חג שמח!

School News

Free at Last 

Last week our middle school participated in a live-streamed international prayer vigil on behalf of Gilad Shalit. Yesterday and today, during our Sukkot t'fillot, we dedicated "Min HaMetzar," part of our regular Hallel prayers, to Gilad on his release after five long years of confinement.  

Min HaMetzar begins:  

In distress I called to Ado-nai who answered by setting me free.  

Gesher United News

Yasher Koach to all who played in yesterday's exciting Gesher United Soccer game!   

Edlin: 6    Gesher: 5 

Look in your child's backpack today! 

Register for  Parent/Teacher Conferences through our school website: www.gesher-jds.org.  Parents with two or more students enrolled may register already.  Registration for parents with one child enrolled will begin on Monday, October 24 at 7:00 a.m. 

Here's how to register- it's easy!:

1)   Log in at www.gesher-jds.org

2)   Go to My Gesher, and select Parent Corner on the leftpanel.  Parent/Teacher Conference Registration is listed under Transactions. 

3)   Follow the directions you find there!

Thursday MAP classes

The Fall classes that occur on Tuesdays are well underway.  But the Thursday classes won't begin until after Simchat Torah on Oct. 27.  And this is the excellent line-up of classes!

• Tzedakah Superheroes (K-3) Mrs. Cohen will show our youngest students how to do acts of tzedakah (charitable good deads).  From making cards for patients in nursing homes to preparing food for the homeless, children will learn how good it feels to do nice things for others.
• Bringing Puppets to Life (K-3) Sandy Feulner of Puppets and More is returning to teach the children how to make puppets and how to perform with them.  Sandy has been a professional puppeteer for over 25 years.
• Intro to Dance (K-3) Gesher's own Dana Schwartz will lead this class.  It will include sessions in ballet, tap, jazz, and more.  Mrs. Schwartz has been dancing since she was the age of these students!
• Mad Science (K-4)This is a nationally franchised program that gets children doing experiments and thinking scientifically.  Each week the children also get something to experiment with at home.  The theme for this session is "Funky Forces".
• Sports Spectacular (K-4)Overtime Sports is back to lead this popular class.  Students will play different games each week.  Children will also work on teamwork, sportsmanship and fitness. They always leave sweating and smiling!
• Karate (K-6) Coach Chris from Kaizen Karate will continue teaching this popular martial arts discipline.  Along with kicks and punches, he teaches respect, motivation and self-confidence.  New and returning students welcome.
• Pottery (2-6) Jimmy of Jimmy Potter's Workshop will show the children how to make lovely creations from clay.  They will learn several different techniques.  He brings all the materials.
• Competitive Robotics (3-6) Fairfax Collegiate teaches children to make robots from Legos.  Then they learn to program computers to make their creations move.  Activities include races, obstacle courses, mazes and combat.  No experience necessary! Note: this class lasts 90 minutes

Many classes have size limits, so if your child is interested, please let us know now.

Carpool Etiquette

If you have more business to attend to at school than simple pick-up and drop-off, please park your car in the parking lot and walk on in. Our carpool lanes are meant to keep moving!  Also, if one of our buses has the stop sign extended, stop and do not pass it- it is loading or unloading children.   

Pictures:

Kitah Chet student Miryam M. shakes her lulav and etrog during morning Tefillot.

Kitah Bet students shake the lulav and etrog.

Gan students Hillel K. and Ella S. eat homemade vegetable soup while wearing crowns for Simchat Torah!

Morah Melanie shows Gan students words from the Torah, while learning about Simchat Torah.

Kitah Chet students skype with a class from Columbia, South America during Spanish class.

Sukkot ~ Gesher Green Style

Sukkot is a holiday that celebrates the human connection to the great outdoors.  So it is a perfect time to take our students outside for a Gesher Green activity!  This year our celebration focused on the sukkah (hut) as shelter.

Creating a kosher sukkah like the ones we may see in synagogues or our own homes connects us to our history and also to a sense of G-d. When the Israelites were creating the original sukkot, they were wandering in the desert and needed protection from the elements.  So those first sukkot were shelters.  Also, when we first entered the Promised Land, most people were farmers.  Their farmlands were often far from their homes in the villages.  During harvest time (which corresponded with the Sukkot holiday) many people would live in small huts to be near their fields. Even well before Moshe or the Exodus, Avraham is said to have rushed to build shelters for visitors traveling on their way to give them hospitality!

So the Gesher Green activity focused on the sukkah as a shelter. We wanted our children to enjoy making shelters for many kinds of creatures! Last week the youngest children (grades K-2) built sukkot for bugs.  Children in grades 3-5 created ones for small animals.  This week the middle school built personal shelters in the woods.  It was wonderful to get outside with the children in this beautiful fall weather, and watch them create their sukkot!

Rachel D. and Sophie M. stand with the beautiful Sukkah they built!

Sophia R., Jake N., Rachel D. and Zev S. have fun building their Sukkah.

Stay in touch with Gesher through Facebook and our new Twitter Feed on our homepage at  www.gesher-jds.org  

Volunteers are needed during the coming months to reach out to prospective families. If you are willing to host a family for a Shabbat meal or call a prospective family to answer any questions they may have, please let Admissions know.  In addition, the Refer-a- Friend Tuition reduction program is again available.  Word of mouth is our most important recruitment tool.  Share your experiences with others to help build our enrollment.  We are very proud of our students, school and program and we know you are too!  For more information on Refer-a-Friend, contact Debra in the Admissions office.

Admissions Open House Dates

Wednesday, Nov 9 @ 9:30

Gesher Admissions Fall calendar in full swing.  Lots going on at Gesher and beyond!   

Oct 27  Gesher Parlor Meeting in Alexandria - Hosted by the Alberts

Nov 6    Gesher Parlor Meeting in Fairfax - Hosted by the Schwartz Rosens

Nov 6    Gesher co-sponsors Character Breakfast at the JCCNV

Nov 7    Alexandria Preschool Fair

Nov 9    Admissions Open House

We need volunteers to assist at many of the above outreach activities.  Please contact Debra soon if you can help - dmendelson@gesher-jds.org.

Have you received the Summer Gesher Gazette?  If not, please email Rebekah and we'll be sure to mail one to you.  

Save the evening of May 20, 2012 for our 30^th Anniversary Spring Gala!

Please help us find our 2011-12 Tikkun Olam Alumni Winner!  Nominations are being accepted now through DEC 31, 2011.  Please submit two brief paragraphs describing the work and life of an alumni deserving of our annual Tikkun Olam honor- we're looking for someone who is making the world a better place!  Email your nominations to Rebekah Dickinson: rdickinson@gesher-jds.org. The winner will be announced in January.

Gesher Fleece Jackets  

Special 30th anniversary purple Gesher fleeces are now for sale for only $25!!  Limited quantity and sizes available on a first come first serve basis!  Please see Rebekah Dickinson for more information or email rdickinson@gesher-jds.org. 

Update on Gesher SCRIP!

Place your orders for scrip! A new array of merchant scrip is now available in the office! Plus you can always shop for more online and still give Gesher credit. To get started, go to create account. You'll need the following code to designate Gesher as the associated account: 1E9L8BCD9484. Once that's done, you can place your order at www.shopwithscrip.com and bring your check for payment to the office.

We now have the following cards in stock:

-Giant Food

-Whole Foods

-Safeway

-Shoppers

-KosherMart

-Starbucks

-Bed Bath & Beyond

-Barnes & Noble

-iTunes

-Macy's

-LLBean

Our next order will be placed November 10^th, so make sure you have your   

order AND payment to the office BY that date so that we may process your  

order speedily.

That's it! Buy some soon to do your Rosh Hashanah and Break-Fast shopping!! Keep looking for additional information about the SCRIP program coming soon!!

A speedy recovery to Cheryl Sultzbaugh, wife of Pat Sultzbaugh

            Gesher Faculty and Staff

In memory of Suzy Goldhammer

            Mr. and Mrs. Victor Tynes

In memory of Eleanor May Klinkman

            Shari, Sid, Daniel and Jonathan Schwartz

            Ingrid and Zvi Schoenburg

            Jennifer Schulman

            Miriam and Jeffrey Berkowitz

            Meredith Parnes

            Michelle and Steven Stravitz

            Naama Ende and Jonathan Yager

            Rebekah and Clay Dickinson

In memory of Elizabeth Schwartzman

            Meredith Parnes

            Michelle and Steven Stravitz

            Bill and Charlotte Rosen

            Ingrid and Zvi Schoenburg

            Naama Ende and Jonathan Yager

    Dorit and Ben Paz, and Family

            Rebekah and Clay Dickinson    

    Miriam and Jeffrey Berkowitz  

In memory of Sandy Rabinowitz

            Naama Ende and Jonathan Yager

In honor of Samuel and Jaren G.

            Marcia Goldberg

Visit Jconnect.org! 

Jconnect.org is the one place where you can go to find information on everything Jewish in the Greater Washington community. This new community site features a robust community calendar that's easy to navigate for both posters and users. Please check the website often as the site is ever-changing!  

The Washington Jewish Week is now available for purchase from the newsstand in the office for $1

JCC's BASE newsletter for October  

The Fairfax Kollel offers a new session of classes  

Open Door: India.Arie and Idan Raichel Presented by Strathmore

The Jewish Federation Wants to Help! If you are in need of financial   

assistance at t his time, or if you know anyone in the community who 

is in need, please do not hesitate to contact the Jewish Federation's Warm Line at 1-866-950-4AID.