Dear Am Yisrael Community,

I hope this note finds you all doing well as we have completed a wonderful High Holiday season and now move to the joyous holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. Every student in our school will be spending time in a sukkah. The Gan Class will be going to the Rabbi’s sukkah and the other classes will be in the sukkah in our courtyard. I encourage you to check out a great website that will get you in the spirit for the holiday! Check out: http://www.g-dcast.com/ to see a brief four minute video about Sukkot.  This is a great website in general, as it contains a nice synopsis of the holiday or Torah portion of the week.  You can also check out this website for on a weekly basis to jumpstart conversations with your children about the weekly Torah portion.  There is a Teacher’s Guide that goes along with it, so if you want to have Family Shabbat Table Talk you can preview the videos and get some good “food for thought” questions to discuss with your family members at the table.

Our first Shabbat morning Family Programming date is coming up on Saturday morning, October 22nd.  All students in Gan (Kindergarten) through Vav (6th Grade) are required to attend.  More details will come early next week.  For a summary of this exciting new program, check out this link: http://amyisrael.org/content/shabbat-morning-family-programming.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of checking out the Class Home Pages.  The teachers update them each and every week.  On the Art page, you can even see the projects that the students are working on in progress: http://amyisrael.org/content/chugim-specialized-art.  You will also be able to see what homework assignments will enhance the student’s experiences, such as which lessons from the Behrman House website the Gimel class should practice reading: http://amyisrael.org/content/gimel-third-grade-messages.

Sunday, October 23rd is a crucial day for our newly named Am Yisrael School of Jewish Studies.  We will be having Parent Orientation and you should block off the entire 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. time slot.  We will be sharing with all of you what is going on in our school, brand new programming, you will get to meet all of the teachers and Josh Troderman from JChoice.org is flying in from Boston to discuss his organization with all of us.

Finally, please be sure to turn in your Media Release forms.  With a curriculum that is over 50% technology based, and in a time when we can show you directly what is happening in the classrooms, we want to be able to showcase the excitement taking place in our school.  For those who have not turned in the forms, they should be turned in to our office ASAP.  Please contact Nan Naranjo nnaranjo@amyisrael.org if you have any questions.

I want to wish you and your families a Chag Sameach as we rejoice in the gifts that we have received from God and celebrate this holiday which is discussed in great detail in our Torah.

Warm regards,

Mr. Charlie Sherman