Thursday Notes

Week of June 12, 2008
Friday 6/13 Candle Lighting Time– 8:10 p.m.
Parashat – Beha’aloscha

Monday 6/16 7th grader – Community Service to Hebrew Free Burial Society
Yellow Dino Parent Workshop on Child Safety – 7:00 p.m. in the Gym
5th Grade Parents Meeting – 7:00 p.m. – No Students Permitted.
Tuesday 6/17 Integrated Algebra Regents – 8:30 a.m.
Retirement/End of Year Party for Cantor Schnitzer – 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday 6/18 Kindergarten End of Year Celebration – 9:00 a.m.
Thursday 6/19 Earth Science Practical Regents – 10:00 a.m. – NO TRANSPORTATION
Friday 6/20 Closing Day – 12:30 p.m. dismissal - There will be bus service
Earth Science Regents – 12:30 a.m. – NO TRANSPORTATION

Looking Ahead
Tuesday 6/24 Board of Trustees Meeting – 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday 9/3 Opening School Day – Grades 1-8

Regents Schedule for 8th Graders
Tuesday, June 17 – 8:30 a.m. Integrated Algebra Regents
Thursday, June 19 – 10:00 a.m. Earth Science Practical
Friday, June 20 – 12:30 p.m. Earth Science Regents
Monday, June 23 – 8:30 a.m. Checkpoint A – Spanish Exam
Tuesday, June 24 – 12:30 p.m. Hebrew Regents

NO TRANSPORTATION WILL BE PROVIDED

Book Round-Up

Please encourage your children to look under the beds and behind their dressers for all school books (text and library). They must be returned or paid for before report cards are distributed on the last day of school.

Parting Words.....

As we prepare this final edition of the Thursday notes for this academic year, we want to remind all parents that although school will close for summer vacation next Friday learning should not stop during July and August. This vacation time offers children a different venue to continue their studies. Children should be encouraged to read in both Hebrew and English each day. Each student has received a summer reading list. This list is the minimum we expect from each child; we would hope that children will read additional books, magazines, and newspapers for pleasure each day. If your child will be away for the summer, make sure you send him with a supply of reading material and include books in the ''care packages'' you mail.
Students whose report card grades indicate they need academic help would do well to receive it during the summer. Please contact your coordinator if you need tutoring during the summer.
The summer also offers and excellent opportunity to use time away from school to visit the many cultural and educational sites around the city as a family. Following these trips family discussions about the adventure will build family unity and augment the educational experience.
Finally, on behalf of the entire faculty and staff we wish all parents and children a restful, safe and wonderful summer vacation. We look forward to September, and another year of learning and worthwhile experiences at Schechter.
Even as we prepare for summer the activities at school continue. Below are some reports by our students about school events during this past week.

The Sofer
By Liran Messinger, 7B

Last Wednesday, a Sofer visited our school. Before he came to speak with us, we already knew that a Sofer writes the Torah, the Shemah inside the Mezuzah and the Shemah inside the Tefilin box. But what we didn’t know was the process of preparing the parchment so that it can be ready for writing the Torah . The Sofer taught us that in order to make the parchment you can use the skin of a sheep, cow, goat or any species of kosher animal. He also educated us by telling us that there are four compartments to the Tefilin head piece and that there is one part to the arm piece. I learned a lot of new information from the Sofer. In conclusion, having the Sofer at our school, teaching us was a very worthwhile experience.

Noa Sailor in Class 2C really enjoyed learning how to write a Torah. Noa also learned how the ink and paper are made.

Seussical……

I’m very impressed with the drama performance this year. I was happy with my role and thought that everyone did a good job. We should be glad that the producers were Mrs. Gans and Ms. Gossett. They both worked very hard. I’m looking forward to next year’s play. By Jordan Brandwein, 6A

This year I wasn’t sure that Seussical would be a hit, but I was wrong. I’m glad that we did this play because I loved my role and more of my friends joined. Mrs. Gans and Ms. Gossett did a great job choreographing the play. I can’t wait to do it again next year! By Jacob Wasserman, 6A

The Middle School curriculum fair was redesigned this year to help promote more skills for the students. The sixth grade fair set the introductory tone with the traditional display board presentation. The children chose topics from the language arts and decorated the boards with relevant materials. Some of the projects included the topics of Harry Potter, Doctor Seuss, the Beatles, Grimm’s fairy tales, baseball poems, Coca Cola, and others. The seventh grade projects revolved around the theme of Judaic Studies, and were presented in a format of the fine arts, as you will see described below by the students. The eighth grade projects which will be presented next week revolve around Social Studies and Science, and will be presented in some technology format.

Last Thursday was the first Curriculum Fair made by the 7th grade that had to be presented to a large audience. We could have presented our topics in a variety of ways that had to do with a fine art. No one in Solomon Schechter history has ever done this before. The topic that was assigned to the 7th graders had to do with Judaic/Israel. Topics that were chosen by my classmates included Jews in baseball, Kohanim, the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli food. Most people included a photo montage. Some people put pictures on the computer as a slideshow or they mounted pictures on a board display. Others presented their projects in different and creative ways such as doing a one-person play or performing a song on a violin about their topic. Along with all these projects, the students had to present aloud about the topics too. Many people, including myself, think the 7th graders did a good job, even though they did not have any precedents. By: Isaac Pulatov, 7A

This year the seventh grade Curriculum Fair was conducted in a new style. Our projects were still on Judaic Studies, but we had to present them in art form instead of on a display board. On Thursday night, the kids performed in front of the parents and their fellow students of the seventh grade. Some students presented their ideas by writing poems, dancing, or by playing instruments. Others did paintings, collages, and skits.
The topics varied from Israeli sports to the Holocaust, and from the Hebrew alphabet to mid-eastern cooking with Israeli food samples.
We interviewed a few students about how they felt about the Curriculum Fair.
Mai felt this year’s curriculum fair was more interesting than last year. She hopes that next year is the same thing.
Yasmin thought that it was fun that they all got to take turns. Some people had great presentations.
Itzik felt excited and nervous about presenting his project.
Ori had a great time and felt that the curriculum fair was an overall big success.
By: Michelle Aminov 7A and Rebecca Leeman 7B
Overall the Curriculum Fair was a big success.

Every year Jerusalem Day is different because Jerusalem itself grows and develops to new heights. We must appreciate all what our generation has today that previous generations couldn’t have even imagined. Jerusalem builds on the old and continually updates and expands. As any tourist who goes to Jerusalem discovers, new stores, restaurants, malls, sport centers, and roads appear every day. Many structures remain the same, but more things are continually added or moderated. One of the real amazing things about Jerusalem is that the original buildings that have been there for thousand of years still stand. You feel connected to your ancestors, knowing you’re touching a wall that the king of your ancestors touched.

Jerusalem is a place every Jew should visit. To me Judaism is about having a Bar Mitzvah, and putting on Tefillin in the morning. Judaism isn’t complete without visiting Jerusalem and the Kotel, since it is the best place to go when you want to feel close to God or you want to ask God for good health. - By Shenhav Shoshani 8B

On Yom Yerushalayim the Tzofim came to our school. They came from Israel to entertain.

Their performance was constructed of Israeli songs, mostly about Israel, that they sung and danced to.

During the performance, some of the Tzofim came off the stage and pulled the students out from the crowd. They danced with them, and spun them around, then returned them to their seats.

At the end of the performance, everyone joined the Tzofim in singing the Israeli National Athem.

On Jerusalem Day, the Israeli Tzofim came to our school to perform. While the Tzofim were perfornung for Pre-K through fourth grade, everyone in my classroom was whispering to each other about how we were going to see the performance in only 25 minutes. We looked at the clock continuously until we were called down. When we fmally came downstairs we sat down and waited for Mr. Mayerson to introduce the Tzofim. I noticed that a screen was being lowered, and a projector was being set up. As soon as Mr. Mayerson finished talking, the projector turned on and started playing a video. The video introduced the Tzofim individually. When the movie was finished, all of the Tzofim from the video came from the back of the stage, and they started singing and dancing.

Everyone sang along and had fun watching the Tzofim dance, and many times, the Tzofim would come off the stage and pick someone to dance with them for a few seconds. We then jump back on stage and continued dancing with the group. After every song, either a girl or boy would come before the rest of the Tzofim did, and talk about the song coming up. Everybody really enjoyed watching the Tzofim. We all had a great time. I hope they come again next year. - By Ori Bitter 5A

The Israeli day Parade is celebrated every year. Lots of groups from different schools and synagogues attend the parade. This year there were a lot of groups. When we arrived from our bus ride we walked to a waiting area until we were called to step off to the parade. When we began marching, we were very happy. There were announcers along the path, and whenever we were called we were all cheering and getting all excited.

Recently class 5A has been working on a project called Book of Memories. We wrote a series of chapters about our lives. We wrote about our heritage and our early life. We have also written about our recent life and our future hopes. We did many fun things while writing our Book of Memories. We are creating webs that state our future hopes and possible future challenges in words and pictures.

For the final chapter we will add a mind map. A mind map, shows what you want in your life or what happened in your life. It’s a fascinating process and a lot fun.

Writing this has been a great experience for us. We learned a lot about our heritage, and family history that we never knew. We also talked about all our wishes and hopes for the future. Some things we wrote in our Book of Memories we never thought of before. These Books of Memories will be cherished for the rest of our lives. When we grow up we can look at them and realize how much we’ve changed. They will be like gateways to our past. - By Michael Niamehr and Daniel Kopeloff, 5A

SOLOMON SCHECHTER SCHOOL OF QUEENS LITTLE LEAGUE & T-BALL
SPORTS REPORT
REGULAR SEASON WRAP-UP

Our Schechter Little League team wrapped up the regular season with an impressive 5 and 3 record. We won 2 and lost only one in our last three games.

In the first of those three games, Jordan Brandwein led us to victory. He was the winning pitcher, allowing no earned runs, and getting four hits, including two doubles, scoring three times and driving in two runs. The Langer brothers also came through. Tomer drove in three runs with two hits and a bases-loaded walk. Guy drove in two runs and stopped a rally of the other team by making a magnificent diving catch of a short pop fly at first base

In the second game, played in the rain, Arie Spiel once again dominated as starting pitcher, adding 8 more strikeouts to his season total of 41 and lowering his ERA to 2.79, on the way to shutting out the opposition. He was also impressive at the plate by lacing a bases-clearing triple for 3 rbis. Tsvi Weil added two more rbis in the first. And Jacob Wasserman drove in two runs with his second triple of the year. But the play of the game was the inning-ending, game-ending, first-of-the-season unassisted double play orchestrated by Rami Chazan.

In our last game, we played the toughest team in the league, an undefeated Great Neck team. Arie held them to only one unearned run in four innings and we had the lead, at 2-1 after five. Brendon Colby and David Grodenchik scored those runs. But a bad call by the ump and an untimely walk allowed Great Neck to score 3 times in the top of the last inning. Our team battled back valiantly, but scored only one in the bottom of the frame. Highlights included Arie’s 10 Ks, for a season total 51 strikeouts in 23 ⅓ innings, Tsvi Weil’s seven-game hitting streak and Jacob Wasserman’s perfect 0.00 ERA in five games pitching in relief.

Playoffs start June 15. Let’s root on our Schechter team and our coaches, Assa Langer, Alan Wasserman and Mayet Brandwein.

The Lag BaOmer picnic this year was extremely worthwhile and exciting! Many kids talked with each other, ate food, and played sports. We personally had an amazing day in the sun and the weather was great. We interviewed kids from various grades about the Lag BaOmer picnic and these were their responses: