Last Friday was our Public Speaking  finals. Students from grades 4 to 6 presented their speeches in the morning and grades 7 and 8 were in the afternoon.

Below: Bronze, Silver and Gold medal winners Josh, Elizabeth and Haley, all from grade 5. Below that: Gold, Bronze and Silver winners Dayna, Hannah and Jacob stand with judges Esther Tarasofsky, Joyce Bellman and YRHS guidance counselor Yvonne Siers. Not pictured, judges Stephen Waxman, Julie Maloney and Betty Gibbs.

Below, our students in grades 1 to 5 had a great time this week presenting the plays they have been working so hard on in French class. Check the Hadashot next week for pictures from the ADK Open House.

The grade 6 students have been corresponding with pen pals across the city, at Charles H. Hulse school. The students at Hulse are primarily Muslim, and the two groups have been getting to know each other and finding out they aren't so different. On Tuesday, the students finally got to meet each other, as the Hillel students went to spend the day at Hulse. They spent the morning playing get-to-know-you games. In the afternoon, they all heard Holocaust survivor David Shentow talk about his experiences.

Below, Jordan with her penpal Leila during the scavenger hunt and Omri playing basketball with his penpal as Rabbi Simes looks on.

The grade 6 students got their turn with Scientists in Schools this week, learning about Earth and Space Systems. They learned about comets, planet properties and even a little about space and time. Below, Jake, Maxim, Hannah and Noya race to place the planets in their proper orbit around the sun before the other groups do.

The Jewish Archives has set up a display that was originally created for Ottawa city hall in the front hall of Hillel Academy on Lillian Freiman. Lillian was a daughter of the first Jewish family to settle in Ottawa, the Bilskys. Above, Morah Ruthie shows the display to the students in grade 3.