Congratulations to 12th grade student Alina Goldfine, who has been selected as RMBA's winner of the Better 2 Write contest. Alina will be awarded a scholarship to her camp or Israel program of choice by the Better Together program. Better Together strives to bring together Jewish teens and seniors for learning, sharing, and relationship building.

This week, Morah Clara's ECE3B class learned all about the upcoming holiday of Shavuot. They practiced their fine motor skills by coloring, cutting and gluing. They also celebrated the end of their Aleph Bet learning with the letter Taf and Saf and will enjoy an Ice-cream party on Friday. As we get closer to the end of the school year, the students will be hands-on tracing and using scissors in all their remaining projects.

This week Kindergarten enjoyed a field trip to the Bellaire Nature Discovery Center and then the Evelyn Park splash pad. Everyone had an incredible time! Thank you to all the parents who brought fun treats and were able to join the fun!

Our middle and high schoolers have spent countless hours learning this year. Countless pesukim and mishnayot have been learned. Countless hours of service to our communities. Countless tefillot said together. And countless mitzvot accomplished! That's something to celebrate! The upper school Judaic Siyum began with a care package assembly for 30 Holocaust survivors and was followed by a delicious lunch from Saba's Wok and Grill. Many awards given out, and this Judaic siyum was one for the ages. Award winners included 6th graders Roni Sales-Martinez and Naomi Micha; 7th graders Jonathan Vaknin, David Gross, Ami Kellerman, Neeli Catran, and Aviv Tobul; 8th graders Leor Shandelman, Yonatan Alon, Alyia Blumenthal, and Yael Kramer; high schoolers included Leeroy Tobul, Phillip Liebman, Rachelle Abitbol, Avidan Abramson, Shani Yanowitz, Romi Belleli, and Shelly Binjamin. Thank you so much to our event sponsors: the Chen family, the Meckley family, Noah Frydberg, the Melnik family, and the Schwartz family.

ECE4's Alef Bet is complete with the letter Taf for Torah which actually coincides with the next Chag Morah Aviva's class is getting ready for - Shavuot! The students learned all about the story of the mountains and how it came to be that Hashem chose Har Sinai to give the Torah upon. Morah Aviva explained that Har Sinai posed the very special and endearing quality of Anivut, which means humbleness. Morah described and role played with the children ways of being humble, and not boasting about oneself. The students then worked on a multi step project of the mountains and Har Sinai. The friends were excited to sprinkle sand on one of the mountains for a rough texture, and then used their gluing and drawing skills on the other mountains including Har Sinai. After, they each labeled their project with the words: Har Sinai in Hebrew. The students have also begun reviewing letters and writing words from the ABC and Alef Bet word walls in the classroom. They loved using the mini dry erase boards to enhance their writing skills.

The 4th grade boys in Morah Ester's Judaic Studies class collaborated with Art Teacher Ms. Rantz to create beautiful multimedia pieces of artwork inspired by the parshiot of Bereshit. Each student chose one meaningful moment from their Parsha and brought it to life. They were also tasked with hiding the name of the Parsha in their artwork and let the visual images speak for their artwork.

Students in Morah Tsippi's ECE2B class used a textured ring to experience a new way of painting and strengthened their fine motor skills in the process. They are creating a unique mousepad as a Father's Day gift. They also made a flower collage sun catcher for Shavuot using their fine motor skills to decorate.

RMBA high school students and The Medallion residents enjoyed a special musical guest this week - the Houston Elvis! This event put the exclamation mark on a great year of community service for our students in the Better 2 Serve program.

This week in Morah Sandy's ECE3A class students learned that in Parsha Bamidbar Bnei Yisrael had been divided into 12 shvatim (tribes). When they traveled in the desert and had to stop and rest they would set up campsites around the holy Mishkan in the center and rest around the flag of their tribe. Students made their own flags of the shvatim and created a campsite using foam as a sensory activity. They also learned that f is for “ flag” as in the flags of the tribes and the flag of Israel.

Middle school students enjoyed their last Shiur Tzionut with Bnot Sherut Talya and Moriya this week. The students played a game that summed up all the Israeli knowledge that they accumulated throughout the year in the experiential learning environment.