The budding authors of Grade 3...

One initiative that has taken shape over the last few years that I am most proud of is our outstanding language arts program. The direction this curricular strand has taken over the last few years has been incredible and eye-opening for the entire faculty. We have done a lot of self-assessment and research to understand what best practice looks like in other excellent schools. Our faculty has worked to create a  program that prepares students with a comprehensive language arts experience. The next several posts are going to focus on three different strands of the language arts curriculum - writing, word work, and literature circles, with examples of each and discussion of why we focus on them.

Let's start with the why. I can give you all of the normal reasons, but the fact of the matter is that in a dual-curriculum school, finding time to really write can be challenging. I mean, our students do plenty of writing, but the kind of writing I am talking about is the sort that gets our students to think and explore, where the students show teachers their deeper understanding. The kind where students become passionate about who they are as writers. As educator and curriculum developer Lucy Calkins wrote, "When your writing is lousy, you throw it out.  When your writing is alive and beautiful and full of potential, you revise it.  Revision is a compliment to good writing!" I am proud to say this type of writing is now an important focus of our language arts work. The difference is in the caliber of the writing being produced in our classrooms. 

Julie Kearns's grade 3 students have become authors, with the end product being a bound book that will become a part of their personal library. The process of writing has become fully embraced by this class, but it's more than that. For the past two Monday mornings, students in her class have stood up at Monday Morning Meeting, in front of the entire school, and read us their works of literature. Each work was different and alive with emotion. They are not only learning the art of writing, they are becoming public speakers, they are becoming illustrators. They are beginning to understand what a multifaceted writing assignment looks like, and that being an author is more than just writing the words on a piece of paper. It is delving deep and truly find meaning in the words that you choose.  

I am sharing with you a few examples of pages from one of the books. I perused through all of them -- each great. They are truly models in differentiation. The works are at all different levels, but they all have the same goal in common, which is to teach the skills of writing. Kol hakavod, Kitah Gimel!

Be Happy, It's Adar!

A shout out to my good friend and LGA parent, Ben Falk, for the idea of this blog post! 


Last Thursday, we celebrated the holiday of Purim with all of its frivolity and light heartedness. Purim is a child's dream. Filled with costumes and silly revelry and coupled with a compelling story, children both young and old can really get behind the message of Purim. At LGA, the two weeks leading up to Purim are known as "Crazy Adar" weeks. I liken them to "spirit weeks." At our first Monday morning meeting of Crazy Adar weeks, we opened with a song to get us into the mood of the season. Often during the Throughout the halls of the school, you could hear classrooms singing this song. It wasn't a song that I knew before coming to LGA. And now I can't stop humming the tune.

Then there's the days themselves. Pajama Day. Backwards Day. Crazy Hat Day. Crazy Sock Day (I was wearing some pink striped numbers that day...) The creativity abounded with the LGA students. My job allows me to greet every child in the morning so for the past two weeks I was really looking forward to seeing how my day would be started. The highlight and the moment that made me think we are doing something right at LGA, was when Grade 3 student, Noah F-K arrived for Crazy Hair Day. Now Noah has been proudly growing his hair since Kindergarten. His locks are something that many a person could get quite jealous about - long, curly, and luxurious. (In my college days, I grew my hair this long and it was very similar.)

BEFORE - Noah sporting the long locks!

So Noah showed up in a blond wig. Nothing spectacular or earth shattering. I went about my day (as did everyone else). Then the reveal happened. Short hair from Noah! The whole school was abuzz with  the news. He had held the secret for a good part of the day. Even when I saw him, I was hard pressed not to have been taken a back a bit. We then learned that Noah had donated his hair to Locks of Love. Noah integrated the joy of Purim with doing an act of lovingkindness by giving another child a chance at happiness with his donation. He connected his Judaism in real ways and emulates everything that makes us proud of a Jewish day school education.  Yasher Koach, Noah!

AFTER - Noah with the new hairdo!

When Purim finally arrived, LGA spent a special day at school. We saw the 6th graders do their annual Purim shpiel. This year they kept it a secret from the rest of the school. They chose to spoof the Peter Pan story. We heard the 5th grade read megillah beautifully. Then each student went back to their classrooms to make misloach manot baskets for another student in the school. At lunch time, the entire school ate together to have a seudah (meal) together where they listened to me and Moreh Aharon debate something that the great rabbis of have reflected on for many years - which is better, the hamantaschen or the latke? I was the hamantaschen and I am sorry to say that even after some compelling points, the majority of our students have an affinity for the latke. We ended the day by having a costume parade throughout the streets of Northampton. (Yes, the streets!)

Our students walked away from this holiday fully immersed in what it means to celebrate it with joy, meaning and understanding.

Aleza and Nikki celebrate Dr. Seuss Day during Crazy Adar Week.

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...

Showing our Schechter pride...

Recently, an article was published in the Jewish Daily Forward (http://www.forward.com/articles/149983/?p=all) about the decline of Solomon Schechter schools in North America. LGA was singled out as a school of growth. Our own, Morah Devorah Bromberg Seltzer quoted accolades about what we are doing right and for a little while I basked in the glow of our position in an otherwise gloom and doom piece about Jewish day schools and dwindling enrollment.

I know that many parents in the LGA community read this article with much excitement. When word spread that LGA made the national press, everyone was elated but as I and others further examined the article we definitely saw it as a double edged sword. A few of you commented to me that the article really didn't paint an accurate picture of Jewish day school life and were a bit astonished by the tenor of the negative article questioning why was it so negative. Is LGA such a unique Schechter school?

While, yes, LGA has a unique place on the Schechter landscape. Our video that we submitted to the Avichai Foundation captures our essence and spirit. (You still have time to vote and encourage your friends and family as well.) http://www.dayschoolvideoacademy.org/VideoView.aspx?MovieId=172. We are not unique because LGA as all other Schechter schools are guided by a set of expectations that help all of us frame for our students ways to live a Jewishly rich life all the while teaching about being concerned global citizens. All Schechter schools hold very tightly to the ideal of academic excellence at the core of their mission. I don't think there is a school in the network that doesn't believe that this is central to our success. Our constituencies wouldn't have it any other way.

I have had the privilege of walking into many different Schechter schools and working closely with other heads of schools at Solomon Schechter day schools throughout North America. We each "do" Schechter differently. 43 different ways. This is what I have learned to love about our movement of schools. Whether it is Solomon Schechter of Greater Boston, Gross Schechter in Cleveland, or Community Day School in Pittsburgh, or any of the other schools in the movement, many of our schools are the pride of our greater communities because of our focus on the whole-child, the diversity of our community is astounding and who our graduates become.

Schechter schools get a bad rap. Being a movement affiliated school, we are guided by principles yet are given enough leeway to understand and support local cultural mores and standards making us true community schools. LGA is a fine example of that and something that the entire Pioneer Valley is very proud of. With pride, we hold our head up proudly as a Schechter school.

Collegial relationships that make LGA stronger...

I am in Atlanta at the North American Jewish Day School Conference and enjoying my time here immensely. I have family in Atlanta so the fact that I get to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law is an extra bonus. Morah Devorah is here with me plus a few other educators from our area. We hardly get to see each other because there are closer to 700 people here. The beauty of this conference is that it is completely cross-denominational. Jewish schools from across the spectrum are here. We all share one thing in common - educating the future leaders of the Jewish community.

The landscape in Jewish day school education is becoming so diverse. Some schools look very similar to LGA while others have a distinctly different feel because of cultural differences. Yet, we all strive for excellence, which of course is subjective.

I spent a good part of yesterday in a PEJE workshop dedicated to Development professionals. We had a session called "Speed Dating." There were close to fifty of us in this session. With a partner, we sat across from one another and had three minutes to get to know each other and our schools. We had to talk about a success and a challenge at our school. We also had to hand our partner our business card. We did this for an hour or so and I networked like a champion. Making connections and taking away some ideas that were really thought provoking to see how we could fit them into our valley community. I walked away intrigued by the creativity of the Jewish day school community. Again, some of these ideas may not be so desirable to implement in our school or community.

Throughout the conference, one major aspect is networking not only yourself but your school. Leveraging air time with important people and there were a lot there. Here's the good and exciting news...LGA is on the national scene as a school that embraces academic excellence, rigorous learning, creativity at every corner and is doing things right. We won a national award for creativity. School administrators are asking me how we are doing it. Really exciting stuff.

We are growing! I wish I could say this about every Jewish day school but it isn't happening. Demographics aren't in our favor but you know what is - our faculty and our innovative approach to learning. I appreciate these two factors even more than I did before I left.

Let's keep growing and thinking. See you soon.

You make me blush when you say that, but GO ON!

With much anticipation and almost 100 percent certainty, students at LGA look forward to recess. It's a lot of fun at LGA! There are a myriad of activities for students to take part in. We are fortunate because there is a lot of green space for students to explore, and the playground built a few years ago still gets a lot of attention from both small and big kids. As I blogged before, Four Square is a major part of the landscape of recess. At our weekly all-school meeting, 5th and 6th graders announce "all-school" recess games, while younger students look forward to hearing the choices with much excitement. Some games are popular, garnering close to thirty students of all different ages playing, while others draw a smaller crowd. What makes them all similar is that everyone, no matter the age or skill level, is not only invited but encouraged to play. My office window looks out at this game, and I often peer through my window with pride, because it is times like this when our small school really works well. Some might say it is out of necessity, but I don't agree. 

At almost three years of age, my own son, Raviv, can hold his own with the big kids of kindergarten, and yet also enjoys parallel play with his younger sister, Danya, as she toddles about in our family room. I see how much Raviv appreciates learning from the older kids he interacts with. I wouldn't change a thing about how he is learning negotiation, seeing and imitating behaviors in other children (that Rebecca and I might not always want to have emulated) and picking up new vocabulary words every day.  Many of these experiences aren't with his age cohort. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what he learns from his peers, but these multiage interactions have developed his skills even greater than I thought possible. He goes to preschool and is with ten other 2-3 year olds all day. In the afternoon, he joins with his friends from the middle classroom. He is in love with every single child in that classroom. We have to tear him out of there when we pick him up at the end of the day. It is this appreciation that makes my reaction to recess standards at LGA even stronger. 

Navigating an elementary school playground can sometimes be a daunting task. Luckily, recess at LGA is, for the most part, a joyous experience. It's pleasant. When the whistle blows signaling everyone to line up, it goes to a whole other level. The 6th graders help corral everyone else into lines. A hush falls over the assembled. The leaders ask four or five different students for something we call "compliments," which are exactly what it sounds like. "I want to thank Mara for playing soccer with me. She showed me how to kick the ball the proper way." "I want to thank Yoav for including me in the game of Four Square." "I want to thank the 5th graders for letting me join in on the game of tag." Et cetera. 

It's the kind of moment that makes you do a double take and blush. The younger students are seeing and hearing the older students being nice to each other. Before students walk into class, they are taking a collective deep breath and appreciating others. Not a bad habit to teach our kids.