SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Monday, April 8, 2020
12 Adar 5780



Message from Heather Moore, Head of School
Dear Parents,

As the traditional Passover Seder song goes, "Mah Nishtana Halayla Hazeh?" translated to, "How is this night different from all other nights?"

Along with the traditional answers to this seder song, I know many of us will be discussing the many new reasons that this night will be different. As we look forward to a different Passover and a different Spring Break, I hope that you will be able to find new joys and gratitude as we celebrate this year. This experience of COVID-19 has really simplified our lives and helped many of us to find more joy in the simple things in life - Health, Food, Shelter and of course Family and Friends who we dearly miss at this time.

We look forward to the Virtual Passover Model Seders on Tuesday morning:
Early Years Virtual Model Seder at 9:30am
Primary Years Virtual Model Seder at 2:45pm



Heather Moore
Head of School
SPOTLIGHT ON MR. COHEN'S THIRD GRADE CLASS!
IB Project: “15 Ways to Survive on Planet … ”
(students pick planet of their choice)
This multimedia project mixes fiction with nonfiction technology, as the students creates slides, gadgets, makeshift habitats, diaries, podcasts and demonstrate survival tips via Google Meet presentations. Teacher uploaded 5 short planet factoid/survival videos to help catapult ideas. 

This gave students leeway for creativity, working in pairs, and weaving in humor, current technology, future technology, and new inventions from home objects that serve as a guide to living on another planet. 

Students came up with ideas for special food, medicine, heating and cooling gadgets, atmospheric machines, etc. Students researched real facts about the planet of their choice and used many of those facts to create “15 Ways to Survive” on that planet (using Google slides for presentation platform). 

Students used lots of great visual aids, including internet pictures, demos of machines, home-made miniature models (using cardboard and paper), prototypes of inventions, and even created a scene at home for podcasts from the planet acting stranded, or struggling with weather, or eating, gardening, finding supplies, etc. 

This whole project played into our I.B. theme for the quarter, “Where We Are in Place and Time,” as we examined, recognized, and modified technology prototypes from the past, present and future. 

The presentations turned out amazing, entertaining, realistic, and informative, and we’re only through presenting half of them, so this is Part I – 15 Ways to Survive on Planet …

☺ ☺ ☺  Mr. Cohen’s GS 3 rd Grade Class. 
A MESSAGE FROM NURSE SUSAN
Hello SIA Community,

I hope this finds you all feeling good, staying well and staying home if you are able. I am always happy to hear from you, I love joining the class meets & seeing everyone's beautiful faces.  

Thank you to all those who are still leaving home to work, either in healthcare, grocery stores, delivering essentials, law enforcement or EMS... and who are getting us through this incredibly difficult time.

As my learning curve with Google continues, I wanted to share a few resources, links to information that might be helpful to someone. My millennial will finally be home this week and then the clinic site will be updated more regularly and hopefully without the loss of my sanity.

Friday's  Sentara Coronavirus Update  has information on Screening & Testing, their Call Sentara Center, and a Coronavirus Self Screening Tool.

Use of Cloth Face Coverings to Help Slow the Spread of COVID-19   ***** if you want cloth masks, but are not able to obtain cloth face masks, for any reason, please let me know*****

Things You Can Do to Cope  during the quarantine, just a good reminder how important it is to take care of our mental health, too.

For those preparing for Passover, a bit of reassurance that this year is NOT like other years ( another good mental health reminder... click here to get to the link)

Stay Well,

Nurse Susan
EY3 Learned about Passover Via Distance Learning
By Lorna Orleans, Director of the Early Years Program
Dear Families,

It was wonderful to have so many of you join our Shabbat sing-a-longs last week. Both EY 2-4 and EY1 Infant/Toddler friends had virtual get togethers on Friday in celebration of Shabbat. With the enhanced grid-view on Google Meet it was amazing to see so many of your children smiling, singing and dancing. 

In the preschool we have changed our format a bit. We will have on-line Google Meets Monday through Thursday for class time and an extended Shabbat sing-a-long in lieu of individual class meets on Fridays. 

We hope you will join us this Wednesday morning, April 8 at 9:30 am as Morah Jo leads EY 2-4 friends in our annual Family Model Passover Seder.

Our Passover Break learning schedule for EY1-4 is as follows:

No distance learning on April 9 and 10 (first two day of Passover)
Individual class Google Meets - April 13 and 14
No distance learning on April 15 and 16 (last two days of Passover)
Extended Shabbat sing-a-long on April 17
The regulars schedule of on-line distance learning through the Google Meet platform resumes on April 20.

Last week the spotlight was on distance learning for our EY4 classes. This week I am highlighting our EY3 classes. Our teachers in EY3 began introducing their new IB Transdisciplinary Theme for the last term of school called How the World Works. The central idea of this unit is the concept that v arious cycles occur in nature and throughout the world. Our EY3 classes began with a line of inquiry about cycles in our everyday lives . Our teachers chose a very relatable way to introduce this inquiry and the idea of a cycle by talking about our daily routines of waking up, having breakfast, going to school etc. As Passover approached our teachers easily segued into the idea of the yearly cycle of our Jewish holidays. This led to learning that Passover occurs in the spring which is part of the cycle of seasons. There are cycles everywhere!

So much learning is happening and I hope you have been able to join the EY3 Google Meet for your child’s class. Our teachers post the links to individual class Google Meets in ParentSquare each day before class. Please look for class posts and for updates on the individual class websites they have created. There you will find extended learning with resources and added activities. 

You can catch a glimpse of EY3 learning in the pictures below. Watch for next week’s newsletter to catch up on EY2 learning.

Shavuah Tov and Chag Sameach Pesach.

Lorna Orleans
Director, SIA Early Years
Through their transdisciplinary theme about How The World Works our EY3 friends are learning about cycles, like the yearly cycle of Jewish holidays that follow the seasons of the year.
At different moments in her teaching of the Passover story, Morah Judy would assign lB learner attributes to the main characters.
Left and Right Above: Our EY3 friends Hannah and Davis found different ways to create pyramids which look a lot like triangles.
Right: Wow, our friend Heidi created a mural in her driveway showing the parting of the Red Sea!
Our friend Stella shared a picture for her class website as she went looking for signs of Spring.
Many of our EY 3 friends shared their pictures representing parts of the Passover story. It is a plague of frogs in Sammy driveway!
Left and Above: Some of our clever friends recreated their representations of the burning bush.
Let's Help our friends at the Beth Sholom Village
The onset of the COVID-19 virus has been a trying time for everyone, and especially for Beth Sholom Village. We are dealing with a crisis unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, and it is our goal to ensure that our residents and patients continue to be fulfilled and engaged in their lives at Beth Sholom Village. This is hard given our new reality, but we are persevering, and we would love the help of the community in showing our residents some love! Here is how you and your family can help and connect with patients and residents at Beth Sholom Village:
 
1.        Send us video clips of your kids or family saying “HI!” to our residents – tell us what you are up to!  We have a special internal channel on our TVs in resident rooms – and we can upload videos to that channel! At this time, we are no longer allowed to have group activities, resident outings, visitors to the building or communal dining. So we would love to help our residents feel like they have visitors right next to them! Email us your video clip (1-2 minutes) and we will make you a star on Channel 5! Videos can be emailed to  jbennett@bethsholomvillage.com .
 
2.         Help us keep activities in full swing, with donations of supplies to our Recreation Therapy Department.  We will be in need of important supplies soon, and they are crucial to our delivery of recreation therapy to our residents, even while doing them at least 6 feet apart! Our wish list includes:
  • Acrylic and/or washable paints
  • Hot glue guns & glue sticks/Elmer’s glue/Gorilla glue
  • Painters tape
  • Poster board (assorted colors and sizes)
  • Paper: construction paper, watercolor paper, cardstock
  • Canvases (any size)
  • Buttons, beads, yard, shells
  • Mason jars
  • Food coloring
  • Fake flowers
  • Magazines
  • Popsicle sticks
Donations can be dropped off at our front door, or mailed to Beth Sholom Village. You can see what our residents do with these items by checking out our Facebook page!
 
3.         Send cards and letters to residents at Beth Sholom Village.  Our residents love receiving mail, and this is the perfect time to send a card or letter with well wishes! Make it an art project for your child, a mitzvah project for your teenager, or even create a holiday themed letter for the approaching holiday season. We will distribute your cards and letters to residents and patients, and encourage them to reply if you include a return address! Cards and letters may be dropped off at our front door, or mailed to Beth Sholom Village.
 
At the end of the day, we want to help our residents connect to the your family during a time when they need the most support and care. Thank you for taking the time to think about and reach out to our residents – we look forward to connecting with you in person, as soon as we can!

All items may be sent to or dropped off at:
Beth Sholom Village, 6401 Auburn Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23464,
Attn: Recreation Therapy.
If you have any questions, please reach out to
Amy Weinstein at  aweinstein@bethsholomvillage.com  or 757-961-3046.
Literacy Resources Available Online
Try these great resources with your kids!

GetEpic  has both fiction, non-fiction, and popular chapter books that are great for all age levels (audio books, read-to-me, and e-books).


StorylineOnline  has actors and actresses reading stories, along with supplemental material for teachers - I will be using some of these lesson plans for my classes.


VOOKS  has both fiction, non-fiction, and IB related topics that are appropriate for all age levels (all animated videos with authentic illustrations and text from books)

Ways to Support SIA
IN THE COMMUNITY




Simon Family JCC Online Classes
While the Simon Family JCC is closed, check out our FREE online classes. We'll post videos so you can join your favorite JCC instructors and get some exercise. Visit our  Facebook  and  YouTube  pages for the latest videos.



PJ Library is a Jewish family engagement program implemented on a local level throughout North America. In response to the CDC recommendations during this time, PJ Library in Tidewater will be going virtual!



You never know when you’ll need help, but you’ll always know where to find it. Whether you need assistance with putting food on your table, or help coping with the stress of these uncertain times, JFS is here to help. 
To learn more,  click here . 


Synagogues
Get updates from area synagogues  here .


Our partners at Les Mills understand how important it is for us to be there for our members during these difficult times. They have made available 95 workouts across 8 categories FREE for all JCC members. No sign up is required.  Click here to see the workouts.



INFORMATION ABOUT COVID-19
JCC Summer Camp Information
If your child is not already signed up with the SIA 12 month plan,