31 Nadolny Sachs Pr.
613-722-0020
www.hillelacademy.ca
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March 5, 2010
Volume 2, Issue 52
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In this issue ...
- Important notes.
- Bingo and Bagels.
- Grade 1 Siddur Party.
- Blues in the Schools.
- Math Awards.
- Teacher Profiles.
- We are looking for...
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Coming Up ...
- Ski and Sports Day, Tuesday, March 9.
- Grade 4 Blues in the Schools
performance, Friday, March 12, 9:30 am.
- YRHS Brighton Beach Memoirs, March 22 - 25.
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From the Administration
If you visited the school any morning this week, you were likely to hear some great music coming from the gym. We've been lucky enough to have the Blues in the School program back this year. They were also at our school last year, and if our students' ability to answer the questions the musicians put to them is any indication, music is a great way of teaching. The program is allowing them to learn about music and history and have a lot of fun doing it.
There was a different sort of music in the gym on Wednesday, as our first grade students had the annual Siddur party. This is always such a special day. Of course, the students get to demonstrate to their parents and grandparents how much they are learning and entertain them at the same time - that is always fun for everyone. But it also marks an important moment for Hillel students. Receiving their siddur tells them they are really ready to learn their prayers. They have learned to read Hebrew and have a solid basis for their future studies. It is amazing to see how far they have come in such a short time.
Finally, the Regional CanWest Spelling Bee
is this weekend, on Sunday, March 7th at 1:45 pm at the National Gallery of Canada. Our school
champion, Jared Roth, will be competing for his last time. We know you all join us in wishing Jared good luck. You can also join us at the National Gallery if you like, and cheer Jared on in person!
Shabbat Shalom,
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Some Important Notes
Please take note of the following:- Please check your child's backpack on Monday for your reregistration packages.
- The PTA hot lunch calendar is up on the website for April. The deadline is Thursday, March 18th.
- Jewish Education Rocks presents a Shirlala concert and day of fun for kids 2-6, Sunday, March 14. More information here.
- the SJCC is holding a Passover Camp on Monday, March 29, PCP3001 (no aftercare) and Thursday, April 1, PCP3002 (including aftercare). The camp is for grades K to 6. $35M/$50NM, with a sibling discount. Registration deadline Thursday, March 25.
- We have been alerted that there is an error in one of the Passover recipes in the Hillel Cookbook, just in time for Passover. Liz Sorok's Gefilte
Fish Mold on page 8 has a missing ingredient - 4 eggs. We hope this saves some possible frustration.
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Bingo and Bagels Hillel Academy PTA's first annual Bingo and Bagels Night will be on Thursday, April 29. Save the date!
A great evening of family fun, all immediate and extended family are invited to join. There will be bingo games, raffles and 50/50 draws. Affordable individual and family packages will be available (which include bingo cards, markers, soup and bagels). The event will be from 6 pm to about 8 pm.
The success of this first annual Bingo and Bagels event is dependent upon parent volunteers. They are asking for help in the following areas: decoration, ticket design and sales, set up, prize collection, sponsorship coordination, food and drink, raffle and advertising. The funds raised will go towards the renovation of our kitchen for our incredibly successful hot lunch program.
We look forward to an exciting evening where family and friends gather for an evening of laughter and joy. We look forward to hearing from you. Please contact either PTA co-chair for more information or to offer help - Jennifer Glassman and Marie Levine.
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Grade 1 Siddur Party
After a great deal of preparation and practicing, the first grade students held their Siddur Party on Wednesday. The students had a great time performing for their guests, and the parents, Bubbies and Zadies had a great time watching them.
Morah Sarah would like to thank her co-teachers, Madame Marlene and Mrs. Bennett, who provided their time and support, saying she is very lucky to be working in such a great team. She also wanted to mention all the hard work of the custodial staff, who set up the gym and then quickly cleaned up after for Blues in the Schools.
Above, the children perform for their audience and below, photos of the students with their siddurim as well as the individually-decorated siddurim.
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Blues in the Schools Rocks the House Blues in the Schools has returned to Hillel for another year. This innovative program is provided by Ottawa Bluesfest. For the first week, they send 2 musicians to teach the students about the history of the blues as a musical genre, its instruments and effect on other types of music.
In the second week, they will run workshops with the grade 4 students, culminating in a performance next Friday, March 12 at 9:30 am. Below, performers Dr. Shawn and Marshall teach the students about the blues. And below that, the students and teachers have a blast dancing to different types of music. Who knew education could be so much fun?
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Canadian National Math League Contest
On
Thursday, February 25, Extended Math students, as well as others who
wished to participate, wrote the Canadian Math League contest. Students
wrote tests specific to each grade level. This international contest
tested their perseverance and determination as well as their
mathematical knowledge. We would like to congratulate Noah P, who has been awarded a book of math
challenges for attaining the highest score at Hillel Academy. Noah has also been awarded a Certificate of Merit. Certificates of Merit are awarded to students ranked in the top 5% in Canada. We would like to congratulate our other Certificates of Merit winners. In grade 6, Noah Z and Joshua. In grade 7, Nadav, Matthew and Sarina. In grade 8, Noam, Jared, Caleb, and Nathan. "Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by hitting back"
- Piet Hein, Mathematician and inventor of the SOMA cube.
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Back row: Jared, Sarina, Nadav, Nathan, Noam and Caleb. Front row: Noah, Noah and Joshua. (missing: Matthew)
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Beep Tests When there isn't great music coming from the gym, you can hear some pretty strange beeping noises. Mrs. Kettles has been performing 'beep tests' with the students. They have to get from one side of the room to the other before hearing a loud 'beep'. The beeps get closer together until all the runners have dropped out. This allows Mrs. Kettles to test her students' endurance level. Her goal is then to start on walking and running programs to improve their endurance and retest in the spring.
Below, half the grade 7s run the test while the other half act as spotters, telling the runners when they have missed the beep three times, indicating the test is over for them.
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Teacher Profile - Brian Lamb Mr. Lamb (right, running in the Terry Fox run with some students) is having a busy year. He teaches science to grades 6, 7 and 8 (in the recently renovated science lab he was privileged to design), math to grade 7 and Extended French, which includes social studies, to grade 4. He is also the Senior School Coordinator, meaning he organizes field trips for the upper grades, as well as the Yearbook and Student Council.
When it comes to teaching, science is his first love , and in the 4 years he has been a teacher at Hillel, Mr. Lamb has gone a long way to boost the quality of science at our school. He organized bringing the Scientists in School program to Hillel. It is a program that visits every classroom twice during the year, bringing grade-appropriate, hands-on science fun to the students. It has been a huge hit with both students and teachers.
He also organized to have our Science Fair extend to the entire school and to have the senior school winners go on to the Regional Science Fair - which took more wrangling than most people realize. The Regional Fair normally takes place on Saturday, obviously a problem for a Jewish school. But Mr. Lamb arranged for them to allow our students to set up and be questioned by the judges on Friday afternoon. He will then stay with the projects all Saturday. He says that now that Hillel's involvement will be annual, they are considering changing the Fair to Sunday.
If that weren't enough, Mr. Lamb is also one of our teachers involved in the P2K program, which allowed him to visit Israel this year and attend a conference with other Canadian and Israeli teachers. He loves travel and was delighted to get this opportunity. When asked what he liked best about Israel, Mr. Lamb says the people he met were most memorable, describing them as very welcoming and friendly. "And the food," he admits. "The food was really great." He is looking forward to returning in April with a group of grade 8s and YRHS students and being able to experience the country with his students.
In his spare time (it is hard to imagine he has much of that), he likes to travel as much as he can and spend time with the 'love of his life' - his dog, Mya!
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100 Books! Liam, Catherine and Molly have read 100 books! (Missing, Nava)
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We Are Looking For
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Charoset Makers
Morah Ruthie needs a few parent volunteers to help make charoset for the model seders. If you have some time to spare on the morning of Monday, March 22, please contact her.
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