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March 16, 2016
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6 Adar II 5776
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Pardes Jewish Day School provides a rigorous, experiential education grounded in Jewish history, culture and values. This monthly newsletter highlights examples of classroom learning designed to meet and exceed state and national standards. Our students are well prepared for entry to the finest high schools and colleges and serve in a multitude of leadership roles.
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7 Adar II
Thursday
March 17
End of Third Quarter
K - 3
Field Day
NOON Dismissal
8 Adar II
Friday
March 18
Mini-Break
NO SCHOOL
11 Adar II
Monday - Friday
March 21-25
Middle School Wacky Week
14 Adar II
Thursday
March 24
Purim Celebration
14 Adar II
Thursday
March 24
Artist Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Evening
6:30 pm
15 Adar II
Friday
March 25
Third Grade Tanakh Ceremony
8:45-9:15 am
17 Adar II
Sunday
March 27
Pardes Camp Stein Afternoon
2:00-4:00 pm
20 Adar II
Wednesday
March 30
Conference Day
No School
21 Adar II
Thursday
March 31- April 1
4th Grade
Lake Pleasant
Trip
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Adam Meilech
Like his two older sisters, alumni Adam Meilech is a Pardes
Lifer, began in kindergarten and remained at Pardes through eight grade. Upon graduating from Pardes in 2012, he entered Sunnyslope High School where he is now a senior.
At Sunnyslope High School, Adam has taken all Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) classes and he expects to graduate near the top of his class. "The rigorous and individualized classes at Pardes helped me prepare for high school by giving me a head start. Because of the all the years of Spanish and the accelerated math classes at Pardes, I was able to test out of freshman math and Spanish. This allowed me to begin advanced classes earlier than most students. As a result, I was able to take many AP classes which count for college credit. This will allow me to skip many of the basic college classes when I begin my freshman year," Adam explained.
In addition to his advanced coursework, Adams runs cross-country for Sunnyslope High School, serves as co-president of the Mensch Club (the Jewish student group at the high school) and works for a local public relations company. Additionally, Adam is very involved with B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO) where he serves as Regional Board Vice President. "Pardes exposed me to BBYO, which I have been actively involved with since 8th grade. This has taught me about leadership, community involvement, and friendship in the Jewish community," he added.
Adam commented on the close community, the academic rigor and the connection with his Judaism when asked about the benefits of attending Jewish day school, and specifically Pardes. According to Adam, "I made so many good friends; I still have so many of the same friends I made in Pardes and I plan to keep them long term. Also, Pardes allowed me to get ahead academically, and the school was able to meet my academic needs. I am still very closely involved with my Jewish community, and Pardes was a great foundation for me to start my Jewish life."
When asked about his favorite memories of his years at Pardes, he reflected upon playing on the sports teams in Middle School. Additionally, he enjoyed participating in the school plays and the time he spent on the various school trips, especially the eighth grade trip to Washington, DC.
Adam will be attending the University of Arizona Honors College in the fall. He received a Wildcat Excellence Tuition Award, which is a four year scholarship for academic achievement. Adam plans to focus on pre-law. We can't wait to see Adam's future achievements!
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Middle School Jewish Ethics Program
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In March, Pardes launched a new Jewish ethics program led by Rabbi Micah Caplan. Rabbi Caplan meets with Middle Schoolers twice a month and discusses various moral and ethical issues. The students analyze real life scenarios from a Jewish perspective and look how our sages discussed these type of moral dilemmas. Topics to be discussed are: not standing idly by, not following the group to do evil, not gossiping / slandering and not embarrassing others.
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Seventh and Eighth Grade Explores Jewish History
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Pardes seventh and eighth graders study with Rabbi Pinchas Allouche. Over the course of the past few months, they have delved into the major events in Jewish History from the late 1800's until the mid 1940's. Our students enthusiastically learned about some of the historic events that have significantly shaped the state of our our Jewish world today. They examined the three major trials driven by anti-semitism in the late 1800's and early 1900's (such as the famed Dreyfus Trial) as well as the Zionist movement led by Theodor Herzl which envisioned the establishment of the state of Israel. Additionally, they explored the rise of the Nazi party and the horrors of the Holocaust as well as an examination of the declaration of Israel's Independence on May 14, 1948, and the tremendous bravery of our nation, and many of its heroes,who fought for our liberty and our identity.
Through these studies, and through the students' preparations of different works and presentations, we have drawn many relevant life-lessons, and in particular, we have drawn from them much inspiration on the importance of embracing our unique Jewish identities, heritage and traditions, that transcend time and space.
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Sixth Grade Life Cycle Class Studies B'nai Mitzvah
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Sixth grade Jewish Studies is co-taught by Ms. Fran Richter and  Rabbi Micah Caplan. Each week students spend two class periods
studying Joshua, Judges and Samuel I with Ms. Richter. Additionally, one class each week is devoted to life cycle taught by Rabbi Caplan.
This past month, sixth graders have been learning about the life cycle of Bnai Mitzvah. They have explored the foundations of the rite of passage through film and text. And they have culminated the experience through making their own tallitot. Students have learned about the mitzvah of making the tzitzit (fringes) on the corners of one's garments, which long ago, was done on every piece of clothing one possessed. Today, we mostly use the tzitzit and place them on what is called a tallit. The students had the opportunity to pick out their own fabric, and then learned how to tie the four corners, transforming the fabric into a tallit.
As the class move forward in the semester, students will learn about the rituals for a Jewish wedding followed by customs, laws and rituals that connect us to end of life. The end of the semester will focus on the ritual of Mikvah (the ritual bath in Judaism) which they will connect to the life cycle of conversion to Judaism, when one wants to become a Jew by Choice. The sixth graders are enjoying their experiences and will be knowledgeable about Jewish life cycle by the end of the school year.
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Fifth Grade Examines Ten Plagues
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Fifth graders are studying the story of the ten plagues. The students recently used the website "Storyboard That" to create online cartoons of the plagues. They were asked to create one square of the comic for each plague, placed together they made 10 panel comic strips. They also included the entire verse of Torah describing the plague. The projects were very creative! They are also writing songs about how the ten plagues are affecting the Egyptians. They students described each plague (in order) in a stanza of the song
Go Down Moses
. Now, they are using iMovie to create music videos to accompany the songs. The videos are coming along very nicely. Students love integrating modern technology into Judaic studies, bringing the ancient stories a new light.
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Fourth Grade Studies Shifrah and Puah
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Fourth grade Judaica is studying the story of Shifra and Puah, the Hebrew midwives who defied Pharaoh's orders to kill the Jewish baby boys. When confronted by Pharaoh, Shifra and Puah lied to cover up that they did not kill the baby boys. In class, students looked at the
halacha
(Jewish law) regarding
Pekuach Nefesh
(saving a life). According to
halacha
, lying is permitted in order to save a life. We also studied other circumstances when lying is permitted: to a bride on her wedding day, to be humble, and to someone who is hosting you. The students were very surprised to learn that lying might be okay (in certain situations). Next, we related the concept of
Pekuach Nefesh
to the story of Moses's birth. Did Yocheved (Moses's mom) do the right thing by hiding baby Moses to save his life? Did Pharaoh's daughter do the right thing by adopting a Hebrew baby? They will debate these issues of
Pekuach Nefesh
in our new unit.
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Third Graders Study "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"
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 In third grade Jewish studies, the students have been learning the story of Avraham and Sodom and Gommorah. In this text, Avraham convinces God to not destroy the cities if there are (at least) 10 righteous people that live in Sodom and Gommorah. Recently, the students wrote a parody to a popular song about why God chose Avraham to be the first Jew instead of Noach. They shared interesting renditions of "Hello" and "Happy" and "Firework"--all explaining why Avraham was his "brother's keeper", watching out for the citizens of Sodom and Gommorah. Next, third graders started reading the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. They have been talking about
shalom bayit
(keeping peace in your home). Students are also looking forward to the 3rd grade Tanach ceremony, which is coming up next Friday (March 25) at 8:45. Hope to see you there!
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Second Grade Studies Bravery in Purim
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Purim is a joyous holiday! Jews celebrate the Jewish people and thank
Hashem
that Haman's evil plan did not come to fruition. There are many lessons we can derive from
Megillat Esther.
In second grade Jewish Studies, students are focusing on examples of bravery in the story. The students deciphered instances from the text in which Queen Esther and her uncle, Mordechai, demonstrated fearlessness. Queen Esther teaches people that being brave is not always easy. Nonetheless, in the face of adversity, she was her people's only hope. Students were asked to think of a time when they were courageous. After exploring examples of bravery in the
megillah,
the students reflected on ways in which they can be brave. It was exciting to see how heroic figures from the
megillah
can inspire people today.
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First Graders Examine B'tzelem Eloheim
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 In first grade Jewish Studies, all units of study including Torah stories and holidays, relate to
B'tzelem Eloheim
(created in the image of G-d). For example at Rosh Hashanah, students discussed how G-d created the world and put people in charge of making it a better place. Simchat Torah revealed to students that the Torah is a book of stories about our matriarchs and patriarchs who teach through their actions how to live our lives as partners with G-d.
First graders have been discussing Torah stories from Berseshit (Genesis), including Adam and Eve, Avraham and Sarah, Rivka and Eliezer, and currently Yaakov and Esav. After discussing the story, the children are excited to listen to the true Torah text and are capable of understanding it; real Torah scholars! All Torah units include a variety of experiential activities that help the children understand the main idea of the parsha. For example, to show how strong and determined Rivka was to feed many camels, students went to the field where they each carried a bucket of water to fill up a very large eighteen gallon container. We couldn't fill it. One camel drinks twenty five gallons in two minutes and Rivka served many camels. Students learned that doing a mitzvah is important but not always easy!
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Kindergartners
Celebrate the Holidays
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Kindergarten Jewish Studies is an exciting year of learning and  making Judaism come alive. Kindergartners use their five senses as they celebrate and follow the Hebrew calendar to live a Jewish Life throughout the year. They learn about the holidays, the synagogue, celebrations, the Jewish community, history, traditions of our people and Israel.
Kindergarten class time is interactive and "hands on" filled with songs, symbols, prayers, crafts, drama, puzzles and wonderful books and stories. Students welcome Shabbat each week with tzedakah, songs, prayers and enjoying the delights of the day of rest. The students make their own Shabbat Box to take home and share with their family. They say goodbye to Shabbat with Havdalah, using their handmade twisted candle and spices to "awaken us" to the new week ahead.
At this time of the year, Kindergartners are getting ready for the holiday of Purim as we are making puppets to retell the Purim story, a class-made Megillah and hamantashen. Following Purim, students will be busy preparing for the Family Interactive Passover Seder and making their very own Haggadah and many symbolic items to make Passover come alive.
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Math
Problem of the Month |
Exciting News - Pardes Mathletes Do It Again!
Mazal tov to Ethan Cohen, 8th grader, who scored 4/5 on last Friday's final Olympiad for the year. Ethan now has a cumulative score of 21/25. This is quite an amazing feat!
Look for details regarding an awards ceremony in April or May at which time we will recognize all Pardes Mathletes.
The following problem was given to students in grades 6 - 8 on last week's Math Olympiad competition. Are you able to solve it?
Each of the seven digits 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 is placed, one to a box, to form the two-digit and three-digit arithmetic problem shown. Find the least value of integer N.
If you are able to complete this problem, please email your response to Bethany Spector at [email protected] by noon on Monday, March 21.
Go Pardes Mathletes!
Mazal Tov to the following people, who successfully answered last month's Math problem:
Ira Azulay
Robert Berkowitz
Ariella Friedman
Diane Ozer
Rabbi Tracee Rosen
Robin Rosenbloom
Marilyn Zolondek
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