January 5, 2011

Random Song Quote:
“Hey hey hey
Ba de ya, say do you remember?
Ba de ya, dancing in September
Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day”
-Earth, Wind, and Fire

I bet September seems like a lifetime ago. It does to us. Here we are now in January and welcoming you all back to school after, hopefully, a safe and restful couple of weeks. Dang, if I didn’t find myself missing the kids as the New Year approached. I am so looking forward to a second semester filled with activities, trips, and some new programming. This week, I thought it pertinent to identify some of the key dates coming up. Where applicable, I will let you know if it is a tentative date, but for the most part, these dates are pretty firm.

January 13-14 – 8th grade trip to Camp Allen
January 17 – school closed for MLK Jr. Day
January 27 – 7th grade trip to Texas A&M
February 21 – School closed for President’s Day
February 28 – March 3 – ERB Testing
March 8 – MS Spring Trips’ parent meetings – 8am and 6pm (Tentative)
March 20 – 23 – 8th Grade trip to Washington DC
March 21 – 23 – 7th Grade trip to New Orleans
March 21 – 23 – 6th Grade trip – Location TBA
March 24-25 – School Closed
April 18-26 – Passover Break – School Closed
May 17 – 19 – MS/US Spring Musical – “Oliver”
May 30 – Memorial Day – School closed
May 31 – June 2 – Final Exams
June 2 – Last day of School

From now until Passover break, there are a lot of things going on and it is traditionally a tough time of year. The work gets a little harder, there is a post-holiday lag, and there are times during the next 14 weeks when there seems like there is no end in sight. We have scheduled trips and activities to try to break it up a little, while remembering that this is also a prime teaching time. We have reworked clubs in order to enhance the experience for the students, student council continues to schedule crEWS activities to ramp up the competitive, yet fun spirit of the program, and we will continue to bring Kallah to the kids with new Minute to Win It competitions and short concerts by the music classes.

With all that said, have a great first week back to school!

Athletic Events this week:
• Thursday
MS Girls Soccer @ Northland Christian – 4:30pm
MS Girls Basketball @ Veritas – 5:30pm
Boys 7 Basketball v. Westbury Christian – 5pm
Boys 8 Basketball v. Westbury Christian – 6pm

Happy Birthday to the following students who are celebrating birthdays this week:
• Lewis Graubart – January 4th
• Rachael Totz – January 5th
• Hannah Golub – January 6th
• Elan Shney – January 7th
• Tal Behor, Brandon Binder, and Kaitlyn Massin – January 9th

Mazel Tov to Kyra Goren who will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah on the 8th of January

Kallah and Advisory:
• Tuesday – Advisory
• Wednesday – club selection procedure discussed in Kallah
• Thursday – Torah service – Kyra Goren and Joseph Minkowitz
• Friday – Kallah – 6th Grade Scientific Method videos

Calendar Events:
• January 5th – 1st Semester Grades will be emailed home
• January 4th – 6th grade students will begin their Fine Arts’ Electives. New schedules will be handed out to students once grades have been emailed home.
• January 4th – Classes resume

Looking Ahead:
• 8th grade overnight to Camp Allen – January 13-14
• January 17th – MLK Jr. Day – School is closed
• January 27th – 7th grade field trip to Texas A&M – more information to follow