Ma Koreh   /What’s Happening?
Weekly CJDS Newsletter
D’var Kesher from the Coordinator of Environmental Education and Service Learning
Ali Greenland
October 26, 2018 / 17 Heshvan, 5779
Parashat Vayera/ Genesis 18:1-22:24

D'VAR KESHER:
UNEARTHING EACH CHILD'S INNER JEWISH FARMER
Pictured below: Ali Greenland sharing wonder and joy with her Jewish farmers.
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Greetings!

I am so excited to be back at CJDS: (Alumna 2004!) It is incredibly meaningful to have the opportunity to give back to the school where I spent my years as an elementary student. After spending the summer in the fields, I cannot wait to be with this community in the classroom.
 
Since July, I have been immersed in a Farming Fellowship at Jorgensen Farms, in Westerville. Although it was the hottest summer I have ever endured, it was also a fantastic learning experience. I spent almost four months waking up with the sun, planting vegetables, setting up irrigation, harvesting the crops, and then selling those crops at local farmers’ markets. My previous experiences in farming have been mostly child-based, at Jewish summer camps: I ran the Kibbutz program at Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, California, and started the farm at Camp GUCI (Goldman Union Camp Institute) in Zionsville, Indiana in 2017.
 
Working at Jorgensen Farms was my first time working in farm production. At camp, the goal is to engage campers in meaningful experiences, social interactions with peers, and hopefully, interactions with the earth. At Jorgensen, the stakes were so different. If a row of tomatoes became diseased, that crop was lost and no longer available for market. That is a whole lot of tomatoes not viable for market and income. Previously, the most dramatic day in my farming life had been making eleven jars of pickles with our teen campers in under an hour. Each day at the Farm, I was reminded of how hard farmers everywhere are working to provide food for their communities. The experience has left me with an even greater appreciation of my own food, the effort, care, and time that went into cultivating that food, and I am looking forward to passing on that appreciation.
 
This year in Environmental Education we will spend a good amount of time working with food: food that we can grow, food that we can make, food that we can give away. We will be working in the garden and utilizing our greenhouse for some year-round work. We will also take time to work with the Min Ha’Aretz curriculum by Hazon, which helps students look at the connection between food and Judaism: ( https://hazon.org/jewish-food-movement/jewish-food-movement-educational-materials/min-haaretz-2/).

We will explore how we as Jews relate to the earth and what grows from it through Jewish traditions and Jewish texts.
Pictured below: Ali with the CJDS Kindergarten class.
Parents can expect their children to get dirty! They can also expect their child to get excited about groceries and new recipes. There is so much joy in working with the earth. No matter each child’s interest, there is something for everyone in the gardening process. I hope to also provide a space to explore Judaism in a different way than they have before. I am looking forward to unearthing (pun intended) each child’s inner Jewish farmer and cultivating their passion for food.  
 
Hope to see you in the garden!

Shabbat shalom,
Ali Greenland
CJDS OPEN HOUSE:
HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND!
Our upcoming interactive CJDS Open House is happening this weekend!

Join us this Sunday, October 28, from 10am-12pm at CJDS. This a wonderful opportunity to engage families you know with kids aged 3-5 whom you think would love to learn about CJDS. Please share this flyer widely.

We also warmly invite parents and friends of CJDS to to serve as ambassadors of CJDS and share the stories of your child's creation with our guests. The event will be family friendly and include refreshments, model Kindergarten lessons, a visual art project created in the CJDS Art Studio and a scavenger hunt nature walk around the CJDS pond (weather permitting). Just let Jenny Glick know you'd like to come and we will be delighted to include you.

Hope to see you there!
Dr. Z.
LOOKING AHEAD
OCTOBER
Sunday, October 28: CJDS OPEN HOUSE 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Tuesday, October 30: Parent/Teacher Conferences 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

NOVEMBER
Thursday, November 1: Parent/Teacher Conferences 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Friday, November 9: All School Kabbalat Shabbat 1:40 p.m.-2:20 p.m.
Wednesday, November 14: Picture Retake Day Students Wear CJDS Polo
Tuesday, November 20: CJDS Community Day 1:30 p.m.-3:20 p.m.
Wednesday, November 21: Thanksgiving Break NO SCHOOL
Thursday, November 22: Thanksgiving NO SCHOOL
Friday, November 23: Thanksgiving Break NO SCHOOL
Friday, November 30 All School Kabbalat Shabbat (5th Grade Leading) 1:40 p.m.-2:20 p.m.
COMMUNITY DAY
Tuesday, November 20
UPDATED START TIME: 1:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
We are excited to welcome your children's grandparents and special friends during Community Day on Tuesday, November 20th from 1:30-3:15pm. Community Day is an opportunity for your family and friends to spend time with your children in their classrooms and experience the joy of a CJDS education. In addition to grandparents, Special Friends can be aunts, uncles, cousins, other family, babysitters, coaches, piano teachers, etc. - anyone else special in your child's life beyond you as the parents. 

Please click HERE to complete the form (by Monday, November 5) and let us know whom to invite for this special day. All students will need a special friend in attendance and we encourage guests to be a friend, mentor, or family member other than a parent.  

Invitations will be in the mail shortly, in the meantime, please reach out to your grandparents and special special friends and ask them to save the afternoon from 1:30pm-3:15pm on November 20th.

If you have any questions please contact Julie Tilson Stanley, Director of Institutional Advancement, at jtilsonstanley@cjds.org

PS - If any of your child's grandparents or special friends are not able to join us on November 20th, there will be more opportunities for grandparents and special friends to join us throughout the year! If you know of a specific date that someone in your child's life would like to visit, please be in touch.
LIVING OUR MISSION
CJDS CLUBS
THANKSGIVING DRIVE
CJDS Tzedekah Club is Collecting Items
for the Mid Ohio Food Bank
A half million folks in Central Ohio suffer from hunger and 180,000 of them are children.  The Mid Ohio food bank sent us a flyer letting us know what kinds of foods would really help. They also shared that our community members have other needs that they can’t get funded from any government agency. We were surprised to learn that diapers were on the top of the list of most needed items.
The list also includes chili with beans, tuna, canned vegetables, canned meat, soup with vegetable, peanut butter, canned fruit (in light corn syrup), deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Tzedakah club members would like to ask YOU to help fill these needs. There will be boxes for your donations in the lobby and outside the Art Room (AKA Tzedakah Club House). We will be collecting from now until Community Day (November 20th). Thank you for helping us to make a difference!
Lunch & Recess Clubs
  • MONDAY RECESS: Dance Club with Ms. AG & Katie Feldstein
  • TUESDAY LUNCH: Israel/Hebrew Club with Lin Raveh - Israeli Shlicha
  • WEDNESDAY LUNCH: Tzedakah Club with Susan Couden & Rabbi Sharon Barr Skolnik
  • THURSDAY RECESS: Journalism Club with Dr. Denae D'Arcy
  • FRIDAY RECESS: Choir with Angelo Dunlap
After School Clubs
(Click on the images below for more information, associated fees and registration forms.)
MONDAY: Chess & Board Game Club with Jeremy Arcus-Goldberg!
TUESDAY: Tennis Club (ages 10 and under) with Pam Lippy, USPTA certified teaching pro and 2009 Maccabiah Gold Medal Winner!
WEDNESDAY: Giving Garden with Rabbi Iah Pillsbury.

Available to 4th-6th grades only.
THURSDAY: Lego Robotics with Jeremy Arcus-Goldberg.
What a fun week at Lego Robotics! We split up into some different activities, mostly based on experience. The groups newer to Lego and Programming created a "windmill" and powered it with the Lego WeDo software.

Next week, students will add sensors to their creation to actually make the machines start based on motion. This is a large part of what makes what we do "robotic" since we are creating machines that can act and respond to its own environment.

The more experienced groups started working with Technic pieces and Mindstorms control to build programmable cars. They will be continuing with the building and programming next week.

In the coming weeks, students will choose their own ideas for a final building project.
TELLING OUR STORY
LAURA GREENLAND Yesterday, we were delighted to welcome back with warm hugs our dear founding CJDS Board Member and long-time resident of Columbus, Laura Greenland, who visited CJDS today from new home in San Diego. Laura’s heart remains very close to CJDS.

"It was so wonderful to be back in the halls of CJDS. I just savored all the exquisite student art on the walls. I’m so excited for all the families who come see our building at the Open House this Sunday. And of course, with great pride, I visited the classroom of the new Coordinator of Environmental Education and Service Learning, who happens to be my daughter! Keep up the great work everyone, walking in to CJDS will always feel like coming home."
HAKARAT HATOV
The Hebrew term for gratitude is הַכָּרַת הַטוֹב ( Hakarat HaTov), which means "recognizing the good."

To the CJDS fifth and sixth grade for their proud ownership of their school - they showed great team work by helping to prepare the school for our Open House. The Building Committee is extremely grateful for their assistance.

To Rachel Aercus-Goldberg for helping with the CJDS Kindergarten Challah Bake.

To the CJDS self identified CJDS Nature Club student members who have been independently cleaning up litter around the campus.
LIFECYCLES In our community, at every point, our families are perpetually entering new stages in their lives. In keeping with the tradition of living Jewishly, CJDS acknowledges, honors, and celebrates these moments: Births, B’nei Mitzvah, graduations, marriages, and in moments of illness, healing and loss.

MAZAL TOV!
Mazel tov Dr. June Gutterman, current and founding CJDS Board Member and alumni parent, on a very successful and largest ever Annual Meeting of the Jewish Family Services where she has served as a transformative leader for 10 years.

Mazel to Joy Soll, Alumni parent, past CJDS Board Member, and long time dear friend and supporter of CJDS, upon being honored as Board Member of the Year at Jewish Family Services, where she is also the incoming Board Chair.

MI SH'BERACH When a member of the CJDS family is ill or in need of healing, the entire community lends its support and its prayers for a full and complete recovery. 

We wish our CJDS dear friend and community volunteer, Steve Shkolnik, a speedy recovery.

MAY THEIR MEMORY BE A BLESSING

We offer our deepest condolences to our dear friend and colleague, our Maintenance Supervisor, Ron Alderson, who lost his brother, Terry Alderson. You may read more about Terry HERE.  
MEAL TRAIN
Mazal tov again to the  Delman family   on the arrival of their new baby, Kayla! Please feel free to sign up to bring them a meal. Drop off at their home or CJDS will work.  https://mealtrain.com/947w7o
KESHER: CJDS Parent Organization
WE NEED MORE SERVERS...
If it could be you, please click below.
Thank you!
HOT LUNCH
As in the past, we are so grateful to all the help from the community members - grandparents, friends, parents, and others – on whom we rely to serve hot lunch to our students. Our volunteers bring such a warmth and love to our students and we love having all of you! In order to make this sign-up process even more smooth this year, we would love each family (any family member or friend) to sign up for two dates during the whole year to serve lunch. It can be a parent, a grandparent, a special friend - anyone who is interested in spending time with our wonderful students and serving them food.
KESHER
CJDS is proud to have a Parent Organization called Kesher (Hebrew for "connection"). Kesher has a team of grade representatives led by a president.

Kesher is responsible for the CJDS Hot Lunch program, social gatherings outside of school, teacher appreciation, the CJDS Chesed committee and more! To get involved, please be in touch HERE.
Hot Lunch server responsibilities include:

11:25 a.m.: Arrive at CJDS
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Set out the plates and assemble lunches
12:00 p.m.-12:30 p.m.: Students arrive for lunch at 12:00 p.m. and we help serve the lunch to those who have ordered.
Help with cleaning up and conclude by 1:00 p.m.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
QUICK LINKS