sad."

The Jr. High students watched a video called, "In Search for Peace" showing the struggles to create and maintain the land of Israel. Learning the history behind the fighting and the country, the students appreciate the freedoms they have when visiting and living in Israel today. In small-discussion groups afterwards, the students talked more about the video and shared how much more connected they felt to Israel after watching the video. Seeing someone fight for something reminds you how special it is and makes you want to enjoy it all the more.Then they walked to the high school for dodge ball games in the gym: students vs. teachers, eighth grader vs. seventh graders, and boys vs. girls. The sixth graders walked to the high school later and enjoyed group games like learning how to work together on a real kibbutz! They joined the seventh and eighth graders after lunch and were all treated to songs performed by their teachers! The sixth graders then performed an Israeli dance for which they received much applause. They all davened mincha together as Am Yisrael and walked back to the Academy, enjoying the company of and conversations with friends along the way.

Parent volunteers collected photos of Israel and displayed them in the atrium along one wall. Another wall shaped the photos in a large 63. Thank you to all the families who sent photos in for the Yom Ha'atzmaut Gallery.

 

Yom HaAtzmaut concluded at SAR with a festive celebration at the Academy. The field was a sea of blue and white as SAR families together with friends celebrated at our Yom HaAtzmaut BBQ. Israeli flags shimmering in the late afternoon sunshine adorned the perimeter of the field. There was festive music with DJ Jerry Laskin, dancing, picnic blankets, warm connections, and joy and pride in our having Medinat Yisrael.

                                   *Who Is A Hero To You?*  

Over the last few months, the 4th grade has spent some time exploring the idea of heroism and the attributes possessed by heroes. After researching a modern Jewish hero, like Hank Greenberg, Emma Lazarus, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Henrieta Szold, each child wrote an essay about the hero's life and special qualities. The children recognized that many of the characteristics of those heroes, such as courage, determination, strength in the face of adversity and generosity, can be found in the people they know and love. Our "Wall of Heroes" outside of the Teachers' Room honors the special heroes in our children's lives: a parent, a grandparent, a sibling, or a friend.

Learning To Look 

This week the children had their last Learning to Look lesson of the year. We studied the Modern artists: Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, and Alexander Calder. All these artists created abstract art which is art that does not represent things in the real world.

Mondrian was a Dutch artist who belonged to a group called De Stijl (the Style). They restricted themselves to the use of only straight lines and right angles and primary colors. Mondrian began as a landscape painter and slowly moved to abstraction. "Broadway Boogie Woogie"was painted toward the end of Mondrian's life while living in New York City.  Mondrian was inspired by jazz music and the energy of New York. The students noted how the geometric grid is reminiscent of New York City streets and the colors reminded them of lights, taxicabs, and buildings in New York. Mondrian's work conveys a pulsating excitement of Jazz Age New York while remaining  totally abstract.

Alexander Calder was an American sculptor who created brightly colored moving metal sculptures known as mobiles. "Lobster Trap and Fishtail" was commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art in 1939. Calder was inspired by objects of nature such as fish, animals, and leaves. The students noticed how a sculpture differs from painting in that a sculpture can be seen from many different angles and a mobile is constantly moving due to the air currents underneath it. Calder's sculpture which is made from brightly colored aluminum resembles swimming fish and a hanging lobster net.

Jackson Pollock was one of the most famous of the American Abstract Expressionists, artists who freed themselves from conventional rules and emphasized the process of painting itself. "Mural" is an example of Pollock's drip technique. He would pour, splatter, and drizzle paint onto huge canvases on the floor. Pollock said his works were "energy made visible". The students noticed how the painting conveyed a sense of movement and energy. We discussed how Pollock's color palette and composition were deliberate and it would take him a long time to complete these seemingly simply paintings. The lesson culminated with each student creating their own "drip" paintings which was extremely messy and fun!

Many of the students have gone or will be going to the Modern Art galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see artwork by the artists we have studied this year. We encourage parents to take their children to the Museum of Modern Art, as well to see many of the paintings we have studied. We would also like to thank our Learning to Look volunteers for their hard work and dedication without which our program would not be successful. 
 

~because Hashem made a lot of things blue and white . . . Akiva Schanzer 

                                     *Hearts and Hands-On Israel*

Grades 3-Year Nursery through kindergarten celebrated Israel's birthday with great joy, singing for their guests, and "visiting" Israel in their classrooms. Our youngest students visited a kibbutz with live chickens, collected oranges in an orange grove to squeeze to make orange juice, and milked a cow-that was inanimate-but the milk was authentic! Other classes researched and learned about Medinat Yisrael, its cities and its significant sites. Still others visited the kotel, went on an archaelogical dig, took the tunnel tour, decorated cookies in Ma'afia-a Jerusalem bakery, visited the shuk and experienced foreign spices, designed Chagall windows, and at a Golan Winery they harvested grapes to stomp and crush into grape juice.

By: Two eighth graders

In this week's parsha, Behar, it says "וכי ימוך אחיך ומטה עמיך וחזקת בו גר ותושב וחי עמך   

"If your brother grows poor and his means fail him when he is with you, then you shall uphold him" (Leviticus 23:35). This pasuk means that if a Jewish man becomes poor you are obligated to help him. The Rambam comments that the highest form of tzedaka is giving a poor person a job, so he can support himself. The Sifre then explains through the analogy of a burdened donkey, that when a person has a business they may struggle, but they can continue on their own, like a person who can lead a donkey with a heavy load on their own. However, once the person's business fails completely, they will need much assistance to restart, like when a donkey falls it becomes hard for even five people to help it continue on. We understand from this that helping the poor has to be a communal effort even when it is hard because it is impossible for one man to do it on his own.

~because the Dead Sea is blue and its salt is white . . . Dalia Tesler 

Amir Zelman, Eliana Sastow, Olivia Roshwalb, Sophia Bruder have been learning how to solve long division problems in Morah Dina Rosenberg's fourth grade math group. In keeping with Yom HaZikaron, they solved a puzzle with various long division problems in order to form the shape of a Magen-David!

Donate Platelets For Neshama 

~because Jewish people like those colors . . . Yehuda Pepper-Fox 

 SAR Spiritwear - NEW Sting Bee Slippers, Sting Kippot, SAR PJ Pants, SAR Sweatshirts, SAR Sports Bag, SAR Magnets and more.
 To order, click here to fill out form and return to Sally Oshins in the Business Office. 
  

Yahoo Group
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