• Ski/Snowboard and Sports Day isn't until March, but in order to plan successfully, we require the forms back by Friday, January 22. Please see the website for all the details. 
  
• There will be a PTA meeting at co-chair Marie Levine's house (2303 Fox Cres.) on Sunday, January 31, 7 pm. Everyone is welcome! Please rsvp to Marie.
• The PTA February Hot Lunch calendar and order form is up on the website. The deadline to get the forms and cheques into the PTA box is Thursday, January 21.
  
• Friday, February 12 is a PD day (for both Hillel and the public board), and the SJCC is offering a day program for students. Activities include swimming, sports, crafts, science and more. Space is limited. Cost is $35 for members and $50 for non-members (with a sibling discount). Email or call Gail Lieff at 798-9818, ext 303.
• Please take note that Bagels and Bingo has been postponed from February 6 to April 29.
  

Teacher Profile - Rachel Kugler
Morah Kugler (right, giving cupcakes to Aaron) is another longtime staff member here at Hillel. Here for 26 years, she has taught Hebrew and Judaics to students in grade 2 through 8. 

Currently, Morah Kugler is teaching Judaic Studies in 5th grade. While she loves her 5th grade students, she also refuses to play favourites, saying there have been special things about teaching each grade. More than that, there have been special things about teaching each individual class she has had. What she loves most about teaching, she explains, is that it is never boring. "It doesn't matter if you teach the exact same subject over and over, it is never the same," she says. "The kids you teach make it different. I teach one grade 5 class in the morning and another in the afternoon, and even then it is different."

Going into Morah Kugler's class on a gray winter day is an uplifting experience because of all the colour she brings to her classroom. The Chagall-inspired paintings she did with her students hang in all the windows and this week, she taught her students how to make remarkable pictures using tissue paper as a medium. But none of this art is just to brighten up the room - that's just a bonus. The Chagall paintings depicted the 12 tribes and the tissue paper pictures had to illustrate a story from the Book of Judges. (Below and at the top of the newsletter are two pictures of the Judge Devorah.)

The art, Morah Kugler explains, goes beyond just being fun. She does her best to teach to all the different learning types, and for some kids, a hands-on, visual project is the easiest way to get her information across. The students learn without even realizing it. "I need to do different things to reach different kids," she says, "I want them to enjoy what they are learning."

Teaching the Teachers Real Spelling
Supporting a child as they learn to read and spell usually gives parents new insight into how strange English spelling appears to be. Why does the 'gh' in 'rough' sound like an 'f' but not in 'eight'? Why does 'apple' have two 'p's? Why are there never 3 letters in a row? 

Special Education teacher Sharon Reichstein, who has been trained in Real Spelling, is providing a series of workshops on the subject for Hillel language arts teachers. The goal of Real Spelling is to turn students (and teachers!) into critical, analytical spellers, who can investigate words through morphology (the structure of the word), etymology (word origin and meaning) and phonology (pronounciation of the letters in words). So don't be surprised if your kids start explaining word structure as they do their spelling homework.

Haley from grade 1 demonstrates how much she likes cupcakes. And congratulation to Haley, who has now read 100 books!

Rachel, (in back) and Sadie and Aliza (in front), enjoy their cupcake reward for selling lots of Hillel Cookbooks. Grades 1L and 5K each got cupcakes and 4A got a pizza lunch. The Cookbooks are still available even if the cupcakes aren't. Please contact the office if you want one.