SIHA weekly for January 8, 2021

by admin | Jan 8, 2021 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah

Dvar Torah Parshat Sh’mos

Parshas Sh’os speeds through our suffering in Egypt under a “new Pharaoh” [One Rabbi in the Gemara says he was actually a new Pharaoh, and one Rabbi in the Gemara says he was the same pharaoh who benefited from Yosef’s amazing business acumen but chose to pretend he was someone] who did not know Yosef.
Immediately after briefly describing the suffering the Torah begins to elaborate on our redemption.

After Yosef made the Egyptian empire the wealthiest in the world, they turned against Yosef’s people and family, enslaved them and tortured them. This is similar to the holocaust; after Jews gave so much to Germany and Europe, in the areas of Science, Math, and Medicine etc. the Nazis and other European countries turned against our Jewish relatives, tortured, enslaved and murdered them.

Our Rabbis, may their remembrance be for a blessing, tells us that the Egyptians were on the lowest level of impurity. Our forefathers were almost on the same level, after living with the Egyptians for so many years. They tell us that we were exiled on the merit of a few deeds.

1. we did not change our way of dressing [we did not follow their styles]
2. we did not change our language [we spoke in Hebrew]
3. we did not change our names [we used Jewish names]

Recently I was approached by a [PTA president[ parent,and was suggested that we call our students here in SIHA by their Jewish names. As we see that this is one of the merits that we Jews on no longer enslaved by the Egyptians, we realize that this is no small deed.

One of the reasons that were mentioned to call students by their Jewish names was, so that the students do not forget their Jewish name!

I actually have a brother in law, who was “Chozer Bitshuva” [became religious after growing up as a conservative Jew]. He became religious at the age of 18 years old. For 40 years , when he was called to the Torah he was called up as Mordecai Mendel ben [Hebrew for son (of)] Simcha Tzvi Hersh. Recently, his mom found his “Bar Mitzvah certificate” which stated that his father’s name was NOT Somcha Tzvi Hersh, but Simcha Arye! Forty years of not knowing his father’s correct Jewish name! Who knows how many years his father, may he stay well, did not know his own correct Jewish name?! I also recently, at the bidding of my father, may he live long and stay healthy, attended the funeral of my father’s cousin “Billy”. At the funeral,when they wanted to say a prayer for him, the deceased, no-one , not his wife , not his children or any of his relatives attending the funeral, knew what his correct Jewish name was!
This can be preempted by using our Jewish names!
We often feel that we have to hide our “Jewishness” from non Jews. we feel that if we do so they “won’t know”, or they will accept us better. Unfortunately, history has proven the polar opposite to be true.
When a friend of mine was engaged to be married, his father Mr Yisroel Lefkowtz o.b.m., a religious Jew who was very active in the Agudath Israel of America was in Washington D.C. advocating for Jews. He decided to visit the bride’s father who was a religious Jew who served the U.S. as an attorney for the federal government. The bride’s father’s name is Mr. Moshe Simon [also a Chozer Bitshuva (he grew up irreligious, but then became religious at the age of 19)]. Mr Lefkowitz assumed that any Jew who worked in such a position in the U.S. government would be quiet about his Jewishness and use an American name as a substitute for “Moshe” i.e. Morris or Martin etc. Mr Lefkowitz went to the Washington building and asked the receptionist “do you have a Martin Simon?” She responded “no”. He then asked “do you have a Morris Simon?”. She said “no! but i do have a Moshe”! He went to the attorney’s office, not only finding him using the name “Moshe”, but dressed as a religious Jew [looking almost Chasidic (Hasidic), complete with Yarmulke [Kepa] white shirt, long black coat and black hat! An attorney for the federal government in Washington D.C.

Let us be proud to be Jews and Jewish. This is the United States of America. We are given freedom of Religion. Let proudly “flaunt” our Jewish names. We will be able to remember our Jewish names and perhaps that will be a merit to bring the Moshiach, the Messiah and the final redemption that we are anticipating!
Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Kuritsky
Judaic Studies Curriculum Coordinator

Special Announcement!

Winter break is upon us!
SIHA’s winter break starts on 1/21 and continues to 1/29.
That means that last day of classes before Winter Break is Wednesday, 1/20.
Classes resume on Monday, 2/1/2021

Please note!
The week of 2/1/2021 will be a remote learning week.
From Monday, 2/1/2021 to Friday, 2/5/2021 SIHA will be learning online.

Programming News

Dear parents.
We had an amazing week, Boruch Hashem!
The students worked on speaking positively and watching their mouths from talking negatively about others.
We gave out many many treats (sour lips for watching our lips?) for all the Shemirat Halashon cards filled out!
Congratulations Sophie Dym on winning the school-wide Shemirat Halashon raffle!
We’re so proud of her and every single student who works on controlling themselves from speaking bad about others.
We all tried to wear our adorable red bracelets that remind us not to speak Lashon Hara! There are very special raffles for those who wear them every day.
This is the link to the amazing 7th and 8th grade girls’ Shemirat Halashon video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejiBzqz01qQ

Shabbat Shalom!
Have a nice weekend.
Best,
Miss Dershowitz

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade
We had a great week this week! In Kindergarten Judaics we learnt the letters nun and enda nun! We had a great time using blue tape to make yuds,vavs and enda nuns on the floor. In first grade we have begun level green aleph champ workbook and have learnt the nekuda chirik! This week in honor of parshas shemos we made a fun project with 6 babies, because the Jewish ladies in Mitzrayim gave birth to six babies at once. Shabbat Shalom!

Second Grade
The week flew by as we spent time reviewing Sefer Breishit(Genesis) and beginning Sefer Shimot. The second of the 5 books of the Torah. Shimot means names. We are all proud of our Jewish names. After our forefather Yaakov and his children including Yosef (Joseph) all passed away the Jews were multiplying and King Pharaoh was afraid they might eventually take over the country. They therefore issued orders to first kill all Jewish male babies and then issued orders to throw all Jewish boy babies in the Nile River. In the meantime the Egyptians made the Jews work very hard as slaves in Egypt. This week the Torah portion discusses the birth of Moshe (Moses) who would eventually became the leader of the Jewish people and lead the Jews out of Egypt. We are working on perfecting our handwriting skills as well as learning the correct Brochos we make on various foods. Shabbat Shalom!

In Kriah we reached the last exception rule and are working nicely in groups. Our goal is now to read a page in under 30 seconds and we are almost there already!
In Ivrit/ Dikduk, we learnt the last 3 prefixes, Mastered our first daily Hebrew vocabulary words and introduced the next part of Dikduk: Zachar and Nekeva (Male and female in the Hebrew language)
The third graders davening is priceless and their eagerness to give Tzedaka giving daily is inspiring. They already filled up a box of Tzedaka around Chanukah time and the box is now already almost half full!
Shabbat Shalom
Mrs Ivry

5th and 6th grade girls

Dear parents.
Thank G-d, we had an amazing week!
We continued on in Chumash Shemot learning about how the Jewish midwives refused to listen to Pharaoh and kill the Jewish babies. We learned many interesting explanations of the miracles that occurred to the Jewish people in Egypt. The Egyptians tried their hardest to break us and get rid of the Jewish people but they could not succeed! Hashem destroyed their plans and made us multiply more than ever!
The girls put on an amazing skit, acting out the miracles of Egypt.
The girls are doing a great job on their Chumash slides.
We learned about the blessing we make on fruits, borei peri Haetz. The girls all helped and we made a delicious fruit salad and said our berachot out loud.
Congratulations to Gabi Mekler and Eva Leivent on winning our Halacha raffle this week. Keep up the berachot!
We learned a lot about this week’s Parsha, Parshat Shemot. We all knew so much because we’re already learning it for Chumash.
We are all trying to learn from Moshe Rabbeinu who truly felt the pain of the Jewish people’s suffering, although he was living in Pharaoh’s palace and was not a slave.
Make sure your daughters tell you some stories from the Parsha – they are pros?
Have a great weekend!
Shabbat Shalom!
Best,
Miss Dershowitz

7th and 8th Boys
7th and 8th grade this week accomplished taking and doing well on their first Gemara test.
Congratulations!
We have been studying the laws of “your $” [property i.e. your animal] that damages. What is your responsibility, and liability in different scenarios.
We also learned about the Parsha in detail.
Boys are continuing to be the “Chazan”, and are doing a great job at it.

We had fun adding up all the boys’ present in the class’ names! In the Hebrew alphabet, letters have a numerical value. We all wrote each boy’s Jewish name. We then added up [some boys used a calculator… for accuracy, I presume] the numerical value. We accomplished studying “Yedios Klalios”, math and had fun at the same time.
We had an especially terrific day on Thursday, so Rabbi Kuritsky, responding to the class vote [we do live in a democratic country after all] ran to stop and shop and purchased chips, cookies and drinks for all to celebrate. Each boy said the appropriate Bracha on each treat.

Elementary School

Kindergarten
This week kindergarten was so excited to read their first story from a first grade reader. They learned all about the CK rule and can now read and spell many words that end with the letters CK. They took their first spelling pre-test and did amazing! The class also continued to write their personal narratives and they have been working on adding details to their writing. They did a directed drawing of the cat Sam from their story of the week and then they painted their drawing. They did a fabulous job following directions and they were all so proud of their paintings when they were done. In math they practiced measuring and weighing items to prepare for their test on nonstandard tools. The entire class did excellent on their math test! They practiced adding and subtracting and they learned how to find the missing whole number in a number bond. In science they learned all about gas as a state of matter. Then, they cut, glued, and sorted the three states of matter. In social studies they continued to learn about different cultures. They learned about the different types of houses people live in and they learned about Africa.

In art class we made sock snowmen to remind us of the winter season. I think they did a phenomenal job.

4B
This week in grammar 4B is learning about verbs. We are learning about subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, main verbs, helping verbs, linking verbs, and irregular verbs. Verbs, verbs, verbs!!!! In math we are mastering our fraction skills. We learned about mixed numbers and improper fractions. In social studies we are learning about the southern region of the United States.

Fifth Grade

This week went by quickly! Nevertheless, the 5th grade was quite busy!

In ELA the students learned about linking verbs and the tricky irregular verbs. They practiced finding meanings of unknown words in writing by using context clues. The 5th grade also presented their independent book projects. The book cubes turned out amazing!

In math, the class finished their review over multiplying and dividing factions. This will mark the end of our unit on fractions. Next week, the 5th class will begin learning about perimeter and area. 

In social studies the students finished their unit on the geography of South America. They will have a unit test next Thursday. They will also begin their end of unit project next week. I look forward to seeing how amazing their projects will turn out!

Middle School

Middle School ELA
6th grade had a great week! In grammar, students learned about subject complements. We practiced finding predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives in sentences. In writing, we learned about author’s perspective. We also continued our novel study of Hatchet!

7th grade had a busy week! In grammar, we reviewed combining sentences in several different ways to create better sentence variety. In writing, we had a State Test Prep assessment week. Students read nonfiction passages, answered multiple choice, short answer, and long answer questions. We also continued our novel study of Milkweed!

8th grade had a good week! In grammar, we started our unit review. In writing, we worked on paragraph structure, and wrote some beautiful long paragraphs. Mrs. Hazen is particularly impressed with Rachel’s writing! We discussed how text structure helps authors carry their ideas across. In reading, we finished reading The Giver!

Middle School Social Studies

6th grade learned about ancient Indian empires this week and engaged in an interactive activity regarding empire building.

7th grade played the Summer of ’87 game and stepped into the shoes of the Founding Fathers to try and solve issues revolving around the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.

8th grade studied for and took its Unit 2 test and also began Unit 3 with a discussion of European colonialism and imperialism in the 19th century.

Middle School Math
6th learned about proportions and how to use algebra to solve them. They also learned how to complete tables using unit rates and how to graph that on a coordinate plane. There will be a test Tuesday on modules 6 and 7.

7th learned how to calculate area of a circle and how to solve for missing dimensions when given circumference. They also know how to calculate the area of a circle given circumference. There will be a test Tuesday on module 3, 4.1 and 4.2.

7th honors completed unit 3 on geometry. They learned how to calculate surface and volume and apply the formulas to composite figures. There will be a test Tuesday on unit 3.

8th learned how to solve inequalities and graph the solution set on a number line. They also learned how to solve word problems with inequalities. There will be a test on chapter 2 Tuesday.

8th grade Math B reviewed cross sections by creating the shakes with plain and cutting them with playing cards. The visual really helped see the cross section

8th honors learned how to solve inequalities, graph the solution set on a number line, and represent the solutions in interval notation. They also learned how to solve word problems with inequalities. There will be a test on chapter 2 Tuesday.

Please meet our class sorter goblin.

7th Graders are rocking and rolling. Students have learned how to use their critical thinking skills, math skills, listening skills and apply their knowledge to an at home experiment. Students learned how to create data tables, extrapolate their data and plug into graphs. Students are now discovering the world of cells. Students are investigating through microscopes and seeing what the world looks like from a microscopic view.

8th Grade is identifying how photosynthesis and cellular respiration are inter related. Students have identified the reactants and products of biochemical processes are necessary for the proper functioning of each process. In addition, students investigated the role fermentation plays in the making of bread. They were able to explain the function of bacteria and its significance in the process.

SIHA Weekly for January 1

by admin | Jan 1, 2021 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah

Parshas Vayeche is the last Parsha in Chumash [literally “fifth’ of the Torah] Braishis.
Yaavov Aveenu is approaching death. As an aside, Yaakov Aveenu is the first person to become sick and realize that his death was approaching. Until then, people would just die, when their time came. Yaakov Aveenu utilizes this “advance notice” very wisely. For one, he blesses each of his twelve sons. Each son is blessed uniquely, according to their natural talents. His focus and goal was that each son would use his unique talent to serve Hashem, for that is the reason that Hashem gives us talents.
Let us all realize our special talent(s), and use them for our ultimate goal in our journey through this world, which is to serve Hashem, our creator.

Rabbi Kuritsky
Judaic studies coordinator
Special Announcement

A great big SIHA congratulations to our amazing students of the month!

K – Emanuella Brooks
1 – Sophie Braun
2 – Michael Groys
3 – Zohar Zadok
4-A – Ariella Khaimov
4-B – Ethan Shenkman
5 – Sofia Sandler
6 – Etai Factor
6 – Eva Leivent (Judaic Studies)

Programming News

Dear parents.
Thank G-d, we had a great week! This month’s theme in coimstruction is walls. Every student received a sticky hammer to help build the walls.
We are working this month on Shemirat Halashon – watching our tongue.
Shout out to the 7th and 8th grade girls for their awesome Shemirat Halashon movie!
Contest:
Every time we want to speak bad about another person but we control ourselves, we fill out a card. Every card will earn a treat and will enter a raffle for special prizes.
Please encourage speaking nicely about others at home and in school.
Looking forward to receiving our exciting Shemirat Halashon – watch your mouth! – bracelets this week!
Happy new year!

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade
We had a super duper week this week in Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics! Our kindergarteners are already up to learning the letters Mem and Enda Mem! We had so much fun reading the ziggawat story about Mem and the Mitzvah Contest. We did a great job cutting, sorting and pasting the mems and tets, even though they look similar we can tell the difference! In First Grade Judaics we began learning the nekuda cholam! We know that cholam can come in two different ways, a lollipop floating in the sky, or a lollipop on a stick! We are doing such a great job with our hebrew reading we are even up to reading four letter words! This week we continued in our unit about Hashem is watching over us always and learnt about saying Shema before we go to sleep. We made beautiful shema frames to hang in our rooms and began a shema before bed contest, we are so excited to do this mitzvah! Shabbat Shalom!

Mrs Ivry

Fourth Grade
Its been so nice, diving back into things. The students greeted me with a warm, enthusiastic welcome, as I excpected. By now we are so comfortable and familiar with the Hebrew letters and there various nekudot/ vowels. Did you know that every day a star soloist is selected to come sing the Aleph Bet on the ( neon colored, plastic) mike for us? We know that each Mitzvah comes with a set of laws, and we are excited about learning the laws of making Brachot on food. For example, the food must be unwrapped/unpeeled and ready to eat before the Brachah is said. There is a super enthusiastic and earnest feel in the room as we make our Brachot on our snacks before recess. We market Trader Joe’s Takis ,as they are kosher unlike the other Takis. They are a fad, and we make sure to enjoy it within the boundaries of our law. Parshah class has us spellbound as we hear the final words of wisdom and blessings that Yaakov Avinu gives his sons before he passes on. By the way, we know the names of Yaakov’s 12 sons, the Shevatim real well. Sometimes I wonder, how do we get through so much content in just two hours a day? And the answer dawns on me real fast- it’s because these students are sponges-ready and excited to absorb each lesson, to really hear, learn, and internalize. I am a lucky Morah! Thank you for sharing your treasures! Remember to reach out to me any time with any questions, concerns, thoughts or just to say hello!
Morah Toba

5th and 6th Girls
Dear parents.
Thank G-d, we had a great week!
We learned about the backbreaking labor of the Jewish people in Egypt so that Pharoah could destroy them. But instead, they multiplied more than ever!
Then, Pharaoh commanded the Jewish midwives, Shifra and Yocheved, to kill all Jewish baby boys so that the Jewish people can’t reproduce. But they were scared of Hashem, the king of all kings, more than they were scared of the ruthless Egyptian king and they DID NOT LISTEN TO PHARAOH!!
We learned about the beracha of Ha’adama – which we make on vegetables/fruit that grow on the ground. Congratulations Sophie Dym on winning our Halacha raffle!
We had a great time making popcorn for Ha’adama!
We learned about the weekly parsha portion – Parshat Vayechi. Yaakov blessed all his sons, the 12 shevatim, before he passed away at age 147.
He made Yosef promise to bury him in Israel.
Our Middot lesson focused on trying to count our blessings and look out for the good in our lives instead of complaining. Sophie gave us great examples of times when she could’ve complained, but instead focused on the blessings in her life. We’re so proud of her!
The girls will try to focus on their blessings this week and move the Middot game piece to earn very exciting rewards!
Shout out to Ziva for coming to school last Friday! Keep it up!
Happy new year!
Have a great weekend.
Best,
Miss Dershowitz

5th and 6th Boys
This week our class gets a big Mazel Tov!
We finished the first Perek/Chapter of Mishnayot Sukkah!
Accordingly we had a big Siyum celebration, which only added to the excitement.
We also began learning Pirkai Avot/Ethics of the Fathers, which will certainly widen the boys horizons.
Looking forward to a great new week.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Levy

7th and 8th Girls
Ah, it was nice to be back with my group of favorite role models. Firstly, we enjoyed the Mazal Tov party that the girls put together for me 🙂 I also enjoyed their beautiful Mazal Tov cards and earnest wishes. We began our series on the 13 Ani Maamins, which are 13 principals of faith that we are supposed to make our business to believe. The first one is the belief that Hashem created everything. To illustrate just how much it is that he created, we played a little game. Two girls exchanged ideas and items that Hashem created, one after the other. The goal of the game was to keep coming up with things, with out repeating any and without stopping to think. Some of them were really good at it, and it was amazing to stop and think that it was Hashem who created everything. There is an amazing song by Rabbi Mordechai Dubin of these 13 beliefs that has been going around. We listen and even dance to it together sometimes. In translation of Tefiillah class, we began to explore the meanings of the Bracha Acharonas, blessings after food. We discussed how every law in Judiasm holds worlds of significance, and then began to explore the laws of making Brachot properly. We are becoming pros at understanding the way Rashi, our sage who’s explanations are written all over Chumash, thinks. And by now we have memorized tens of Shorashim, roots of Hebrew words. This week’s Parshah has us nodding along as we hear about the death of our forefather Yaakov, how he asked to be sick and week for a period of time before he parted so that he can use the time to repent before entering the next world, how he blessed and advised his children before going and how his son Yosef, a king, hung his crown oh his father’s coffin to show respect. We’re thankful for having had yet another really fun and growth oriented week together, once again. Thank you Hashem!
Morah Toba

7th and 8th Boys
This week we went further and deeper in the new Limud [topic], gmara. We always start a Gmara with a Mishna. As such, we actually began learning a Mishna, as an introduction to the Gmara which G-d willing we will reach in the near future.
We learned about this week’s Parsha, Parshas Vayeche.

Leam Bilik is the winner of the Grand Mincha Prize, an ipad.

We began davening in our shul for Shacharis and Mincha, daily. The boys take turns acting as Chazan. The boys are acting really mature about this new challenge. It is our hope that they will all become “pros” at davening and be able to daven in any shul in any place and keep up.

Elementary School

Kindergarten
This week kindergarten learned how to read and spell many words with the CH sound. They are doing amazing! They began writing their personal narratives and they are doing so well working independently. In math they continued to use non standard tools to measure and weigh everything they can find in the classroom! They played a lot of fun games to review for their test they will be having next week. They also continued to practice adding 2 to a number and subtracting 2 from a number using mental math. In science they loved doing an experiment to learn which solids sink and which solids float in a liquid. They made a mess but they had a lot of fun and made some interesting and accurate conclusions. In social studies they learned about the different roles of family members, how to be responsible, and how to stay safe. They also began learning about different cultures. They were really interested in learning about Japanese clothing, traditions, and language. They wanted to hear the numbers in Japanese from 1-10 over and over again!

First Grade
Our first graders began studying about geometric solids this week. They were interested to see the difference between plane shapes and solids. We shared reports about arctic animals like the arctic fox, the polar bear, and the penguin. Students seemed fascinated by their ability to camouflage in the snow! Finally, we explored the underground home of the vole – a tiny mammal that borrows out a home in the ground. We even designed some underground homes of our own.

4B
4B had an exciting week! Thursday was New Year’s Eve, so we had a fun day! We played board games, and had some extra gym time! But it wasn’t all fun and games. We also continued learning about fractions, specifically how to add and subtract fractions. Also, Ethan Shenkman was awarded student of the month! I chose Ethan because he has improved his behavior in class, and he also had the highest grade in the class on the Math test, scoring over 100!

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade had a busy week! In grammar, we learned about helping and linking verbs. In reading, we continued our novel study of Holes. Students also finished their Independent Reading Projects! Everyone did an awesome job! Please look forward to pictures of their presentations next week! In Math, we started our unit review over multiplying and dividing fractions. Next week, we are going to take our unit test. I have faith that the class will do amazing. In social studies, we are learning about the countries of South America and rounding off our unit there. I would like to wish everyone a very happy New Year! 

Middle School

Middle School ELA
6th grade had a great week! In grammar, students learned about direct object. We also reviewed subjects and predicates. Students had a vocabulary Unit Test, and everyone did amazing! In writing, we learned about different types of text structure. We also continued our novel study of Hatchet!

7th grade had a busy week! In grammar, we reviewed combining sentences in several different ways to create better sentence variety. Students also took a vocabulary unit test, and everyone did amazing!In writing, students learned about author’s position, and wrote beautiful paragraphs. We also continued our novel study of Milkweed!

8th grade had a good week! In grammar, we reviewed three types of verbal phrases. Students practiced recognizing them in sentences, as well as writing their own. In writing, students learned about different points of view and the author’s position. We discussed how text structure helps authors carry their ideas across. In ELA, students continued their novel study of The Giver!

Middle School Math

6th grade is learning about ratios and rates. We are using unit rates to solve word problems.

7th grade has been working on circumference and area of a circle. 7th honors finished work on circumference and area. They have been working on area of composite figures.

8th grade has been working with proportions, ratios and rates in algebra word problems. We started reviewing inequalities and working on expressing them in interval notation, graphically, and as a solution set.

Middle School Social Studies
6th grade learned about early Indian civilization, including the Indus River and the Indus Valley Civilization.

7th grade started preparing to play the Summer of ’87 Reacting to the Past game. Each student was given a role to play in the game, based on a Founding Father, and has been tasked with doing research on him to find out his opinions about various issues.

8th grade discussed the U. S. national debt crisis and the stimuli that were passed this year to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SIHA weekly for December 25

by admin | Dec 25, 2020 | Newsletter

Reminder: Friday December 25 10th day of Teves is a fast day 5:50 a.m. – 5:15 p.m.

Dvar Torah

Parshas Vayegash

In this week’s parsha, Yosef finally reveals himself to his brothers. The shock , when they realize that the viceroy of Egypt that they have been dealing with and bowing down to, is none other than their “little brother” Yosef, whom they sold as a slave 22 years earlier and never dreamed he would even be alive, let alone royalty!
They were terrified. He could kill them. He could torture them. He could enslave them.
Nevertheless, Yosef’s reaction is totally different. He tells them “you had in mind to do bad, but Hashem G-d of the universe intended the whole episode for good! It had nothing to do with you, your actions or intentions. Yosef bears no grudge at all whatsoever. He understands that, nothing can happen without Hashem the Almighty willing it to be so.

Let us take a lesson from Yosef, for that is the reason it is written in the holy Torah. The next time a family member or friend [or even a foe] upsets us or G-d forbid harms us, we should try to remember that It is actually the hand of Hashem,and it is really, ultimately for our own benefit.

Rabbi Kuritsky
Curriculum Coordinator
Judaic Studies

Special Announcement

Congratulations to the 7th and 8th grade boys Mincha winners!
7th and 8th grade Mincha winners;
A few month ago, when we began davening Mincha in school, Rabbi Uzhansky incentivized the boys to Daven better by incentifying them with 3 raffles:

• $10 coupon
• $25 coupon
• Ipad

Doron Glickman is the first winner of a $10 Amazon coupon
Michael Clift is the winner of a $25 Amazon coupon
We are waiting a few days to pick the Ipad winner.
The boys are very excited about the raffle. One boy, Josh D., is quoted as saying “if I win, there will be a pizza party [paid for by Yehuda]”
We look forward to the boys to continue to daven nicely even without a raffle.

Oorah is coming to SIHA!
All students, boys and girls, will have a great time and win prizes! Stay tuned: more details in next week’s newsletter.

Programming News

Dear parents,
We had a great week! I’m so proud of Etai and Oren from 6th grade who turned off their electronics for a while on Shabbat!
This week, we will be starting a really exciting Shmirat Halashon program. We will work on speaking positively about others and earn really exciting prizes!
Shabbat Shalom!
Best,
Miss Dershowitz

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade
We had a great week in Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics! Our kindergarteners have learnt about long long lamed! We can a great job stretching out our hands and bodies into the shape of a lamed. We are all so really lucky because there are so many children in our class who have a lamed in their name like Liad, ShLomo, ALexander, DaLia, and ILan! In First Grade we are doing a great job reading four letter hebrew words and have begun learning the letter cholam. Cholam is a little confusing since there are two types but we are doing a great job! This week in both Kindergarten and First grade we discussed how proud we are to be children of Hashem, We are princes and princesses of Hashem our King. We know that when boys wear their kippah and tzitzit and girls dress tzniusly we are showing that we are proud to be those princes and princesses of Hashem! We are so proud to dress the right way! Morah Kaplan is especially proud that all the boys did a great job this week wearing their kippahs and making brachot on tzitzit and all the girls were dressed so tzniusly! We have so many mitzvah children in our class, Keep it up!

Second Grade
We had another productive busy week in 2nd grade. We reviewed much of Sefer Breishit (Genesis). We especially enjoyed the booklet we worked on in class on Wednesday reviewing the names of our Avot (Fathers) and Emohoit (Mothers) the first Jews in the world. There are so many lessons we learned from this week’s Parshat Vayegash. Yehuda, when pleading with the prime minister of Egypt not to keep his younger brother as a slave (Binyamin) got very angry. Then Yehuda spoke calmly. We discussed how important it is to speak politely and calmly when we want something. Yosef (The Prime minister of Egypt)sent the Egyptians out of the room before revealing his true identity as Yosef the missing brother in order not to embarrass his brothers. We learn that we have to be careful about people’s feelings and not to embarrass anyone. Yosef could have been angry at his brothers and could take revenge, however he was not angry
and did not take revenge. When Yosef was finally reunited with his elderly father Yaakov the first thing Yaakov did was say “Shma Yisroel” Thanking G-d and praising Hashem for being able to reunite. Shabbat Shalom!

Third Grade
After a fun-filled week of Chanukah, the students were eager to go back to school and learn more about Parsha and Jewish History. THe last few weeks’ Parsha stories were quite suspenseful and everyone was happy to hear the happy ending of Yosef and his brothers and his reunion with his long father Yaakov.

We started working on the Yediot Klaliot program and are excited to learn an overview of all the amazing Jewish Holidays throughout the year.
We continue learning Dikduk and are getting really good with prefixes!
For Kriah, we started reading in groups and will soon be using timers to work on our reading speed.
We also learned the History of the first Beth Hamikdash and how it was destroyed, starting on the 10th of tevet when Nevuchadnetzar besieged Jerusalem. Thai friday is a fast day because it was the beginning of the end of the Beth hamikdash which was destroyed 2 and a half years later on the 9th of Av. In all there are 4 fats connected to the destruction of the Temple. We love the Beth hamikdash and pray each day that Hashem should build us the 3rd Temple very soon.
Shabbat Shalom
Mrs. Ivry

Fourth Grade
This week we focused on beautiful stories and lessons on Tefila. We said stories from the Talmud and Parables with their lesson. We are continuing to learn a few halachot (Jewish Laws) a day. We are learning the laws of השכמת הבקר – (When we wake up in the morning) What we should and shouldn’t do. In Parshat Vayigash we learned how Yosef Hatzadik cared about his brother’s shame, and he sent out all his servants before he revealed himself. Every day we review what Hashem created on each day. We discussed that this Friday is a fast day. The reason is because on this day of Asara Btevet. (10th day of Tevet) the king of Bavel (Nevuchadnetzar) and his men surrounded the walls of Yerushaylaim (Jerusalem). This is one out of the four fasts that have to do with the Destruction of the Batei Hamikdash – Holy Temples. May it be rebuilt speedy in our days.
Shabbat Shalom!

Mrs. Bistritz

5th and 6th grade Girls
Dear parents.
We had a great week! We continued on in Chumash, learning about the backbreaking labor of the Jews in Egypt. No matter how much they tortured the Jews in order to destroy them, the Jews only multiplied more!! It’s a lesson for us all that no matter how hard and how many times in history, nations have tried to destroy us, we are alive and vibrant with Jewish life today!
We continued on in Jewish law, learning in depth about the Beracha of Mezonot and Hagafen. We make the blessing of Mezonot on any food with the 5 grains, besides for bread. We all enjoyed doughnuts and made the Beracha of Mezonot out loud. We make the blessing of Hagafen on wine and grape juice and we all enjoyed our cups of grape juice, making our berachot out loud.
Shout out to Ziva for pouring the cups of grape juice and handing them out to everyone!
Congratulations to our weekly Halacha raffle winner – Mia Portman!
We learned the weekly Parsha portion about Yosef revealing himself to his brothers. In order not to shock Yaakov too much, Serach, his granddaughter broke the news that Yosef was still alive while playing on her harp. Yosef was crying when he finally saw his father after 22 years and Yaakov was saying Shema, thanking Hashem for this moment. Wow, Yaakov wasn’t focused on embracing his son whom he missed so terribly, but thanking Hashem!!
We are all working our gratitude this week, learning from Yaakov to be thankful for all our gifts.
Shabbat Shalom!
Have a great weekend.
Best,
Ms Dershowitz

7th and 8th grade Boys
Judaic studies 7th/8th grade
This week we began a new Perek in Gamara1
The name of the Perek is Hakones. It is in Masechta Baba Kama [6th Perek]
We learned and reviewed Yedios Klalios .
We learned about the Parsha.We learned with Chavrusas [friends] learning partners. It went really well. The boys enjoyed it.

Elementary School

Kindergarten
This week kindergarten practiced reading and spelling many different words with the SH sound. They learned how to identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story. After listening to many read alouds about personal narratives they picked interesting topics to write their very own personal narrative. I can’t wait to read their writing! In math they continued to amaze me with the speed they are picking up addition and subtraction facts. They practiced counting everything by 2s. They counted by 2s to find out how many feet, eyes, knees, legs, arms, ears, shoulders, elbows, and even eyebrows we have in the classroom! They practiced adding and subtracting by 2 and played games to review the concept of addition. In social studies they learned about traditions. They did a wonderful job presenting their papers about their favorite family tradition. In science they learned all about liquids. They went on a scavenger hunt to find the most solids and liquids. They also did a directed drawing and made really cute snowmen and snowwomen. I was really impressed with how well the entire class followed directions!

Third Grade

This week Grade 3 students explored the Central Plains, Great Plains, and the Coastal Gulf Plains of the Central United States. They also discussed the purpose and importance of the invisible lines around the planet Earth such as the equator. In Math, students reviewed multiple mental math strategies for addition and subtraction. In Russian, they had taken a quiz on the /Aa/ sound words and are excited to begin a new letter next week. In Grammar, students practiced identifying common and proper nouns. This week they also had taken their first Computer quiz on virtual responsibility and security.

Students learned and explored how animals and plants depend on each other for food. Students are working also on winter theme art.

Miss Sasha

4A
This week in math we started a new unit Operations on Fractions. We worked on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.
In ELA we completed our unit on verbs and continued to write persuasive writing activities.
On Social Studies we reading and discussing resources, economy and people of the South.
In science, Students learned and explored factors that threaten the survival of a species.

4B
4B has entered the magical world of fractions! We know how to identify equivalent fractions, we know how to compare fractions, we know how to simplify fractions, we know how to find common denominators, and now we are learning how to add fractions! Very exciting stuff!! In ELA, we have been learning about verbs and verb tenses. We have also been doing a lot of test prep, learning how to properly annotate, and pull the main idea and key details from texts.
In science, students learned and explored factors that threaten the survival of species .
Mrs. Belli wants to mention Sapir Benlulu 4B Class. She got excellent scores on Quizzes! You could see happy tears on her eyes!

Fifth Grade
Greetings and salutations!
I hope everyone had a wonderful week!
The 5th grade had a good but busy week.
In grammar the 5th grade continued practicing with the perfect tenses. They also practiced typing a bit since their assignments required them to type.
In writing the students practiced using details to support inferences in literary texts. They read about King Arthur and (some) of his valiant knights. The students had a lot of fun reading the stories!
In reading we continued to read Holes and discuss what we read. We tried in the three stories within the book and how they connect to what is happening at Camp Green Lake with Stanley and Zero. Additionally, I am very proud to say that all of the 5th graders are doing an amazing job preparing their independent reading book project. I can’t wait until it is complete!

In math the 5th grade reviewed multiplying factions and continued on to learn and practice dividing fractions. I am happy to say that the students are very confident about their skills in multiplying and dividing fractions.

In science, Students learned and described interactions that occur within an ecosystem. Analized adaptive characteristics that result in an organism’s unique niche in an ecosystem.

In social studies the students learned about the past and culture of South America. They were particularly fascinated by the Inca and Machu Picchu. A lot of students were shocked when they saw what terraced farming looked like so high up in the mountains. Next week, we will be rounding off our unit on South America!

This week I would like to commend Matthew for his on point participation during class discussions!

Middle School

Middle School ELA
6th grade had a great week! In grammar, students learned about compound subjects and compound verbs. We also practiced finding subjects in inverted sentences and questions. Students also spent the week reviewing for our upcoming vocabulary test! In writing, we learned about connotative word meanings, and words that have a technical meaning. We also started our novel study of Hatchet by discussing different types of conflict!

7th grade had a busy week! In grammar, we learned about combining sentences in several different ways to create better sentence variety. Students also spent the week reviewing our vocabulary unit in preparation for the test next week. In writing, students learned about different types of text structure, and wrote beautiful paragraphs. We also continued our novel study of Milkweed!

8th grade had a good week! In grammar, we learned about three types of verbal phrases. Students practiced recognizing them in sentences, as well as writing their own. In writing, students reviewed different types of text structure. We discussed how text structure helps authors carry their ideas across. In ELA, students continued their novel study of The Giver!

Middle School Math

6th finished unit 2 on fractions and decimals.

7th grade finished module 4 on angle relations and are currently working on circumference.

8th grade learned how to solve rational equations and apply algebra to ratios, rates, and proportions.

Middle School Social Studies

6th grade took the Unit 2 exam this week and also began Unit 3: South Asia. Students learned about the geography and notable features of the region, as well as facts about each country located within it.

7th grade completed the final lesson of Unit 2, regarding the first phase of American abolition. Students learned about the concept of abolition, how it began in the New World, who the original leaders of the movement were, and what the pro-slavery argument was.

8th grade learned about the beginning of the fight of workers to form unions in order to protect themselves. The class then had a discussion about the current events issue of whether or not to raise the federal minimum wage. Students talked about the positive and negative aspects of the proposal and gave their thoughts on the matter.

Middle School Science

6th graders finished their Unit about the Earth’s Changing Surface.