On the Bridge 11/10/2011

Report cards are going home tomorrow and Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming up on Monday and Tuesday. The conferences are well named because if students are to succeed, parents and teachers must work together.

At your conference you can expect to hear about some of the many good things that your child is up to at school- and likely about some other things as well, such as difficulties faced academically, awkward moments socially, unworthy behaviors, etc. As teachers present areas of challenge, expect to also hear ideas about how they will work on these items with your child, about how they will monitor progress and about what steps may be taken down the road.

Please take the time to tell teachers about how things look from your perspective. What is homework time like at home? What feedback are you getting about specific units, projects, etc.

Conference time may also not be enough- and teachers will have a full dance card! If you run out of time, consider scheduling a follow-up. Conference time is a formal carved out time- but it is only an early stage in the communication that will go on throughout the school year. Think of the hyphen in Parent-Teacher as a live link, short because the connection is close and level because access is from both sides.

Shabbat Shalom!

Zvi

Dr. Zvi Schoenburg

Head of School

Upcoming Events

See our full calendar of events!

November 11- Begin "Short Fridays," 2:30 pm dismissals

(3:30 pm Friday dismissals resume March 9)

November 14-15- No School. Parent-Teacher Conferences

November 21- Gesher JDS Board Meeting

November 23- Grandparents/VIP Day, 10:00 am - Noon

November 23- Erev Thanksgiving, Noon Dismissal

November 24-25- Thanksgiving Holiday, No School

School News

Gesher United News

Yasher Koach to all who play on this year's Gesher United Soccer team- it was a great season! Looking forward to basketball season, coming up this winter!

Student Council News

Student Council wants to help the students celebrate the end of the first quarter by having a free ice cream on Friday November 11^th at lunch!!

Sign-Up Online for Parent-Teacher Conferences - It's Still Not Too Late!

If you haven't registered yet, here's how- 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!

Authors Visit

November is Jewish Book Month and we are in the midst of the JCC-NV's Book Fair, too! Gesher was delighted to welcome published author, Sonia Taitz, to talk with our seventh grade class about writing, inspiration, and how to embellish the everyday and turn it into fiction. Thanks to Gesher parents and Book Fair Committee members, Andi Dorlester and Michelle Stravitz, for arranging this visit. Students in Grades 3-5 met Dori Weinstein, a Jewish day school parent and former Jewish day school teacher. Ms. Weinstein has just come out with the first book in a projected series which will take two Jewish kids, Ya-Ya (Yael) and Yo-Yo (Yoel) through a full year together. Signed copies of YaYa and YoYo Silding into the New Year are available in the office on a first come first served basis for $10.

Yitzchak Rabin Remembered

The Middle School took time out this week to remember Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzchak Rabin, z"l, on the occasion of his 16th yahrzeit. Northern Virginia Community Shlichah, Yael Ingel, spoke movingly with our students.

Pictures of the Week:

Kitah Gimel students Ben S. and Rome K. sit in the tee-pee during Native American Day.

Kitah Gimel students Alex F., Nathan C., and Jaquie S. present their tribe poster during Native American Day.

Middle school students visit the Newseum in Washington, DC as part of the literary magazine elective.

Middle School students learned to navigate the boat, use the sails, trawled for marine life, tested the water quality, and learned about the watershed on the Chesapeake Bay field trip.

Kitah Gimel students do a word study activity outside on the basketball court.

Gesher Green

Gesher Green Logo

Project FeederWatch

Do you have a bird feeder in your yard? Do you enjoy watching it all winter? Would you like to involve your child (and yourself!) in a large-scale citizen science program? Then look into Cornell University's Project FeederWatch., found at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/. Cornell has one of the largest ornithology programs in the country. Their scientists need lots of data to understand bird habits and migration. They cannot collect all that data themselves, so they rely on "citizen scientists" to help. Project FeederWatch is one of their largest programs.

So, why should anyone want to watch birds? For one thing, they're beautiful. Those small dark blobs flying around, upon closer look are often red or blue or yellow. But for a scientist (or budding scientist) being able to see small differences in color, shape, size, flight pattern, or behavior, is an important skill that needs to be learned and practiced. Was that flash of white on the tail or wing? Did the head have a crest? Was the flight straight or wave-like? These are all questions that birdwatchers learn to answer and that help develop the scientist's ability to observe carefully.

It is easy to participate. Simply keep your feeder clean and full all winter. Every other week spend time watching the feeder and counting who comes to eat. You can watch for less than an hour, or all day, that's up to you. Then you send the information to Cornell. They will add your data to that of thousands of other citizen scientists and use it to help form and test hypotheses about the habits of different birds. All the information, including simple field guides, is available on their website, http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/.

Admissions

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.

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

PTO

PTO logo

Thanks a million to....

.....to Cynthia Rutzick and Elyssa Brecher for their help reorganizing the PTO closet.

....to Naomi Hutchins, Michelle Nash, and Elyssa Brecher for assisting with picture day.

Mazel Tov to....

....to Jamie F. on winning the quarter's middle school Get Caught Wearing Purple raffle. Jamie received an iTunes gift card.

Get Caught Wearing Purple...Don't forget to show your school spirit by wearing purple and/or white on Fridays.Those in need of GesherWear may contact Naomi Hutchins at neshicot1029@verizon.net.

We Want You...to volunteer.The PTO is always in need of extra hands. If you are interesting in helping out, please go to the PTO section of the Gesher website to sign up.

Keep sending in those Box Tops!

Development and Fundraising

We wish to thank the following people for assisting with calls during our fall Phon-a-thon. Once again, the heartbeat of our school lies squarely with our volunteers. THANK YOU!

Miriam Berkowitz

Mark Rutzick

Susan Kristol

Rochelle Goldberg

David Litman

Ed Weiss

Ira Bartfield

Ron Katz

Dr. Schoenburg

Rebekah Dickinson

Daphna Oren

Ann Bennett

Carol Gordon

Arnie Hiller

The following people made pledges the night of our phon-a-thon, directly supporting our annual fund, Shomrei Gesher and benefiting our students immediately.

Cantor Adina and Glenn Ackerman

Yvonne Fujimoto and David Shurberg

Miriam and Jeffrey Berkowitz

Rabbi Lia Bass

Ms. Gloria Brissman

Shirley and John Baer

Rachel and Richard Albert

Cindy Rosen and Robert Schwartz

Irene and Gregory Mills

Carol Gordon and Steven Rosenthal

Linda and Jerry Smolkin

Melanie and Jonathan Eisen

Ms. Pamela Deichman

Hillary and Ari Dallas

Elyssa and Andrew Brecher

Amy Melnick-Scharf and Jeffrey Scharf

Julie and Eric Akawie

Jane and Bill Behrman

Sharon and Lance Sherry

GIVE TO THE MAX DAY was a great success!

For one day only, the entire metro-DC area was tasked to donate to the non-profit(s) of their choice. Out of 1,300+ registered non-profits, Gesher Jewish Day School ranked 339 in total donations! We reached $814!

The following families supported Gesher yesterday, with all proceeds benefiting Shomrei Gesher, our annual fund. When making the donation, several families did so with honors, as listed below. TODAH RABAH!

In honor of the fabulous Gesher education for Rachel, Abigail and Avah

Rebekah and Clay Dickinson

In honor of the hardworking teachers, administrators, and staff at Gesher JDS

Randi and Steven Adleberg

In honor of Rochelle Goldberg!

Ann Bennett

In honor of the Berkowitz Family

Lynne and Donald Sandler

In honor of my children and grandchildren: The Robert Levinson Family

Jon S. Levinson

In honor of Rebekah Dickinson's commitment to Gesher JDS

Miriam and Jeffrey Berkowitz

In honor of the teachers and staff at Gesher JDS

Liz and Peter Maer

In honor of our children, Adam, Arielle, Zev and Max who have benefitted greatly from their Gesher education

Michelle and Steven Stravitz

Vicki and Simon Fishman

Holly and Erik Seibold

Laura and Daniel Strouse

Eunice Oyungu

Debra and Paul Mendelson

Beverly and Neal Kramer

Susan and Stephen Mamber

Yvonne Fujimoto and David Shurberg

Anonymous

Alison and David Wilks

Ellen and Ron Katz

Meredith Parnes

Scrip Shopping for Thanksgiving!!

Stop in the office and pick up grocery scrip to do your Thanksgiving shopping. You'll be spending that money anyway, why not help out Gesher too? We automatically get a % from local grocers when you make your purchase with Scrip.

IN STOCK RIGHT NOW:

Whole Foods

Giant

Shoppers Food

Safeway

KosherMart

Pay for these NOW in the office by cash or check and shop!!

Make your list AND ORDER OTHER RETAIL SCRIP NOW for Hannukah & holiday shopping for our first-ever Credit Card Blitz! Info went out last week in the mail and via Gesher Gram. Forms and ordering information can be found on those fliers as well as the credit card forms. Get those miles & points on your credit card and benefit Gesher at the same time!

Visit http://www.shopwithscrip.com/Shop/default.aspx and order with your credit card Now!!! WOW!!!

This special offer will end on November 29 2011.

Email your co-chairs for more information or stop at the office.

Alison Wilks: wilks1111@hotmail.com

Wendy Fischer: wendy_fischer@cox.net

Mitzvah Coupon Donations

Mitzvah Coupon donations can now be made on-line through our secure website, www.gesher-jds.org. Simply log in and click on the Donate link at the top of our homepage.

In honor of Marc, Paige, and Bryn G.

Alan Goldstein

In honor of Mollie S.'s Bat Mitzvah

Rochelle and David Goldberg

Brittanie and Dan Werbel

Rebekah and Clay Dickinson

In honor of Laura Strouse's new home!

Rebekah and Clay Dickinson

In memory of Sandy Rabinowitz

Daphna Oren and David Bardash

In honor of our dear grandchildren with love

Cantor Aaron and Shoshana Marcus

In memory of Eleanor Klinkman

Marci and Alan Benheim

In memory of Elizabeth Schwartzman

Marci and Alan Benheim

Caring Community

Jennifer Scher, Northern Virginia Regional Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, poses with her colleague Sarah Sicherman, Marketing and Events Coordinator, before delivering our new, beautiful banner to Gesher's campus. We recognize that community support for our school is far and wide and we thank you, Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, celebrating our milestone 30^th anniversary with us!

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!

Community Announcements

Please click on the links below to view each flyer.

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

Teen Hebrew Class

Olam Tikvah Blood Drive

Rock n' Bowl: 8th-12th graders

Centertainers auditions: 7th-12th graders for Once Upon A Mattress

Invasion of the Singing Terps Jewish A Cappella Concert

31st JCCNV Annual Fall Fundraiser, "A Night of the Arts"

The 6th Annual JCCNV Jewish Book Festival - November 5-13, 2011

Remaining highlights include:

Thursday November 10- 7:30pm Book Club and Book Lover's Night with author Sonia Taitz, who will be visiting Gesher's 7th grade on the afternoon of November 10!

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.

We welcome your inquiries. To schedule a tour, or for more information about admissions or making a donation to Gesher Jewish Day School, please contact us at (703)978-9789.

Sincerely,

Gesher Jewish Day School

4800 Mattie Moore Court

Fairfax, VA 22030

phone: (703) 978-9789

fax: (703)978-2668

www.gesher-jds.org

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