The winning entry...

How did Lander~Grinspoon Academy, a school in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts with just with ninety-five students, win second place for the popular vote in the nationally run Day School Video Academy contest? How did we beat out much larger schools in much, much larger communities? It was partly abut the product. A group of committed community members (Thank you Julia Mintz, Shana Sureck, Lou Davis, Lisa Mintz, Tamar Fields and Jennifer Rosner) produced a stunning video that told a compelling story about our school. It captures the essence of who we are and what makes LGA so special. I had the privilege of watching other entries in the contest, and many of them stood out as well. 

But the other part was that we used all of our resources to get the word out about the contest, encouraging our greater community to send out the link to their friends and family. And it worked! We got creative, and we hit often. Practically ever Jew  in the Pioneer Valley (and a lot of non-Jews as well) knew that LGA was participating in this contest. 

Once the video was produced and submitted into the contest, another team of people went into action, promoting our video at every turn. Our admissions director, who is active in the local Chamber of Commerce, used her networks to promote the video. We asked parents, alumni, and current students to send out the video to everyone they knew. We used social media -- in our community, the Jewish day schools have a combined presence on Facebook. 

But we went a step beyond that and got really creative. I had lunch with a number of colleagues from the non-Jewish independent schools and asked them to promote the video in their faculty communities. One of our sister schools even sent it to all their families! (This takes a lot of nonthreatening relationship building.) Our Federation director wrote her weekly message about it. The synagogues in the community put an attachment in their e-messaging. We learned that our network is greater than we think -- which felt good. 

This past summer, LGA launched a very successful micro-philanthropy campaign called Double Chai. We were looking to expand our donor base by asking 1,818 to donate $36 each. While we didn’t reach our donor number, we raised our goal, which was more than $65,000. This time, we went back to each donor and asked them to vote for our video. It felt right to reach out and show them what their money was going toward. Now we’re set up for another success story. We are continuing to build momentum, reaching out to segments of the population who didn’t fully understand what we were about. That feels REALLY good!

Hold onto your hats for the next big idea...it's coming soon!

Reading some torah, doing a gallery walk and second graders giving a drash...three more reasons I love LGA!

The faculty and administration at LGA are consistently challenging ourselves to think about what it means to be academically challenging yet progressive and child-centered. Finding the proper balance of these three ideas is tricky. As educators, we have a lot of opinions about how all three look and if you walk into any classroom at LGA you may see all three (we are consistently striving for all of them), you will most likely see two and I hope more often that not you at least see one. (I can say with a lot of confidence you will always see one...)

The past few weeks I have witnessed all three in different ways here at LGA. Each inspired our educators and students to think creatively about what the end goal of learning should be or how each students gets to that goal.

A few weeks ago, our 4th grade students proudly and loudly attended tfillot (services) on a Thursday morning where for the first time they stood up and each chanted a pasuk (verse) of Torah. Their parents held a tallit above their heads as each child proudly showed off their new skills. Moreh Aharon Skoglund spent months preparing our students for this day. In September, Moreh Aharon introduces to the 4th graders the various torah trope markings. Now if you have never read torah you can't appreciate the fact that torah trope looks like a bunch of scribbles on top or bottom of Hebrew letters. Each trope mark symbolizes a different note that the reader must chant. It is can be complex and challenging for many people who do it. But it is a skill once mastered is something that is quite impressive to know. Many day schools teach their students how to read torah but not many try it at the 4th grade level. The fact that LGA makes this commitment to teaching our students this skill shows our commitment to Jewish learning as a lifelong venture. This is both academically challenging and progressive.

Now here's the thing - every single student succeeds. Our faculty work individually with students to make sure there is maximum success. Some read shorter pasukim and others have more intricate verses to chant. But each student and family is proud of both the individual and the collective. This is child-centered. Bingo, we have all three. And did I mention that in art class each student designed their own yad (pointer) for this special occasion? It doesn't get much better than that...

Now take our Gan (Kindergarten) classroom. Morah Amy Meltzer guest writes for a few moments about a unit that her class explores. Here's what Amy writes...

"This was a week devoted in part to the exploration of wood and the creation of what proved to be some spectacular wood sculptures. Inspired by Cathy Topal's book Beautiful Stuff, which guides much of my thinking about art in the Gan, I decided it was time to haul in the three boxes of wood scraps I've been collecting for the past year and give the Gan a chance to get elbow deep in sawdust.

We spent a day or two exploring what we had, and giving children a chance to experiment with ways to arrange, balance and create with pieces of wood. We spent one class session on Tuesday thinking about ways to sort our wood, and later that day learned how to use sandpaper to smooth the wood. By Wednesday, everyone was eager to start gluing. Children started by using wood glue to create a sturdy base with three or four large pieces. From there, some sculptures grew wider, while some grew taller. Some children told stories of pirates and train stations with their wood, and some children worked on making something beautiful..."


From there the Gan students met with their Kitah Vav (6th grade) buddies. Last week, each pair sat down and worked on describing their piece. The sixth graders were the note takers while the Gan students explained their pieces in much detail. This morning in the library, parents and guests were treated to a real Gallery opening. Pieces were displayed. A guest book was there for patrons to sign in and send their well wishes to the artists and there of course was a nosh (as any good art opening would have.) 


Again this unit highlighted all three objectives. It was academically challenging. Each student was asked to reach inside themselves. It was child-centered. Wow...could a child get their creative juices flowing on this one. It was progressive. Imagination ruled the day yet there were standards and expectations for each student. 

Finally, later this week, our 2nd grade students will be having their Chagigat Siddur where each student will receive their first siddur (prayerbook). If you have never been to this ceremony, it's a good one to come to. Each 2nd grader shares with us a few of their own words about a prayer. I am looking forward to hearing the eighteen or so pieces on Jewish thought and spirituality. For many of these students, this is the first time they are really thinking about how prayer influences their lives. Those three goals are met yet again. 


I look forward to finding more ways that we succeed with these goals...