31 Nadolny Sachs Pr.
613-722-0020
www.hillelacademy.ca
| April 16, 2010
Volume 2, Issue 57
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In this issue ...
- Important Notes.
- Hillel Goes Green.
- PTA goes green.
- Yom Ha'Atzmaut.
- Teacher Profile.
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Coming Up ...
- Ha'Zikharon is Sunday, April 18.
- Yom Ha'Atzmaut on Tuesday, April 20.
- Re-registration and $300 deposit are due.
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From the Administration
We have been very focused on Israel this week, thanks to the upcoming Yom Ha'Aztmaut celebrations next week. The classes have all been preparing for our assembly next Tuesday, April 20th. Grade 8 and ADK parents, don't forget to ask your kids to dress in blue and white in Israel's honour!
Israel is also on our minds because our Head of Schools, Donna Palmer-Dodds, and two teachers - Morah Kugler and Mr. Lamb - are there right now, with 19 of our 8th grade students, (as well as 3 from the high school). After many hours of travel, they arrived to spend a day on a whirlwind tour of Jerusalem and now they are with their host families on Kibbutz Amir, far up in the north of Israel. We are looking forward to hearing of their experiences there.
The school is also buzzing with activity around our Hillel Goes Green month. The kids are having fun with activities and crafts and trying to bring lunches that are litterless as possible. We have a very interesting speaker in next week. In honour of Earth Day, Dara Lithwick will be coming into talk about why the environment is a Jewish issue. Dara is a lawyer and a rabbinical student and it is sure to be an interesting talk. Parents are all welcome to attend on Thursday, April 22, at 2:45.
Shabbat Shalom,
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Some Important Notes
Please take note of the following:- Bingo and Bagels has been canceled due to unforeseen difficulties.
- Uniform Fittings will be Monday, May 3rd, 4:00pm - 7:00pm for family names that
begin with the letters A - M. Tuesday, May
4th, 4:00pm - 7:00pm for family names
that begin with the letters N - Z.
- We are starting our food drive for the Kosher Food Bank, collecting kosher dry or canned goods from now until Shavuot. Our collection bins are in the front hall. Please send a contribution in with your children.
- a pair of glasses was found in the parking lot. If you are missing them, please contact the office.
- Grade 6 is holding a homemade craft sale (with the help of Muriel Kardish
and other moms) for their Tikkun Olam project - Guide dogs for the blind - Thursday, April
22. They will circulate to classes with samples and prices.
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Hillel is Green!
Thursday, April 22 is Earth Day, and to celebrate, Hillel has been going green all month. For Earth day next Thursday, please dress your children in blue and/or green (no uniforms!) and send them with a loonie or toonie to go to a local environmental cause. There will be an assembly for students in grades 4 - 8, with guest speaker Dara Lithwick. Parents are invited and encouraged to come.
Keep sending in those litterless lunches! The students from the Environmental Club are checking classrooms closely to see who will win the challenge - and a pizza party.
Below, the grade 1 and 2 students had fun this week making decorated plant holders from recycled lunch containers. Below, Sam decorates his cover (top left), Rachel shows her finished decoration (top right), Molly shows her completed plant holder (bottom left) and Haley and Mrs. Waxman discover they have similar tastes in spring colours (bottom right).
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 The PTA is Going Green!
April 22 is Earth Day, and to celebrate, Hillel is going green all month. Keep sending in those littless lunches. The students from the Environmental Club are checking classrooms closely to see who will win the challenge - and a pizza party. Do you know that buying disposable lunches creates 30 kg of waste per
student every year? Even better than recycling is reducing the waste we produce and the
PTA wants to help. They are selling reusable
lunch containers, bottles and cutlery. Not only does it save you
money in the long run, but they are stylish and fun to use! Please
go to our website (we had a little glitch last week, but it is fixed now) to see everything being offered and download
an order form. Deadline to order is April 30th. The PTA will given 25% of everything sold. If you need a
closer look, we will have samples of everything in the office,
and you can pop in before or after school and take a look. They will also be on display at our Earth Day assembly. |
Yom Ha'Atzmaut
Tuesday, April 20th is Yom Ha'Atzmaut.
The students have been working very hard, learning about Israel and getting ready for the celebration.
We are asking the ADK and 8th grade students to also dress in blue and
white that day. And don't bother with lunch - the PTA is treating all
students to falafel or soup (all who ordered soup will get it).
After school, the SJCC is holding a huge FREE Yom Ha'Atzmaut celebration at Landsdown Park, starting at 5 pm. It will feature a video made with contributions from our students in all grades and well as other Jewish schools, plus all kinds of food and fun.
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The third grade students celebrated the confluence of Yom Ha'Atzmaut and Earth Day by creating a golden Jerusalem out of recycled objects. Above is the 'before' shot; below is the 'after' shot.
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From the Library - National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month and here at Hillel Academy students in
the primary grades have been celebrating by reading, singing and tapping
different forms of poetry during library time. Teacher-Librarian Fiona Mackintosh has been working with the kindergarten class so they can create an original, ensemble poem about the sounds,
tastes, smells and other associations that come to mind with each colour
of the rainbow. Grades 1 and 3 students have learned how to write
cinquain poems and students in Grade 2 have written their own
adaptations of the Dennis Lee poem "Alligator Pie".
Thursday, April
29th is national Poem in Your Pocket Day and you are invited to join
with the primary students in selecting a poem that you love and carry it
around to share with friends and family.
Also, Silver Birch Club will be voting on their favourite book in 2 weeks. Mrs. Mackintosh would like to have as many copies of the Silver
Birch books that are currently checked out returned to the library on
Monday. If you have one, please send it back!
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Mrs. Palmer-Dodds, Morah Kugler and Mr. Lamb accompanied 19 grade 8s and 3 high school students and 2 parent volunteers, Mr. Roytenberg and Ms. Dworsky, to Israel this week.
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Teacher Profiles - Morah Batya and Ms. Gordon We are profiling these two teachers together because, as every parent of a second grade student knows, they make a great team! Ms. Gordon is the grade 2 General Studies teacher and Morah Batya teaches Judaic Studies.
Both teachers are new to Hillel this year, and yet both have been here before. Ms. Gordon was at Hillel for several years, teaching French and then grade 2, but then left 6 years ago to have her first child. Morah Batya taught grade 1 a couple of years ago and then subbed last year. They are both delighted to be back at Hillel.
Morah Batya says that, while she can and has taught General Studies, Jewish Studies is her first love and she is delighted to be where she is right now, following her passion. She learned Hebrew as an adult by moving to Israel for 2 years and taking Jewish Studies at university there.
Ms. Gordon's job is officially General Studies, but she says that teaching in a Jewish school has always been very important to her. Between her time here, she lived in Vancouver and taught at a day school there, Vancouver Talmud Torah. She says she never considered anything but a Jewish school, and considers her most important job to be teaching her students
'menschlekeit.'
A visit to their classrooms reveals that Morah Batya and Ms. Gordon share certain personality traits with Hillel's other primary grade teachers: tons of energy and enthusiasm for working with little kids.
Both teachers have young children and say they spend their time off with their families. They both mentioned enjoying lots of outings with their kids - there's that energy again!
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David, Olivia, Dahlia and Phillip were our character award winners this week.
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