Letter from Rhoda G., Social Action Committee chair:

At our second annual Community Service Day, one of the great projects was making doggie treats.  Our students who participated had a great time doing this.  The dozens of treats that were made were donated to the annimal shelter on San Jose Blvd.   It was perfect timing as this was a major adoption weekend.  The volunteers from Best Friends Animal Society were so excited to see all of the treats that we donated.  The volunteers divided the treats into smaller baggies so those who adopted pets today could have the treats to take home.  There were representatives from 12 shelters with dogs and cats that needed homes.  There were greyhounds, older dogs and puppies.  All breeds of cats were available too, but no treats went home with them.  This was a real mitzvah and our students can be very proud of their contribution.

Life Lessons from Religious School

What did your child learn in school this year?  We hear stories from parents all of the time about the knowledge that your children often come home with from Religious school.  We’d love to share them!  Record a Hebrew song…tell us a story…take a picture of a project or ritual event, and send them to Mrs. Tompkins.  We’ll post them here.

Please follow the link below to enjoy a lesson from Eliza, a 4th grade student from Joni Shmunes’ Life Cycle class:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sTuDaL_khI&feature=youtu.be

We’re so proud of both Eliza and Joni!  What an exceptional example of the amazing lessons that come out of our school.  Todah rabbah to Eliza’s parents, who thoughtfully shared this with us.

Our last day of school is this Sunday, May 20^th. School will be held from 9:00 to 12 noon as usual, beginning in our regular classrooms. From 9:30 – 11:30, we will be joining our congregation in the annual Community Service Day (see flyer below) for some fun, age-appropriate activities. (You may have already been notified by your youth group – Chalutzim or Kadima – about their projects during this time. We’ll make sure that they get with the appropriate group). At 11:30, we will meet in the social hall for a final, end-of-the-year party. All students will be dismissed at 12 noon usual. Any child unaccompanied by an adult will be taken to the regular car pool area for pick-up at that time.

We strongly encourage parents to join our students for this fun opportunity. Please dress your child in play clothes, as some of the projects may be messy, such as planting, painting and art projects.

Our students have learned all year about the importance of mitzvot.  Let’s put this lesson into practice as we join other children and adults in our congregation in a combination of service and community fun.

Look on your class blogs for pictures!

Today we celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut with some traditional Israeli food – Hummous and Pita.  We also had cupcakes and sang “Yom Huledit” (Happy Birthday) to Israel!

We’ve had lots of pictures lately, and they are all being loaded onto our class blogs for you to enjoy.  Please check it out!

Check out the Passover photos above!

Click on “Passover Photos” on top of this page to see a slideshow of our Passover activities with grades K-7.

The Passover Experience

An ancient rabbinic text instructs us, “Each person in every generation must regard himself or herself as having been personally freed from Egypt.” (Mishnah Pesachim).

Here are some pictures from our newest BASRS Hagaddah – the plagues!

        

Because of the lack of instructional days on our school calendar, we are taking a break from our traditional model seders this year and teaching Pesach in the classrooms.  We will incorporate Passover experiences, relating lessons to the specific and unique curriculum of each grade level.

On Sunday our K, 1st and 2nd graders will have a mini-model seder together as they learn step-by-step about this very important holiday ritual with their teachers.  They will also be making holiday crafts.  3rd graders will be practicing their seder prayers with traditional foods; on Wednesday they will actually make real bricks and explore the difference between freedom and slavery.  4th and 5th graders will also have a chance to taste foods and recite their prayers—but additionally they will  be experiencing the exodus by tracing the route on a map and considering each aspect of leaving their homes and traveling into the unknown future.  Middle schoolers are already hard at work creating a mock Facebook page for Moses!  How would a modern Moses blog his experiences?  We’ll post their thoughts next week!

All students will receive their BASRS haggadah keepsake on Sunday.

Purim Fun!

  On Sunday, March 4, we had a sneak peak at Purim!  See our pictures below.  Get ready for the Purim Celebration on Wednesday, March 7.