The evening is devoted to issues relating to ECC, Lower School, and Middle School children. The program includes:

• A COOKING demonstration by Alexandra Zohn Cepelowicz and Kim Kushner, to encourage parents to cook with their children and motivate everyone to try something tasty and nutritious
• A MEDITATION/RELAXATION session led by Ora Ramat
• A roundtable discussion with PSYCHOLOGISTS, featuring Dr. Jacqueline Ferraro (moderator), Dr. Robert Gaines, Dr. Marcelo Rubin, and Dr. Seth Aronson

Healthy samples will be provided by Organic Avenue.

This event is FREE and open to all. Both men and women are encouraged to attend. Please bring your non-Ramaz friends!

Sponsored by the Ramaz Parents Council. Program chairs are Dr. Nicole Agus, Dr. Stephanie Freilich, Shabnam Khaloyan, Emma Mahfar, Adina Ostad, and Dr. Lu Steinberg Schulder.

To register, RSVP to Marina Manheimer, 212-774-6215 or ManheimerM@ramaz.org.

Hebrew can be fun! Israeli music is phenomenal! Our students will serve you in Hebrew, sing and dance for you, and do all the cooking!

Join us for an evening of Israeli culture, coffee, hot chocolate, some hummus and salad, and student-baked desserts. We are importing the smells, sounds, and tastes of Israel for one night only!

Our student and faculty artists will provide exclusively Israeli entertainment; music, comedy, dance, and original writing. The entire evening will be in Hebrew, a live, pulsating, passionate language, celebrating a thriving, living culture.

Here’s a taste of Beit Cafe 2011:

Tickets are only $10 a person in advance or $15 at the door. For tickets, bring your check/cash to Ms. Linda Malamy in the 6th floor office of the Upper School, or send your check made out to The Ramaz School, 60 East 78th Street, New York, NY 10075.

For questions, please contact cg@ramaz.org.

The evening’s motivational speeches and videos were, indeed, inspiring. “You are unique,” the students were told. “One step must start each journey. Be bold, be courageous, be proud, be yourself, serve, motivate, achieve.”

Invited to this year’s event were representatives of the following organizations:

• AMIT, Boys Town Jerusalem, and Lev LaLev, which all assist Israeli youth;
• Reuth, an Israel-based organization dedicated to improved social and health services;
• Jumpstart, which works with preschool low-income children across the US;
• the UJA Federation of New York and The Educational Alliance, which provide a host of services to local clients;
• the Major Stuart Adam Wolfer Institute (MSAWI), dedicated to supporting US troops; and
• Vision For and From Children, founded by MS student Lillian Pravda (grade 6), which supports children in need of non-routine eye care.

In addition to hearing a presentation by a representative from each of these non-profits, students and their parents visited their booths to learn more about how a chesed project might be designed to fit the particular predilections of an interested student.

Yet there was much more to do than just listen. The room was abuzz with hands-on projects to be completed on the spot. For example, food distribution bags were decorated, letters were written to American soldiers, T-shirts were decorated for kids in Israel, and packets were assembled to engage younger children in NYC in pre-reading activities.

For further information, please contact BraunE@Ramaz.org. He got the ball rolling. Now it’s your turn.

Children will begin borrowing books from the library this week! Books are circulated for a two-week period. Although there are no late fees in the Lower School/ECC library, we ask that books be returned on time so that other students may have an opportunity to enjoy them as well.

Parents are welcome to stop in and browse in the library as you drop off your children in the morning. The library opens at 8:00AM and remains open until 4:30PM Monday-Thursday, 1:00PM on Fridays. You are welcome to stop in with your children to check out a book or if you are looking for a quiet place to do homework.

Our librarians look forward to welcoming you in person.

We’re gathering together ALL of the Ramaz community:

• students from Nursery to Grade 12
• current parents
• grandparents
• alumni across the decades
• parents of alumni

Our mission: helping out with Met Council’s Food Rescue Program. Through the Food Rescue Program, Met Council staff and volunteers pick up perishable prepared kosher food on a daily basis and distribute it to needy families. Started just this past November, the Food Rescue Program now feeds more than 100 people weekly.

Activities throughout the day for all ages will include:

• painting a mural (at the Food Rescue Program site on the Lower East Side)
• cooking and baking
• serving to and entertaining Met Council clients (at the Met Council facility)
• collecting and packaging food for the food drive
• art projects for younger kids including seder plate decoration
• meeting with Met Council staff to brainstorm and plan marketing ideas for the Food Rescue Program
• and more!

More information will be forthcoming about exact times for specific programs, so you can plan your family’s day. Activities will take place at the Ramaz Upper School (60 E. 78th St.) unless otherwise noted.

Be a part of this endeavor — sign up now to join us on March 25!

The mini-courses consist of a range of academic classes, experiential opportunities, and leadership roles. Each course is worth a certain amount of credit, and by the end of the semester, each student is ex­pected to amass a total of 70 credits. Advisors are helping students plan out their spring semesters and fulfill their credit obligations while also taking the most exciting and interesting classes they can.

Many of the courses express Ramaz teachers’ personal interests. Choices also include prep courses for students who plan to take an AP exam and a preparatory course for those who will join the senior class for its annual trip to Poland. Some of the other class options include:

Kedushat Hamishpacha * Neviim Acharonim through the Music of Simon & Garfunkel, Kansas, and Bob Marley * Senior Experience to Poland * Sugyot in Pesachim * Getting Ready for Jewish Life on Campus * Yiddish * Industrial Kashrut in the 21st Century * Homage to Hitchcock * Fringe Theatre * Mysteries of the Brain * Biotechnology & Ethics * Choral Arranging * The Geology of New York * Cap and Trade * Things That Hurt Your Brain to Think About

The seniors are excited to be a part of this program and appreciate both the willingness of the school to try something new and the creativity of the teachers for developing fun and interesting courses.

• The 12th grade “War and Society” class went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, right around the corner, to tour the “Arms and Armor” exhibit.
• The Astronomy class ventured across Central Park to visit the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.
• Two senior Art classes spent time at the Willem de Kooning exhibition at the MOMA, as well as the Gagosian Gallery‘s Rauschenberg private collection.
• A few Senior classes visited the New York Public Library to see their new exhibition “Three Faiths”.
• The ninth grade was busy this past month working in the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County, enjoying ice skating in Bryant Park, and learning about the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Discover Center in Times Square.
• The Shakespeare class attended the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) production of Richard III, starring Kevin Spacey.

It’s great to be in New York City!

Dr. Fox and friends get collaborative!

“The CARES program is a great direction to be moving in for our fourth graders who are developmentally ready to take on this type of program,” noted Lower School Psychologist Dr. Michal Fox. “The children are active participants and eager to keep going after the time allotted,” she said, adding that the first few sessions have been “amazing.”

CARES stands for:
Creating Opportunities For
Appreciating
Reflecting Upon and
Embracing
So Many Important Values

Students are divided into six groups that rotate every three weeks from advisor to advisor. Six faculty or administration members, each of whom focuses on different topics of interest and importance, serve as advisors. The subjects being discussed are:

• Responsibility: Rabbi Berkowitz is discussing what that means for children, as well as different ways we could all be more responsible in our own lives.
• Respect and Kindness: Ms. Nani Mintz is speaking with the children about respectful behavior towards peers, parents, teachers, caretakers, and personal belongings. The importance of refraining from Lashon Hara (derogatory speech about another person) will be incorporated and there also will be an opportunity to be involved in an act of chesed (kindness).
• Spirituality: Ms. Dena Rich is engaging the children in conversations about God and prayer, and why prayer is important. The children will learn about a specific prayer in greater depth and will discuss the significance of prayer in their lives. Ms. Rich also will speak with the children about modesty.
• Health and Hygiene: Nurse Judith Rose is speaking with the children about the importance of body hygiene and hand washing. Nurse Judith also will introduce the concept of the “Food Plate” and engage the children in conversations about healthy eating.
• Pro-social Behavior and Bullying: Mr. Andrew Leibowitz is focusing on heightening their awareness of these issues in a positive way through a variety of hands-on, interactive activities.
•  Conflict Resolution: Dr. Michal Fox is working with the children on creating an atmosphere of cooperative problem-solving. Together, they will come up with basic tools that will give them coping mechanisms to find lasting and meaningful resolutions.

“This internally developed program is unique in the education world, as far as we know,” Dr. Fox explained. In addition to providing in-depth time to discuss these topics, she said, it will build bonds between the students and the advisors and also serve as a bridge to the Middle School advisory program in which the Grade 4 students will participate next year.

Working in small groups that were each asked to build a ten-row-high segment, the students were given templates of Jewish motifs to incorporate into their design scheme. The results were well worth the effort, and there was jubilation in the room when the candelabra was hoisted up and placed on the base.

Shabbat shalom!

After a lesson is introduced by one of the co-teachers, the students divide into smaller groups for in-depth study, questions, and review. It’s not always a formal presentation, either; a lesson can be presented in the form of a Hebrew play, for example. Both work with the groups, and, according to Ms. Veisman and Mr. Landau, the children usually don’t notice which teacher takes the lead. The two feel comfortable enough working with together that one can jump in to add information while the other is standing at the front of the class. The co-teaching model also supports the teachers by continually providing feedback and reflection on all lessons and classroom activities.

As neither Ms. Veisman nor Mr. Landau had taught previously using this model, training was provided two years ago, before they first worked together. Even more helpful was the on-the-job experience, they said, plus the continual support from the Lower School administration, including Hedva Ofek-Shai, Director of Hebrew Language Curriculum and Faculty Supervision. Formal planning meetings and informal discussions about curriculum, the class, and individual students with the General Studies teachers for Gush and Golan, as well as with specialists and other Lower School Judaic Studies faculty, helps to coordinates learning and informs their classroom teaching.

Of course, the class is conducted in Hebrew, and students are encouraged to speak Hebrew, too. At this point in the year, the children feel comfortable speaking Hebrew, Ms. Veisman and Mr. Landau said, noting that it’s nice to see their progress since September.