This week part of our Leadership Team attended the Prizmah Conference in Denver, where they joined over 1,000 professionals of more than 300 North American Jewish day schools and yeshivas, for high-quality professional learning and intentional relationship-building. The team got to hear from experts across all fields that addressed topics such as day school affordability, educational technology, mental health and wellness, Jewish life in schools, school culture, relationships and community, school advancement, governance and leadership. We were honored to have Lower School Judaic Studies Principal Rivkie Gottlieb present at the Ignite sessions on the topic of "Yes You Can". Make sure to read Rabbi Silvestri's Round Up that shares more about the experience.

Morah Tzippe's Kindergarten Judaic Studies class has started a six week brachot unit. This week the class focused on the bracha of Mezonot (the blessing on grains) and voted on their favorite Mezonot food. The class also cut aleph bet shapes out of lasagna noodles as a fun and delicious Mezonot snack!

Thanks to the Houston Kashuth Association, RMBA middle and high school students were treated to a most fascinating and practical shiur on kosher vs. non-kosher fish, and how to properly identify them in the store. Rabbi Chaim Goldberg of the Orthodox Union used humor and fresh fish to demonstrate these interesting halachot (Jewish laws). Thank you to Tzivia Weiss of the HKA for bringing this program to RMBA.

This week in Morah Sandy's ECE3A class students learned from Parshat Shemot that the wicked Pharaoh wanted the midwives to kill the Jewish baby boys. In an act of pikuach nefesh, preservation of human life, Shifra and Pua refused to comply. Yocheved put her baby boy in a basket in the Nile river; he was saved and became a great leader, Moshe. Students made their own baby Moshe pictures. They also practiced counting and number recognition by counting “baby Moshes” and putting them in the correct basket.

Students in Morah Tsippi's ECE2B class worked on a winter snow scene. The first step was to paint and dot a black paper. Then they will do another layer or two with other art mediums to create a “3D effect”.

This week students in Morah Oshrat's 4th grade Hebrew class enjoyed learning in small groups, "tweeting" self assessments, and working on their Shuk market project.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston is pleased to announce that they are now accepting need-based scholarship applications for Jewish overnight summer camp and Israel travel, including gap-year programs. This will help enable children and teens to participate in these transformative Jewish educational experiences. The scholarships are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Application for long term Israel programs (8 weeks to 1 year) should be submitted by March 1. Scholarships are for children in the greater Houston area, ages 7–16. For more information and to apply click here.

This week the art studio was a buzz with new projects. Kindergarten started their unit on shapes by looking for shapes in the pictures of everyday objects. Students in 2nd grade created monster perspective projects in which they learned how to create a 3D room and a monster bursting into it. Third grade began to work on Escher tessellations, while 4th the and 5th grade students began their unit on value, and learned how to control their pencil to go from light to dark.

ECE4 was so excited to begin Sefer Shemot this week with the first Parsha story called Shemot. Morah Aviva explained that this was also the beginning of the very special Pesach story! In honor of Parshat Shemot, students made their own Moshe sock babies! They also decorated plates with dotters that Morah Aviva shaped into little baskets. After, they were able to choose felt blankets and pillows to keep their babies warm in the baskets. Everyone had so much fun sharing objects that begin with letter “Mm” for Share and Tell this week! As the class continued in their Winter unit, students had a blast painting, cutting, drawing, and gluing winter scenes which consisted of a snowman in the window in the midst of a winter blizzard.

We are thrilled to relaunch the School Marathon Program, led by lower school general studies teacher Mirit Schneider for our lower school students. The start date will be February 6. The School Marathon is a group running program for children which will take place during recess. The students will complete 26.2 miles (the length of a full marathon) over a 9-week period. The marathon experience is a daily event and follows a structured process and pre-determined schedule. School Marathon offers kids the ability to achieve an adult-size goal by breaking it into smaller achievable goals. If you are interested in your child participating please click here to fill out the permission form.

Our seniors are continuing to have the greatest time on their trip in Israel. This week they visited Shuk HaCarmel in Tel Aviv, the fortress of Acco, Rosh Hanikra, the Keshet Cave in the Upper Galil, the Rambam's kever (grave), the Kinneret, the Banias Waterfall, the Golan Heights, Tzfat, the Ar"I Shul and Mikveh, and Jerusalem. The students also enjoyed a fun jeep ride and exploring the many yeshivot, seminaries, and gap year programs. A special thank you to the Morgan family for hosting 37 students and alumni for an incredible Shabbat experience!

This week Moriya and Talya, our Bnot Sherut, organized a special activity for the high school students in honor of Yom Hasafa Ha'Ivrit (Hebrew Language week). 

Some of our High school students gave their time this week to restore some of the school's older siddurim. This was part of a student initiative to restore and enhance our holy spaces in school while learning halachot of kedusha (laws of holiness).