Friday, November 4, 2016 Vol. 13 #12

“SHABBAT SHALOM” 3 Cheshvan 5777

Friday, November 4, 2016 Candle Lighting 6:18 p.m.

Saturday, November 5, 2016 Shabbat Ends after 7:38 p.m.

Hasten Hebrew Academy of Indianapolis 6602 Hoover Road Indianapolis, IN 317-251-1261

A Message from the Principal

Mrs. Miriam Gettinger

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Grades 4-8 Homework Club will meet Monday-Thursday next week. Grades 1-3 Homework Club will meet Monday & Wednesday next week.

The next scrip order will be placed on November 15 Orders will be here on November 18. Please call Toni at 251-1261 ext. 158 to place an order.

I have often pondered what it would be like to have 25 hours in a day and magically increase our productivity. Imagine the possibility of fifteen extra days in the calendar year! With the annual ritual of ‘falling back’ adjusting our clocks to align with Eastern Standard Time tomorrow night, it always amazes me that most people waste that extra hour sleeping rather than doing something productive like tackling an organizational task that has been neglected, or meaningful like communicating with an old friend or relative that we somehow are always too busy to catch up with, or reading and researching a topic of interest we never got around to. I sup-pose some of us have so many clocks and watches to reset that the hour is spent adjusting the time with little thought to any more engaging plans for the 25th hour in the day! Inter-estingly, when I queried students about how they would wish to spend an extra hour gifted them, none responded with sleep instead preferring technology, art or some physical activity. In fact, I find today’s intermediate and middle school students busier than ever with a myriad of after school activities clam-oring for additional study hall periods even willing to forgo recess opportunities to maximize their time in school .

Time is inherently personal with each of us prefer-ring certain hours of the day for productive work inside and outside of the house. In fact, adults are generally early birds or night owls, coveting the quiet and solitude of those hours when they can accomplish tasks undisturbed and or distracted by their families or coworkers. Rarely if ever have I encoun-tered an adult who considers themselves an afternoon person with many finding a need for an energy drink, walk or break midday to power through their day. Ironically but rather sig-nificantly, research points to the hours of 10:30-2:00 as the peak times for instruction of children … the time when every educational institution has lunch and recess periods! In a seri-ous vein, the instructional mismatch of a tired teacher and equally unproductive student last period of the day is the rea-son HHAI endeavors to schedule specialty classes then in-stead of core curriculum.

In Biblical times, the Jews were challenged to max-imize their time with the gift of the heavenly manna which fell from heaven providing fully prepared meals for them. With no livelihood to be earned and minimal housekeeping to attend to, they were free to spend their time productively stud-ying Torah and engaged in communal welfare. Freed from the excuses of the daily grind and business with work pursuits, they were simultaneously gifted and challenged by their op-portunities. What if we truly had 25 hours in day?! Well, there was the famous Joshua miracle of stopping the sun from setting in his Friday afternoon battle ’Shemesh biGivon Dom’ which we often wish we could replicate on short Fridays but otherwise might be genuinely challenged to always use pro-

ductively. As for myself, I am utilizing the 25th hour to fly to Savannah for the day to speak for the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools for teachers and administrators from Atlanta, Jackson-ville, Charleston and Savannah only to be appreciative of the wonderful Indianapolis airport and uniqueness of our HHAI when I return home before midnight Sunday!

3:00 Friday Dismissal Continues

Last pick up for Extended Day

November 11 - 4:30 pm

2nd Grade Chumash Party Sunday, November 13

1:00 pm

Book Fair November 22 - December 6

Family and Friends Day November 23

2:00 Dismissal - No Extended Day

Parent Teacher Conference Online Sign-ups

Available November 9

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Parshat Noach By Rabbi Berel Wein

It is understandably easy to become disgusted with human be-ings, with society and with the behavior of individuals. Over the many millennia, from the days of Noach until today, human his-tory is a litany of violence, war, massacres of innocents, corrup-tion, false idols, bankrupt ideals and constant strife. Europe has not known a war-free time for many centuries. The very agencies created by human efforts to right wrongs, adju-dicate disputes and promote harmony among peoples have them-selves proven to be as corrupt and biased as to have become prac-tically irrelevant in the practical world where we all reside. Ap-parently such was the state of the world at the time of Noach as well. And then and there, somehow God despaired of the human race almost completely. The Torah speaks to us in a metaphoric fashion of God’s “regrets,” so to speak, in having created humankind and investing it with free will, because of the evil it perpetrated. And yet, in the narrative regarding the covenant of the rainbow, God somehow “regrets” having destroyed the world and commits Himself, so to speak, to never doing so again. The lesson here is that disgust and despair, no matter how seemingly justified, are not godly traits. Giving in to the weaknesses of human nature that surround us and that we are constantly made aware of by the media and other story mongers, is a sign of human foolishness and not wisdom. King Solomon, in Kohelet which we have just recently heard read in our synagogues, points out all of the negativities of human life. He also is tempted to despair of human life. But at the last instant he catches himself and ends on a note of quiet faith. Noach rebuilds the world after its destruction. The world is not rebuilt in a perfect fashion. Almost all of the evils of human soci-ety that existed before the great flood reappear once again in hu-man society. But the Torah now concentrates its narrative on cer-tain individuals who will influence all later human life for good and benefit. Abraham could not apparently save or even influence Sodom but the story of humanity will now focus on the good people, even if they be few in number and apparently weak in power. This shift of emphasis in the biblical narrative is itself the key to under-standing the message of Judaism and Jewish history throughout the ages. We should never despair because of the presence of so much negative evil in the world. If the great and righteous Noach gave in to despair about the hu-man condition, which is the source of all of the negative com-mentary about him that appears in rabbinic literature, we are not to emulate him in this regard. The world is rebuilt through good-ness and beneficence not through carping and cynicism. In a dan-gerous world such as the one we live in, realism and practicality are essential for survival. However, despair and disappointment are not. Shabbat shalom Rabbi Berel Wein

Bar Mitzvah Lessons - Hebrew Reading Tutor -

Assistance with all Judaic subject

Rabbi Schusterman is available for private and customized lessons for children, teens and adults.

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The Hasten Hebrew Academy Annual Chanukah Campaign

Dinner

Sunday December 11, 2016 6:00 pm

More information coming soon.

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Back -to- School Barbecue

Our Fourth Graders have had an exciting start to the school year! Indiana celebrates its Bicentennial this year and our Fourth Grad-ers are joining in on this 200th birthday celebration. During the second week of school, we headed off for our first Bicentennial field trip. We visited the Indiana State Fair for our first glimpse of Indiana’s rich history. Our first stop was the Fine Arts building. Students saw craftsmen at work creating magnifi-cent pieces with wood and leather pieces. Our next stop was to view the art gallery, featuring some of Indiana’s most talented artists. Our own First Lady, Karen Pence, even had her painting on display. Our last stop of the day was on the Hoosier Bicenten-nial Train. This actual train car featured a 200 year look at Indi-ana’s rich history. The train was set up as a historical timeline, featuring artifacts and photographs of our state’s history.

In the month of September the students joined our Fifth Graders to learn about the history of electing a president. Students visited the Benjamin Harrison House and learned the ins and outs of Presidential elections! The students had the opportunity to see an original campaign poster created for William Henry Harrison during his run for the White House. The poster played to the fact that Harrison had a full mustache and beard and quite a lot of hair! Students created their own lively campaign posters on their return to school.

With the students’ newfound knowledge of Presidential elections, our Fourth Graders have been studying our Bill of Rights and the freedoms assured citizens through our Constitution. Our Fourth Graders entered a statewide poster contest sponsored by the IKE (Indiana’s Kid’s Election) and created posters explaining why it’s every American’s right to vote in elections. All students are hop-ing to be the contest winner!

In keeping with the pace of celebrating Indiana’s Bicentennial, our students entered a statewide essay contest. This year’s theme was, “How did the Bicentennial Change You?” With the many field trips already taken students were armed, energized and ready to write! Students were busy planning, drafting and devel-oping their five paragraph essays on this year’s theme. Proofread-ing, writing, rewriting, and peer review was a challenging task for our students, but each student grew in their knowledge of how to develop an essay. Now all students are waiting in great antici-pation for the winner to be announced!

Third through Eighth Graders will hold a mock Presidential elec-tion on November 8th. Each grade level has been given a respon-sibility in running this mock election. Our Fourth Graders will play a vital role in collecting data, which will focus on what each of our HHAI students beliefs are about the candidates and the reason behind their vote. Our Fourths have been studying data surveys and how to collect important information using our sec-ond unit of Everyday Mathematics. Students will inform, distrib-ute, and collect pre-election and post- election surveys focusing on the key issues for this Presidential race (jobs/economy, immi-gration, and keeping America safe). Our Fourth Graders are ex-cited to tabulate the results.

By Karol Cook

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This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Menu Fare

November 7-11

Congratulations to the entire Fifth grade! The Rosh Chodesh program, culminating on November 2nd in Mrs. Bick’s sci-ence room, was an integration between Science, Judaics and Art. A Jewish calendar was designed in Art class to integrate with the scientific and spiritual connections to the moon phases. Images of Renaissance suns and moons were drawn on newsprint and then traced onto Tooling Foil with a ball-point pen. The eyes, nose and mouth were embossed with liner and modeling tools. The same technique was used to emboss sunrays, stars and extra details. The image was then painted with a light coat of dark blue acrylic paint. A paper towel was used to wipe away the highlights creating a resist. Please come see these impressive suns and moons next to the Early Childhood Library.

Artist of the Week

By Mrs. MaryEllen Fellegy

5th Grade Rosh Chodesh

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Early Childhood

The Early Childhood classes at Has-ten Hebrew Academy implement a Reggio Emilia inspired approach to teaching and learning each day in our classrooms. We often are quoted as saying that we are ‘Reggio Inspired’. Parents are often left wondering what does ‘Reggio Inspired’ really mean. As an educator, I have spent the last few years, studying the Reggio Emilia

philosophy and was fortunate to attend the North Ameri-can Reggio Emilia Alliance conference in Toronto, Can-ada. The conference was taught by educators from Reg-gio Emilia, Italy. The Reggio Emilia philosophy is deep in meaning and so it is often hard to explain in a few quick paragraphs. I am constantly learning more through study and interactions with coworkers. I will share some of the basic philosophies of the approach to help parents begin to understand what the teachers’ mean when they say that our program is ‘Reggio inspired’.

The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy that was devel-oped after World War II by a psycholo-gist Loris Malaguzzi, and parents in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Following the war, people believed that children were in need of a new method of being taught. The approach is now studied throughout the world as a ground break-

ing child-focused approach to early childhood education. The Reggio Emilia Approach views the child as capable, strong, and resilient. The youngest children in our school are viewed as capable of making certain decisions and completing tasks. Preschoolers are seen daily com-pleting jobs, using real tools, and leading activities for their classmates.

Children are seen as rich with wonder, knowledge and are driv-en by their own curiosity to un-derstand their world and their place within it. One aspect of the teacher’s role during planning activities is to observe what chil-dren know, are curious about, and

what challenges them. The children have control over their learning; therefore, teachers plan lessons/activities around the interests of the children. Often in a Reggio inspired classroom, the teacher has planned an activity thinking of a single possible outcome, but the children lead the activity in a different direction. This is expected

and encouraged as Reggio inspired teachers are flexible, engaged and extremely focused on the needs/desires of their students.

Additionally, the Reggio Emilia approach believes that children must be given endless ways to explore, express themselves, and their creativity. Children have a hundred different ways of think-

ing, discovering, learning and children must be provided a variety of different ways to express their ideas. There-fore, children in our school are often seen sculpting clay, painting, dancing, creative writing, building with blocks, and much more to both enhance their learning experienc-es and meet the child’s self expression.

The Reggio Emilia Approach empha-sizes hands-on discovery learning process using all of the senses. When entering an Early Childhood class, you will often see children learning through the experiences of touching, moving, listening, and ob-serving. Kindergarten students often move about the room to find materi-

als that will help them complete their math problems. Preschoolers often combine collage materials to create the perfect bug. Toddlers are given the opportunity to use many of their senses and sensory activities through-out the day to enhance their learning.

Next time you hear a teacher say that our school is ‘Reggio inspired’, re-member that your child is viewed as a capable, valued member of the school community and is provided a variety of ways to express themselves and follow their interests. I hope that you visit your child’s classroom or view their class blog and witness the many as-

pects of the Reggio Inspired approach at work, a won-derful child center environment for learning.

Reggio

By Nicole Mahern