SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Monday, March 9, 2020
13 Adar 5780



Message from Heather Moore, Head of School
Dear Parents,

Happy Purim! I hope everyone has as much fun celebrating Purim as we are going to have here at SIA tomorrow! The joyous holiday of Purim begins tonight at sun down and celebrates the salvation of the Jewish People in Persia from the wicked Haman, through the leadership and bravery of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai. We will be celebrating tomorrow with a host of Purim activities. Students will enjoy Purim games, a costume parade through the campus, Megillah readings, a bounce house, an Illusionist and a drum circle!  

The school continues to closely monitor the evolving Coronavirus (COVID19) situation in the United States and around the world. To prepare for the possible community transmission of COVID-19, the most important thing for our school to do now is plan and prepare. As such we are reviewing plans to ensure the continuity of teaching and learning in the event that we are required to close school for a period of time. These plans include digital and distance learning options and converting face-to-face lessons into online lessons. Our faculty will be testing various platforms and delivery options such as Google classroom, Google meets and or Google hangouts. Please be aware they will be contacting each family to determine their students’ access to computers and the internet at home.

PURIM
Just a reminder that tomorrow, Tuesday, March 10, 2020 is Purim and SIA students have a 12pm Noon Dismissal. Students are invited to wear a costume that morning, and we are planning lots of fun and celebratory activities.

Scholastic Book Fair
The SIA annual Scholastic Book Fair is coming up, Monday, March 16 – Friday, March 20, 2020. You are welcome to stop by anytime during school hours.   Join us for Book Fair Family Fun Night which will be held on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 in the Library from 4:00-6:30pm . Family fun night is an opportunity for you to choose books with your kids while enjoying food, fun and face painting! 

Below you will see some reminders for next week. 

Chag Purim Sameach! Happy Purim!

Heather Moore
Head of School


3/10 Purim/ Noon Dismissal/Fullcare Open

3/13 Family Shabbat Singalong Cancelled due to MPR unavailability

3/23 - 3/26 Scholastic Book Fair

3/31 All School Spring Conferences, 4pm - 7pm

4/7 EY2-EY4 Model Seder, 9:30am-10:30am;
PY K-5 Seder , 2:15pm

4/8 - 4/17 Spring/Passover Break

4/9-4/10 Fullcare closed

4/13 - 4/17 Early Years Spring Break Session


To order lunch: orgsonline.com

School code: 432HAOTVA
(for first time sign-ups)
Menu will show when you are assigned a school.

To cancel lunch:
If you have a scheduled lunch and your child will not be in school, you must cancel by 9:30 a.m. that day and email Benita Watts at  ops@ujft.org  or call Linda Bridges at 424-4327 to make sure the lunch is cancelled - credit will be applied to your account. If you don't cancel the lunch, you will be charged.

Lunches:
$3.30 for Early Years (EY 2-EY 4)
$5.50 for Primary Years (K-5)

Lunch not available
for toddler classes
Let's help our Friends stay healthy at Strelitz International Academy!
PURIM at SIA!
Rashi Brashevitzky, PY Judaic Studies Director
Purim is in the air! SIA primary years students enjoyed a glow dance party as we welcomed the joyous month of Adar two weeks ago, and we have been prepping for Purim ever since! Animated storytelling of the Purim story has filled our Judaic Studies classrooms as students learned about the Purim Story Characters, Achashverosh, Haman, Esther and Mordechai. Students have danced through the halls encouraging staff and students to increase in their joy as they get ready for Purim. Colorful masks are on display in our classrooms and delicious Hamentashen (traditional Purim cookies) have been baked! Many classes have made creative “graggers” (noise makers) to be used to the drown out the name of Haman during the Megillah reading! On Tuesday primary years students will enjoy an incredible Purim celebration in school. Students will hear the reading of Megillat Esther (the Book of Esther), participate in a Goose Chase scavenger hunt, give charity, share gifts of food, participate in activities with two surprise entertainers and spend some time playing Purim games. The festivities will conclude tomorrow with the traditional Purim feast. All SIA students are encouraged to come in costume tomorrow! Happy Purim!
First Graders read about Purim in Hebrew
Here Comes Purim!
By Lorna Orleans, Director of the Early Years Program

Dear Families,

This past week was quite a precursor to Purim which we will celebrate on Tuesday, March 10. There was lots of merriment and silliness as we celebrated a whole week of Dr. Suess hijinks. We had pajama day on Monday and our 3’s and 4’s had fun learning Hebrew with Morah Leeraz while wearing their comfy PJ’s. All ages wore silly socks, got wacky on Wednesday with crazy hair, wore red, white and blue on Thursday and of course had crazy hat day to round out the week. Most important, we celebrated an amazing and timeless artist/illistrator, Theodore Geisel a.k.a Dr. Suess. Somewhere in the preschool this week, we read just about everyone of his books!

Amid all this Adar fun, all of our classes baked those delicious Purim cookies called Hamentachen. Our young friends learned how to turn a circle into a triangle by pinching the curves into corners. They worked on creating and testing out graggers (noise makers) that we will shake to drown out Haman’s name at our Megillah reading on Tuesday. Each class participated in creating a panel for our "wall Megillah" which we will use for hearing the story of Esther on Purim. Stop and take look in our preschool hallway. It’s awesome. Many thanks to Lisa Rosenbach our Judaic resource teacher for organizing this project.

It was a great week and we are looking forward to this week to come as we “increase our joy” in the month of Adar while celebrating Purim.

Chag Sameach Purim and Shavuah Tov,
Lorna Orleans
How fun to learn Hebrew in our P.J'.s!
Above: Singing and dancing to Purim songs.

Right:- Crazy Hair Day friends.

Below: What a wacky way to spend Wednesday- painting with your "brush helmet"?
Pressing out the Hamentaschen dough and... Below: pinching circles into triangles.
Above: Testing out the graggers!

Right: Now that is thinking outside the box- Cat in the Hat, hats- made with red cups and paper!
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We love Dr. Seuss books!
EY3 gets silly for Dr. Seuss week.
Crazy Hair Day girlfriends.
EY4 Crazy Hat Day friends
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Above: EY2 friends collaborating on a Shushan Castle.
Above: Getting a Megillah preview.

Left: Crazy hats and challah to celebrate Shabbat.

Below: Lots of Dr. Suess books were read this week!
SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR IS COMING!

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to our school!

 If you would like to create an eWallet account for students, please visit our  Scholastic Homepage  below. As well, families will be able to shop the Scholastic Book Fair catalog online beginning on March 7th. The link will be made available on our homepage soon.

Ways to Support SIA
IN THE COMMUNITY
JCC Summer Camp Information
If your child is not already signed up with the SIA 12 month plan,