Keeping Connected    July 2024

School Registration, Summer Hebrew Practice and More

Summer is here and I hope you are all enjoying a little rest, relaxation and family time.  It is well deserved for all!

SUMMER HEBREW PRACTICE

It is really important to have your students practice Hebrew a little bit this summer. Research shows that children’s reading ability will decline during the summer months without continued practice.

Click here to access a fun Summer Hebrew Bingo Board. The activities suggested on the board should take no more than 10 minutes each. Encourage your student to complete the entire Bingo board and bring it back to temple for a little prize.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.

SCHOOL REGISTRATION

Thank you to all the families who submitted their registrations! We truly appreciate your promptness.

As we move into summer, we are beginning to make plans for the next school year.  We are buying books and supplies, creating class lists and figuring out what the school will look like this coming year. It is important that we have an accurate count of how many students we will have. Please submit your forms as soon as possible. You can access the registration forms from the Learning tab on the temple’s website. Reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE

The temple’s School Committee is a group of people who work together to provide for the educational needs of the school. We meet monthly (sometimes with snacks!) and work to help the school to be strong and successful.  We are open to new thoughts and ideas.  Anyone can be part of the School Committee.  If you are interested in joining the committee or finding out more information, please reach out to me.

SUNDAY MORNING COMMUNICATION

For the past several years, during the school year, an email is sent out early on Sunday morning with information for the morning of classes.  A few people have shared with me that the early Sunday morning note is not working for them.  Please let me know if you find the Sunday note helpful, if you think there would be a better day/time to send it out or if it is simply clogging up your inbox.  I appreciate your thoughts to help us go forward with communication.

Enjoy the summer,

Deborah

Keeping Connected    June 2024

Todah Rabah and L’hitraot

(Thank you and until we meet again)

Thank you again to everybody for helping to create a successful school year. So many great things happened during the course of the year and we were able to end the year with well-deserved fun celebrations! Teacher Appreciation on the last day of school was a wonderful morning with our community and the last Wednesday of Hebrew School allowed us to recognize our teachers and madrichim and enjoy a fun last day of Hebrew. I am so grateful to be part of this school community!

The summer will bring with it lots of work in continuing to figure out and design the school for next year, including class configurations, curriculum, staffing and so much more. Please send in your registration forms if you have not already done so. It is so important for us to have that information as we move ahead with plans for the next school year. I welcome any suggestions and questions as this important work continues throughout the next few months

As you know, we exceeded our goal with the plastics collection this year! We collected over 200 pounds of soft recyclable plastics. The donation container will remain in the entry way for a little while, but everyone is encouraged to bring your collected plastics directly to the donation container at your grocery store. We can continue with the idea of Shomrei Adama by everyone doing their part to help take care of the earth.

In conjunction with our plastic collection, we raised enough money to purchase a bench made from recycled plastics. We are awaiting the arrival of the bench any day now. Look for it the next time you are at Congregation Shalom.

 The year is not over. There are still some end-of-the-year services that you will want to attend!

• Friday, June 7 – 6:15pm, This is the last Family Shabbat of the year. We will begin at 6:15pm with a free Shabbat Pizza dinner for all school families, followed by a music filled Shabbat at 7pm.  Reach out to your friends and classmates and plan to come out for one more Shabbat dinner and service!
• Friday, June 14 – 6pm, Tot Shabbat – join us as the youngest members of our community join together in song and prayer and fun as we honor Shabbat. It is always a fun and spirited time.  If you have never been, end the year with attending Shabbat.  If you have been before, come back and celebrate Shabbat together!
• Friday, June 14 – 7pm, Graduation Shabbat – come and celebrate our young adults as they graduate and move on to their college experiences. This is always a moving and inspirational service as you hear about the journeys of these young adults and their own experiences at Congregation Shalom. It will be a Shabbat service that you won’t want to miss!

Wishing a wonderful summer, filled with a little Hebrew practice!

With gratitude,

Deborah

 

 

Keeping Connected    May 2024

Hello Friends,

As we quickly approach the end of the Religious School and Hebrew School year, we are also already thinking about and planning for next year.

There are lots of fun and exciting events, programs and services that mark the end of the temple school year. Please watch your emails for information on these end-of-the-year activities. Also, be ready for registration packets for the next school year to be sent out soon. The School Committee has been working hard to streamline the registration process and move it to online registration. We will not be able to roll that out this year due to time constraints, but the forms should be a little clearer this year and less repetitive. For the following year, hopefully it will all be online!More

February 2024   Keeping Connected

The Sunday morning Religious School gathered together on January 28 to celebrate Tu B’Shevat while the teachers had the opportunity to meet with parents for Parent/Teacher conferences. It was a successful morning, filled with joy and enthusiasm, song and prayer, and celebration. (and good conversations between teachers and parents!)

Our youngest students (preschool through 2^nd grade) gathered together to explore all things about trees and helping to take care of the Earth. They engaged in songs about trees, talked about ways to help the world and got to participate in lots of different activities such as making a bird feeder out of Cheerios and painting a tree complete with their own ideas about ways to help the world using their hands. The students made their own edible trees (out of pretzel sticks and grapes) for snack and ended the morning by having a birthday party for trees, complete with party hats and playdough cake.  It was a spirited morning, filled with lots of learning opportunities and fun.

The older students gathered together for a Tu B’Shevat seder. Ari joined us to accompany the group in beautiful music, though on several occasions, Ari dropped off her voice and the sanctuary was filled with song from the students – beautiful and inspiring. The students sat at mixed-age tables with their temple school community and interacted and participated all morning.

The students began the morning by sharing their own ideas of ways to help create a healthy Earth. They then worked together to create forests of trees out of air-dry clay which became the centerpieces for the seder table.

The seder proceeded as we talked about the seasons and represented them with four different cups of juice, going from white juice to pink juice to red juice and ending with dark red juice, each corresponding with a season.  The students got to eat various foods – fruits with shells, fruits with pits and entirely edible fruits. Each time, the students shared their own ideas of how the idea of these different fruits could describe people. Their responses were impressive.

 

 

The students created long lists of all types of trees including fruit trees, family trees and the Tree of Life!

It was a wonderful morning, filled with laughter, joy, learning and prayer.

It continues to be a joy to spend Sunday mornings with the students of our school.

Deborah

 

Schedule for February 2024

• Friday, February 2

            6:00pm – Pizza Dinner offered for all families ($5 per person)

            7:00pm – Family Shabbat

• Sunday, February 4

            6^th/7^th graders field trip to the mikveh

            Religious School, 9:00am – 11:00am

            Kitah Aleph, 11:00am – 12:15pm

• Wednesday, February 7

            Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

            Chai School, 6:15pm – 8:15pm

• Tuesday, February 13

            Post Confirmation at Congregation Shalom – 7:00pm-8:30pm

• Wednesday, February 14

            Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

• Sunday, February 18 – NO SCHOOL due to Massachusetts February vacation
• Wednesday, February 21 – NO SCHOOL due to Massachusetts February vacation
• Sunday, February 25 – NO SCHOOL due to Massachusetts February vacation
• Wednesday, February 28

             Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

• Friday, March 1

            6:00 pm – Shabbat dinner offered for all

            7:00 pm – Family Shabbat, led by the 4^th/5^th grade class

 

Keeping Connected  January 2024

I hope everyone enjoyed the winter break and got to relax, spend time with family, eat yummy food, and practice a little Hebrew!

As we begin a new secular year, it feels like a good time to revisit our tzedakah projects for this year and hopefully engage more of our school and community in our tzedakah efforts.

There are several different projects going on each day, all around the idea of Shomrei Adama, being caretakers of the earth. Participate in one, two or all of these challenges as the year continues!

Plastic Recycling – As you may know, you can collect soft plastics from home, bag them up and place them in the big white bin in the entrance way of the temple. Plastic bags that you are recycling need to be bagged up into another bag for the collection. These donated bags are weighed each week and then dropped off at a donation facility. The bags will eventually be turned into more environmentally friendly building materials. We have been keeping track of how much plastic has been donated so far, and after 3 ½ months of collection, we have collected 71 pounds of plastic!

Tzedakah Money Donations – We are also collecting money to help fund the purchase of a piece of furniture made from the recycled plastics to add to our outdoor temple space.  As we collect money, the bench will fill up with brown pieces. When we have an entire bench, we will have enough money to purchase a Trex bench or rocking chair. People can simply donate money into the plastic bag that sits on the tzedakah table in the lobby. Keep an eye on the brown bench as our year continues.

Recycling Redeemable Cans and Bottles – We also have a new collection can in the kitchen at the end of the counter, behind the door. This new can is for congregants to donate empty and clean redeemable cans and bottles (no beer cans, please.) The can or bottle will say that it is redeemable in MA. A young student on the journey to become a B-Mitzvah is emptying the bin frequently, redeeming the cans and bottles at the grocery store for five cents apiece and then donating the collected money into our tzedakah bag. (Please note that this new can is just for redeemables. There is still a red bin in the kitchen for all other recyclables.)

We hope you can find ways to contribute to the tzedakah efforts at Congregation Shalom.

A little bit from everyone goes a long way! Let’s continue to work together to care for our earth by joining together with the work of Shomrei Adama.

Here’s to a healthy planet for all,

Deborah

 

Schedule for January 2024

• Wednesday, January 3

            Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

• Friday, January 5

            6:00pm – Family Shabbat Dinner – all school families are invited

            7:00pm – Family Shabbat – led by the 1^st/2^nd/3^rd graders

• Sunday, January 7

            Religious School, 9:00am – 11:00am

            5^th grade parent meeting – 10:30am

            Kitah Aleph, 11:00am – 12:15pm

• Wednesday, January 10

            Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

            Chai School, 6:15pm – 8:15pm

• Sunday, January 14 – NO School due to MLKJr. weekend
• Wednesday, January 17

            Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

            Chai School, 6:15pm – 8:15pm

• Friday, January 16 – Tot Shabbat at 6:00pm
• Sunday, January 21

            Religious School, 9:00am – 11:00am

            Bagels, Blocks and Beyond Playgroup – 9:00am – 10:30am

            Kitah Aleph, 11:00am – 12:15pm

• Wednesday, January 24

             Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

            Chai School, 6:15pm – 8:15pm

• Sunday, January 28

            Religious School, 9:00am – 11:00am

            Scheduled Parent/Teacher Conferences

            Kitah Aleph, 11:00am – 12:15pm

• Wednesday, January 31

            Hebrew School, 4:15pm – 6:00pm

            Chai School, 6:15pm – 8:15pm