SIHA Newsletter for 10/8/2021

by admin | Oct 8, 2021 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah

Parshat
Noah

Imagine a five-year-old, walking with her mother into the hospital for her second chemotherapy treatment. The little girl knows what’s coming. She remembers the pain. She understands the nausea. She knows what it’s like to brush her hair and watch clumps come out. Yet, she holds her mother’s hand, and goes along, because “Mommy said I need to do this.”
The child doesn’t understand cancer. She certainly doesn’t understand how throwing up for a week cures it. But she knows that Mommy loves her. She knows that Mommy takes care of her. And she knows that Mommy knows what’s best. She fully trusts her mother.
That is the type of trust we can develop in Hashem—the almost blind trust of the child. I know that Hashem is looking out for my best interests. I know that Hashem loves me more than I love myself. And I know that Hashem knows better than I do what’s for my best. So I trust Hashem. I trust that Hashem is right here, in charge of my life, orchestrating the events for my ultimate good.
So I walk through life fully confident. Not confident that things will turn out as I have planned them. Not confident that life will have a Hollywood ending. But confident that Hashem has chosen the best path for me, and is leading me down it. So I take Hashem’s hand, so to speak, and walk with unwavering trust.

Taking Control of My Thoughts

One of the best techniques to grow in trusting Hashem is to memorize certain phrases and repeat them over and over like a mantra: Hashem loves me more than I love myself. Hashem knows better than I do what is for my best.
When I say these phrases again and again, they start to sink in. I begin to recognize on an emotional level that “I don’t really know.” I learn to trust in Hashem’s wisdom and kindness. And then I can do that which we humans find so difficult to do—accept what Hashem has decreed with joy.
Real bitachon takes a lifetime to develop. It’s a growth process, with many steps along the journey. Each of the Avot and Imahot had many, many difficult life situations—not because Hashem couldn’t do any better or because He was uncaring, but to emphasize that we can’t learn faith/bitachon just from stories, in the beit medresh. It’s only when we are challenged by real life situations that we are forced to respond and inspire ourselves that we CAN rise to the occasion. Do we transcend or do we just crumble?

Today’s generation is similar to Noach’s. Pernicious influences swirl about us, and the allure of the material world constantly threatens to engulf and silence the yearnings of our neshama, our soul that wants to believe, have hope, and exude strength.
Torah learning and living is the antidote to the corrosive forces that impinge upon us. With its uplifting, restorative energies we can ennoble ourselves immeasurably. As the crowning point of creation, man represents the nexus between Heaven and Earth, with each force struggling for dominance over man’s soul. Torah learning and living encourages us to immerse ourselves in the purifying waters of faith and connection to the Almighty. Bitachon counteracts the flood waters of decadence that threaten to suck us in.
Let us take care to ensure that our embrace of the Torah is complete and that we move on to deepen and secure our connection to the ennobling power of faith. Only thus can we continue to expand our personal growth and our ability to reach heights we never thought possible.
Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos.
Sincerely,

Dr. Chana Uzhansky

Chana Jane Uzhansky Ed.D
Head of School
SIHA
(718)987-9700 (ext 3)
sihebrewacademy.org

Special Announcement

Dear parents,
Thank G-d, programming is off to a great start!
We had a beautiful Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan assembly where we introduced our theme.
Our theme this year is stores. Each student is trying to build up their store credit by participating in our monthly contests. The monthly contest will be fulfilling a specified Mitzvah/act of kindness which we will explain to the students by that month’s assembly.
Building up store credit by completing the contest will not only earn the student a prize and ticket into the month’s exciting raffle, but will earn them “credit” that G-d will reward them with forever.

Cheshvan Contest – Washing

Cheshvan Contest:
Every time a student washes Netilat Yadayim for bread, correctly, they will earn a check on their chart. As well as when they wash in the morning, after waking up, they will make a check on their chart.
Washing for Bread:
Take the cup in your right hand,
Pass it to your left hand,
Pour twice on your right
And twice on your left.
Make the Beracha “Al Netilat Yadayim.”

Washing in the Morning:
Take the cup in your right hand,
Pass it to your left hand,
Pour on your right, left,
right, left,
right, left – 3 times on each hand.

We had a great time decorating washing cups at the assembly that the students can use to wash their hands correctly.

We are looking forward to an incredible year together!

Shabbat Shalom!
Enjoy a relaxing weekend!

Best Regards,

Miss Dershowitz
Mrs. Ferber

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade

We baruch Hashem had a great week in Kindergarten and 1st grade Judaics!
In Kindergarten, we were so excited to learn the first of the aleph-bet, aleph, with our friend Parpar. Parpar also taught us the mitzvah of emet – saying the truth. Please review our aleph-bet notebooks; we worked very hard on them. In first grade, we reviewed the letters gimmel through enda chaf.
In parsha class, we heard the story of Parshat Noach and made a fun “Noach’s teiva” project!
We also learned about Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan and the concept of always thanking Hashem. We know that Hashem’s love for us is “infinite”, as Ava smartly put it!
In first grade, we also learned about the months of the Hebrew Calendar.
In kindergarten, thank you to our Shabbat Ima – Brittany Sanders, and our Shabbat Abba- Ilan Kadymir!
In first grade, thank you to our Shabbat Abbas – Coby Rosner and Ethan Sandler!

We’re looking forward to another great week!

Mrs. Ferber

Second Grade
In honor of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan SIHA students were treated to an assembly where the theme was water. Children were taught the correct way of washing Nitlas Yadiom. They were given a chart to be filled in every time they wash and say the correct Brocha. Next Rosh Chodesh their charts can be redeemed at the SIHA Prize store.

Third Grade
This week 3rd graders started to learn some skills of the Hebrew language.
We started off with singing our Aleph Bet and Nekudot, practicing our reading, and writing it as well.
This week Tuesday Meir Yakobzon showed us that Torah is equal to all other Mitzvot, and made a beautiful decoration for our classroom.
We really enjoyed our Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan assembly where we reviewed the way we wash our hands in the morning and for bread.
We end off our week with the wonderful Parsha story as we get ready for Shabbat.

Mrs. Ferber

Fourth Grade

Dear Parents,

Yes, it’s true! We had our first full week of School! The children were very excited to learn and accomplish all that they did.

In Tefilla we spoke about fear of Hashem. We said over different Parables. The children Daven beautifully and it’s a pleasure to listen to them. Ben got loads of points and really tried hard. Matthew and Ethan were our soloists, and we are very proud of them.
In Kriah we had a quiz on the letters. The Students did very well and got high scores. I think we are ready to go on to the next level. Tanya, Alivia, and others did a super job and really knew it on a high level.
We spoke in Parsha class about Noah’s Ark and even did a model Ark in order for all the students to be able to understand it. It was tons of fun.
We started our “Lashon Tov” contest that whoever says something good about their friend, they get a point and the person it was said about, gets a point.

A big thank you to all the Parents that came to Orientation. May Hashem give us a healthy and successful year.

Have a Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Berelowitz

5th and 6th Girls

Dear parents.
Thank G-d, we had a wonderful week!
We began many different subjects, including Jewish law – Mitzvot, Ani Maamin – the 13 Principles of Faith, Tefilah – prayer.
We began our exciting Shomrei Halashon program. The girls are working to speak positively about others and are building up their points.
We began our Tefilah – Davening contest. The girls have a yellow key with 8 circles on it. Every day at the end of Davening, I go around and the girls tell me whether they deserve a hole punch or not. (I’m truly impressed by the girls honesty – you brought your daughters up well!) When all 8 circles on their key are hole punched, they get the next color key on their key ring. When the class has 150 key rings, we will be celebrating with a very exciting party. When a girl has all 5 colors of keys on her key ring punched out, she will receive a special prize.
This is because Tefilah – prayer – is the key to open and bring on the blessing in our lives that G-d is waiting to give to us, as soon as He hears from us. He wants a relationship with us because we are His dear children.
We had a wonderful time on Friday decorating cupcakes in honor of Shabbat. We also enjoyed singing Shabbat songs.
Shabbat Shalom!
Looking forward to another incredible week.
Enjoy your weekend.

Best regards,
Miss Dershowitz

5th and 6th Boys

It has been an accomplishing week!
Since our return to school after Sukot break, we learned alot about Parashat Bereishit and Noach.
We are davening nicely daily.

We started Mishnayot Mesechet Baba M’tzia Perek Shnayim Ochazim!
To celebrate this occasion Mrs. Kuritsky baked a delicious chocolate cake which was enjoyed by all students [and Rebbie as well]!

Avigdor and Matthew came in the classroom (as actors) holding on to a [my] Talit each exclaiming that they were the finder [of this lost, unidentifiable] and the rightful owner!
All boys had a chance to say their opinion of who is really the owner, acting as a Beit Din – Jewish, Torah Court.
We then delved in to the Mishna and actually began the text.
We are practicing getting our brachot correct, in a kinesthetic fashion.
We enjoyed a terrific Rosh chodesh assembly with an inspiring video on Wednesday, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan.
Stay tuned to the news letter, to find out about more of our amazing accomplishments!

Rabbi Kuritsky

7th and 8th Girls

It was so nice to get back together again after sukot break and begin our inspiring lessons.
The girls really daven beautifully.
I am so impressed that many of the girls even daven shmone esre .
On Wednesday and Thursday we added the special prayer of ya’ale v’yavo to recognize that it was Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan.
On Thursday we even said [part of] Halel!
We have begun our weekly lessons in Parasha. So far we have learned about Parashat Bereisit and Parashat Noach.
We kicked off learning Navi with an introduction to sefer Yehoshua.
We began beur t’fila explanation of prayers by learning the translation of Elokai N’tzor.
There is more in store…
Stay tuned to next week’s newsletter!

7th and 8th Boys

Yes, it’s true! We had our first full week of School! The children were very excited to learn and accomplish all that they did.

In Tefilla we spoke about Baruch Sh’amar. In our Tefilla class, Kobe is our Super Davener. “Keep it up”. We spoke about how by Davening you are standing infront of Hashem the King of Kings and we have to Pray with all out intentions
In Gemara we are learning the Mishna that says cases of when a person goes to Galut – the city of refuge for killing a person by accident.
The boys really understood the cases well. Noah said over the Mishna to the class like a Professional teacher. The class had Partner learning. It was great to see how much they enjoyed the learning.

Topics from the Parsha:
• Noah and his family were the only people doing what Hashem wanted, they didn’t follow everyone else.
• Hashem could have saved Noah even without an Ark- but Hashem told Noah to build one for 120 years, so that the people would have a chance to repent.
• Hashem destroyed the world mainly because the Sin of stealing. We learned how careful we need to be with other people’s belongings.
• It wasn’t easy for Noah in the Ark: it was smelly, noisy, bumpy, and there were lots of animals that Noah and his family needed to feed at different times.
Noah sent out the Raven bird once, and the Yonah three times.
• Hashem promised never to punish the world again with a Flood. And Hashem showed Noah the rainbow as a sign of that promise.
• The Tower of Bavel led by King Nimrod, the wicked people wanted to build a huge tower and fight with Hashem (of course they weren’t able to). Hashem didn’t destroy all of the people because they had the character trait of “peace.” We see how important it is to have peace with everyone.

Have a Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Berelowitz

Thoughts from Mrs. Hazen

In praise of Mondays

I love Mondays. They’re my favorite day of the week.
A fun hidden benefit of teaching is that each Monday is a brand new promise. We start something new; learn something new, discover something for the first time. Even if the material is not new to me, it will be new to my students, and through their eyes I discover it again.
Another awesome thing about Mondays is that just like school years, no two Mondays are alike in a school. No two classes read a book the same way, or interpret it the same way. No matter what lesson I have in mind, I’ve never had two classes understand it the exact same way.
It can be easy to get caught up in a routine, and to start looking at a week as a series of tasks that have to be checked off. Nothing could be further from the truth. No two weeks and no two days are alike; so while Fridays are intrinsically awesome and the weekend is a prize at the end of each week, Mondays are equally as awesome, and a present to be enjoyed.
I’m going to leave this brief note with an excerpt from a poem by Emily Dickinson, which speaks to the idea of enjoying every day for what it brings. Happy weekend, everyone, and see you next week!

Forever – is composed of Nows –
‘Tis not a different time –
Except for Infiniteness –
And Latitude of Home –

Elementary School

Kindergarten
This week kindergarten did an amazing job! I am so proud of them. They learned how to spell and read their first words. They even read their first book! They learned the letters T, S, C, D, and O. They were able to put those letters together to read and spell different words. They played games in groups and made the letters using monkey string. They also learned all about the parts of a book. In math they learned a fun song to help them learn how to identify and write the numbers 1-10. Through dancing they are now able to count to 20 and subitize within 5 super fast. They really enjoyed listening to the Shape Monster book and they loved finding different 2D shapes to feed our shape monster. In science they learned all about their sense of touch. They got to feel different types of objects and they decorated a hand with different types of textures. They also learned about their sense of smell. They smelled jars that contained different scents and they used their sense of smell to determine what was in each jar. In social studies they discussed what it means to be fair and what it means to be responsible. They realized that even though they are young they can help others and be responsible in school and at home.

Ms. Syetta

Mrs. Adams

Second Grade
During our first full week of school, 2nd grade is diving into our opening units of study. In ELA we are learning about different kinds of sentences, and how to identify and differentiate between them. We started reading our first book, “The Chocolate Touch,” by Patrick Skene Catling. In math we are learning about place value, expanded form, and comparing numbers. Each student was able to come up to the board and write a number in the thousands in expanded form! In the pictures, you can see Zachary Kipnis converting a number that was written by his classmate, Joseph Cohen, into expanded form. You can also see Jaiden Rebibo, who insisted on trying a very difficult problem, working on the expanded form of a number in the ten billions!

In science, 2nd graders were so excited to learn about plants.
Students learned what a living thing needs to grow, and how all plants are alike. Different types of leaves that the students brought were being observed during a science class. The crayon leaf rubbing activity outlined was another fun way for students to see some of the details of leaves.

Mr. F

Third Grade
During our first full week of school, Grade 3 students accomplished a great deal. During our Grammar lessons, students continued to work on identifying complete sentences, fragments, statements, and questions. They had also had a chance to work in their spelling journals. There they were able to practice their spelling words and on their development of well bodied sentences. During our Reading lessons, students began their study of poetry. They were able to analyze the structure and elements of The Wind, by Robert Louis Stevenson. This is a genre that is going to be our focus during the next few months as we begin our class novel Love That Dog next week. During the Math lessons, students continued to learn about concepts within the Place Value. They were able to practice representing and converting numbers in multiple forms such as model, expanded, standard, and word. To demonstrate their understanding and for the simple joy of it, students created Place Value Donuts! It was a fun project which turned out wonderfully. They also have been refreshing their memories through addition and subtraction word problems. During our Social Studies lessons, students learned the meaning of and the importance of the Pledge of Allegiance. We analyzed each phrase and learned the meaning of every word and how they relate to our community, class, and world as a whole. Students were so enthralled in the concept of republic nations and kingdoms that we even dipped our toes into world history and the British Royal Family.

In Science, students learned and compared the characteristics of living things. They can’t wait to perform the first science experiment next week.

Miss Sasha

This week in math we started our unit on whole numbers. Related the value of each digit in a 5 or 6 digit number to its place. Arranged group of numbers in order. Found unknown numbers by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Rounded numbers to the nearest hundred thousand, ten thousand and hundred thousand.
In ELA students identified sentences, sentence fragment, declarative , interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences. Students also identified and wrote compound sentences using a comma and the conjunctions AND, OR, or BUT.
In writing students are working on personal narratives.
In Social Studies students were introduced to the study of geography and why it’s important. They also learned about the location and formation of the major landforms and bodies of water in the United States.
In Reading students started to read their first class chapter book Flora and Ulysses and they seem to enjoy it:)

In science, students learned and identified life processes of plants and animals; understood that living things are made up of cells and that cells perform different functions. A short Quiz about cells was assigned.

Mrs. Shats

Fifth Grade
5A

In ELA, 5A learned about sentences, sentence fragments and the 4 types of sentences.
They practiced finding central ideas of a text and support the central idea with key details.
We also had an amazing discussion about dignity as we began our class novel, Maniac Magee.
In social studies, students practiced learning about geography. They practiced finding the equator and prime meridian. They learned about how to find the western hemisphere and the continents within it.

In science, A new chapter was introduced to the students. Chapter 1 “From single cells to human body” Students will learn and analyze processes that take place in cells.
Students were able to compare and describe the interactions that take place in plant and animal cells. Having observed the onion cell under the microscope, students were able to learn the differences between animal and plant cells in addition to the function of the different parts of the cell.

In Math, 5A has been working on factors and multiples, identifying whether numbers are prime or composite, and challenging word problems.
Ms. Tatic would really like to commend Izzy on being a great student! Good job!

5B
In ELA 5B learned about sentence fragments, sentences, and interrogative and declarative sentences. They practiced finding central ideas of a text and supporting it using key details.
Students had a blast presenting their interpretations of Camp Green Lake before beginning our class novel, Holes.

In social studies, students practiced learning about geography. They practiced finding the equator and prime meridian. They learned about how to find the western hemisphere and the continents within it. Ms. Tatic would really like to commend Ari for his hard work! Keep it up, Ari!

In science, A new chapter was introduced to the students. Chapter 1 “From single cells to human body” Students will learn and analyze processes that take place in cells.
Students were able to compare and describe the interactions that take place in plant and animal cells. Having observed the onion cell under the microscope, students were able to learn the differences between animal and plant cells in addition to the function of the different parts of the cell.

In Math, 5B has been hard at work with mastering their multiplication and division skills, finding the factors and multiples of numbers, and challenging word problems.

Middle School

Middle School ELA and Social Studies

6th Grade

In ELA, students started our novel study of Fish In a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Students read the first section of the book, had an awesome discussion in class, and answered reading questions in their notebooks. In grammar, this week was a review of sentences, sentence fragments, subjects and predicates. Students also started their vocabulary study with our first chapter!
In Social Studies, we started our year with a chapter on geography. We reviewed our map skills, and learned about the geography of the Fertile Crescent in preparation for our unit on ancient Sumer.
Mrs. Hazen is impressed with all of her students, but Charles deserves a shout-out. He did amazing in both ELA and Social studies, and received a perfect grade on his first quiz!

7th Grade

In ELA, students started our novel study of Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Andersen. Students learned the historic context of America’s first epidemic, and participated in a classwide virtual trip to Historic Williamsburg, where we looked at the inside of a house from the 1700s, and a coffeeshop. Students read the first section of the book, had an awesome discussion in class, completed a vocabulary activity and answered inference questions. In grammar, this week was a review of sentences, sentence fragments, subjects and predicates. We also started our first vocabulary study chapter!
In Social Studies, we learned about the earliest Americans: the Maya, Inca, Aztec, and the various tribes of North America. Students also participated in a primary source analysis activity about Christopher Columbus.
Mrs. Hazen would like to commend Eva and Madi for being amazing students this week!

8th Grade

In ELA, we started our first novel unit of the year: Lord of the Flies by William Golding. We started with an activity defining allegory. We read the first part of our novel and had a riveting discussion in class. Students answered reading comprehension questions, and analyzed the novel’s language for tone and mood.
In Social Studies, this week was all about World War I! We started our unit on this historic event by discussing the causes and context of the war. Students also participated in an activity where they analyzed primary sources related to WWI.
Mrs. Hazen is particularly impressed with Jeffrey, who is an example to all others in terms of scholarship and character!

Middle School Math
6th grade

The sixth grade class has become masters at comparing and arranging negative and positive integers, identifying numbers’ opposites and absolute values, finding the greatest common factor of two numbers, and least common multiple.

7th grade
The seventh grade started off the week by reviewing how to add, subtract, multiple, and divide fractions. Throughout the week they have also been hard at work simplifying algebraic equations and writing and solving one step equations.

8th Grade
The eight grade class have been solving multi-step equations. They have been also applying their skills into solving word problems by defining variables, writing equations, and then solving them.

Mrs. Bronstein

Middle School Science
6th Grade

Students learned the earth’s major systems and how they interact; common tools used by Earth scientists;
Activity: Students created a layered book to help them organize the important steps of the Scientific Method.
During an experiment students were able to define and calculate the density of a solid using water displacement.

7th Grade

Welcome Back to SIHA’s finest form of communication regarding the progress of all SIHA students. 7th grade is discovering the ways in which we identify the characteristics of physical properties, the difference between a physical and chemical change and how we determine the various characteristics of matter. Students will watch various videos and conduct hands-on investigations to determine the density of an object.

8th Grade

Students are discovering what it means to be alive! Students will be completing a Scientific Explanation answering the essential question “What does an organism need to be deemed alive?” They are investigating various articles and will watch a few videos to begin their investigation, so they can determine a position and make a claim. Once their investigation is complete, students will make their claim and support it with evidence from the sources they used to complete their investigation.

Jewish History

Jewish History is off to an amazing start. I have been getting some very intriguing questions that are giving me a challenge! Thank you Noam for your amazing questions. Thank you Jeffery, Ilan, and Koby for fantastic answers!
7th Grade started out at the very beginning. We finished the introduction and are moving on to an overview of the timeline of Jewish History.
8th Grade reviewed what we covered last year by exploring the people of each era. We then began our study of the first Jewish Kings! We took a brief look at King Shaul and moved on to learn about King David!

SIHA Weekly for June 18, 2021

by admin | Jun 18, 2021 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah

Parashat Chukat
Highlighted in this week’s Parasha is the Parah Adumah The red heifer [aka cow].
The ashes of the red cow is used to purify any jew who became Tamei thru tum’at met being in contact with/under the same covering as a dead [jewish] person.

Once we are on the subject of a heifer…
A story is told in a holy book called Psikta Rabasi, there once was a heifer, owned by a Torah observant jew. Alas, the owner fell on difficult financial times and he was forced to sell his cow [to a non jew]. The new owner was very pleased with his new heifer. She worked very hard for him daily. She helped him plow his fields and draw his wagon. On the seventh day after purchasing the heifer [it seems it was purchased on a Saturday night], the heifer resisted even getting off the floor of the barn. The new owner screamed at it, kicked it and even whipped it, but to no avail. The heifer refused to get up, to work.
The new non jewish owner made his way back to the original owner with a serious complaint; the heifer is not even budging,let alone working and it is not even one week since the purchase! The original owner said he will come. He walked over to the non jewish owner’s barn, bent over to the cow’s ear and explained; “when I owned you, you did not work on the 7th day because I am a jew,and not only does a jew not work on Shabbat, even his animals are not allowed to work, but now you’re owned by a non jew, there is no rule that you can’t work on Shabbat, please get up and work”.
The heifer immediately rose and obeyed his new, non jewish owner’s commands to work. When the non jew saw what happened, he was astounded and demanded to know the witchcraft/magic spell that the jew used! The jew explained that there was no witchcraft/magic, it was just that the cow didn’t work previously when owned by me, because I am a jew and a jew’s animals are restricted from working on Shabbat just as a jew is.
The non jew was so impressed that he exclaimed “if a heifer who has no sense and can not even speak, can recognize that there is a creator,I, a human who can speak and who has intellect, all the more so, I must recognize that there is a creator.
This “non jew” ended up converting to Judaism and becoming one of the greatest Torah teachers of all times. He is known as “Rav Yochanan ben Torsa” literally = Rav Yochanan son of a cow, because it was the cow [heifer] that caused him to realize that there is a creator,and plan and purpose in this world!
Let us all see the obvious signs of our creator wherever we go, and let us remember that if someone can be influenced by a heifer/cow all the more so they can be influenced by us and our actions. We as jews must be careful to always realize that people are watching and learning from our ways.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Y.S. Kuritsky

Congratulations to the SIHA class of 2021!

• Ethan Azaraev
• Taylor Badalov
• Michael Clift
• Orian Cohen
• Joshua Dinar
• Rachel Dym
• Josef Jehudai
• Shai Koldin
• Amiel Lavy
• Yosi Malka
• Yehuda Mirocznik
• Joshua Osher 
• Gabriella Schwartz
• Eliana Volfson
• Joshua Yarden-Kushel

The graduation ceremony was beautifully arranged. A special thank you to everyone who worked very hard to make it happen, especially Ms. Ilanit, Ms. Ety, Ms. Ortiz, Mrs. Rosskamm, Dr. Uzhansky, and of course our stellar PTA parents!

It was truly a special day!

I am immensely proud of our graduates. They have worked past many challenges to get to this day: Covid, remote learning, personal struggles, and challenging curricula. They came to their graduation with poise and bearing of young adults they are truly becoming. 

Amiel’s heartfelt speech was truly wonderfully written. Shai’s did a similarly phenomenal job with his speech. In addition to that, Yosef and Ethan presented an insightful Dvar Torah. I am including their speeches below for anyone who did not get a chance to see them in person. 

Yosef Jehudai’s Dvar Torah

Ethan Azaraev’s Dvar Torah

Shai Koldin’s Speech

Amiel Lavy’s Speech

Shabbat Week Contest!

Please see flyer below for details:

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade

We had wonderful week in Kindergarten Judaics. We learnt a new nekuda patach and have been having a wonderful time doing many patach activities! We have also been practicing for our graduation and are very excited for it!

In First Grade Judaics the children have been practicing a lot for our siddur play! Walk down the hall and you will hear us singing and practicing our parts! We cannot wait to get our siddurim and are looking forward to our play!

Second Grade

We had an amazing week in 2nd grade. The class put on an outstanding performance at their Siddur Play/Party. A special thank you to Gal’s mom,Naama Zadok for dedicating the siddurim and for setting up an elaborate celebration on Tuesday. It is a huge milestone when a child receives a Siddur. The same prayers that your children have learned have been recited by our great,great grandparents for generations. Your children are now the next link of our beautiful golden chain. This week at SIHA all the students are reviewing what G-d created each day of the week and rested on Shabbat. The classes have been doing different projects each day of the week in honor of Shabbat. From delicious cookies to flowers for the Shabbat table. There is an exciting raffle for all SIHA students this week with fantastic prizes for the winners. Make sure to read all the details on the flyer included in this weeks newsletter. I would love to see you at my daughters wedding Monday night June 21, reception 5:30, ceremony 6:30 at the Legacy 1275 36th St. Brklyn,NY 11218 Shabbat Shalom!

Fourth Grade
4A

The feeling of Shabbat was real this week in 4A! Morah brought in a wrapped up gift, and altogether we had a class discussion about gift giving. The children participated in the discussion by giving examples of what their two yr. old brother/cousin/ friend is capable of giving….(jelly bean, his scribbles art work…) then we went older to a 13 year old (money, card ) twenty… parents, oblivious the older one is ,the more sophisticated / valuable the gift is.
Then we explained that Hashem also gave the Jewish Nation a gift from His treasure house…, and as we opened the present three children unscrambled the Otiot of Shabbat! If Hashem tells us that it is a good gift then we know that Shabbat is precious!
We had hands on baking potato kugel, chocolate chip bars, and everyone got to bake their own Challa! Our classroom smelled delicious from all the baking! The class said Amen, and watched the Mitzva of Hafrashat Challa. In addition, we also finished all the crafts that Programming – Miss Dershowitz assigned. Tefilat Hadlakat Neirot, Shabbat Cookbooks, Challa Covers and more!
Looking forward to everyone joining the school wide program/contest this Shabbat!

Shabbat Shalom!
Mrs. Bistritz

This week is shabbat week here at SIHA. Mrs Bistritz’ 4th grade made delicious potato kugel, baked delicious chocolate chip cookies, formed and baked beautiful חלות, decorated gorgeous flower vases, and made apple cobbler. The children had a great time preparing and are looking forward to their whole family enjoying the fruits of their labor.

4B
4th:
Last newsletter, wait what? Time really flies when we are having fun and learning well too! We are leaving our beloved 4B classroom behind with some shadows:

Shadows:
shadows of morals, life lessons well heard
of sweet sounds of learning as we pondered each word
shadows of victory steps in the proper direction
of skills that were mastered to the utmost perfection
of songs, crafts and games and a whole lot of laughter
of answering deep questions as we considered each factor
of relationship and bonding, the purest of connections
of learning to accept each other with our imperfections
of unity and togetherness, reaching goals that we share
of the satisfying, sweet taste of having “done” a SIHA year
shadows of discoveries, the fruits of exploring
of fluttering wings on super-students who are soaring

I am so thankful for having had the opportunity to teach this truly exceptional group of super- students this year. They are sponges, always eager to absorb whatever lesson is being offered to them. I must admit, young as they may be, I learnt so much from them too! Every one of them will forever have a very special place in my heart. Oh, how I’ll miss them so please encourage them to be in touch!
Always,
Morah Toba

5th and 6th Boys
As the year comes to a close, we are using the opportunity to really internalize the ideas we have learned.
On that note , I would like to share a story that I have often told the boys.
There was a man who was late for an important meeting in the city, and as he drove around in circles he prayed:
“G-D, if you send me a parking spot, I promise I’ll become a kinder person, I’ll give more charity, I’ll start keeping Shabbat, I’ll put on tefillin everyday. Please G-D, PLEASE!”
A moment later a car pulled out of a spot in front of him, and as he maneuvered himself into the empty spot, he spoke to G-D once more:
“Never mind G-D, I found a spot already!
This lesson is one I have shared with the boys from day one.
On the need to make G-D part of our daily life, and not just in moments of stress.
As you may know, this week was Shabbat week at SIHA.
The school as a whole will be attempting to keep Shabbat and experience its beauty.
And this, in essence, is the purpose of Shabbat.
For 25 hours we take a step back and appreciate that although we work hard and accomplish,
ultimately, success is in G-Ds hands.
Thank you for entrusting me with your children this year, each one is a gem!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Levy

The 5 and 6th grade boys had so much fun decorating black and white cookies while learning about Shabbat. On the first day of creation G-d created light and darkness so we decorated the cookies in honor of this day of creation. The boys enjoyed learning and singing the song “Just one Shabbos and we’ll all be free!”

7th and 8th Girls
No one ever said commutes are easy, but I must say, it was worth the trip in from Jersey every day to learn and grow together with my beloved “fountain” girls. Each of my girls is a fountain, overflowing with knowledge, passion and on- target ideas. I loved hearing there beautiful trains of thought and am thankful for having had the opportunity to contribute little to that rich thinking. At the rate their going, they will truly get far in life in a very real way. Each one will always have a very special place in my heart and I’d love to be in touch.
Always,
Morah Toba

7th and 8th Boys

We are winding down with our beloved 8th graders.
Dear reader, by the time you see this in the SIHA newsletter, they will have already graduated. Congratulations! How sad. We will miss you.
This week, we learned that “food” belongs to Hashem (and we are stealing) until we make a Bracha , but after we say a Bracha the food belongs to us.
This week we also celebrated the Bar Mitzva celebration of Shai Nisim Koldin. Although Shai actually has been Bar Mitzva for quite a while, he did not have celebration due to covid 19. All Shai’s classmates attended the beautiful celebration. Shai had an Aliya L’Torah and read the Torah as well. Rabbi Ze’ev officiated. The decor and the ambience was really something to behold. The warmth in the air with family and friends participating was palpable. In attendance was Miss Etty Perez, Mrs. Ilanit Dinar, Rabbi Kuritsky and Dr. Uzhansky. It was a really special occasion.

Last “official” day of school for 8 Th grade.
Beautiful שחרית

Josh osher saying הבדלה for the 8th grade

At Shai’s bar mitzvah

An alumnus, Pazi, visits and sets a good example for 7th and 8th grade

Elementary School

Kindergarten
This week kindergarten was very busy getting ready for graduation! They have also been carefully observing and documenting all the fascinating things the caterpillars have been doing this week. Three of the caterpillars have now become butterflies, which the children have named Penelope, Philp, and Angela Doobie. They learned how butterflies eat, how they use mimicry and camouflage to survive, and they made their own butterfly using symmetrical designs. In ELA they worked on finishing the books they are writing about their favorite things, they read a story about robots, and they practiced reading and spelling words that end in ed, ing, and er. In math they learned how to add and subtract very large numbers by breaking numbers into tens and ones. Using this method they can now also add and subtract by 10 using mental math. In science they finished their celery experiment. When they ripped open their celery they found it amazing that they could see how the stem of a plant works. In social studies they learned how to read a map key to find places on a map.

Coby did an excellent job teaching the class about solar power and Raquel did a wonderful job teaching the class why we need to wash our hands before we eat.

I am so proud of kindergarten. Throughout the year they have worked hard and they always put their best effort into all of their work. They have grown so much and it is amazing how well they are now reading, writing, and solving math equations. They are so excited to share what they have learned in kindergarten with you at their graduation.

First Grade
This week our first graders proved to be fabulous once again. We completed the Science Unit about matter. We took our final Social Studies test. We counted groups of US coins including the half dollar. We have ready learned alot this year.

This week we also created beautiful Father’s Day cards and picture frames. As we reflect on all of the great things our fathers do for us, we are grateful to have them in our lives. We wish all of our wonderful 1st grade dads a happy Father’s Day.

Second Grade
This week in second grade, the students have finished their grammar unit on pronouns. On Wednesday, they took their last grammar test of the year and they did great! In math, the students continue to work on multiplication and have been reviewing math topics from throughout the year. On Thursday, the second graders had their end of the year party. They had a lot of fun!

Third Grade
This week grade three students learned how to correctly modify irregular verbs into their past tense forms. They also continued their literary journey along side the J.G.P. crew as they (rudely) came in contact with the mysterious Cloud Men. During their Math lessons, they continued to develop problem solving skills using all they had learned this past year. They also learned to convert length measurements and had fun measuring objects and areas with in the school grounds. During our Social Studies lessons, students presented their Wilma Mankiller reports to the class. They had also read about the creation of the Cherokee language. They are now very excited at the opportunity to create their own alphabet. As the year is winding down, I am both saddened and excited to see my kids move on (though luckily not too far). They have grown so much already, but there is still so much ahead.
Miss Sasha

Fourth Grade
4A

This week in math we finished our unit on Volume. We also finished our class chapter book Flora and Ulysses. This week and next week kids were given the chance to be the fourth grade teacher. Liam did an outstanding job! He created a presentation on how to sketch a person and provided all materials needed for the entire class. Ariella Khaimov did a beautiful presentation about Isreal and showed kids pictures of underwater museum. Evelina was a natural at teaching kids about Walt Disney and guided kids on how to draw a game character.

As this is our last newsletter for this year it’s a bittersweet moment for me. I truly enjoyed teaching your kids and watching them grow. This was by far one of the most challenging teaching experience I had. I was very nervous of how the kids would react to all the new changes but yet they adapted easily. I was truly blessed to have this class and wish them to continue to always work hard! Have an amazing restful summer!

Fifth Grade

Fifth graders had a great week! In ELA, students took their final quiz of the year! Everyone did a great job. We also completed our novel study of Sadako and a thousand paper cranes. Students made paper cranes, paper lanterns, and bookmarks with their name written in the Japanese Katakana script!
In social studies, we finished our final unit of the year, and we are looking forward to summer vacation!

In math, 5th grade finished their unit on proportions, ratios, and percents.

Middle School

Middle School ELA and Social Studies

6th Grade

Sixth grade is ending the school year with success! We are wrapping up our novel study of the City of Ember and we are writing a fictional story in one of the genres we discussed. Mrs. Hazen is very proud of everyone’s hard work, but she was particularly impressed by Oren Dery’s creative science fiction story.

7th Grade

Seventh grade had a great week! In ELA, we are wrapping up our novel study of the Indian in the Cupboard. We also wrapped up our creative writing unit by writing great stories. In Social Studies, we finished our final unit with a quiz. Everyone did a great job, but Mrs. Hazen is particularly impressed with Doron Glickman’s answers. He showed great insight and did an awesome job!

8th Grade graduated this week! Good luck to everyone!

Middle School Math
8th grade honors contributed regents prep.
7th grade honors finished learning about the Pythagorean theorem.
7th grade continued reviewing important algebra concepts.
6th grade learned how to write algebraic expressions from percent problems.

Middle School Science

7th Grade has ended their academic school year learning about how our body needs and responds to nutrition, whether it is good or bad. They investigated eating disorders, food history and conducted food analysis. Students that conducted a food analysis also brought to school the item that they analyzed. They even learned the concept of condensation and why it is important to allow baked goods to totally cool down, prior to applying any type of frosting or covering it for transport. Nonetheless, the effort of that student was stupendous, well done Leam. As we wrap up the school year students have been preparing for their Living Environment assessment. Students will have the opportunity to sit for a High School level course and complete the necessary regent requirements to fulfill that course criteria, pending how their assessment turns out. Students started taking this exam on Wednesday and will complete it on Thursday.

I want to wish all of these lovely students and their families a peaceful and restful summer. Looking forward to seeing how tall you get over the summer. See you in September, be ready to Rock and Roll!!!!

Recipe Analysis

Nutrition history project

Bulimia project

science project

Bulimia

Jewish History
8th grade accomplished a lot this year. We began during the period of the Jewish kings and worked our way through all the way until the 1200s learning many lessons along the way. We did not learn history. We learned FROM history.
Congratulations to all my 8th graders on their graduation.

7th grade is beginning to explore the first Jewish kings and we are looking forward to picking up where we left off next year.

SIHA Weekly for June 11, 2007

by admin | Jun 11, 2021 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah

Parashat Korach

Special Announcement

A very happy birthday to:

Charles Grego in the 6th Grade!

Maayan Malka in the 4rd Grade!

Michael Clift in the 8th Grade!

Congratulations to the SIHA 2021 Graduates!

This week, thanks to Mrs G. and Ms. Ilanit’s organizational powers, the 8th graders also had their graduation trip and found a surprise when they got back! A great big thank you to our chaperones: Rebecca and Rabbi Kuritsky! 

Mazal Tov to 5th grade upon receiving their Chumashim!

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade
We had wonderful week in Kindergarten Judaics. We learnt a new nekuda patach and have been having a wonderful time doing many patach activities! We have also been practicing for our graduation and are very excited for it!

In First Grade Judaics the children have been practicing a lot for our siddur play! Walk down the hall and you will hear us singing and practicing our parts! We cannot wait to get our siddurim and are looking forward to our play!

Second Grade
We had another productive week as we learned all about Parshat Korach. We learn from this weeks Parsha how destructive jealousy can be The worlds first earthquake took place in Parshat Korach as the earth swallowed Korach and his followers. We are working very hard practicing our Siddur Play and can’t wAit to see all of you Tueday G-d willing.

Third Grade
What an exciting week we had! Our intense learning in Hebrew reading, spelling and dikduk was rewarded with a fun day on Thursday. We made mazal tov cards for our classmates Ariella amd Sarina Elishayev for the brit mila of their new baby brother eliezer’s followed by Maayan birthday party.
We started a kibud av vaem vaem project and discussed the many aspect that could use improvement.
Shabbat shalom
Mrs Ivry

Fourth Grade
4A
This week we continued learning inside our Chumash, and we even covered Yom Seini! The children are learning new Shorashim and spotting them inside the text. They can translate on their own, and they scored beautifully on a grade average on their first Chumash Test. We learned the story of Korach and how bad machlokes (fighting is) We are reviewing Hilchot of Brachot and doing review sheets.

Shabbat Shalom!
Mrs. Bistritz

4B
Thank you Hashem for another wonderful week here in 4B. We are knee deep in exploring a peculiar Nekudah/ hebrew vowel- the Sheva. The children enjoyed the challenge of searching for examples of them in the Siddur. We discussed the rules of when to pronounce it and when to “let it sleep”. Our Chumash classes continue to go strong as our overall comprehension skills sharpen. We regularly sing and speak about our 13 principles of faith, btw, such as, “Hashem has always existed”. Shabbat Shalom and Happy Rosh Chodesh!
Morah Toba

5th and 6th Girls

Dear parents
Thank G-d, we had a wonderful exciting week in Judaics class!
Mazel Tov to our amazing girls who finished Perek Yud Daled in Chumash! We had a fantastic Siyum picnic at the pond with delicious Oreo cake, ice cream bars, pancakes and fruit roll ups.
We thanked Hashem for saving us from the Egyptians and splitting the sea for us by singing at the Pond/Red Sea.
Looking forward to a wonderful week with the girls!
Shabbat Shalom!!
All the best,
Miss Dershowitz

 

5th and 6th Boys

This week we continued our journey through the Mishna.
We also discussed the many lessons to be found in Tanach, especially Parshat Korach
which discusses the importance of Living in Peace and accepting the will of Hashem.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Levy

7th and 8th Girls

The end of this week has us feeling energized and alive, as it was a week of selfless giving. We learnt that the world stands on three things: Torah, work and kindness. We were conscious of the invisible buckert that every person has on their head. We can use our power of giving to fill the buckets of everyone around us. We wrote a couple of thank you letters, sprinkled in compliments ,and volunteered at the Bikur Cholim ( an organization that does many things, one of them being distributing food boxes to those who need) by organizing their giant pantry . We also stuffed arts and crafts bags for sick children and helped the kindergarden in our school with their hebrew reading. Wow, it felt good, as “giving is getting”. We spoke about why we mourn in the Hebrew month of Tamuz and celebrate it’s Rosh Chodesh ( head of the month).( Rosh Chodesh is always a special occasion, even if it begins a month that is mourning- themed.)
Shabbat Shalom, Happy Rosh Chodesh and thank you for sharing your treasures with us!!
Morah Toba

7th and 8th Boys

Elementary School

Kindergarten
If you walked into kindergarten this week you would have thought you were walking into a first grade classroom! I am so proud of them and how hard they have been working. They finished writing their non fiction books. They learned about adjectives and wrote 3 or more sentences to describe pictures using as many adjectives as they can. They also picked different parts and read a play. In math they learned how to use their knowledge of friends of ten to add 3 numbers using mental math. They also worked with tens and ones and can now add large numbers such as 60 plus 8 using mental math. In science they continued to learn about butterflies as they got to observe our caterpillars make their chrysalises. Kindergarten is so excited for the butterflies to come out of the chrysalis that the children can be found checking on the caterpillars many times a day. In social studies they learned how to find where they live on a map by learning about our continent, country, state, and borough.

First Grade
The first graders were very busy this week. We read a story called “The Ugly Vegetables” and learned the importance of sharing with our neighbors. In Social Studies we discussed the rights and responsibilities of US citizens to vote. We even held an election to choose our favorite ice cream!
In Math students continue to count sets of coins. They were excited to learn that each coin has the face of a former US president. Finally, as we enjoy the spring season, students identify plants and flowers. In Art students made a model of a willow plant in a vase. I think they did an amazing job.

Second Grade

This week the second graders have been hard at work. In ELA, they did a great job acting out a play! They also learned about pronouns. In math, the second grade has continued to work on mastering multiplication facts and reviewing topics from earlier in the year. In social studies, the students have been learning all about citizenship, rights and responsibilities, and laws. June 2nd was Ava Mekler’s birthday. Happy birthday Ava! Ms. Bronstein would like to commend Sarit Iunger and Benjamin Portman for doing such a great job at portraying emotions while acting in the play in ELA class!

Third Grade
This week grade three students reviewed the various types of verbs. From action to helping, as well as the linking verbs in all their tenses and quantities, students demonstrated their abilities to identify and use each correctly. During our Math lessons, students concentrated on analyzing and solving word problems that utilized their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and (long) division skills. During our Social Studies, students continued to explore the Cherokee history and culture. They discovered commonalities between the Cherokee and the Jewish people in not only the communal ties, but also the similar struggles that both people had gone through. On a lighter note, they also learned how the Cherokee would play stick ball to solve arguments and the Booger dance…which the Cherokee used as a prayer to keep the negative forces away. During our Reading lessons, students continued their journey on the giant peach across the open sky. They have been alongside the crew in their escapades and challenges, but the most suspenseful moment is still to come in our very next chapter.
Miss Sasha

In social studies the students learned about the colonization of America.

In math, 5th grade continued working on percent word problems.

Middle School

Middle School ELA and Social Studies
6th
In ELA, the sixth graders worked on their plot pyramid project! Students analyzed the genre and the plot of a story, and are ready to do their own creative writing next week. We also continued our novel study of the City of Ember.
Greetings and salutations!
6th grade had a good week this week.
In Social Studies they continued to learn about Ancient Rome. Specifically, they learned about how Rome went from being a Republic to being an Empire. The 6th graders were very interested in Julius Caesar in particular.

7th
In ELA, we continued working on our Hero’s Journey unit. Students wrote a creative short story that takes a character through the different parts of a hero’s journey. Everyone did a very good job! Mrs. Hazen was particularly impressed with Doron’s story!
In Social Studies, we started our final unit on the the role of United States as a world power at the turn of the last century.
8th
The 8th grade had a busy week! They had their graduation trip, and are busily practicing for their graduation next week.
In social studies, we wrapped up our unit on the Cold War, and are taking our final quiz of the year.

Middle School Math

6th grade learned about proportional relationships and the constant of proportionality.
7th grade finished their unit on probability.
7th grade honors finished learning transformational geometry.
8th grade reviewed core algebra concepts.
8th grade honors is working on regents prep.

Middle School Science
Jewish History
7th grade is rapidly approaching the end of the year flying high. We took a brief look at the times of Shmuel HaNavi and learned to be careful how we treat other people. We also learned how one person can change the world.\

8th grade took a walkthrough through history and took a look at the 21 prophecies in the Torah given for the entire Jewish people that applied for the future. The students proved how the first 18 already came true. We are eagerly awaiting the completion of 19, 20, and 21, very soon.

SIHA Weekly for June 4, 2021

by admin | Jun 4, 2021 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah

Dvar Torah Parashat Sh’lach,
This week’s Parasha is famous for discussing the M’raglim-spies. Moshe sent twelve men to “spy out” the land of Israel. Hashem did not want this. He only allowed it. Moshe requested it upon the request of the people. The “spies” were actually great men [at least before they acted as spies], but went bad [according to some commentators.
The Chidushei Harim [an earlier commentator] explains the rationale of the “spies” speaking negatively about Eretz Yisrael. He explains that while the Jews were in the Midbar the wilderness, they were totally taken care of. Food rained down from heaven daily. The clouds of glory afforded comfort and protection from the elements and potential [and real] enemies. Their clothing grew with them.
They were able to totally focus on spirituality. The spies were concerned that after the Jewish people would settle in the land of Israel, they would need to divert their attention from spirituality and focus on materialism and the mundane.
That was their concern. Hashem is the one who decided that B’nei Yisrael should go into Israel. He created us. He understands us. He wanted and wants us to still be spiritual even when we are not sheltered.
This is His plan. We should; go to work daily, [except for Shabbos, of course] go shopping, mingle amongst the people of the world, and still remain faithful to Hashem.
As parents and teachers, we like to “shelter” our children from “bad” influences. This is terrific. We do not want our children growing up with all the influences “out there”. It is a great way to raise and educate children, yet we must also strengthen them to be ready to “stay strong” even when the “winds are blowing” in a harmful direction.
The Jews had forty years of “shelter” from physical and spiritual enemies in the Midbar. After forty years though, Hashem decided that B’nei Yisrael was prepared to “go out in the world” and still succeed.
Let us raise our children as “sheltered” as possible yet prepare them to be able to succeed in “the real world”, and stay faithful to Hashem and his Torah.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Y.S. Kuritsky

Special Announcements

Dear SIHA family,

SIHA’s families were personally invited by the Rabbi of the Yeshiva for the completion of a new sefer torah.

We hope to see you all there,

SIHA administration

A great big SIHA congratulations to the Students of the Month!

Kindergarten –  Coby Rosner
First Grade –  Brianna Sanders
Second Grade –  Amit Amos
Third Grade –  Lia Amos
4A –  Adiel Zadok
4-B –  Lila Havia
Fifth Grade – Matthew Tayrimov
Middle School – Eva Leivent
Middle School (Judaics) Leam Bilik 

Programming News

Dear Parents.
Thank G-d, we had a wonderful week here at Siha!
We are greatly looking forward to Shabbat week, week of June 14-18. Details will be forthcoming.
Shabbat Shalom!
Best regards,
Miss Dershowitz

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade

We had wonderful week in Kindergarten Judaics. We learnt a new nekuda patach and have been having a wonderful time doing many patach activities! We have also been practicing for our graduation and are very excited for it!

In First Grade Judaics the children have been practicing a lot for our siddur play! Walk down the hall and you will hear us singing and practicing our parts! We cannot wait to get our siddurim and are looking forward to our play!

Second Grade

Another short week flew by as we continue to prepare for our Siddur Play June 15 G-d willing. The children are working hard practicing their parts and songs. In this weeks Parsha we learn about the mitzva of tzizit. The boys all received tzizit which they are privileged to wear on a daily basis. Shabbat Shalom

Third Grade

This week third graders started a new chapter in their Hebrew skills: spelling. After a weeks practice, most students are able to spell basic Hebrew words by dictation. We will continue to work on this important skill until the end of the year.
We introduce a Kibbid Av Vaem project with 2 important stories about respecting parents. This is one of the 10 commandments that also includes teachers, first born and elders. We will continue working on this important lesson while learning and putting in practice in class and at home the proper way to address and disagree with parents/teachers.
To finish off a great week of learning and growing, we made Challah as we learnt in this week’s parsha about the special mitzva of separating Challah that was given to the Jews before entering the land of Israel. This Mitzva serves as a reminder that Hashem is the One who provides for us.
Enjoy the Challah
Shabbat shalom
Mrs Ivry

Zach שי Garber wins the class davening prize, a soft hot pretzel

5th and 6th Girls
Dear parents.
Thank G-d, we had a wonderful week. We moved on learning more blessings in the Shemoneh Esrei. We learned all about Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Bait Hamikdash (Holy Temple.)
We learned about how the more Mitzvot we do, the wealthier we’ll be forever.
We really enjoyed the Kotel (Western Wall) virtual reality. It was very cool!
The girls had a great time, (shrieking) and enjoying the amazing experience of the Kotel and the blessing which Kohanim bless the Jewish people.
We moved on in Chumash learning all about the miraculous splitting of the red sea. We had a great time at our makeshift splitting of the sea, as we walked through the dry land singing, “Thank You Hashem.”
We learned all about this week’s Parsha, Parshat Shelach.
Shabbat Shalom! Have an enjoyable weekend!
Best regards,
Miss Dershowitz

5th and 6th Boys

This week was fascinating!
As we approach the end of the year, we are on schedule to finish the 4rth chapter of Sukkah. We also learned the powerful lesson of the Meraglim/Spies and discussed the necessity of trusting in Hashem at all times.

Ariella and Yaffa baked a cake for Shabbat! They decorated it with a handmade baby Moshe in the basket being found by the Pharaoh’s daughter.

7th and 8th Boys
We have been continuing our lengthy and informative Y’diot K’laliot, i.e. what is a bride and groom called in Hebrew [Kalah and Choson], what is the procedure that ends Shabbat called [Havdalah] etc.
On that note..shout out to Josh Osher for making Havdalah for the 8th grade [on Tuesday]. A louder shout out to Shai, Amiel, Leam B and Noah for saying Havdalah at the proper time and in the proper way, on Saturday night [thanks to Rabbi Kuritsky’s email reminder] in Amiel’s home!
We learned a lot about the M’raglim-the spies who searched out the land of Israel.
We began with interesting questions from a sefer called Achas Sha’alti, actuel questions posed to Reb Yitzchok Zilberstein , a great posek – decider of Halacha. One day we had the question about a woman who faked being the mother of a groom in order to teach a lesson to two girls who had spoken Loshon Hara. about the Kalah.
The question; on one hand she taught a valuable lesson, on the other hand she lied and made them feel bad?
Another question; a fellow found a $100 dollar bill on Shabbos and when a pauper claimed he had seen it first , which clearly does not make it belong to him, the original finder who was standing on the bill [which is 100% permitted on Shabbat] said he would give part of the $ to him as Tz’daka. After Shabbat the finder realized that it was a fake bill!
Does the finder still need to give the pauper the $ that he said he would give?
Most boys said “yes!”
Yisroel Friedman correctly said “no!”

Shai, Doron and Yisrael practicing הבדלה so that boys will know what to do after shabbat

Rabbi Kuritsky explaining the מצווה of ציצית 4B

Josh osher saying הבדלה for the 4th Grade

Noga and Eliana giving a Torah presentation and skit.

Lana, Taylor, Arielle and Rachel’s Torah slideshow and skit

Elementary School

Kindergarten

I am so proud of kindergarten they are becoming such fluent readers! They began reading their 4th first grade reader and they are doing an excellent job decoding all of these first grade words. They read a funny story full of long vowel words about a child who was late to school. They learned all about syllables and what sounds y can make when it is a vowel. They continued to independently work on writing their own nonfiction books. In math they are really enjoying learning how to tell time. They can already tell time to the hour and they can identify the difference between AM and PM. They also began memorizing the friends of ten. In science they were so excited to meet their new class pets. They have been acting like real scientists as they carefully observe and record the growth of the caterpillars. They love to observe them walk and eat and they can’t wait until they become butterflies! In social studies they learned a fun dance to help them remember which way is north, south, east, and west.

Aaron did a terrific job on his science fair project. He taught the class the difference between organic and non-organic fruits, which one lasts longer, and which one is healthier for us to eat.

The first graders were very busy this week. We read a story called “The Ugly Vegetables” and learned the importance of sharing with our neighbors. In Social Studies we discussed the rights and responsibilities of US citizens to vote. We even held an election to choose our favorite ice cream!
In Math students continue to count sets of coins. They were excited to learn that each coin has the face of a former US president. Finally, as we enjoy the spring season, students identify plants and flowers. In Art students made a model of a willow plant in a vase. I think they did an amazing job.

This week the second graders have been hard at work. In ELA, they did a great job acting out a play! They also learned about pronouns. In math, the second grade has continued to work on mastering multiplication facts and reviewing topics from earlier in the year. In social studies, the students have been learning all about citizenship, rights and responsibilities, and laws. June 2nd was Ava Mekler’s birthday. Happy birthday Ava! Ms. Bronstein would like to commend Sarit Iunger and Benjamin Portman for doing such a great job at portraying emotions while acting in the play in ELA class!
In science, students finished Chapter 10 “Energy”. Students learned that sound, light, and heat are all forms of energy.

Third Grade

This week grade 3 students reviewed vertical multiplication and long division equations. During their Grammar lessons, students focused on identifying different types of verbs. They worked on locating the action, helping, and linking verbs. During their computer lesson, students learned about another software called PowerPoint. During their Social Studies lessons, students were introduced to the Cherokee tribe. Among other elements, they are exploring the different styles of homes that the Navajo, Yurok, and the Cherokee build.

In science, students learned about forces, what causes a change in motion, how friction works.An assessment is assigned to the students in the following week.
Miss Sasha

Fourth Grade
4A
This week in math we finished unit on bar graphs and line plots.
In ELA we finished unit on adverbs, prepositions, and expository writing. In Social Studies we read and discussed how people of the United States are linked by transportation, communication, trade, and shared heritage.
Our class started a new class chapter book Flora and Ulysses by:Kate DiCamillo.
In science, students learned about electricity, types of electric circuits, and what is an electric current.

Zach שי Garber wins the class davening prize, a soft hot pretzel

4B
This week 4B is working on their writing. Mrs. Rosskamm has been coming into the class and helping us with our paragraph formation. She is teaching the class how to properly format paragraphs, and make sure all of our sentences connect to our topic sentence. I also
assigned an open ended writing assignment to assess their paragraph writing skills. In math we are reviewing geometry. In social studies we are learning about the western region of the United States. Lila Havia received student of the month for the month of May! I awarded her with this honor due to her dedication and persistence in the classroom.
In science, students identified and reviewed the ways that thermal energy can be transferred.

Fifth Grade

Greetings and salutations!
In ELA the 5th graders had a busy week. The 5th graders learned about object pronouns in grammar. They finished their Coraline essays and learned about Terezin. They read poems and studied the art work made by the children of Terezin. Finally, they wrote a reflection on their selected poem and artwork. 

In math, 5th grade practiced percent word problems.

In science, students learned and understood the Laws of Motion. An assessment is assigned to students in the following week.

Middle School

Middle School ELA and Social Studies
6th Grade
Sixth graders had a great week!
We wrapped up our reading and writing workbook with a long response that compared and contrasted two fictional stories. Everyone worked very hard!
In reading, we continued our novel study of the City of Ember. The students are really getting into the mystery!
In writing class, we started our unit on different genres in fiction. We learned about what a genre is, what different genres exist and we came up with some great examples.

In social studies the students continued to learn about the Roman Republic. In particular, we focused on how the government of the Roman Republic influenced our government today. The students also learned about the Roman Republic’s system of law and the importance of the rule of law in particular.

7th grade
Seventh graders had a good week!
In reading, we are continuing our novel study of the Indian in the Cupboard. In writing, we started our unit on the Hero’s Journey. We took notes on the different stages, and read fiction stories and marked the different stages of the hero’s journey!

In Social Studies, we wrapped up our unit on the western expansion. We watched videos and looked at primary sources on the second industrial revolution, and are creating a research project (due Monday) on the important inventions and inventors of the 19th century.

8th grade
Eighth graders had a busy week!
The students are busily preparing for their graduation, and wrapping up the school year with style! In reading, we continued our novel study of the Book Thief and had some awesome class discussions. We also reviewed using textual evidence in paragraphs!

In Social Studies, we are in the middle of our unit on the Cold War. We learned about the war in Korea, the Red Scare, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Middle School Math

6th grade finished learned statistics and is learning how to perform basic operations with positive and negative numbers.
7th grade is learning how to use probability to make predictions.
7th grade honors finished learning about system of equations and will be learning transformational geometry.
8th grade finished reviewing multistep equations.
8th grade honors finished learning about sequences and series and will be learning about linear regression.

Middle School Science
6th gr.
Students finished the Chapter”Laws of Motion”. A final test was assigned to the students.

7th Grade Science

As a part of our journey through nutrition, the students are now learning how certain macromolecules affect our body. Sometimes the things that we eat give us energy and then very shortly thereafter, we crash. We get this overwhelming feeling of tiredness, loss of focus, and feelings of hunger. Students will be finishing up the year with a digestion project. Students will investigate various aspects of their diet and conduct research regarding their habits. Students will complete either a powerpoint presentation or an essay

8th Grade Science

As our SIHA Seniors wind down the year and finish up all of the necessary work to complete their Living Environment course, students are getting more and more excited about their next phase of life and their energy is quite invigorating. Students are completing their final LE Lab to fulfill their course requirements and sit for the NYS Regent. This lab allows students to investigate 7 different types of tests to determine the relationship between organisms. Once this is complete, we will be on a Regent Review until students sit for the exam, attendance is imperative.

Jewish History

This week has been very eventful as we move on towards the finish line. 7th grade cycled through 350 years of the period of the Judges and will soon meet the first Jewish king!

SIHA Weekly for May 28, 2021

by admin | May 28, 2021 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah

Dvar Torah Parashat B’ha’alolesecha
There is an interesting Mitzvah given to Moshe in this week’s Parasha.
To form trumpets .
Depending on how many “blows” or what type or with one or both of the trumpets, would signal something different, i.e. should only the princes come to the tent of meeting should all of the children of Israel come..
There are two more, yet very different occasions mentioned for use of these trumpets.
1 To announce a war.
2 To celebrate a happy occasion.
These seem contradictory.
Rabbi Yissoschor Frand explains the apparent incongruency based on what Rambam [Maimonides] writes regarding blowing the trumpets on fast days and troubled times. He writes that the trumpets is a way of crying out to Hashem to save us from our troubles and to remind us to repent.
Troubles come from sins.
Rabbi Frand says that this could answer the apparent contradiction. EVERYTHING comes from Hashem! The troubles AND the “good stuff”.
Therefore we “blow” at war time and at happy times to remind us that everything is from Him.
We tend to think that the bad stuff is from Hashem, and ask “why is He doing this?”, but when things are good, we say “hey, its to my credit”!
The sefer Shemen Hatov writes that if we remember to “blow the trumpets”-to thank Hashem when things are good, He will not ask us to remember Him “blow the trumpets”- for the opposite.
Let us all remember to “blow the trumpets” when He gives us good times so that we will not need to “blow the trumpets” in other instances.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Kuritsky

Special Announcement

Dear parents,
Thank G-d, we had a wonderful week at Siha!
Round of applause to all the incredible boys and girls who did a kindness a day throughout the days of Sefirat Haomer, and completed their charts!
They all enjoyed italian ices as their prize.
We are looking forward to a very exciting week here at Siha, week of June 14-18. Details will be forthcoming.
Shabbat Shalom! Have an enjoyable and restful weekend.
Best regards,
Miss Dershowitz

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade
We had a great week in Kindergarten Judaics! We have learnt our first nekuda that says ah, and are practicing putting it together with the aleph bet letters. We have also been practicing a lot for our graduation and are very excited!
In First Grade Judaics we have been practicing our script writing, the students are doing a great job! We have also been practicing for our siddur play and cannot wait fo June 15th!
Shabbat Shalom!

Second Grade

The 2nd graders are working very hard preparing for their Siddur Play which will G-d willing take place Tuesday June 15 at 11:00. We can’t wait to greet all our wonderful parents at this grand celebration. We are practicing and learning so much when we use our new Purple Aleph Champ workbooks. In this weeks Parsha Beha’aloscha we learned about Aharon Hakohein (Moshe’s brother) who was given the privilege of lighting the Menorah. We also learned about the severity of speaking or listening to Loshon hora. In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers which is all about character development) we learned that our friend’s honor should be as important to us as our own honor.
Shabbat Shalom

Third grade

In 3rd grade we are getting ready to learn chumash in 4th grade. We are sharpening our reading skills and speed. We are also working on spelling with daily drills.
In dikduk we learned to combine an adjective to the noun by matching the form zachar nekeva Rabim and rabot. We used flashcards on the board to build words.
In Parsha we learnt about the mitzva to light the Golden Menorah daily on the Bet hamikdash and the special mitzva of pesach sheni, the second pesach.
Shabbat shalom
Mrs Ivry

Fourth Grade
4A
It was AMAZING to watch how fast the children are picking up on our Brand New subject of Chumash.
The children sing the pesukim with the translation beautifully. We played review games with new words. On Thursday the children learned in a :Chavruta Shaft” (2 pair learning) the sounds of them saying the pesukim sounded like a real live Bet Medrash, and the sounds of Torah learning was awesome!
The children are learning new concepts such as Shorashim , prefixes and suffixes to the text.

Shabbat Shalom,
Mrs. Bistritz

4B
Thank you Hashem for another wonderful week! It’s with such great enthusiasm that we open our Chumashim each day. Translating the words in the Chumash is a thrill, learning all about that fabulous first week of the world when it was being created is fascinating. Hashem’s intention in creation, we discussed, is to give. Lately we’ve been really busy filling up our “suitcases” with Mitzvot in order to receive eternal reward. Two girls expressed their disappointment in having to come late to school sometimes because they don’t like to miss any Davening, wow. We spoke all about the Jew’s eventful journey in the desert in this week’s Parshah. Our Hebrew handwriting continues to pick up as we practice each holy letter in our workbooks ( and sometimes on the white board).
Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Toba

5th and 6th Girls

Dear parents.
Thank G-d, we had a wonderful week!
Happy Bat Mitzvah to Lily! We all had a great time at her Bat Mitzvah party on Monday. We went around the table and the girls all gave her a Bat Mitzvah blessing.
We moved on in Shemoneh Esrei to learn the next few blessings. We had a very exciting Translation-A-Thon game, which tested the girls’ knowledge of the translation of the Shemoneh Esrei blessings.
Round of applause to Sophie and Ruti who got 83 points and won the prize???
We moved on in Chumash, learning about how the Jews were trapped on all sides, as the Egyptians chased them. They trusted in G-d tremendously and were therefore all fighting to jump into the sea, even before it split!
We learned the Parsha, Parshat Beha’alotcha, about the Jews encampment in the desert.
Shabbat Shalom! Have a restful weekend.
Best regards,
Miss Dershowitz

7th and 8th Girls

Thank you Hashem for another wonderful week! We began to speak all about the wonderful genes that we have from our Sara Imeinu, our mother, the first Jewish woman. She remained calm and serene all her life despite the many difficulties that she faced in her life because she believed and trusted in Hashem through thick and thin. She lit the first Shabbat candles which miraculously lasted from week to week. We spoke all about the importance and beauty of this Mitzvah. Hashem helps a woman bring serenity into her home as she lights. A Tefillah that we’re exploring is the Tefillah of Shema. We spoke about it’s significance and are now translating it’s beautiful phrases. We had great fun making potato kugel in honor of Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Toba

7th and 8th Boys

7/8 boys blurb
We learned a lot about Parashat B’ha’alosecha.
We learned about Aharon ha’cohen lighting the Menorah.
Aharon and Moshe purifying The Levites, using three methods
A Sprinkling parah aduma water on them
B shaving them
C washing their clothes in the mikvah

L’viyim taking the place of the b’chorim first borns because they served the golden calf
Pesach Sheini
We also learned laws of washing hands properly according to halacha Rabbi Kuritsky did a live demonstration.
Shai Nisim Koldin did a demonstration on how to make havdalah on Saturday night, with grape juice, cinnamon and fire.
And more!

Amiel preparing the meat for the cholent

Elementary School

Kindergarten

This week kindergarten practiced spelling and reading words with the long E vowel sound. They worked in groups or they worked independently to research a topic they were interested in learning about. They filled in a graphic organizer about their topic by reading nonfiction books and watching videos about their topic. They picked topics such as cheetahs, sharks, whales, snakes, dinosaurs, butterflies, and astronauts to write about. They also read a story about children in a band. In math they became money experts. They used money to buy items in our fake store and they played games to practice counting money. They are even able to read and answer word problems about money! In science they learned all about the parts of the plant, what each part of the plant does, and they sang a fun song to help them remember the parts of a plant. The class also dissected a seed to learn about the parts of a seed. In social studies they learned about what is on a map and a globe and about the differences between maps and globes,

The children did an amazing job presenting their science fair projects to the class! They were all able to teach the class different ways to stay healthy. I am so proud of all of them and how well they presented their projects!
Ilan taught us which brand of chips are healthier to eat.
Liad taught us which bandage brand is better to buy because it will keep out germs the longest.
Joseph taught us which type of candy is not good for our teeth.
Emanuella taught us how our sense of smell can impact our sense of taste.
Ethan M. taught us which drink is not healthy because it has the most amount of sugar.
Max taught us which drink is not healthy for our teeth.
Alexander and Yosef taught us about our sense of taste.

First Grade

The fabulous first graders were busy with SATs this week. However, they did a great job with the Science Symposium. Students were excited to share all they learned about plants. We discovered sugar keeps flowers fresh longer than water alone. Students were delighted to see white carnations change to blue, green and yellow as the stems soaked in the food coloring. Lastly, we were surprised to observe that lemon juice could keep apples from browning. Overall, the Symposium was a success, thanks in large part to the contributions of our awesome first grade parents!!!

4B

This week 4B was very busy! We had a grammar test on Monday, on pronouns. On Tuesday we had a social studies test on the states in the midwestern region of the United States. On Thursday we had a math test on operations with decimals. We are happy and relieved to be done with all of the tests this week, and are looking forward to our last few weeks together before the summer!

Fifth Grade
Greetings and salutations!

This has been an incredibly busy week for the 5th grade. I want to give a huge shout out to the 5th grade for hanging in there and doing their best during the Stanford Tests. They really worked hard! I’m incredibly proud of all of the 5th graders for their hard work this week!

In more mundane news, in social studies class the 5th grade continued to learn about the Age of Exploration!

In math, 5th grade practiced solving the percentage of numbers.

Middle School

Middle School ELA and Social Studies

Greetings!
Congratulations to the 6th graders for finishing their Stanford Tests!

In social studies news, the 6th grade has begun their journey into Ancient Rome. The class is excited to learn about the Romans and their impact on the world.

Great job 7th grade! The students worked very hard on their SATs this week.
In social studies, we wrapped up our Civil War unit and started learning about the Reformation Era. Students made a newspaper page reporting on a major Civil War battle!

8th graders had a busy week! In grammar, we reviewed active and passive voices. In writing, students reviewed evaluating an argument, and wrote beautiful paragraphs. In reading, we continued our novel study of The Book Thief!

In Social Studies, we wrapped up our World War II unit and took a test. Everyone did a great job! We also started our unit on the aftermath of Victory and the beginnings of the Cold War.

Middle School Math

6th grade finished learning about measures of central tendencies.
7th grade learned about theoretical probability.
7th grade honors finished the unit on solving of systems of linear equations.
8th grade practiced solving multi-step equations with parentheses.
8th grade honors is learning about arithmetic and geometric series.

Middle School Science

7th Grade Science

As a part of our journey through nutrition, the students are now learning how certain macromolecules affect our body. Sometimes the things that we eat give us energy and then very shortly thereafter, we crash. We get this overwhelming feeling of tiredness, loss of focus, and feelings of hunger. Students will be finishing up the year with a digestion project. Students will investigate various aspects of their diet and conduct research regarding their habits. Students will complete either a powerpoint presentation or an essay

8th Grade Science

As our SIHA Seniors wind down the year and finish up all of the necessary work to complete their Living Environment course, students are getting more and more excited about their next phase of life and their energy is quite invigorating. Students are completing their final LE Lab to fulfill their course requirements and sit for the NYS Regent. This lab allows students to investigate 7 different types of tests to determine the relationship between organisms. Once this is complete, we will be on a Regent Review until students sit for the exam, attendance is imperative.

Jewish History

7th grade is moving forward quickly into the Land of Israel. We learned about the fall of Yericho, the battle of Ai and the war against the Gevonim. Yehoshua stopped the sun when he needed more time!
8th grade is learning quite a bit of Roman history as we explore their interactions with the Jewish nation.