SIHA Weekly for December 4, 2020

by admin | Dec 4, 2020 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah Parshas Vayishlach

In this week’s Parsha, we find an extremely interesting phenomenon. The Torah [which is usually very concise] mentions the passing of Rivka, our matriarch’s nursemaid.Her name is Devorah. Why is this such a special phenomenon? Out of the four matriarchs themselves, the Torah only mentions the passing of one, Rachel!
Why does the Torah find it so important to mention the passing of Devorah?
The only true “Torah home”, the only true Jewish home at that time was the home of Yitzchak and Rivka. Yaakov, our patriarch spent his whole life there [63 years]. Yaakov only left that “Torah Jewish fortress” because his life was in danger [Asov wanted to kill him].
He was very reluctant, nevertheless, because he was concerned about his “spiritual safety”. Rivka assured him that as soon as it was safe to return, she would send for him and restore his spiritual loss that he may have accrued during the time away, especially at the home of Lavan, “non spiritual”, trickster and thief.
Explains Rav Dov Weinberger, the only “method” of accomplishing the above would be by sending a long standing member of that “spiritual fortress” which was the home of Yitzchak and Rivka. Therefore, Rivka sent Devorah, her nursemaid, to fetch Yaakov.
To answer our question “why the Torah deemed it so important to mention Devorah’s passing, and why send such an elderly person [she was 133 years old!]
Rivka knew that the only person who could possibly contain the correct spiritual ideals and values, would be someone that spent so many years in the true “spiritual fortress” , the home of Yitzchak and Rivka.
This is why Rivka “needed” to send Devorah who was 133 years old, for this mission! This is why the Torah deemed it so important to mention her name, even though the Torah did not even mention the passing of THREE Matriarchs!
We all know that in previous generations there were true Torah Jewish Spiritual fortresses i.e. in Europe. Many of us have merited to see grandparents from “the old country”/at least pictures of them and their way of life. It is so important for us to visit with these people, if we can, if they still exist. If we don’t have them with us, then we atleast need to study their behavior and their beliefs to preserve our pure heritage.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Kuritsky
Curriculum coordinator Judaic Studies

Special Announcement

A great, big SIHA Congratulations to all our amazing Students of the Month!

• Kindergarten – Shlomo Groys
• First Grade – Max Ryzhikov
• Second Grade – Sophia Volfson
• Third Grade – Leah Yakobzon
• 4-A – isabelle Sandler
• 4-B – Ariana Guz
• Fifth Grade – Idan Koldin
• Middle School, General Studies – Lana Mednik
• Middle School, Judaics – Tyler Nieves

Enjoy our latest SIHA Weekly Podcast, hosted by Lana Mednik!

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade
We had a great week in Kindergarten Judaics. We learnt about the tiny letter yud! We had fun playing does this start with a yud game! In First Grade Judaics we finished learning the nekuda segol. The students are doing such a great job practicing their reading! We are even up to reading 3 letter words!

This week we started to learn about Channukah! We discussed how Antiochus and the Greeks were very focused on being strong soldiers, while we as Jews know that the most important thing to focus on is Torah and Mitzvot! Even though Antiochus did not let the Jews keep Torah and Mitzvot the Jews did not listen. They used dreidels to trick the Greek soldiers into thinking they were playing games and not learning Torah. We discussed how a group of Jewish people were very upset at the laws Antiochus was making. They were also very upset because Antiochus put a pig in the Bet Hamikdash. These Jews got so angry that they got together to fight against the strong Greek army. These Jews were called the Maccabim. Their motto was Mi L’Hashem Eilai, if you are for Hashem join. These Maccabim felt that as proud Jews they were going to stand up and fight for Hashem’s honor even if they might not win, even if it is hard. We did a special project where we made our very own soldier in Hashem’s army hats. On the hat we made a shield where we wrote our name – “I am a proud Jew and I do what is right.” Then we drew two pictures of us doing the right thing, doing what Hashem wants, even if it’s hard, in two other shields on the hat. Some examples were, listening to our mommy right away and sharing our toys. We can’t wait to finish learning about Channukah and to bring all our projects home.

Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Kaplan

Second Grade
The week zoomed by as 2nd graders eagerly prepared for Chanukah. We are learning the story of Chanukah and practicing our reading skills at the same time. This week we added the blessings of the Torah to our daily prayers. We discussed Shprintzy who came from another country and never tasted a sweet lollipop. When she first saw the lollipop she thought you stick it in your hair or ear, then she thought you eat it with the wrapper;only when she discovered the wrapper must be removed in order to taste the sweet lollipop did she see how sweet and tasty it was. The more a person studies,toils and listens to Torah classes the more appreciation and love is developed for our precious Torah which G-d gifted to the Jewish nation. In this weeks Parsha we discussed how our forefather Yaakov went back and crossed back to the other side of the river as he forgot some small insignificant jars. The Torah which is our guidebook for life relates this episode to teach us not to be wasteful. Many students related that when their clothes become too small they give them away to family,friends or poor people. If they have extra food they put it back to either give to one of their siblings or save for another day. All the 2nd grades have exceptional character traits. This week Amit did not have a green crayon to color the vowels on his worksheet with. Gal immediately handed him her crayon to use. In another episode, some papers and books fell off the desk and the students sitting close by quickly picked everything up. We are so proud of the 2nd graders.
Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Spiegel

Third Grade
Third grade was so happy to be back in school this week. We were able to finish the full story of Chanukah. The students learnt in detail the struggles of the Jews during the time of the Greek empire. They learnt the heart wrenching but inspiring story of Chana and her 7 sons as well as the heroic stories of Yehudit and Yochanan who tricked very important and powerful generals of the Greek army and killed them. They both made sure to daven to Hashem before executing their plan. THey understand now the greatness of the miracle of Chanukah.
They are also fluent on their Chanukah spelling words in Hebrew.
In Parsha, we learnt the importance to Daven to Hashem before we try to execute a plan, no matter what it is, from Yaakov who was preparing to meet his angry brother eisav. We also learnt that Yaakov fought against Eisav’s angel and won and received a new name: Israel. One of the students shared that his grandfather who has a birthday this week is named Israel, just like Yaakov in this week’s Parsha.
Shabbat Shalom
Mrs Ivry

Fourth Grade

We are so excited to learn all about the multi-sensational history of Chanukah!!
Our Parshah class took an exciting twist too, as we learn all about how Eisav tried to kill his twin brother, our forefather, Yaakov. We learn from Yaakov to cry out to Hashem in prayer and ask him to help us when we feel afraid. On the topic of prayer, btw, our daily Shachrit is truly beautiful, we are so careful to conduct ourselves in a way that is befitting a meeting with the King of all kings, Hashem. We review thoughts about our infinite value, how it is ours and no one and nothing can take it away, on a daily basis.( I believe that truly comprehending this concept can save us from a lot of suffering!) I’d like to thank all my generous, thoughtful girls for the home-made bridal décor and genuine Mazal Tov cards and pictures that they’ve been showering me with. My refrigerator at home looks truly fit for the bride. Have a wonderful Shabbat and thank you again for sharing your precious treasures with me!
Morah Toba

7th and 8th Grade Girls
Did you know that our class invented a game? Jewish Mafia. It is similar to the widely known game, Mafia, however we pick a setting form a time period in our history and apply it to the game. It gets us giggling and having lots of fun as we depict each scene and make it come alive. We got into a great habit of partnering up and reading together, to practice our Hebrew reading. We began to discuss the history of Chanukah. We sat wide eyed as we heard Yaffa Bereket and myself say over the famous story of Chana’s 7 sons. They were burnt one by one, by the infamous king, Antiyochet for refusing to forsake the holy Torah.
Chana watched all this, brokenhearted yet supportive of her sons decisions to make this very bold statement. This story is only one example of many that took place in this time period of the second Beit Hamikdash when Antiyochet gained control of Israel and tried to conform the Jews to forsake Hashem’s law.
We learnt that there is a very special place up in heaven saved for people who die “Al Kiddush Hashem” – for the sake of Hashem’s glory. We know how lucky we are that we can practice Judaism today freely, with no fear of getting prosecuted because of it!
Have a wonderful Shabbat!
Morah Toba

7th and 8th Grade Boys
Seventh and Eighth grade boys learned about intricate and detailed laws of brachos i.e. in a “cholent” aka “chamim” , we learned that depending on whether there were small pieces mixed together or there were large pieces , and one only can eat one item from the cholent at a time, the “Halacha” regarding the Bracha will change. If there is barley in the cholent and the cholent is made up of small pieces of meat and potatoes, the Bracha will be M’zonos. The more prominent Bracha, as put by Amiel/Michael. If there are large pieces of meat, we will say Shehakol on the meat, and if there are large pieces of potatoes, we will say Ha’adama on the potatoes [besides, of course the M’zonos on the barley]. We also discussed that there will actually be a different Bracha made on Kellog’s brand corn flakes versus a “knock off ” brand . Kellog’ stakes corn and flattens it and toasts it , therefore the Bracha is “Ha’adama”, other brands , crush the corn into cornmeal [causing it to lose its Ha’adama status], and then “create” a flake. The Bracha then becomes Shehakol.
We continued our study in the laws of “saving a life”.
We studied the Parsha of course.

Rabbi Kuritsky

Elementary School

Kindergarten
This week kindergarten has been working hard on their writing skills and almost the entire class can now independently write sentences! They also listened to many different types of stories and made insightful predictions about what they thought would happen next in the story. They are becoming so good at our spelling game that they keep getting a tie and both teams win. In math they began learning to add and subtract using objects, number lines, and mental math. They are doing an amazing job adding and subtracting by 1. In science they learned all about the sun. They were given a problem to solve and they worked in groups to figure out how they can create a type of shade to protect their doll from the sun. They came up with some very interesting and functional creations. In social studies they learned the definition of family and what makes everyone’s family different. Congratulations to Shlomo Groys on being our student of the month.
First Grade
This week our first graders shared about their family traditions. Students were so proud to tell about the celebration of Chanukah. Students expressed their excitement for the songs, the gifts, and all of the treats Chanukah brings. Some were most grateful for lighting the menorah and being with family.

Mrs. Adams

In Science, students worked so hard on their “Land Habitat” projects. Ms. Belli is so proud of their amazing work.
Ms. Bronstein

Miss Sasha

4A
This week in math we continued to work on fractions. Adding and subtracting like fractions and fractions from a whole. Changed improper fractions to mixed numbers and completed word problems with fractions.
In ELA we started a unit on verbs and persuasive writing. Identified action verbs and verb tense, subject – verb agreement. We also completed a few persuasive writing activities.
In Social Studies, we started chapter 4 living in the East. We discussed the distinctive heritage of New England and the Mid- Atlantic states and their state governments.

In Science, students incorporated the lessons into their drawing representing different ecosystems.

4B
4B had a bit of a stressful week this week. After a relaxing Thanksgiving break, we came back to a full week that included a Grammar quiz and test, and a social studies test! But 4B is resilient! I am confident that we did very well on all quizzes and tests. In other news, we have a new student of the month. Due to academic excellence, excellent behavior, and consistent completion of HW and other assignments, I am proud to announce that the student of the month in 4B is Ariana Guz! Congratulations Ariana!

In Science, students incorporated the lessons into their drawing representing different ecosystems.

Fifth Grade

The fifth grade had a busy week. In grammar the students learned about action verbs and direct objects. In writing the students practiced finding themes in a story or a drama. And in reading, we started our new novel, Holes by Louis Sachar. 

In Math, students practiced adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions. There is an upcoming unit test next week. I think the class will well on it!

In Social Studies the students started learning about the continent of South America. They are currently learning about the many and varied geographical features of our neighbor to the south. 

In science, students performed a Mini-Lab to dissect a bean seed in order to identify all of the parts of an embryonic plant and describe it in their drawing and discussions.

This week, Ms. Tatic would like to commend her remote students- Ziva, Idan, and Alec for working so hard despite the many challenges that remote learning brings to the table. 

Middle School

Middle School ELA
6th Grade had a great week!
In grammar, we learned about different ways to combine sentences. Students practiced making compound subjects, compound verbs, and compound sentences. They also revised paragraphs to create greater sentence fluency. In writing, we wrote about character motivations and attitudes. Students wrote beautiful paragraphs! We also continued our novel study of “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan. Mrs. Hazen would really like to commend Etai for being a great student and writing a beautiful paragraph!

7th grade had a busy week! In grammar, we learned about different ways to begin a sentence. We revised paragraphs to create greater sentence variety and fluency. In Writing, students reviewed summarizing fictional texts. We also wrote a wonderful characterization journal. We continued our study of Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. Mrs. Hazen would like to commend Leam for being a diligent student!

8th grade had a great week! In grammar, we reviewed independent and dependent clauses. Students also learned about different types of subordinate clauses and how to use them in their writing. In writing, students reviewed elements of story and wrote beautiful paragraphs incorporating those elements. We also continued our novel study of The Giver by Lois Lowry. Students wrote a beautiful journal about the setting of our novel

Middle School Math

Middle School Science
In science, Ms. Belli’s students learned and understood the Earth’s Changing Surface. Students described the differences between mechanical and chemical weathering and were able as well to give examples of each of them.

In science, Ms. Belli’s students studied:”Earth: Water Planet”; the importance of water on Earth and fresh water sources as being either surface or underground water.

Middle School Social Studies

This week, 6th grade began the journey of learning about the greatest civilization of the ancient world: Egypt. Students reviewed a timeline of Egyptian history, and learned about the key to Egypt’s power, the River Nile, as well as the period that historians term “Dynasty 0.”

7th grade discussed the very first government of the United States of America, the Articles of Confederation. Both the positives and the negatives of the first republic that the world had seen since the days of Ancient Rome were examined, as well as the fallout of that system.

8th grade also journeyed through a fundamental period in World and American history, the dawn of industrialization. The pre-Industrial Revolution age was discussed, followed by the first and second periods of industrialization. Famous American inventors, such as Thomas Edison, and their creations were also looked at.

Jewish History

7th grade learned some valuable lessons on what it means to be the Chosen people, what is anti-semitism and what is our birthright as the Jewish people as we explored the life and times of Yaakov Avinu.
8th grade began to learn the background of the Chanuka miracle as we develop a true understanding of what really happened.

SIHA Weekly for November 20, 2020

by admin | Nov 20, 2020 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah Parshas Toldos

In this week’s Parsha, the “twins” Yaakov and Asov, are born.
Yaakov is described in the Torah as “Ish tam yoshaiva ohalim” [a perfect man who sits in tents].
Asov is described as “yodeia tzayid, ish sade” [knows how to hunt, a man of the field].
What is the Torah telling us?

The Torah is telling that Yaakov sat in tents [tents in those days were the buildings] where people studied. People who wanted instruction from; parents, teachers, elders. Yaakov was “ish tam” [a man who wanted and strived for perfection.]

The only way to obtain perfection is to study from our Torah instructors who have the “mesora” the tradition, the Jewish Ideology, passed down from Hashem G-d Himself to Moshe at Har Sinai.
This was what Yaakov strived for!

Asov, on the other hand, is described as Ish Sade, a man of the field.
Asov wanted to go out to hunt and sport.
Asov wanted and needed instant gratification.
Asov was not even interested in looking in the pot of red lentil soup to see what was inside.
As the Pasuk says “give me some of the “RED RED ” [stuff] that was cooking.
All that he cared about was that it looked RED . He didn’t even care enough to look inside to see what was in the “red stuff”.

Let us learn from Yaakov the importance of striving for perfection. The need for instruction from elders, from Torah teachers and their guidance.
Let us not learn from Asov. Let us not look for instant gratification.

Shabbat Shalom
Good Shabbos
Rabbi Kuritsky Judaic Studies Curriculum Coordinator

Special Announcement

Programming news:
The theme of this month is Electricity. We are all trying to work on being positive and spreading light to others. Did you ever notice that when someone is happy and positive, it can be similar to a fire and spread to all those around him? Let’s be those kinds of people and spread joy and positivity to others!
All the students had a great time when we came into every classroom on Tuesday, Rosh Chodesh Kislev, to celebrate the new month and introduce the new theme. Every student received a glow-in-the-dark ball to represent electricity and spreading light to others and chocolate coins in honor of Kislev, the month of Chanukah.
Looking forward to another wonderful week!

Ms. Dershowitz

Please enjoy another edition of our weekly podcast!

Special Feature!

Tyler Nieves and Noah Gerber sat down with Rabbi Kuritsky to talk to him about his experience at SIHA.

Tyler and Noah: How did your first week go?
Rabbi Kuritsky: It was very exciting!

Tyler and Noah: What topics are you planning to teach?
Rabbi Kuritsky: Gemera, Halacha, and Parsha 

Tyler and Noah: What do you like doing on your free time?
Rabbi Kuritsky: Bike Riding.

Tyler and Noah: What is your favorite color?
Rabbi Kuritsky: Brown.

Tyler and Noah: What’s your take on online learning?
Rabbi Kuritsky: It’s difficult and a far cry from a live class setting

Judaics

Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics

We had a great week in Kindergarten Judaics. We are getting very strong with the letter Chet. A Chet is a table with Challah on top, we all know how to cheer! In First Grade Judaics we began to learn how to read three letter words using the nekudot we know. We are very excited to begin a new nekuda next week! This week we learnt about the bracha of mezonot. We made mezonot magnets and enjoyed tasting mezonot pretzels and cookies! This week we continued our Hakarat Hatov unit and saying thank you. We discussed how much we need to thank our parents and we made beautiful thank you cards for them too!
Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Kaplan

Second Grade

We had another productive week in 2nd grade Judaics. We completed our unit on Shabbat with a grand Shabbat Celebration on Friday. We are practicing our reading skills daily and loved learning this week’s Parsha Toldot. We know that Asov, the twin brother of Yaakov who loved to hunt was very careful with the mitzvah of honoring parents. Then we discussed different ways of honoring parents in class. Tuesday we celebrated Rosh Chodesh Kislev. The class knows Chanukah begins the 25th day of Kislev, we can’t wait!! Then we received special Rosh Chodesh stickers,had a raffle and enjoyed a small box of raisins.
Shabbat Shalom!
Mrs. Spiegel

The 3rd graders have adjusted so beautifully to zoom learning. We have made great progress in our reading skills learning to separate Hebrew words by syllables. We also mastered all the nekudot, we can name them, spell them, draw them and of course read them too!
In dikduk we started making short sentences using vocabulary words and prefixes. It was really cool to be able to put together what we’ve learnt so far.
We also watched a Chanukah video about the Chanukah history and story and can’t wait to see the end!!

Shabbat shalom
Mrs Ivry

Fourth Grade

What another wonderful week we had here on 4B island! Our kriah flash cards collection is growing as we keep matching all the letters with new Nekudot/vowels. Then we enjoyed the Parsha tales of Yaakov, our forefather and his evil twin brother, Asov. Our Brachot on food are being practiced with extra vigor, as we are now somewhat familiar with the translations of a lot of the words. We spoke all about the concept of doing a Mitzvah with intent, with “a fire in our heart”. One student admitted that she/he doesn’t feel much of a fire, to which her/his friend responded , “Don’t worry, I’ll give you some fire!”. What would we do without our supportive friends? There’s such a beautiful, spiritually healthy attitude of growth around here!

Morah Toba Safran

5th and 6th Grade Girls

Dear parents.
We had an amazing week!
We continued on in Chumash Shemot, learning about the new Pharaoh in Egypt, who was extremely worried about the Jews taking over his land. The Jewish people were having six babies at a time and they filled the land! So Pharaoh was trying to think of a plan to stop the Jews from becoming too powerful, by making them all into slaves! We will learn more about this next week.
This week in our weekly class on Jewish law, we learned about the Mitzvah of Netilat Yadayim (hand washing). Every morning after we wake up and say Modeh Ani, thanking Hashem for giving us another day of life, we wash our hands 6 times – 3 times on each hand [this is to remove the impurity from our hands for the wonderful and holy work that every one of us has to do each day] The holy work that we do is doing Mitzvot like helping others, taking care of our families, Davening/praying, giving love and care to those around us, keeping Jewish laws, learning Torah etc.

The winner of our weekly Halacha raffle was….. ZIVA IUNGER!!!!
Her prize was to come with me during school to 7-11 to get a slurpee! I really enjoyed spending time with Ziva and I’m looking forward to going to 7-11 with next week’s winner.

The Middah (character refinement) that we focused on this week was Chessed [Kindness and helping others, even when it inconveniences us]. Every time the girls do an act of Chessed, they fill out a card and move the piece on our game board. A very exciting celebration is coming up if the girls keep up the acts of kindness!
We learned about the Parsha this week – Parshat Toldot. It talks about the birth of Yaakov (Jacob) and Asov – the twin sons of Yitzchak (Isaac) and Rivka (Rebecca.)
On Friday, we made Challah. Every girl shaped 2 Challot for Shabbat because of the Mitzvah to make the blessing of Hamotzi on two breads. That’s called Lechem Mishnah (double bread) and it’s because in the desert, the Jewish people received their food portion of Manna double on Friday, so they don’t travel to get it on Shabbat.
Have a great Shabbat and a great weekend!
All the best,
Miss Dershowitz

Seventh and Eighth Grade Judaic Studies News
We are very happy to share that some of 8th graders have a new specialized learning program with Rabbi Levy.
The 7th and 8th graders began davening [praying] in our shul [with social distance].

This past week in Rabbi Kuritsky’s class, we learned “Hilchos Loshon Hara”.
We began an exciting new topic “Lo Taamod al dam reicha” literally, “do not stand on your friend’s blood”. This means do not stand by and let your friend die, when you can save him/her.
The questions we began discussing were: “How far does this go? Even at risk to your own life? Even when there is a monetary loss to the saviour?”
We began learning about Chanukah.
We learned about “basar shenisalem min haayin” [meat that was hidden from the eye]

Elementary School

Kindergarten
This week kindergarten learned the AW and the OW sound. They practiced reading and writing many different words with those sounds. They became spacemen and spacewomen as they practiced putting spaces in between their words when writing their sentences. In math they reviewed for their math test by making pattern necklaces, playing pattern games, and going on pattern scavenger hunts. In science they learned all about the difference between weather and climate. In social studies they learned what it means to be thankful and they made a fun art and writing project all about what they would like to eat on Thanksgiving.

First Grade
This week in first grade we learned more about maps. Students were excited to learn about different geographical terms like plains, mountains, rivers, and lakes. Students began adding and subtracting two-digit numbers in Math. Our first graders made 3-D pumpkins to remind us of the fall season.

Finally, students submitted Thankful Posters depicting what they are most thankful for. In these trying times, it is wonderful that our first graders understand the importance of being grateful for all of life’s blessings.

Second Grade
This week in ELA, the second graders did a lot of works with nouns. They learned the rules for making nouns plural and how to write possessive nouns. In math, the students used keywords to figure out whether they had to add or subtract to answer word problems. In social studies, the second graders had some great discussions about culture, customs, and traditions. The second grade had not one, but two spelling bees. The winners were Michael Groys and Sophia Volfson. Way to go Michael and Sophia!

-Ms. Bronstein

Fourth Grade
This week in math we reviewed for unit 2 test, The Four Operations of Whole Numbers. We solved many multistep and complex word problems.
In ELA we completed writing a compare and contrast essay. Continued to work on reading comprehension by reading passages and answering multiple choice and short answer questions.
In Social Studies we completed chapter 3 Exploring the East and competed the chapter test.

4B had another exciting week! This week we were movie stars! We recorded a video showing the importance of inclusion and getting along with others. Each class is creating a video, and a winner will be chosen. Our young movie stars are hopeful that they will win the contest, but are proud of their performance regardless of who wins. In other, less exciting news, we are learning how to do long division in Math. In ELA, with the help of our wonderful Mrs. Rosskamm, we learned how to write a “TIQA” paragraph. We also had a great conversation in Social Studies about the firsts explorers who came to America, and why Native Americans were called Indians. The children were also fascinated to learn that people used to think the earth was flat. It was a very interesting class discussion!

Fifth Grade
The fifth grade had a great week! In grammar, we learned about possessive singular and plural nouns and practiced combining sentences to make our writing flow better. We also practiced writing proper emails. In writing the students practiced comparing and contrasting settings and events and how they affect a story. This was wonderful practice for our upcoming essay! In reading the 5th grade finished their second novel of the year! I’m very excited that the class is making such progress! In math, students practiced adding and subtracting like and unlike fractions. And finally, in Social Studies, the students rounded off their unit on North America.

Middle School 

Middle School ELA

6th grade
Sixth graders had a good week! In Grammar, we learned about simple, compound, and complex sentences. We also continued our novel study of ‘The Lightning Thief’. In writing, we learned how elements of story relate to each other in order to create meaning. Students did an amazing job on their quiz! Mrs. Hazen would really like to commend Etai for being a good reader!

7th grade
Seventh graders had a great week! In grammar, we learned how to revise paragraphs to avoid series of too short, or too long sentences. We also concluded our novel study of Great Gilly Hopkins and are starting our next novel unit! Students wrote a great journal entry about Gilly!
In writing, we started making inferences from fiction texts, and we practiced extended response questions. Students did a great job! Mrs. Hazen would like to commend Ariella for having the highest grade in our extended response practice!

8th grade
Eighth graders had a wonderful week! In grammar, we learned how to revise paragraphs to create sentence variety. Students also reviewed for their vocabulary test and did a very good job! In writing, we reviewed elements of story and wrote paragraphs making inferences from fiction texts. We also continued our novel study of ‘Watsons go to Birmingham – 1963’! Mrs. Hazen would like to commend Taylor for being a great writer.

Middle School Math

6th
6th finished module 2 on factors and multiples. we will be going into rational numbers next week.

7th
7th are almost done with module 2 on inequalities. They learned how to represent the answer to inequalities on a number line and using interval notation.
8th
8th is finishing roots, radicals, and exponents.

Middle School Social studies
6th grade learned about the Ghana Empire this week: the rise of the state, the governmental structure, its natural resources and trade routes, and eventually, its decline.

7th grade took the important journey through the 1760s and 70s. The period from the Seven Years’ War until the American Revolution is one of the most crucial in the history of our republic and the class learned about the colonial fears and their responses during these decades.

8th grade played the Impeachment of a President game and completed its biography assignment. All of the students present participated very well during the three debate sessions and added their views to those of the historical actors that they portrayed.

Jewish History

7th grade spent this week working on their Wisdom of Creation project. They did an absolutely beautiful job. We put the completed project up in the hallway and it looks beautiful. I am very proud of them.

8th grade is moving on to the time of the second Beis HaMikdash

SIHA Weekly – November 13, 2020

by admin | Nov 13, 2020 | Newsletter

Dvar Torah Parshas Chayei Sarah

In this week’s Parsha, we find, Avraham ready to help find a wife for his son Yitzchok.
He sends his trusty servant Eliezer on this mission
Eliezer is described in the Torah as “Moishel b’chal asher lo” [ruling, in charge in all that is his].
Eliezer was given to be a proxy of ALL of Avraham’s money [which he had a tremendous amount of], all of his sheep, all of his cattle etc.
Avraham trusted him fully. Avraham was not worried in the slightest about his monetary possessions that were in Eliezer’s hands.
But, when it came to finding a wife for Yitzchok, the future of the Jewish nation, the continuity of all that Avraham worked for his whole life, he made sure that , before Eliezer was trusted in this mission, Eliezer;
A swore in the name of G-d
B the girl had to have certain pedigree
C she had to only come from a certain family
D she had to have the finest Middos
even though whatever Eliezer did was not binding.
We glean from this that to Avraham aveenu, our patriarch, spirituality , was way more important than physicality.

A story is told with Reb Yisroel Salanter, a great mussar personality.
The story goes as follows;
A town needed a shoichet [ritual slaughterer] to obtain kosher produce and fowl. A man presented himself as one. He was asked “are you fluent in the halachos [laws]”, to which he answered “yes”.
“Do you have experience”? He answered “yes”.
He was trusted for the position and hired.
He , the shochet then asked to borrow a hundred rubles [their currency]. NO ONE would lend him the $$$.

Let us all learn from our Patriarch Avraham, to keep our priorities in proper order.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Kuritsky
Judaic Studies Curriculum Coordinator

Special Announcement from the Judaics Programming Department:

Our upcoming theme for the month of Kislev is…. Electricity. That is the next step of our building process with the theme of Siha is our Home. Looking forward to coming into all the classrooms on Tuesday to give out the monthly prize and introduce next month’s contest.

Please enjoy a new edition of our weekly Podcast!

Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics

We had a terrific week in Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics! This week we learnt about the bracha of hamotzi. We know that hamotzi is made on bread types of foods like bagels and challah. We had so much fun making hamotzi-man magnets that we can’t wait to stick on our fridge at home! This week’s parsha is parshas Chayei Sara. We learnt how when Sara was alive there were 3 miracles. 1, there was a cloud of Hashem’s Holiness on her tent 2. The candles stayed lit from Friday to Friday, 3. Her dough/bread stayed fresh for the whole week. When Sara died these miracles stopped. In this week’s parsha Eliezer finds a wife for Yitzchok, Rivka. When Rivka came into the tent these three miracles came back. Thus, in connection to the miracle of the candles staying lit from Friday to Friday we made a parsha project of Shabbat Candlesticks and Shabbat Brachot Cards. We are so excited to bring them home so that our families can use them. Shabbat Shalom!

Second Grade Judaics

We had a busy week in 2nd grade learning all about the beauty of the special gift we cherish every Friday night as we celebrate Shabbat. We are learning the difference between the loud shva; shva-na and the sleeping shva; shva-noch. We learned about the trait of Chesed from our matriarch Rivka. When Eliezer came with 10 camels, Rivka demonstrated this trait of Chesed by not only giving water to Eliezer,but to all his camels as well. A very large ,time consuming undertaking for a young girl. We discussed different types of Chesed we do by helping around the house and the Chesed of all the devoted parents of the P.T.A. who volunteer their precious time without pay to help our school.
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Spiegel

Third Grade Judaics

Believe it or not but this week we started talking about Chanukah. Students are excited to welcome this very happy and delightful Holiday and are eager to learn more about the History of chanukah. AS an introduction, we read the book Pini the Pitcher which tells the story of Chanukah in the eye of the small oil pitcher, teaching us many important details about the Beth Hamikdash and the struggles that went into restoring it after the Jews won the war against the Greeks.
We also continue with our Kriah skills, going over all the exception rules.
In Dikduk we already started building short sentences using our vocabulary and prefixes knowledge.
In Parsha, the story gets better each week. This week, we lived through the passing of Sarah and the marriage of her son Ytzchak to Rivka. What an interesting date they had! Be sure to ask your child about it at the Shabbat table!

Shabbat Shalom,
Mrs Ivry

Fourth Grade Judaics

This week we focused on review of the alef bet and the sounds that it makes. Each “OT” (letter) This week alef through dalet was taught with different modalities. songs, stories, and hints to help us remember the name, formation, and sound of each one. We even learned a Midda that starts or is connected to the OT . Example: Alef we sang a song for Emet. Gimmel we leaned about gam zu ltova – Everything Hashem does is good even if we don’t see it.
We leaned in detail the story of Parshat Chayei Sara, and how special Rivka Imeinu was that she not only offered Eliezer water to drink but also to his 10 camels.
We learned the 3 Brachot that were always found in Sara Imeinu and Rivka Imeinu’s tent.
One of them was that the challa dough remained fresh from week to week. This week we sent home Little challa rolls in conjunction with the above!
Tzizit Honorable Mention:
Izzy
Adiel

The following came after class,and gave up a little of their own recess to put on a (brand new) pair of Tzizit and make the Bracha! WOW!
Oren
Yehoushu
Ethan
Lenny

4B:
What a week we had again, here at the best place on earth, 4B. We are excited about our new subject: Brachot on food, yay! We are going through the 6 Brachot that we say before we eat, and analyzing their english translations. The overall kriah level in the class is picking up at lightning speed, by the way! Ofcourse, the highlight of everyone’s week is our blast of Shabbat spirit that we get on Fridays by singing songs and hearing stories and insights about Shabbat as we collect our Shabbat treat!

Middle School Judaics

5th and 6th grade girls
We had a wonderful week, thank God! We continued on with Chumash Shemot. We learned about Yachid, (singular, male) Yechida, (singular, female) Rabim, (plural, male) and Rabot (plural, female) – the four different kinds of hebrew words.
On Monday, we enjoyed playing in the gym for our half-hour Chumash period. The girls had earned it when they did a beautiful job in the Parsha skits for Parshat Lech Lecha. We had a great time!
We enjoyed learning the Halacha of Modeh Ani in our class on Jewish law (Halacha). The first thing we do when we wake up in the morning is – say Modeh Ani! We’re thanking Hashem for giving us another day of life. He gave us back our Neshama (soul) because he believes in us! We have so much potential to be great, to grow and to impact the world in our own way. So Hashem gave us life because He believes in our greatness and what we can accomplish today!
We learned a really fun Modeh Ani song. Ask the girls to sing it – it’s great!
Every morning that the girls say Modeh Ani, they fill out a card and place it in the envelope of our Halacha raffle. The weekly winner will receive a slurpee.
The girls asked intelligent and interesting questions during Q&A (Questions and Answers).
We learned about the weekly Parsha, Parshat Chayei Sarah. Sarah died and Avrohom Avinu sent Eliezer to look for a new wife for Yitzchok. Rivka offered to bring water to Eliezer and his 10 camels – what a hard job! Eliezer knew this kind girl was a match for Yitzchok. Mazel tov!
We see the Middah of Chesed in Rivka. That’s the Middah that we focused on this week in our Middot scrapbook and campaign. Chessed – looking out for others, helping others in need, not focusing on ourselves but what we can do for others. Let’s keep it up!
Have a great Shabbat and weekend!
Best regards,
Miss Dershowitz

5th and 6th grade Boys
What a great week! Davening was out of the park with the boys learning the first Beracha of the Amida. We also had our end of term mishna test.
Shabbat Shalom.

7th and 8th grade Girls:
Thank you Hashem for yet another wonderful week here in 7/8th grade! Our class got into the most special habit of verbalizing our acceptance of Hashem’s will even when things seem to not be going our way. We got into this because we were inspired by our forefather Avraham , who accepted all kinds of agonizing tests from Hashem,including the order to slaughter his son, with complete and total, 100 percent, solid, absolute: acceptance! It’s clear that we have his DNA, judging by how well we can and do internalize this vital concept.
We play our “I accept” song daily these days, before we start class

7th and 8th grade boys:
This week the 7th and 8th grades began, an introduction to, maseches Brachos. This is a Major Milestone!
Brachos is the first masechta in all of “Shas” [Sheesha Sidrei Mishna and Talmud, the Oral law].
We practiced putting on our Tefilin the “proper way”. We are learning about the Mitzva of Tefilin, as well.

Rabbi Kuritsky worked on putting up M’zuzos with some of the boys.

CHOLENT [a mixture] a major food icon in our rich Jewish heritage.
Rabbi Kuritsky came prepared with a cholent pot [crock pot] beans, barley,potatoes, MEAT, spices and utensils.
The Boys really enjoyed preparing this delicious meal.

Additionally:
We are very happy that the 7th and 8th grade boys have begun Davening Mincha with a Minyan daily. This was arranged by Rabbi Kuritsky and the staff. We are joined daily by Rabbi Uzhansky, Rabbi Levy, Rabbi Kuritsky and Mr. Kaufman. We are extremely proud of how will the boys behave and how sincerely they pray.

In Rabbi Kuritsky’s Judaics class, we have studied Parsha ‘Guard your tongue’ (laws of forbidden speech) and have heard inspiring stories from Rabbi Kuritsky.

The boys took their first Parsha test on Parsha Vayeira and did very well. 

Elementary School

Kindergarten
This week the kindergarten students became pirates as they learned all about the ar sound. They picked their topic for their pattern books that they began to write and illustrate this week. They have a lot of great ideas and cannot wait to create their first book. In math they are becoming experts at making and labeling patterns. They did a lot of cutting and gluing to make patterns, played pattern games, and even painted their own pattern. In science they learned all about different types of severe weather and how to stay safe. They learned about tornadoes and they made a tornado in a bottle. Then they learned about blizzards and they made snow. In social studies we finished sharing our all about me books. We played a fun game to see how we all have some things in common with each other. We also talked about how even if we have differences we can still be friends and our differences are what make us unique. They also worked on trying to memorize their phone number and address.

This week the first graders made a project for Veterans Day. We learned that in Veteran’s Day we acknowledge those who serve in our nation’s military. Our first graders chose to honor them with autographs of the United States flag. I think these two-sided drawings are a great way to say “Thank you for your service!”

Second Grade

This week in ELA, the second graders have been comparing and contrasting different versions of stories. They have been having some really great discussions about why point of view is important. In math, the second graders have been hard at work adding and subtracting with renaming. In social studies, they learned about weather and climate. They also did an amazing job at acting out a play about how a weather forecast helped a family prepare for a snow storm. Thursday, November 12th was Lielle Garber’s birthday. Happy birthday Lielle!

In Science, Students learned the life cycle of plants and animals. During the science/art lesson 2nd graders drew amazing pictures of “Butterfly Life Cycle”.

This week 3rd grade students continued their geography lessons. They explored landforms and the resources they offer to both animals and humans. In Math class, they began to learn about mental math. In the weeks to come they will work on developing multiple methods to simplify equations and solve them more efficiently. In Grammar lessons, students were working on writing compound sentences using the conjunction and. They also practiced identifying nouns. During Russian lessons, students presented the poem they have worked hard on deciphering and learning. They all did a fantastic job!

In Science, Students learned and compared incomplete and complete metamorphosis using a venn diagram.

Miss Sasha

Fourth Grade

4A
This week in math we started to work on multiplication by two digits. And solved multistep words problems.
In ELA we are working on different writing that compares assignments. Identifying and forming plural possessive nouns, combining nouns, and abbreviations.
In Social Studies we are reading, discussing and answering questions about the resources, economy and people of the East.

In Science, 4th graders displayed beautiful work labeling the parts of a flower during science class.

4B
This week 4B learned some tricks and techniques for doing mental math. I challenged the students to answer addition problems with numbers in the thousands without writing anything down, and they only had 15 seconds to give their answers. Every student was able to give a correct answer within the 15 seconds provided, on the first try! In ELA we learned how to identify singular and plural nouns, and how to differentiate between common and proper nouns. We are also working on a video showing the importance of inclusion.
In Science, 4th graders displayed beautiful work labeling the parts of a flower during science class.

The 5th grade had a busy week. In ELA the 5th grade reviewed nouns and capitalization rules. They did a unit review of vocabulary for their Vocabulary Quiz at the end of the week.
In writing they practiced comparing and contrasting characters in a drama. The 5th graders had a blast reading the skits! In reading, we continued reading our class novel and began comparing Pippi to Jeffery “Maniac” Magee in preparation for our Compare and Contrast Essay.
In math the class spent the week reviewing for their Unit 2 test. I think everyone will do well!
Lastly in Social Studies the students continued to learn about North America. They finished their notes on Mexico and started taking notes on Central America. They practiced their map skills by filling in maps of Canada and Mexico.

In science, 5tth graders performed a mini-lab: “Celery experiment”. During the experiment observations students understood that a plant’s stem supports the plant and provides a pathway for water to move up the plant. A lab worksheet was provided to students to describe and conclude the experiment.

This week, Ms. Tatic would like to commend Alec Rudnin for his amazing work ethic!

Middle School

Middle School ELA

6th Grade
Sixth graders had an eventful week! In reading, the students are greatly enjoying The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. We are currently in the middle of a novel study unit, and we discussed characterization and foreshadowing. In grammar, students learned about independent and dependent clauses. Students also reviewed making inferences, and made some great inferences from fictional texts.

7th Grade
Seventh graders had a busy week! In reading, we wrapped up our novel study of Great Gilly Hopkins. Students wrote some beautiful journals. In grammar, students reviewed types of sentences, and in writing, we discussed the relationships between different story elements in fiction. Students wrote paragraphs examining the relationship of the setting to the conflict, plot, and characters of a story.

8th Grade
Eighth graders had a good week! In reading, we continued our novel study of Watsons go to Birmingham-1963. Students discussed characterization and wrote beautiful journals. In grammar, students reviewed for their unit test. Everyone did a phenomenal job!

Middle School Math
6th:
Started their unit on numbers. We completed module 1 on integers and are beginning module 2 on factors and multiples.

6th:
Started their unit on expression and equations. We completed module 1 which included algebraic expressions, one step equations with rational coefficients , writing two step equations, and solving two-step equations.

8th:
Started chapter 1 on elements of algebra. We completed lessons 1.1 to 1.4 on writing and translating algebraic expressions, equations, and inequalities. We are working on identifying and understanding algebraic properties.

Middle School Science
7th Graders are truly behaving like scientists! Students analyzed their experimental setup, read through the situation and created an investigative question along with a hypothesis to test their prediction. Students are investigating “which coin will hold the most drops of water”. Along with their investigation, students will be creating their own experiment and identifying steps necessary to explain the procedures to carry out their investigation, they will identify and list their materials. Great job to all of the 7th graders especially Yisroel, he is doing fantastic in class great job Yisroel, keep up the great work.

8th Graders are learning the importance of proteins. Proteins are the instructions of all biochemical processes that take place within our body. Students are learning how these proteins are made, how they function and what causes them to denature. They are analyzing how our body obtains the nutrients from these molecules and what steps our body needs to take so we can obtain what we need to carry out life processes.

6th graders learned about the earthquakes, as well as its epicenter and focus. Students explained the relationship between earthquakes and faults, the occurrence of earthquakes according to elastic rebound theory, described where (in a Plate Tectonic sense) different types of earthquakes are generated.

Middle School Social Studies
6th grade learned about the Persian Empire this week, including the founder of the Achaemenid Dynasty, Cyrus the Great, and his son-in-law, Darius the Great, who oversaw arguably the greatest empire in the ancient world.

7th grade continued its journey on the road towards creating America by discussing the original English colonies at Roanoke, James Town, and Plymouth. All of the students were interested in what happened to the “lost colony,” a mystery which has confounded historians since the 1590s

8th grade was introduced to the Reacting to the Past series and given their roles for the Impeachment of a President game. All of the students were tasked with doing research on their character in preparation for writing a biography essay and playing the game in earnest.

Jewish History
Seventh Grade moved on to learn about Yitzchok Avinu and how his life parallel’s our history.

8th grade had some fantastic discussions this week about various relevant topics. We all enjoyed them, especially me! We also concluded our study of the Jews under Babaloniayn rule and are moving on to the Perisan and Median exile.

Mrs. Rosskamm

SIHA Weekly – November 6, 2020

by admin | Nov 6, 2020 | Newsletter

SIHA Weekly – November 6, 2020

In Parshat Vayeira we learn about the miraculous birth of our patriarch Isaac, Yitzchak Avinu. The 89 year old Sarah, upon hearing of her upcoming pregnancy and birth, reacts with laughter. When she indeed gives birth to a son he is named Yitzchak , which is the Hebrew term for laughter.
If we examine the concept of laughter, we find that it is generally triggered by incongruity, by an unexpected absurdity which induces laughter in the observer. A baby speaking like an adult is a sure way to elicit laughter from a crowd, and conversely, Sarah being told she would give birth to a son at the age of 90 could not help but laugh.
The fact that the boy’s name is an everlasting testament to the absurdity of his birth is crucial for us, his descendants. In truth, all of Jewish history can only be understood if we realize that in fact our survival and existence is truly absurd and incongruous with other historical experiences. Our continued thriving Nation is a testament to G-d’s providence and direct care, for without it we would have disappeared long ago into the dustbin of history.
Hashem wanted our ancestors and us to realize that our very existence is not natural; that is why our founding father and mother only produced Yitzchak at an age where human hope for a child was lost. The very beginning of this nation was supernatural and his name conveys this to us and serves as a reminder in case we should ever lose sight of this phenomena.
It is inspiring to see that the parents of SIHA recognize our unique heritage and want to ensure that their children receive a Jewish education and remain proud members of this unique People.
It has been a privilege to be part of SIHA and although saddened to be leaving SIHA, I am excited to pass the baton on to Rabbi Kuritsky, who brings many years of experience in Jewish education to this wonderful school.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Stewart

Special Feature!

A great big SIHA welcome to Morah Bistriz, the new Judiacs Teacher for 4A! Our intrepid Yaffa Bareket interviewed her for our SIHA Weekly:

Yaffa: When was your Aha! moment that made you realize you wanted to be a teacher?

Morah Bistriz: When I had a teacher who left an impression on me. I still remember her powerful lesson. 

Yaffa: Are there any special events this week in your classroom?

Morah Bistriz: We are beginning a Shabbat program on Friday. This week we began with each child telling me what they look forward to on Shabbat. Their answers were mounted on our bulletin board! 

Yaffa: How did your first day at SIHA go?

Morah Bistriz: It was wonderful! 

Yaffa: What made you to come to SIHA?

Morah Bistriz: I heard from Mrs. Rosskamm, a neighbor and a friend of mine, that it was a great place!

We hope Morah Bistriz has a wonderful time at SIHA!

Please enjoy a new edition of our weekly Podcast! 

A friendly reminder —

The weather is changing! Please remember that while we want all of our students to feel warm and comfortable, it is imperative that they wear appropriate school uniform attire to school. 
For girls that means wearing a skirt knee-length or longer. For boys, proper slacks. All students must wear a shirt with sleeves long enough to cover the elbow. 
All tops should be white or light blue, and all bottoms should be dark blue or black.

Please note: no hoodies(sweatshirts with the hood attached).

Judaics Curriculum

Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics

Wow what a great week we had in Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics! In Kindergarten we learnt the very, very, straight as a soldier letter VAV! We even have our very own vav-soldier march! In First Grade we have begun to learn the letter Patach, we have been having a lot of fun color coding all the kamatz and patach and are getting very good at differentiating between the two. This week, as a continuation of our davening (praying) unit we made our very own siddurim! We know that when we are davening, we are talking to Hashem. We can thank Him for everything He does for us and ask Him for anything we want! Hashem is always listening! In parsha we learnt about Avraham who did the mitzvah of Hachnosas Orchim, inviting guests, and about the people of Sedom who did the opposite! We made special Hachnosas Orchim cards which we can’t wait to use so that we can invite guests over just like Avraham Avinu!

Morah Kaplan

Second Grade Judaics

We had another busy week in 2nd grade Judaics. We learned about two important mitzvot. Bikur Cholim which we all try to do. Just as Hashem visited Avrohom after his circumcision(Brit) Avi told us how he visited his friend who had a broken arm. We try to call our friends who are not feeling well and we are also fulfilling the mitzva that way.  Sophie told us how she performed the mitzva of Hacnosat Orchim when Ava came to her house. She offered her food and shared all her toys. We learn this all from this week’s Parsha of V’aira. Our forefather Avrohom told the angels he will bring them a little water and he came back with all types of delicious food. It is better to say less and do more. We are working on building up our reading skills and learning all about Shabbat this week. 

Shabbat Shalom, Mrs. Spiegel

Third Grade Judaics

Kita Gimel started the week by celebrating their friend’s Avraham’s birthday. Everyone made a blessing in honor of his birthday and Avremi gave a blessing of health and success to his classmates.
This week we enjoyed our kinesthetic spelling wit jumping jacks, squatting and hoping. We are now maven at spelling the months of the year and we know them mostly in correct order.
We also learnt more prefixes in Dikduk. We now know the translation of 5 prefixes. We cant wait to put words together and start building short sentences in Hebrew.
In Parsha we learnt about the Mitzva of Bikkur Cholim and  Hachnassat orchim that Avraham used to live to do. We also learnt about the miracles that existed in Sarahs tent. It was fun to hear the story of th angels who came to visit Avraham.

Shabbat Shalom

Mrs Ivry

Elementary School

Kindergarten

This week kindergarten had so much fun at our alphabet party. They made alphabet hats, played with alphabet stamps, made pictures with alphabet stickers, colored the letters in their names to decorate our classroom, made alphabet necklaces, listened to an alphabet story, and popped balloons to find the lowercase letters that were inside each balloon so they can match it to the capital letter. The faster they popped their balloon the more balloons they got to pop! They also had snacks while they watched The Letter Factory. Even with all of this fun they still had time this week to learn how to independently write a sentence. In math they learned how to make an AB and an AAB pattern. In social studies they finished making their all about me books and began reading their books to the class. They also listened to a story about a farmer and a duck and then voted for which character they thought would be the best president in the story.

Ms. Syetta

First Grade

This week our 1st graders learned a lot. We reviewed fact families. We studied the human life cycle and created a chart about our favorite fruits. Students close the Social Studies Unit about families and community.
As a closing activity, students presented a Social Studies Community Leaders project. Each first grader was eager to share regarding leaders in their homes, school, and community.  They all did a phenomenal job!

Mrs. Adams.

Second Grade

The second graders have been hard at work this week! In ELA, they have been identifying morals of fables and folktales. They also started their second trade book Charlotte’s Web. In math, they have started subtracting two 2-digit numbers with renaming. In social studies, they’ve been learning the names of the seven continents and the names of all 50 states in the USA.
In science, amazing projects about Food Chain were presented during science Class.
Great Job 2nd graders! Mrs. Belli is so proud of you!!

Ms. Bronstein

This week during Grammar, Grade 3 learned how to create compound sentences using the conjunction and. During our Math class students reviewed how to round to the nearest ten and hundred to prepare for their quiz. They also began working with rounding to the nearest thousand. In Social Studies, we introduced the topic of geography. We discussed the different landforms and their resources we will learn more about next week. During our Russian lesson students learned salutations for their buddies as well as adults. They also began learning a poem called Meeshka. They not only learned the words and their meanings, but also created illustrations to show the plot of the poem.

In science, students finished the first chapter “Plants”.  Some of the students identified the ways the plants reproduce and grow based on their experiments.

Mrs. Belli wants to commend:
Ryan for an amazing demonstration of  his experiment:  “Growing potato”
Benjamin: “New roots growing on onion”

Miss Sasha

Fourth Grade

4A

This week in math we continued to work on long division, and solve multistep word problems.
In ELA we worked on identifying common nouns, capitalize proper nouns, and change singular nouns to singular possessive nouns. In Social Studies this week we had our chapter 2 test Understanding Regions and started chapter 3 Exploring the East. In science, 4th grade learned about Human Body Systems.

Mrs. Shats

4B

4B had another exciting week! We presented our “all about me” personal narratives to the class. The children really enjoyed reading their narratives to the class! After they read, the rest of the class had an opportunity to ask questions to the presenter. They wrote about their families, hobbies, traditions, and how they can make SIHA a better place. I thought it was a great way for us to learn about each other. I also want to commend Ethan Shenkman for being the only student in 4B to score 100 on the second social studies test! Good job Ethan!

In science, 4th grade learned about Human Body Systems. 

Mr. F

Fifth Grade

Fifth graders had a wonderful week! In grammar, they reviewed for their Grammar Test. In reading, they started their new novel; The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking. In Math, students worked on multiplication and division of three digit numbers by two digit numbers. In Social studies, students learned about the U.S. and Mexico.
This week Ms. Tatic would like to commend Joshua Gluck for his wonderful sense of humor.

In science, 5th graders started a new chapter on “Types of plants and their adaptation”.

Middle School

Middle School ELA

6th Grade
Sixth grade had a very busy week! In Grammar, we reviewed for our vocabulary unit Test. We played an exciting Kahoot challenge with the 7th grade, and I’m proud to say that the 6th graders won! Great job, 6th grade! In ELA, we started our next novel: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Mrs. Hazen especially wants to commend Noam Tisona and Gabriella Fishman for being amazing!

7th Grade
Seventh grade had a busy week! In grammar, we reviewed and prepared for our unit test in vocabulary and grammar. Everyone did a great job! We also continued our novel study of the Great Gilly Hopkins. We discussed character motivations and started our unit on making inferences from fictional texts. Mrs. Hazen especially wants to commend Noga Sayag for being very diligent.

8th Grade
Eighth grade had a good week! In grammar, students practiced identifying and using figurative language in their writing. We also began our unit on making inferences from fictional texts. Students did a great job! Mrs. Hazen especially wants to commend Taylor Badalov for being a very hard-working student.

Middle School Math

This week the 6th grade class completed their work on problems with fractions divided by fractions. Their first quiz was a challenge, but they persevered and did excellently on the second one! Their week ended with them reviewing long division problems.

7th grade honors is currently polishing their equations solving techniques. They just took a quiz on multistep equations and did quite well. On the other hand, the 7h grade regular is working towards translating mathematical phrases into mathematical expressions. Their most recent quiz proved challenging for them but after going over their corrections they demonstrated excellent comprehension.

8th grade continues to master facts, operations and applications involving scientific notation. In their most recent assessment they did quite well and now they are working on their Unit Review 2 which will prepare them for their Unit Test. Simultaneously, the 8th grade Honors is currently wrapping up their work on solving literal and regular equations. In their most recent Unit Test, the 8th grade honors showed confidence and proficiency.

Mr. Martin

Middle School Science

6th graders learned about The Theory of Plate Tectonics, the evidence that geologists used to discover the layers of the Earth.
A mini-lab:” Convection Currents” was performed during the science class.

7th Grade is learning how to think like a scientist. They will be learning step by step how a scientist comes up with a theory. Answering essential questions or identifying problems through observation, investigating and researching data. Students will be creating hypotheses, explaining quantitative and qualitative data through analysis, graphing, experiments. Students will be completing their own lab experiment and writing a full investigative report.

I would like to mention Lana for going above and beyond for her classmates, as she observed one of her classmates needed assistance with an assignment and without prompting or asking walked over to him and assisted him. Way to go Lana! I would also like to mention Noga for outstanding work ethic, as she was unsure what to do for a particular assignment and went about it the best way she knew how without clarification as she didn’t want to “just not do it” she earned extra credit for completing the assignment.

8th Grade students are learning how our body responds to various macronutrients and what purpose they serve. Students will be able to explain how and why food does not just enter our cells that it must go through a process before we can use the nutrients from the things we eat. Students will be analyzing their own eating habits and make changes within their daily diet and activities. They will be explaining how they enter cells and what body systems work together to distribute said nutrients. Students are also investigating what things look like under a light microscope and identifying the various types of microscopes and what they are used for. Students are learning the difference between quantitative and qualitative data, how to extrapolate data and plug it into the appropriate type of graph.

Middle School Social Studies

This week all of the middle school students took a break from their regular studies to examine the U. S. presidential and Congressional elections, which occurred on Tuesday. All of the students learned about the Electoral College, from its creation in Article II, Section 1 of the U. S. Constitution to its modern form. Students discussed how and why the Founding Fathers chose this particular system. Also covered were the national Senate and House races, including a look at the composition of the chambers prior to citizens going to the polls.
As the results have been delayed this year due to unique circumstances, students were given longer than normal to discuss the election process and developing stories, both in a formal class setting and informally amongst themselves, than they normally would have had. All 3 grades displayed an impressive interest in the process and asked probing questions regarding the particulars of the system by which America chooses its chief executive.
Kudos to 7th grade’s Lana Mednik for completing the bonus assignment over Election Day. Keep up the great work, Lana!
Kudos also go to 8th grade’s Josh Osher for completing the bonus assignment on Election Day.
Noam Tisona from 6th grade also deserves a commendation for completing the bonus assignment on Election Day!

Mr. Kaufman.

Jewish History

7th grade has spent the week exploring the wonders of the world as we figure out how Avraham Avinu recognized Hashem. We began our first major project and I am looking forward to the results. 8th grade is learning more about exile and what it accomplishes.

Mrs. Rosskamm

SIHA weekly – October 30, 2020

by admin | Oct 30, 2020 | Newsletter

In Parshat Lech Lecha we learn about our ancestor Abraham’s ascension to prominence as he travels to Israel, goes down to Egypt and then returns to Israel a wealthy man.
When war breaks out between rival kings in the region he joins the war to rescue his nephew Lot who had been taken captive. Abraham was victorious in battle, released all the captives and returned all the spoils. The king of Sdom wished to reward Abraham with all the spoils of the battle but Abraham rebuffed the king’s offer lest the King of Sdom take credit for enriching him and the credit not be attributed to G-d:

” אִם־מִחוּט וְעַד שְׂרוֹךְ־נַעַל וְאִם־אֶקַּח מִכָּל־אֲשֶׁר־לָךְ וְלֹא תֹאמַר אֲנִי הֶעֱשַׁרְתִּי אֶת־אַבְרָם”
“Neither from a thread to a shoe strap, nor will I take from whatever is yours, that you should not say, ‘I have made Abram wealthy.”

Abraham’s example of items he will not take from the king seems curious. If he would have stated “from gold and treasures to a thread” that would be understandable but why would he choose two negligible items cover the whole gamut of spoils he does not want to accept?
Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) teaches us a vital lesson to explain Abraham’s statement. When measuring the distance between two points on a map, the shortest distance is a straight line. However, you can also measure by circling the globe and measuring the distance by going full circle. Thus, two cities adjacent to each other in one sense take up only a small part of the world but measured differently will encompass the entire globe.
Abraham was saying that from his perspective every item in the world, from the grandest to the simplest, is important; even a thread is something to be valued and attributed to G-d. This is because everything in the world, if used properly, serves as a tool to live a proper life in the service of Hashem. Thus the proper way to measure the spoils was not linear rather as a circle, for there aren’t levels of possessions when it comes to living a g-dly life; all can be and should be used in their proper manner, and we must recognize Hashem’s gifts in all their various forms.
Torah encompasses all we have and we are all heirs of Abraham in realizing this phenomenon.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Stewart

Special Annoucement!

Mazal Tov to Morah Toba Safran on her engagement! SIHA wishes her much happiness! 

 

A big SIHA congratulations to the stellar scholars who achieved this month’s Student of the Month Status! 

Kindergarten: Liad Hanuka

First Grade: Sloane Garber

Second Grade: Lielle Garber

Third Grade: Natalie Fromchuk

Fourth Grade (A): Israel Hanuka

Fourth Grade (B): Hanna Kimmerling

Fifth Grade: Ziva Iunger

Middle School: Madison Graham

Enjoy a new edition of our weekly podcast!

Judaics Curriculum

Kindergarten:

If you passed by our Kindergarten classroom you may have seen a lot of hopping because this week we learnt the letter Hay! Hay has a broken foot and he has to hop, hop, hop! We have a super fun hay hopping song that we really enjoy doing! This week we learnt about davening/praying to Hashem. We tried to call the president but we could not get through, but Hashem who we love so much and loves us so much is the most powerful! and we can speak to Him whenever we want and He is always listening! We had a great time learning about the parsha, Hashem promised Avraham that he would have as many children as the stars. We are those stars! We had lots of fun making our star necklaces and can’t wait to show them to our families!

First Grade:

Our first graders are becoming super hebrew readers, with our beginning of learning the first nekuda, kamatz! We have been flying through our aleph champ workbooks and our heading towards the next nekuda patach! We really enjoyed doing timed reading with partners! This week we learnt about why Hashem created the world. We know He created it for us, in order for us to enjoy. Where do we get the greatest enjoyment from, ask any first grader and they will tell you, the greatest pleasure comes from connecting to Hashem, learning Torah, and doing mitzvot. Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Kaplan

Second Grade 

We had a wonderful week in 2nd grade  learning all about our forefather Avrohom who rejected idol worship and recognized the greatness of Hashem (G-d) as the creator and sustainer of the world. We enjoyed acting out Avrohom breaking his fathers idols. We know so many colors in Hebrew and as well as many Aleph bet letters and their matching numbers. We figured out that if the letter yud-10 and Aleph-1 10 +1 -11 yud Aleph would equal 11. Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Spiegel

Third Grade

Third grade students are now ready to write the date in Hebrew independently. Now that they are masters at spelling the days of the week in Hebrew, they started practicing the correct spelling of the months of the year and learning them in order, knowing which Jewish holiday falls on which month.
They love practicing their spelling and I am so proud of their work and progress. 
Each morning I have the pleasure to hear their pure and beautiful voices singing the davening. They now know how to follow in the words and are looking forward to learn more davening parts starting next week.
Our class Tzedaka box is already almost full! They all eagerly bring coins daily to give to the poor. I am so proud of each one of them.
In Parsha, we learnt how important it is to be able to recognize when we cannot get along with someone and separate ourselves to avoid fights. But that does not mean we do not live and care for each other. Just like Avraham had to separate from his nephew Lot because of the fights their shepherds had. But Avraham still came to Lot’s rescue when he was captive during a war against the 4 kings. 
Shabbat shalom

Mrs Ivry

Middle School Boys

This week as we continued our journey through the Mishna, we had an exciting addition, Quizlet! A great way to review.
Ask your sons. Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Levy

We continued our Shma unit as well as learning the laws of Tefillin. We’ve begun to tackle the Mishna on :כח and started the Gemara on it as well as the boys anticipated many of the Gemara’s steps on their own.

Rabbi Stewart

Elementary School

Kindergarten

This week kindergarten did an amazing job in ELA class. They are becoming so good at sounding out words and spelling sight words correctly that this week they wrote sentences with no help! They are so excited that next week is their alphabet party to celebrate that they learned all the letters of the alphabet. In math they learned about sorting, left and right, and played number pattern games. They also practiced directional words by singing and dancing. In science they continued to learn about the water cycle and they learned about the 4 seasons. They painted a tree to show what trees look like in the fall. In social studies they continued to make their all about me books. They can’t wait to share their books with the class and learn what things they have in common with their friends. 

Ms. Syetta

Second Grade

The second graders had a busy week! In math, they learned how to add two three-digit numbers together with renaming. In ELA, they finished their first trade book The Chocolate Touch. They also finished writing their personal narratives. In Social Studies, the second graders showed their knowledge on the different types of communities. On Monday, we had a spelling bee. Our winner was Ayden Rozman. Congratulations Ayden! This Friday was Ayden’s last day at SIHA as he’s moving to Florida. We’re all so sad to see him go and will miss him so much! Our Student of the Month is Lielle Garber. Way to go Lielle! 
Best Regards,
Gabrielle Bronstein 

This week grade 3 successfully completed their first math test. They then began to learn about rounding numbers to the nearest ten and hundred. During their grammar lessons, students practiced identifying complete subjects and predicates. They also completed their social studies chapter on the places we live. They finished it by comparing and contrasting urban, suburban, and rural communities. Students also learned about Aesop’s fables and are in the middle of reading The City Mouse and the Country Mouse. They are exploring the similarities and differences of this fable to the book we read last week, The City Kid and the Suburban Kid.   
This week we also presented Natalie with the very first student of the month award! She worked very diligently and is a great helper within our class community.

Miss Sasha 

4A
This week in math we worked on multiplication, long division and solving word problems with the use of bar models.
In ELA we identified singular and plural nouns. Completed a few compare and contrast writing activities. We also had our first poem memorization Recess Oh Recess this week
In Social Studies we completed chapter 2 Understanding Regions and reviewed for the test.

Mrs. Shats

4B
We had an exciting week in 4B! On Monday we celebrated the birthday of Ariana Guz, who turned 9 years old! But it wasn’t all fun and games this week. We had a math test and a grammar test this week. One student in particular got the highest score in the class on the math test, and the third highest score in the class on the grammar test. Because of her scholastic achievements this week, and her overall attentiveness in class this month, she received the honor of being 4B’s first student of the month! She goes by the name of………Hanna Kimerling!!! Congratulations Hanna! 
Mr. F

Fifth graders had an amazing week!
In ELA, students learned about combining sentences by making compound subjects and compound predicates. They also practiced fixing run-on sentences. In math, students practiced both mental math and the distributive property of math to make computation easier. We also started on word problems, and reviewing bar models. 
In Social Studies, students worked on their lap book project. We read articles on Native American settlements in each region of America. 
Ms. Tatic would like to commend Gabi Mekler for being amazing! 

Middle School

Middle School ELA

6th Grade had a busy week! We finished our Fish in a Tree essays and discussed characterization. In grammar, we reviewed our unit, and completed the unit test. Everyone did very well!
7th grade had a busy week! We had our graded State Test practice. Students completed multiple choice, short answer, and long answer questions. We also continued our novel study of Great Gilly Hopkins. Great job! 

8th Grade had a busy week! We completed our unit on making inferences by reading nonfiction texts. Students also continued our novel study of Watsons go to Birmingham-1963. In grammar, we reviewed incorporating colorful language in our sentences, and learned about the differences between connotation and denotation. Mrs. Hazen would like to commend Ethan Azaraev for getting a 100% on every Grammar quiz since the beginning of the year! 

Middle School Science

7th Grade is learning how to think like a scientist.  They will be learning step by step how a scientist comes up with a theory.  Answering essential questions or identifying problems through observation, investigating and researching data.  Students will be creating hypotheses, explaining quantitative and qualitative data through analysis, graphing, experiments.  Students will be completing their own lab experiment and writing a full investigative report.

I would like to mention Lana for going above and beyond for her classmates, as she observed one of her classmates needed assistance with an assignment and without prompting or asking walked over to him and assisted him.  Way to go Lana!  I would also like to mention Noga for outstanding work ethic, as she was unsure what to do for a particular assignment and went about it the best way she knew how without clarification as she didn’t want to “just not do it” she earned extra credit for completing the assignment.

8th Grade students are learning how our body responds to various macronutrients and what purpose they serve.  Students will be able to explain how and why food does not just enter our cells that it must go through a process before we can use the nutrients from the things we eat.  Students will be analyzing their own eating habits and make changes within their daily diet and activities.  They will be explaining how they enter cells and what body systems work together to distribute said nutrients.   Students are also investigating what things look like under a light microscope and identifying the various types of microscopes and what they are used for.  Students are learning the difference between quantitative and qualitative data, how to extrapolate data and plug it into the appropriate type of graph. 

8th Grade I would like to mention Yosi for always being willing to help out.  Yosi never has to be asked, he sees a need and he offers assistance.  He always asks me if I need help and goes out of his way to make sure all is well.  Thank you soooo much, Yosi.

Middle School Social Studies

Good morning, 

This week, 6th grade learned about the Chaldeans and Phoenicians, including the evolution of writing.
7th grade explored the Atlantic World, including the Triangle Trade and Middle Passage.
8th grade discussed Reconstruction.

All three classes also worked on their essays, which will cap the first marking period

Middle School Math

This week 6th grade worked on fraction division and division using bar and line models. Even though most struggled to grasp these concepts I firmly believe that next week they will show a much better understanding of these concepts since the majority of the week was spent going over related practice problems.
7th grade continues their work on expressions, like terms and basic algebraic operations. They are doing quite well and moving at slow yet steady pace. On the other hand, 7th grade is currently solving equations that require one and/or more steps to solve. Despite some hiccups in the beginning, they are now progressing with more confidence, accuracy and fluidity.
8th grade is finishing their unit on scientific notation. They’ve explored the significance and meaning of the latter. They have mastered concepts such as order of magnitude, coefficients in scientific notation standard form. 8th grade honors is currently rapidly making their way through equations and literal equations and their applications in science and in the world as we know it.

Jewish History

Both 7th and 8th grades had their first unit test this week! I was pleased with their performance.

7th grade began Unit 3 with an examination of the world around us just like Avraham Avinu did. Each student is now studying a creation and will present their findings to the class. I cannot wait to see what they come up with! We will then continue our exploration of Avraham Avinu’s life. 
8th grade is about to dive into the Babalonian exile. We will explore what happened as Hashem pressed the reset button to start again with a second Bais HaMikdash!

Mrs. Rosskamm