Schechter Shavua: January 3, 2022

Building Community - One Cup at a Time

Throughout the year, the Middle School students participate in team building activities in order to strengthen relationships and build community. Recently, they had to work together to pour juice from a bottle into small plastic cups. Sounds simple, right? Well, there was one caveat: the students couldn’t touch the bottle, but had to maneuver it by using long strings as it dangled in the air. Their goal: to pour as much juice as possible into the tiny plastic cups without physically touching the bottle. Students needed to communicate and coordinate their actions. Afterwards, students discussed how they worked together (or didn’t) and what they might have done differently to improve their performance.

Studying the Senses through the Eyes (and Nose… and Ears) of a Pet Rabbit

The Gesherstudents (grades 4-5) have been learning about how animals respond to their environment. After reading about and discussing how the brain controls the body's activities, the nerves and spinal cord, instincts, reflexes, and memory, students turned into detectives and used their senses to find Snowball, a hypothetical lost pet rabbit. The students touched different materials, smelled a variety of scents, looked at images, heard varied noises, and interpreted the tastes of different foods to think about how a rabbit would react to different sensory information in order to determine where the rabbit was hiding. In the end, the students used their evidence to construct an argument about where to find Snowball.

Sharing the Light of Havdalah

Before winter break, the Rimonim (grades 2-3) and Gesher (grades 4-5) classes joined together (seated apart) to celebrate havdalah in the Beit Tefillah on Mondays. Students from each grade would take turns leading the prayers together. Schechter’s core values are implemented into the service: students pray as a community ( klal Yisrael ); the student leaders demonstrate their chochma (wisdom) by sharing their learning; as the older and younger students come together, they show respect and kindness towards each other ( lev tov/good heart).

For more photos of havdalah, click HERE.

Middle School Hits the Ice

It's a favorite pre-winter break tradition in the Middle School: a trip next door to the skating rink! Students and faculty had a blast getting into the spirit of winter to celebrate the end of busy months of learning.