On the Bridge 11/23/2011

Today was another magnificent Grandparents/VIP Day at Gesher Jewish Day School. Each year we welcome grandparents, parents and other family members to our school and we are honored by the participation of so many school friends who may not be our students' grandparents but who love the school and our students. We are happy to have everyone join us for this fun occasion.

Gesher strives to teach our children - not just to be good students (although that is certainly an important part of what happens here every day), but also to be good people. When our guests visited the classrooms they took part in our Head, Heart, and Hand initiative. Each class has its own mitzvah project for helping others. Of course, part of being a good person is also playing a positive role in one's family, with friends, and in the community. Each person who has taken time out of his or her busy schedule to be here with our students today teaches them that lesson in a very authentic and fundamental way.

Being thankful and recognizing the good in our lives, is an essential Jewish value known as, הכרת הטוב, hakarat hatov. Hakarat hatov is actually a disposition and influences our interactions in a wide variety of circumstances throughout our lives. It is best learned when children are in elementary school and best celebrated together with family in this wonderful free country on this most marvelous and inclusive of all holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving & Shabbat Shalom!

Zvi

Dr. Zvi Schoenburg

Head of School

Upcoming Events

See our full calendar of events!

November 24-25- Thanksgiving Holiday, No School

December 9- Noon Dismissal, Faculty Meeting

December 14-15- 5th Grade Presents Shakespeare!

December 21- Chanukah Family Celebration, featuring the Chanukah Musical: Fiddler on the Roof and the Tzedek (Righteousness) Fair

December 23- January 2- Winter Break, No School

January 3- School resumes

School News

Grandparents/VIP Day!

Thank you to all who participated in today's Grandparents/VIP Day!

Fiddler on the Roof

Congratulations to artists, Aidan S. and Jacqui S., whose poster was chosen for our Chanukah Musical, Fiddler on the Roof! See the other entries, too, in the lobby!

Cross Country National Youth Championships

Yasher Koach to Kitah Gimel student Solomon H., who earned All American Status at the Cross Country Coaches National Youth Championships in Huntington, WV! Solomon placed 7th amongst all 8 year-old runners in the country in the 2K distance, and joins two other local FPYC runners in the history of the program to have earned the All-American distinction.

Community Connections Week

Please join us at the Jewish Federation's Community Connections Week as we make calls to our community to help raise $1 million for the Federation's Annual Campaign. In addition to supporting Gesher financially, the Federation provides support for critical programs and services in our community, in Israel and around the world.

Gesher parents and board members have always been very active in Super Sunday. This new event replaces Super Sunday and gives us the opportunity to ask our community to join us in the mitzvah of tzedakah.

Please join us at the JCCNV on Monday, Dec. 5, 6:30-9:30pm. To register, please go to http://www.shalomdc.org/page.aspx?id=211678. Be sure to indicate that you are participating on behalf of an agency and on the drop-down menu select Gesher Jewish Day School as the name of the group.

Sincerely,

Miriam Berkowitz, President

Zvi Schoenburg, Head of School

Gesher in the news!

Here's a wonderful article on Gesher!! It is in the newsletter of the North American Monarch Institute. This institute is based at the University of Minnesota and their newsletter goes to people all over the country who are working with Monarch Butterflies. Click here and look for the article called "2011 Garden Highlights."

Two recycling opportunities!

Gesher Green has found 2 more great ways to easily help the planet by taking plastic items out of the landfill and putting them to good use through reusing and recycling.

Do you have old plastic gift cards from stores in the area? Give them to Ms. Wolin. Her artistic daughter is turning them into lovely original earrings. This is an example of "reuse" which is even better than "recycling." Of course, if you are looking for unique earrings, Ms. Wolin will be happy to show you the latest collection!

Mrs. Leckert can now also collect old markers for recycling, along with the dried out or used up glue sticks. She can take any kind of markers: Crayola, Sharpies, Expos, even old pens and mechanical pencils. The company that takes them back will also pay for them. So you can lower your trash volume, help the environment, and raise money for Gesher all at the same time! It doesn't get much better than that!

Pictures:

Kitah Vav student Alyx C. demonstrates her model volcano erupting. The class built volcanos out of recycled materials and labeled each level.

Kitah Bet visits the American History Museum to see the exhibit on the Star Spangled Banner and Frances Scott Key. They then walked over the Frances Scott Key bridge from Rosslyn into Georgetown to eat lunch in the Frances Scott Key park!

Kitah Vav students plant in the garden.

Kitah Hay students skype with the Gan to perform their nutritional commercials written for science class.

Kitah Alef students hard at work!

Gesher Green

Gesher Green Logo

Carpool Survey

Gesher is always working to reduce our environmental impact. To that end, we have formed an Environmental Sustainability Committee that has surveyed our school's use of various resources, such as energy, paper, school supplies, and water. We have also come up with ways to reduce our usage, thus lowering our environmental impact.

Now we are looking into another, more difficult area to reduce: the amount of energy we need to get our faculty, staff and students to and from school. We know this is especially difficult, because, unlike a neighborhood school, our students come from all over the Northern Virginia area. Still, we'd like to get an approximate baseline of our gas used for commuting. Mr. England's math elective class is going to take on this ambitious interdisciplinary project. After Thanksgiving, during one afternoon's pick-up, students in that class will be taking a survey of all drivers. They will be asking 3 simple questions:

the year and model of your vehicle
the number of students in the car
the name(s) of the family(ies) that are in the car.

From that information, using various computer sites to determine distances, average miles/gallon, etc, these students will interpolate the approximate gasoline usage per student needed to bring each child home that day. We then hope to be able to produce maps and charts to display the results.

So don't be surprised when you are approached by some of our MS students during afternoon pick-up one day soon. We hope this will go very quickly and not increase the time needed to get you home that day.

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, dmendelson@gesher-jds.org.

PTO

PTO logo

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

Scrip Shopping for Chanukah!!

Stop in the office and pick up grocery scrip to do your last minute Thanksgiving shopping. You'll be spending that money anyway, why not help out Gesher too? If you have already finished, you know you'll still need groceries later! 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!!

If you didn't purchase other SCRIP from Gesher during VIP/Grandparent's Day today, you still have time to fill out an order for Hannukah for our first-ever Credit Card Blitz! Forms and ordering information can be found on colorful fliers that went home earlier this month or maybe you picked one up at our Scrip table today. 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!!!

Credit card orders will be processed on November 29 2011.

Those orders should arrive a week or more before Hannukah.

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.

Mitzvah Coupons will appear in next week's OTB. Thanks for your continued support!

Caring Community

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

Olam Tikvah Hanukah Bazaar

Junior Youth Group Hanukah party 2011 at Adat Reyim

Quiz night to benefit Gan Israel Pre-School

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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