January 12, 2023

Congratulations to the fifth grade on a successful mitzvah project! Thank you to all who supported their goal.

In Honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

We have always loved honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Heilicher. It’s a highlight of our year, and we are so proud of all of the programming we’ve created over the past three decades. When MLK Day was established as a national holiday, our school leaders chose to honor it as a day on for the school, giving students the opportunity to learn songs and stories of the Civil Rights era, listen to a myriad of speakers, and create beautiful art. Eighth graders participated in marches to the State Capitol, almost always in sub-zero weather. In recent years, our eighth graders have attended the Annual MLK Holiday Breakfast in downtown Minneapolis, often with parents as well.  


Through our recent work on diversity, equity, and inclusion with DEI consultant Joelle Allen, there was a strong push to let this day be a sacred day, available for everyone in the school community to celebrate as they see fit. As much as so many of us love this day, the input we have received is that to the outside world it looks like our Jewish school is ignoring the national day of service, even though we strove to honor it. In addition, members of the Heilicher community who wanted to attend broader celebrations were unable to do so when school was in session. Therefore, for this year, we made the decision to schedule MLK Day as a day off of school. We also will not have School's Out to offer the same opportunity to honor the holiday to our staff. Heilicher will instead integrate lessons about racial justice into the weeks surrounding the holiday and throughout the school year.


This year, our focus is that we are all connected. Teachers will explore this message with their students using resources from Learning for Justice, a well-established educational consortium from the Southern Poverty Law Center. For more curricular information, please reach out to General Studies Director Jackie Smith


Here are some MLK observances around town that you can attend with your families. On the top of our list is Golden Valley’s Ninth Annual MLK Celebration on Sunday, January 15, led by Rose McGee of Sweet Potato Comfort Pie. This is a family-friendly event. Another event, likely better for fifth grade and older, is the MLK Breakfast. Virtual tickets are still available, and the cost of the tickets goes to scholarships to the United Negro College Fund. Here are some additional community community activities to join.


Please reach out to us with any questions. Thank you!


Jackie Smith, General Studies Director

Wendy Goldberg, Director of Programming

Torah Thoughts from Doc


Read a brief message about this week's Torah portion, Parashat Sh'mot. Six words run through Sh’mot, MLK Jr. Day, and Heilicher’s mission.

Mark Your Calendars!


  • Thursday, January 12 - 7-8 Girls Basketball Away Game, 5:45 p.m., Breck School
  • Friday, January 13 - NOON EARLY DISMISSAL (NO LUNCH): Teacher Grading Day — School's Out Available
  • Monday, January 16 - NO SCHOOL: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  • Wednesday, January 18 - 5-6 Co-ed Basketball Home Games, 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., Barry Family Campus Gym
  • Thursday, January 19 - 7-8 Girls Basketball Home Game, 4:30 p.m., Barry Family Campus Gym


View the full Heilicher calendar online

Key Dates for 2022-2023

School's Out Tomorrow


There is still space at School's Out tomorrow, Friday, January 13, 12-4 p.m. You may sign up your student(s) through the end of the day today, however there is no guarantee they will be able to make slime with Kidcreate Studio, as they may have already purchased supplies.


Register for School's Out on Jumbula for $55 — scroll to the bottom of the page. Students must bring a cold, dairy or pareve home lunch.

Midwinter Extracurriculars Update


Heilicher will now offer the following art classes as midwinter after-school activity options:


K-1: Drawing as Easy as 1, 2, 3

2-4: ARTrageous Lives

3-6: Smart Art

5-8: ARTrageous Animals


Registration for art classes closes Friday, January 20, or when the roster is full. See more information about the courses on Jumbula.


Along with the new art classes, K-2 theater and 7-8 volleyball still need more students to meet the minimum registration numbers to run. There are still openings in some of our other classes as well.


Register for and learn more about extracurriculars on Jumbula. Excluding art classes, registration closes one week before the program start date or when the roster is full, whichever comes first.


For further information on basketball or volleyball, please contact Lee Metzger. If you have questions about other activities, please reach out to Jeremy Savran.

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Beginner Guitar Classes with Ideal Music Lessons


In response to a survey given in the fall, we are excited to announce that Heilicher is partnering with Ideal Music Lessons to give our students group beginner guitar lessons.


In the lessons, your child get the benefit of learning and developing their musical skills while playing music with their peers. This is an opportunity to not only learn the guitar but also learn how to coordinate and play music with others. Students will be taught the basics of playing chords, melodies, and rhythms on the guitar with the goal of playing solo or within a small group. Classes are fun and engaging, and students will learn to develop a skill they can take with them for the rest of their life.


A minimum of three students is necessary to run the class. Classes will be offered on Thursdays, 3:50-4:50 p.m., for $25 per session. Guitars will not be provided. This offering will be available for the rest of the year with payments calculated by our after-school activities seasons.


Midwinter Season (February 23-April 4)

1/26, 2/2/, 2/9, 2/16, 3/2, 3/9, 3/23, 3/30


Spring Season (April 17-June 7)

4/20, 4/27, 5/4, 5/11, 5/18, 5/25, 6/1


Payments will go through Ideal Music Lessons, so registration will not be on Jumbula. Please fill out the guitar interest form if you are interested in having your student enrolled in lessons. If you have any questions, email Jeremy Savran.

Kindergarten and First Grade: Tu B'Shvat Family Fun


Families with children ages 1-7 are invited to connect with the greater community of young families for a mellow morning of fun on Sunday, January 29, 10-11:30 a.m.

We will have meaningful Tu B'Shvat craft projects, festive refreshments, and, of course, coffee.


This will be a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning with your family and friends. This program is part of a series of community outreach events by the Heilicher admissions team. Email Deborah Getsug or call her at 952.381.3523 to register.

The Sabes Center is Reopening with a Community Event


The Sabes Center invites you to celebrate the reopening of the refreshed Sabes Fitness Center Sunday, January 29, 2-4 p.m. Check out the new state-of-the-art cardio and strength equipment, refreshed group exercise studio, dedicated group training studio, and more.

 

The event will have fun for the entire family including: kids' games in the pool, activities and crafts in the new Sasha's Childcare space, a photo booth, corn hole and football watching, treats, and more.


The reopening is free and open to the community. Sabes Center requests reservations.

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Communicable Illness Update


Since COVID-19 started, we have been monitoring the infection and transmission rates in order to provide the teachers and students with a healthy environment to learn and thrive. Now that it is 2023, we are going to return to our prior system of communication and policies regarding any highly communicable illnesses. If we receive notification that any student has strep, influenza, COVID-19, pink eye, or other communicable illnesses that could pose a risk to the classroom community, we will send an email to that class with a link for further information. 


In order to remain transparent to our whole community, we have created a dashboard, which lives on the Heilicher Communication Center, that tracks the number of cases of communicable illnesses within our school. This will be updated as cases are reported.


We will continue to require anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 to stay home for five days and wear a mask for a total of 10 days after becoming positive. If a child has respiratory symptoms, even if it isn’t COVID-19, we will continue to recommend they wear a mask. 

 

We suggest — but will no longer require — that masks be worn by anyone who has been exposed to COVID-19.


Please remember to use the Heilicher Communication Center to report illness so we can continue to keep our staff and students healthy.

The Heilicher Spirit Shop is Open!


Order Heilicher apparel and accessories online at the Heilicher Spirit Shop.

Volunteer Opportunities


Sign up to help at All-School Lunch and/or All-School T'filah.


  • All-School Lunch: Help set up and clean up our all-school lunch on Wednesday(s) in the auditorium 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
  • All-School T'filah: Help us set up for all-school t'filah (prayer) Monday(s) in the theater 8:15-9 a.m.


Grade-level volunteer opportunities will be sent out by room parents.

Mazel Tov!


Mazel tov to Mati Ostfield on his upcoming Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, January 14, at Beth El Synagogue.

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