ETON Biweekly e-newsletter of Community Day School | 7 April 2016 28 Adar II 5776 Issue #14 |
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CDS Tweets
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Head of School Message By Avi Baran Munro, Ed.M. In little over a month, our 8th Grade class will embark on their two-week adventure in Israel as the capstone experience of their years of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at CDS (just take a walk down the Middle School hallway, and you can feel the buzz of excitement as they practice their Hebrew skills with each other!). Compared to their parents’ generation, students nowadays are more likely to have traveled abroad by the age of 16 and have easy access to a world of information at their fingertips through tools like Skype, Twitter, and Google Maps. However, children still need to be guided through the process of discovery to put their learning in context so that a deeper understanding of their own place in the world is developed. That is why fostering global awareness and international collaborations in our classrooms is so beneficial to our students. It was in this spirit―and in hope for a more peaceful future for Jews and Arabs in Israel and around the world―that we proudly welcomed Mamoun Assady back to CDS this week for a second visit. Mr. Assady is a 72-year-old Arab citizen of Israel who was born and still lives in a village called Deir Al Assad (meaning “Monastery of the Lion” in Arabic), which is in the Galilee near Pittsburgh’s sister communities in Karmiel/Misgav. He is a retired teacher who has taught English, Hebrew, and Arabic to both Arab and Jewish students. He and his wife, Efaf, have three grown children and grandchildren; they first visited CDS together in 2014 through an introduction to me from the former head of Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland. We funded Mr. Assady’s return visit to the United States in partnership with several schools in the Toronto area, including Jewish day schools. Dedicated to inspiring positive relations between the Arab and Jewish communities in Israel and abroad, Mr. Assady offers a rare, cross-cultural point of view that is informed by his position within both communities. His mission is simple, but lofty: to share his personal story and to build bridges leading to our two cultures growing their understanding of each other. “I am sure that peace will succeed one day,” he says. While in Pittsburgh, Mr. Assady also is participating in an Israel class at Temple Sinai and speaking at both J-Line and the JCC Adult Current Events class. At Community Day School, Mr. Assady spoke to students across all grade levels about daily life in his village, answering questions about food, work, climate, geography, culture, and education. He showed them photos of his family and landmarks in the village and talked about the demographic makeup of minority communities in Israel. With the gentle patience and kind wisdom of a gifted teacher, Mr. Assady also taught the students some basic greetings in Arabic. “If you can greet someone in their own language, it is like having a key to enter another heart,” he says. With his characteristic warmth, optimism, and honesty, Mr. Assady answered more sophisticated questions about Islam and Arab culture from our Intermediate School and Middle School students. Here is a sampling of the questions our 4th and 5th graders asked our guest:
To say Mr. Assady was impressed with the intelligence, empathy, and curiosity of our students is an understatement. And the feeling was mutual. It was clear that our students understood that this was partly about the power of human interaction, the power of meeting someone who is different Mr. Assady promised our students that when he returns to Israel he will tell his wife that he met some fantastic students who ask insightful questions. Then he asked the students what they will tell their parents about his visit. One 3rd grader replied (in Hebrew), “I will tell my mom that I learned to speak Arabic from a good man.” A good man, indeed. | ||||||
Up Ahead at CDS
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CDS Brings Science “A” Game to Heinz Field By Mark Minkus, Head of Intermediate School and Middle School Last Friday, hundreds of students from across the Pittsburgh region descended on Heinz Field for the Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair. Seventeen Middle School students (winners of the CDS Science Fair in January) represented our school, and they certainly made us proud! Avishai D. took 4th Place in the highly competitive Computer Science/Math category in the Intermediate Division (7th and 8th Grades) with “Algebraic Calculator: Designing an Algebraic Calculator for Windows 10 Platform.” His sister, Shuli, had a 3rd place finish in Life Science in the Junior Division (6th Grade) with “Interventions that Affect Sleep.” Liam B. and Ben T. shared a 2nd Place prize in Physical Science in the Junior Division with “Light: Is it a wave or a particle?” Also, both Sophie S. and Eli R. were awarded a Perseverance Award for making it to the regional science fair three years running during Middle School. Shuli, Liam, and Ben, may submit an application for the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering Rising Stars), which is the premier science and engineering competition for middle school students. Three hundred students nationwide will be selected as semifinalists. Of those 300, 30 will be selected as finalists and will be invited to attend their 2016 conference in Washington D.C. There, they will present their projects and compete in team hands-on STEM challenges to demonstrate their critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills, as well as their creativity. A huge thank you to Middle School Science teacher Kyle Ison for tirelessly preparing these young scientists for the regional fair. Many of the Middle School students are already talking about next year’s project and what it will take to get to Regionals in 2017. Click here to see how our scientists stacked up against some pretty stiff competition from schools across western Pennsylvania. Four CDS Middle School students took home prizes last week at the Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair, where hundreds of students compete from across western Pennsylvania. | ||||||
A Whole New World! By Mark Minkus, Head of Intermediate School and Middle School What happens when you get 29 talented Middle School students, give them four months to practice, and provide three amazing adults to teach and encourage them? You get Disney’s Aladdin Jr. at CDS! During the first two performances, the audience members have been transported to Agrabah to witness the timeless adventure of the street rat who became a prince. Directed by Jennifer Majetic with the assistance of Lissa Scearce and Eileen Freedman, the show tells the story of the street urchin, Aladdin, who uses a genie’s magic power to vie for the attention of the beautiful Princess Jasmine. Wednesday’s opening night was a flying carpet ride filled with romance and adventure. The rave reviews are still pouring in, and the show gets better every night! And the performances of these talented young actors and actresses have been further enhanced by the purchase of a scrim onto which gorgeous backdrop scenes can be projected thanks to a grant from the CDS Parent Association GRANTED! Program. Don’t miss your last chance to see this great show on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (doors open at 2:45 p.m.) Tickets are sold at the door and are $8 for adults and $5 for students. Plan to join us for the Mediterranean-style family dinner after the show, and you and your family will have an afternoon to remember! And don’t just take my word for it … ask Gabe in kindergarten, who dashed off the following note to the performers after being deeply moved by Wednesday night’s show! Enter “A Whole New World” with Princess Jasmine, Aladdin, Jafar, Iago, and all of your favorite characters in Disney’s Aladdin Jr. this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at Community Day School. Photos courtesy of Brian Cohen. | ||||||
Making a Life By What We Give Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Students at CDS live by this message each and every day. In addition, serving the community through the Intermediate School Service Learning Project is one way 4th and 5th graders at CDS actively live by these inspiring words and the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam. For this year’s project, IS students will visit the Jewish Association on Aging next week to spread some cheer to residents and gain an understanding of the importance of helping the elderly in our community. In addition, the goal of this project is to provide the opportunity for all Intermediate School students to work together and to build their sense of civic responsibility. Jr. Student Council is adding to the project by holding a Raffle Fundraiser for Lower School and Intermediate School on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, April 12 and 13, to raise money for large-print books for the residents at the JAA. Please see below for further details about the raffle. Check out members of Jr. STUCO channeling their inner Tim & Moby from “Brainpop” to explain our service project and raffle fundraiser here!
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Siman Tov U’ Mazel Tov! Something very unusual happened in the Jewish Association on Aging this week―our 6th Grade students exchanged vows and entered into “holy matrimony!” It’s not some new kind of reality show for cable, but rather a part of Mr. Dalfen’s Jewish Studies class. Throughout the year, the students have been learning about various Jewish lifecycle events, such as Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, and funerals. Recently, the 6th Graders have been studying marriage, and for several weeks, they have been making preparations for their own “big day.” Invitations were sent, bow ties were knotted, flowers were arranged, and a chuppah was even designed and built. This year’s mock wedding was held in the main social hall at the Charles M. Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Throughout the year, Middle School students at Community Day School have been building meaningful relationships with senior residents of the Jewish Association on Aging through a new two-year “Better Together” program. The intergenerational visitation program allows our 6th Grade students to travel once a month to Charles Morris, where they engage with the elderly in a hands-on fashion by enjoying meals, activities, and shared learning projects together. The visits contribute greatly to meeting the mission of the JAA to enhance quality of life for its residents, while providing the students with the opportunity to fulfill the Jewish mitzvah (commandment) to honor the elders in our community. Those connections were strengthened by bringing the mock wedding on the road to the JAA. The ceremony went off without a hitch (literally!), as Mr. Dalfen made sure that Rabbis Ada and Talia left out a few key words during the brachot to guarantee the wedding was symbolic. Afterward, a reception for the guests was held. The 6th Graders learned a lot, laughed a lot, and then they all lived happily ever after!
The 6th Grade mock wedding was held at the Jewish Association on Aging as part of the Better Together partnership between the JAA and CDS | ||||||
Submersible ROVs at CDS By Jordan Hoover, Director of Communications and Technology, and Kyle Ison, Middle School Science Teacher What’s an ROV? If you’re one of the students who signed up for Mrs. Ison’s new club, you already know! A group of Middle School students, with the help of Mrs. Ison and Mr. Hoover, started the process of building their very own ROVs (or Remotely Operated Vehicles) this week. These ROV kits are known as SeaPerch and were made possible through a generous grant from the CDS Parent Association GRANTED! program. The SeaPerch Program provides students with the opportunity to learn about robotics, engineering, science, and mathematics (STEM), while building an underwater ROV as part of a science and engineering technology curriculum. Throughout the project, students will learn engineering concepts, problem solving, teamwork, and technical applications. Already, the students have begun building their ROVs. This process included working as a team to follow directions in order to measure, cut, and drill parts (with adult help), and begin assembly of the SeaPerch kits. As you can see from the photos below, there was quite a bit of work involved in getting the measurements correct, precision cutting/drilling, and the beginnings of assembly. Once our ROVs are complete, our next step will be to put them in the water and start working on learning to drive them! Click here to visit the SeaPerch website and to learn more about the program. SeaPerch provides students with the opportunity to learn about robotics, engineering, science, and mathematics (STEM), while building an underwater ROV as part of a science and engineering technology curriculum. This new program was made possible through the CDS Parent Association GRANTED! program. | ||||||
It’s Up For Debate By Mark Minkus, Head of Intermediate School and Middle School This may be hard to believe in an era of angst about teenage manners (or lack thereof), but some educational researchers say today’s children are falling short on a crucial skill: arguing. Not the kind of arguing where your child states her point, says it again louder, and then slams the door if she doesn’t agree. It’s the kind of arguing where children learn to make a reasoned, disciplined, logical, and evidence-based case for or against a particular position. And it’s what some of our Middle School students are learning in Ms. Shuckett’s Debate Team Exploratory this trimester. In their first meeting, the group practiced debate “spars,” where the students selected a general issue from a hat and had five minutes to prepare to argue for or against a position for one minute in rebuttal to each other. Examples of topics included “Violence is sometimes necessary” and “Honesty is always the best policy. Last week, the Debate Team Exploratory had a visit from Community Day School alum Jennifer Jaffe (Class of 2014), who spoke about her high school experiences on the Shady Side Academy Debate Team. Jaffe will be attending a national debate event in Sacramento this year and introduced our Middle School students to the exciting world of debate. She talked about the different styles of debate and how her participation on the debate team has helped to strengthen both her research and public speaking skills. She then helped guide the students through some debate practice about the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food. The Debate Team Exploratory dovetails well with the argument writing Unit of Study in the Writing Workshop curriculum. The 6th Grade class recently completed argument essays about cell phones in school, while the 7th Grade argued topics about competitive sports. The 8th Grade wrote position papers on violence in video games and whether the U.S. should have boycotted the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Students (AND adults) are more likely to master a topic when they have to explain it to another person, whether in writing or through the art of debate. So the next time your teenager starts making an argument, maybe it’s not such a bad thing after all! CDS alum Jennifer Jaffe (Class of 2014) returned to share her experiences on her high school debate team with our Middle School Debate Team Exploratory group | ||||||
1st Annual CDS Art Show a Smashing Success On Tuesday, March 29, more than 200 people attended the 1st Annual Community Day School Art Show, where every student in Pre-K through Grade 8 put their artistic work on display in a school-wide event under the creative direction of art teacher Jeremy Lerner. The Ulam K’lakee was transformed for the evening into a beautiful art gallery complete with musical accompaniment by current CDS students. The talented young musicians included piano players, cellists, clarinet players, and violinists. Viewers were enthralled with the creativity and quality of the students’ work, featuring a variety of media such as crayons, wire, mixed media, and sculpture and inspired by the work of artists such as Constantin Brancusi, Romare Bearden, Keith Haring, Yuval Mahler, and more. Each piece reflected the art history, elements and principles of design, and most importantly, personal creativity and reflection that the students used as a lens to create their work. Students had a wonderful time browsing the Art Show with the help of a scavenger hunt and seeing their work on display. And one parent was overheard commenting on the beauty of the students’ creativity with the following: “It’s not that they even think out of the box. They just don’t even have a box to begin with!” Here is just a glimpse through photos of the magic that was the 1st Annual CDS Art Show … With musical accompaniment and our Ulam K'lalee transformed into a gorgeous gallery, our parent and staff community had only rave reviews about the Art Show as we watched a new CDS tradition take hold. | ||||||
The Beauty of Pre-K By Melissa Sevimli, Director of Early Childhood Education Last week everyone was inspired by our first CDS Art Show! The Pre-K was no exception. While at the show Levi said, "I can make really cool things." Arthur added, "If you take your time on drawing you might make something you really like." The children especially enjoyed the pieces that depicted a sequence of events. This prompted their decision to sequence Exodus as they have been exploring it in class. Many of the children chose to draw the narrative of baby Moses. Each child focused on a different set of events from the story, but all provided detail. Everyone was then given the opportunity to share their work with the class. Uri explained, "I told all about the things that happened for Pesach." Adam concluded, "Now we can hang up the pictures and see the story." There is a beauty in the richness of the experiences in the Pre-K classroom. An event featuring the entire student body led to the exploration of Jewish history, art, storytelling, literacy, and mathematical concepts. There really is learning everywhere! From the Art Show to everyday art, there is a beauty in the richness of the experiences in the CDS Pre-K. | ||||||
Experiential Learning in Lower School
Whether it’s making ice cream from scratch or acting out the latest story they’ve read, teachers in the CDS Lower School make learning come alive in hands-on ways! | ||||||
On the Track AND Field By Mark Minkus, Head of Intermediate School and Middle School As the flowers start to bloom and the temperatures start to rise, the CDS Spring sports teams are heating things up on the track (Schenley Oval) and on the field (here at school). Even though today’s baseball game was rained out, Athletic Director Bob Helfer remains optimistic that things will dry out and the Lacrosse, Baseball, Track, and Ultimate Frisbee Teams will be rocking the blue and gold in the near future. Track and Baseball are both coached by Mr. St. Clair. Recently, the track team went to the Schenley Oval to get a feel for the 100-meter dash and how to navigate the turns in the longer races. Additionally, our collaboration with Falk is in full effect, as the student athletes from that school help to round out the Community Day School roster. Both teams are getting in lots of practice as they approach contests with Shady Side Academy in the near future. On the field, the Lacrosse team, coached by Mr. Thyberg and Mr. Helfer, is gearing up for its first game, against Sewickley Academy on Monday. Mr. Minkus’ office has become a LAX storage area of sorts, but he says that “it is the best way to keep the MS students from tripping over all of the Lacrosse sticks.” Mr. Steinberg is leading the inaugural season of Ultimate Frisbee as the team gets ready to participate in a “Hat Tournament.” What in the world is that, you ask? It’s when Ultimate Frisbee players from surrounding schools all meet up, draw names from a hat to pick teams, and then the action begins. There is so much going on that it is sometimes hard to keep track of all of the games and gear. However, it is easy to track the progress of our athletes as they improve their skills, develop teamwork, and have fun! | ||||||
Waldman International Arts & Writing Award Ceremony
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CDS Faculty Around Town
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CDS Alumni Profile: Samantha Scott
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Kol Hakavod to …
Elke Cedarholm Great work leading the Intermediate School Drama Club this year! Students were buzzing about it all year long, and they couldn't wait for their final showcase. Thank you for supporting their performing arts passion! Jeremy Lerner Mazel Tov on an amazing Art Show! A wonderful and inspiring evening! AND Congratulations on a wonderful Art Show! Your work with the students is truly inspiring! CDS Parent Association The Shalach Manot packages were so clever this year. Thank you for all your help and for packaging such a wonderful surprise for our children. Morah Michal, Mrs. Mikolay, Ms. Linder Thank you, thank you, thank you for knowing our child so well and helping him so gently and thoughtfully. It is a true blessing that he has teachers who really "get" him and who have the expertise to help him in exactly the ways he needs. Your efforts are not lost on us, and we appreciate them from the bottom of our hearts. | ||||||
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