Fizz, Slime, Goo, and a hypothesis...

A week ago I had the pleasure of taking part in LGA's first ever science fair. It was enriching on so many levels! Every student in grades 3-6 was required to participate and students in k-2 were given the option and many of them took us up on the offer to show off their scientific prowess.

For the most part this was a home-based science fair but many of our general studies teachers put in hours of time to make sure that their students were ready for scientific success. Earlier in the spring when we introduced the science fair to the students, I didn't know what their response was going to be. Would it be met with disdain? Would teachers get a lot of eye rolling from their students because there was an expectation of outside work over and beyond homework? Would parents buy into this home based project learning? I am glad to say the answers were no, no, and YES!

Science is an important part of the week at LGA and many other Jewish day schools throughout the country. Cramming many subjects into a seven hour school day can often lead to making tough curricular choices and too often science loses out. As head of this school, I want to see all of our subject areas get equal billing but realize that sometimes that just isn't possible.

This is where supplementing the curriculum with home based learning can be key. Parent after parent came up to me and told me that they appreciated the chance and opportunity to work with their child for the science fair. And what work it was!

Students charted, they graphed progress, they hypothesized about potential outcomes, they exprimented with new products and tested their scientific selves to create a fair that was both enlightening for all that attended and a lot of FUN for kids and adults.

Some of the creative science projects included (but definitely not limited to.):

• Can people read mixed up words?
• Magnetic soccer
• How different flowers are related?
• Endothermic reaction
• A dutch rabbi experiment
• The chemistry of slime
• Color changing carnations

We really gave our students an opportunity to explore their passion! Yasher Koach to all of our LGA students. The pictures above are from the science fair. One of the most creative projects came from a 6th grade student who created a hovercraft. It really worked as he lifted his sister up off the ground. The crowd cheered...

We are so GLEEful...

They call Northampton, "Paradise City" for many different reasons. It is quite a unique place to live. The richness of living in an area where there is a plethora of academia has its' privileges. The arts and culture that pervades many different parts of this valley is prevalent everywhere. We get many performers that much larger metropolitan areas don't because of the intimacy of our space.

LGA has taken advantage of this by hosting an evening called A Night Around the Table: Dinners and conversations with local luminaries. It is modeled after Boston's Jewish Community Day School's Matters of Taste. For this annual fundraiser, members and friends of the LGA community open their homes for an evening of delicious food and enlightening conversation in a more intimate gathering of usually 10-20 people depending on the size of the space. The hosts of the events went all out for their guests and provided unique menus.

Last Sunday, LGA hosted nine dinners. This list of acclaimed speakers captured guests minds and hearts in what can be classified as just a "great night out on behalf of LGA" was so impressive:

Lou Cove, executive director of Reboot

John Darnton, Pulitzer prize winning reporter for The New York Times

Rabbi Art Green, a preeminent scholar of Jewish spirituality and mysticism

Fraidy Katz, Performer of classic Yiddish songs

Patricia MacLachlan, award-winning author of picture books and novels for children (including Sarah, Plain and Tall)

Richard Michelson, Prizewinning poet and children's book author, and art gallery owner

Estela Olevsky, Internationally acclaimed pianist

Eugene Pogany, author of In My Brother's Image

Ilan Stavans, cultural critic, who has been dubbed "the czar of Latino culture in the U.S."

The highlight of the evening for me was the premiere of a new LGA pictorial that LGA board member and executive director of Avoda Arts (a national Jewish arts and culture educational organization), Debbie Krivoy and her partner, Jen Einhorn, who is director of marketing at the Clarke School for the Deaf. Shana Sureck who is a new parent in the school and a professional photographer really got the right shots to make this presentation pop! Marla Shelasky, who is LGA's admissions and marketing professional also got a lot of great shots and lent her advise and eye to the final production. It was a collaborative effort. This short 3 minute presentation captures the school so unbelievably well!

It captures the essence of what I am trying to do...build a community school that highlights educational excellence in a Jewish atmosphere.

Thank you Debbie, Jen, Shana and Marla for helping me memorialize the vision. I hope you enjoy the presentation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTtQzpQL-bE

Tree, tree, beautiful tree...

This past Friday at our Mi dor la dor (Grandparents/special visitors day), I had the privilege of watching for a second year the 1st grade marionette show focusing on fables. Like last year, to say it was outstanding would be an understatement. The amount of effort and time that went into this grand production was clearly apparent. It is so much more than just your typical 1st grade play. Let's just say the kvell factor was high! The marionette show has become a tradition at LGA that is quite unique to our school. There has become a cult following (ok maybe I am exaggerating a bit and I am the only one obsessed with it...) amongst the students and faculty waiting to see what the show will be like.

Starting months ago, Rana, the 1st grade teacher sits down with her students and introduces the class to fables. They read different fables. They learn about what makes a good fable. And finally with much anticipation they hear which fables they will be reenacting for the LGA community.

It would be enough if that was the only part of the show but what happens next is even more special. Each student carefully and meticulously designs their own marionette character. Rana sits down with each child and helps them design and think through what their puppet should look like. It is quite fascinating to watch as each child comes to it with a bit of a different spin. The students discuss costume design. Many of the fable characters are animals and students study about that animal to make sure they depict it correctly.

Rana works with each individual student on their lines. She carefully helps each student analyze and really "get into character." Students learn about what it means to be articulate and to annunciate every line. She coaches each student on specific words to give them the right dramatic flair they need for that just perfect stage presence. One parent of a child with stage freight remarked to me that her daughter who wouldn't take part in last year's Kindergarten group performance easily and with grace was EXCITED to be performing. Her mom credits Rana for giving her child the confidence to succeed.

Kitty, our art teacher works with Rana to design a marionette curtain that is easy for the kids to use and that captures the essence of all of the fables.

On the day of the show, students line up in all black and assemble back stage after many a run through and a dress rehearsal just for preschool students (they are an easy crowd to perform for!) our students excitingly start the show for the large assembled crowd. We are not a school with a fancy sound system and we don't have enough microphones to go around so students need to really project. And project they do...one visitor remarks how impressed he was with the fact that every student spoke clearly and loudly. No small fete for 6 and 7 year olds.

A big factor in the success of this type of production is no doubt our teachers at LGA. Rana and all of the other teachers who create these type of shows with our students give so much effort and time outside of the classroom to make these events memorable for our students. This commitment to our students is another factor that makes our school so different and special. I thank all of them for sharing a vision of educational excellence and creating powerful learning moments.

So why is this posting named, "Tree, tree, beautiful tree...?" you'll have to wait until the end of the production to find out. It's about 20 minutes long but well worth it. You can skip over my introduction. I hope you enjoy the show as much as I do...

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/e41daee166f23efeb2df76583ed6c498/video/13144432

I met Gandhi and Cleopatra (and 17 other famous people yesterday)...

That's right, yesterday I not only met them but I learned about the bravery of Ruby Bridges, I mingled with Eleanor Roosevelt. I heard about the daring life of Amelia Earhart. Met sports greats like Derek Jeter and Jackie Robinson. Learned what made John Lennon and Paul McCartney's music so good. Listened with much intent as Anne Frank, Helen Keller and Florence Nightingale told me their stories of bravery and wisdom. I asked Walt Disney how he became so famous and questioned Alexander Graham Bell about his inventions. I listened to Suzuki. Did some art with Georgia O'Keefe. And finally, King Tut and Homer dropped by to tell us about their famous lives.

Yesterday at LGA, I had the extreme pleasure of attending the 2nd annual 3rd grade Biography Fair. Words can't describe the excitement that was in the building yesterday morning for these 19 students. Our 3rd grade students led by their amazing teacher, Julie, prepared a world-class learning experience for our students integrating almost many different core curriculum areas for our students.

The most gratifying part for me as head of school was that it was so much more than this one brief morning for the students. This was truly a culmination of months of work for our students. Students each started by selecting a person that they wanted to learn about or admired, they then with the help of their teacher found an age-appropriate biography, wrote and rewrote their own biography, thought about how they wanted to present their "characters", researched and planned out their own costumes, rehearsed public speaking and reading out loud to one another, finally the big day came and they each transformed into their new persona.

Wow! That is all I have to say. Our students were lively, fun, engaging, engaged, and overall impressive with their knowledge. The fact that each student could research someone that meant something to them and piqued their interest somehow just shows the high level of engagement that our teachers have with our students. The creativity that our school shows with this type of project-based learning is what makes LGA such a special place.

Who knows who I'll meet next year?!?

Jews really do live there AKA what's this blog all about?

So here goes...this is my first official blog entry. Don't know how often I am going to do this or how brilliant I will be but I thought that I would give it a shot.

What am I going to be blogging about you may ask? Who is this person?

The short answer to the first question is I am going to be blogging about what Jewish life is like in a relatively small yet growing and vibrant Jewish community and the second answer is a much more complicated one.

Yes, they really do exist. Jewish people live outside of urban centers and create vibrant Jewish life.

I hope that people will forward my entries around to others and see that living in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts can be a really great place to be Jewishly. Northampton and Amherst and the surrounding communities are like no place in the states. Really, really unique!

There are many aspects of Judaism that shape my being. I love being Jewish and part of this very dynamic global community. My wife, Rebecca and I moved to Northampton (aka Noho) a year and a half ago because I received the wonderful opportunity to become the head of school at Lander~Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon Schechter School of the Pioneer Valley.

I have a hard job! But it is the most rewarding job in the Jewish world (in my opinion). Down to my core, I believe that Jewish day school education is one of the most important paths to Jewish continuity that we as a community have. Jewish day school graduates are articulate communicators of Jewish life and history. I am not saying that every single graduate has a positive attitude about the experience they had but they have a knowledge base that their Jewish peers who didn't go to day school don't have.

Before I came to LGA, I worked for many years as director of the high school of Prozdor Hebrew High School at Hebrew College in Newton, Mass. It was AMAZING for many reasons. I loved every minute of that school and experience. I helped shape a new generation of Jewish leaders and do believe that when supplementary education is done well, it can be unbelievably life-changing.

So, my blog is going to be about my experience of working in a small Jewish community, life in a small Jewish day school, and the charismatic and endearing characters and experiences that I come into contact with on a daily basis. I hope that I will inspire someone else to want to move to the Pioneer Valley and join our community.

Enjoy! Comment! Forward!