Essence Of Ester

™ Our Girls’ Choir is singing at tomorrow evening’s YGW “By Women, For Women” Concert at 7:30. Singers should come at 7:10 in the following attire: • White button down blouses with collars • Blue uniform skirts • Shabbos shoes

™ Monday, November 17 - 11:45 Dismissal No Daycare

™ Wednesday, November 19 – 4B/4G to Flag Ponds Time of Takeoff : 9:30 ETA (at school) : 4:30 Boys in 4B should Daven at Home that A.M.

™ Friday, November 21 – Extended deadline for journal ads. Erev Shabbos Parashas $”2" November 14, 2008 Candle Lighting: 4:36 T orah School of Greater Washington Volume XV, Issue 11

EE..SS..TT..EE..RR.. E rev Shabbos “” Events Report

Dear Parents, Wednesday, November 19 ¾ 4B/G to Flag Pond. Time of return: 4:30. Shockingly, our journal ad deadline 4B should Daven at home. has been extended to next Friday, November ¾ Pizza. Todah for this week to Rivka 21. Please use these bonus hours to send in Goldstein and many staff members. your eleventh hour ads in honor of Dr. Tuesday, November 25 Howard Sabrin, Mrs. Donna Mack, and your ¾ 1B/1G Chag HaSiddur at 9:15. kids’ teachers. Also, countdown to our Wednesday, November 26 December 7th Fourteenth Annual Dinner has ¾ NOAM (Night Out at Max’s) for Rosh been reduced to 23 days. Don’t let yourselves Chodesh Kislev. be caught without a seat that evening. Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, November 27, 28, and 30 As of 2:00 P.M. today, we are merely ¾ Thanksgiving Break – No classes. 29½ hours from tomorrow night’s YGW Sunday, December 7 Concert. Make sure (if you are a member of ¾ 14th Annual TSGW Dinner. the female gender) to come out and hear our girls sing. Tickets could have still been purchased today at our (box) office, but never fear! You can still buy those box seats at the event. Today’s Attachments: ƒ Classroom Close-ups by Mrs. Malka. ƒ Ooroo LaTefillah. ƒ Chosen Words.

We wish a Refuah Shelaimah to: 9 Chani Kreiser. 9 Meredith Altschuler’s mother. Calendarial Anticipations 9 Mrs. Karp’s daughter. Sunday, November 16 ¾ 5th/6th Shiurim. Please remember to bring the Sefarim and supplies you need (e.g. Gemarrah, binders, etc.). Monday, November 17 ¾ 11:45 dismissal. ¾ P.M. Staff Professional Day.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, We express HaKaras HaTov to: November 18, 19 and 20 • Adrienne Rosenthal for covering the ¾ Full post – 3:30 schedule. front desk on Sunday.

• Sharon Graff, Rochie Reingold, and textually. Samberg’s boys are Lisa Solomson for all their help during becoming Royal Readers. the girls’ choir’s special practices. 9 3B played charades to learn verbs and used mental math strategies for +, -, and estimation. 9 KB/G practiced emulating Avraham Avinu, as they made special plates and delicious edible treats for their guests. They’re also into a unit on friends. 9 Lots of writing is happening all over the place. Our study of the election prompted many different samplings. In fact, our

Sixth Graders wrote what would happen What’s Been Goin’ On “If I Were President.” They also focused on the writing trait of “idea”, Around Here? concentrating on a central theme and 9 “Reading Buddies” has really been a hit for conveying a specific mood or tone to their 3G and 1G. Every Friday, young ladies readers. 4G learned about and wrote from these two grades are paired up and personification sentences. take turns reading to each other. 9 6B/6G have been exposed (in Navi) to a 9 On Monday and Tuesday of election week, lot of multi-syllabic, hard to our kids got to vote using our ballots. The spell/pronounce vocabulary words (e.g. results were absolutely non-representative omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, of Maryland (or anywhere else in the anthropomorphic). country), as John McCain won by a 9 Of course, everybody’s favorite topic is “historical” landslide. Nevertheless, he grammar with foci on parts of speech, didn’t get any Electoral College votes. punctuation, and lots of other fun stuff. 9 KB/KG applied the results of doing their Our G.U.M. workbooks really are helping civic duty to math, as they graphed their our kids understand, apply, and improve voting. in these areas. 9 2B drew sequences of pictures to depict 9 In math, we’ve angled, algebra-ed, ’s sending the Yonah from the decimaled (including doing decimal art – Teivah. whatever that is), numerated, estimated, 9 2B/2G/4B learned the difference between bent our minds with mind benders, added, (and he sent) and VayShalach subtracted, x, ÷, geometried, place valued, (and he sent away), as the former is in regrouped, problem solved, (Ed. Note: I’ve Binyan Kal and the latter is in Binyan been problem creating), played Geometry Pi’eil. Simon Says, and kept pretty busy. 9 3G get involved in simple machines, acted 9 6B/B/G have thoroughly covered out an original story in Ivrit about raking scientists and their respective –ologies. leaves (using a real rake), played a game To review, they played scientist bingo. which involved a beach ball and lots of The only thing obtuse they’ve done is spoken Hebrew, conjugated verbs in past related to math. tense, read a summary of Parashas 9 We’ve read and/or are reading “Togo,” VaYeirah in Ivrit, and have their creative about the Titanic, “Ramona Quimby,” writing “Fall Feelings” bulletin board on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Tuck display. Everlasting,” and more. 6B/G have also 9 2B/G are now experts on immigration and studied the bio of the author of their have perfected their knowledge and current novel. understanding of even/odd #’s. 9 2G made a picture book for Perek 8 in 9 3B and 3G have really gotten into their Parashas Noach. newest skill, as they are studying Rashi 9 4B experimented with salinity and evaluated characters’ decisions in a story. 9 5B have covered all the “Ain Bains” in the first chapter of Maseches Megillah and saw how Hashem’s trait of Rachamim comes faster and last longer than that of strict Din. 9 5G diagrammed the repeating cycle of events that occur in Sefer Shofetim in Navi. 9 1B/G can’t contain their excitement over their very-soon-to-be-here Chag HaSiddur – a mere eleven days away. 9 3B have seen the great wisdom of Eliezer, Avraham Avinu’s faithful servant, in “negotiating” with Lavan and Besu’el for the “release” of Rivka Imeinu. 9 4B have dabbled with Semichus and Vav HaHipuch and are really into the events of the life of Yosef HaTzaddik in Chumash. 9 6B/B are getting deeper and deeper into the topic of Yei’ush, as viewed by both and , and have reviewed how to deal with a combined Mapik Hey and Patach Genuvah. 9 6B/B/G are very excited about their year- long Taryag Foundation unit on Aseres HaDiberos, as are 5B/5G about their daily Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation Shomer HaLashon programs.

Good Shabbos!

Sincerely,

Rabbi Yitzchak Charner Headmaster

s"xc v¨kh ¦p§T©k UrUg Volume II November 14, 2008 Issue 5

TORAH SCHOOL OF GREATER WASHINGTON 14th ANNUAL GALA BANQUET JOURNAL AD FORM Sunday, December 7, 2008 Honoring Dr. Howard W. Sabrin and Morah Donna Mack

AD DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Contact Information Name ______Business Name ______Address ______City ______State ______Zip Code ______Phone ______Fax ______Email ______Ad Solicited by ______

Payment Information ˆ Check (made payable to the Torah School) ˆ Credit Card (circle one) VISA MC DISCOVER AMEX Number ______Exp ______/ ______Signature______Ad Information Ad size (please select one; see back for costs and more information) ˆ Builder ˆ Sustainer ˆ Grand Benefactor ˆ Benefactor ˆ Patron ˆ Sponsor $25,000 $10,000 $3,600 $1,800 $1,000 $720 ˆ Full Page ˆ Half Page ˆ Quarter Page ˆ Eighth Page ˆ Listing $250 $150 $80 $50 $36

Please attach camera-ready art or write the text of the ad in the space below.

Submission information on back

Ad Specifications:

CLASS COST DETAILS

Builder $10,000 Includes 8 tickets Sustainer $5,000 Includes 4 tickets Grand Benefactor $3,600 Includes 4 tickets Benefactor $1,800 Includes 2 tickets Patron $1,000 Includes 2 tickets Sponsor $720 Includes 2 tickets

Full Page $250 Half Page $150 Quarter Page $80 25 word limit Eighth Page $50 15 word limit

Listing $36 Name only

AD DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Submission Information:

Please fill out the ad form on the other side of this paper and submit it, with payment, to the Torah School. You can submit your ad in one of three ways:

By Mail The Torah School of Greater Washington 2010 Linden Lane Spring, MD 20910

By Fax (240) 494-3602

By Email [email protected]

For more information, please call the Torah School at (301) 962-8003

AD DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Classroom Close-Ups Mrs. Malka November 14, 2008 Volume V, Issue 5

Sweet, high-pitched voices chanting Modeh Ani to Hashem herald the start of a fresh, new day at the Torah School. As these heartfelt tefillos resound throughout the halls, they energize me as I begin, once again, to work on the many exciting goals that comprise my “Torah School To-Do List.” If I were to group these items into one folder on my computer, I would entitle this file: Celebrate the differences! Our youngsters possess unique strengths and challenges that require just the right formulas to help them successfully learn and perform at their own levels. This year, we are continuing to make headway in this direction by initiating a variety of programs that are designed to benefit our students academically and socially. In the area of technology, the Torah School has bravely plunged into the 21st century by adopting several innovations in assistive technology, all designed to help meet the special needs of our students. • Kurzweil is a unique program that allows a teacher to download or scan into the computer text which the student simultaneously views on the monitor and hears, thanks to its unique text-to-voice synthesizer. The speed of the vocalization is regulated to the speed at which a student is able to process written and spoken information. As an added visual stimulus for the student, a cursor points to the text on the monitor as it is being read. This program is especially useful to readers who lack fluency, but demonstrate solid comprehension skills. • AlphaSmart is a keyboarding device that works much like a laptop computer, but it is strictly for word processing. This is especially beneficial for students who need to express information and ideas without being held back and distracted by challenges in fine motor coordination. • Kidspiration is a computer program that helps students to think, brainstorm, organize, analyze, and write through the use of colorful and highly motivating graphic organizers, such as diagrams, flow charts, and outlines. • Boardmaker is an ideal tool for creating symbol-based print and literacy activities for beginning and pre-readers. Our teachers are now in the process of learning to use and implement these valuable teaching tools within their curricula. Two years ago, third graders and up began a new reading program that systematically teaches effective skills in reading comprehension. With the adoption of Macmillan McGraw Hill’s latest programs, Treasures, for Grades K – 2, and Triumphs, for reading resource in Grades K - 6, all of our students are now receiving the most up-to- date instruction in reading. Treasures is based on the most recent reading research and built on the five elements of reading as prescribed by the National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. In addition to providing authoritative guidance on what to teach, this program gives teachers best- practice approaches for effective, differentiated instruction, enabling them to meet the needs of students at all reading levels, and provides a wealth of award-winning, engaging literature vital to motivating young readers. Similarly, Triumphs provides our resource students with rich material right at their instructional levels. Yet another area where we work to meet the individual needs of our students is in math. With last year’s adoption of the latest math series by Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley, our teachers are enjoying this program’s rich storehouse of resources which are designed to facilitate differentiated instruction in math. In addition, this year, we are so very fortunate to have as our full-time math specialist, Mrs. Marcia Laundy. Her vast experience, knowledge, dedication, and love for our students, as well as the subject she teaches, make her eminently qualified for this awesome position. Depending on her group, Mrs. Laundy ably provides remediation, enrichment, or acceleration in math. It is almost impossible to fathom that she meets from 1– 4 times weekly with eighty-five students, spanning Grades 2 - 6! Finally, we are so delighted to have added a new member to our Torah School staff—our guidance counselor, Mrs. Maya Beck! Her warmth and outgoing demeanor, as well as her innate sensitivity, will help her to establish a firm foundation of trust and mutual respect necessary to establish positive relationships with her young charges. She will be meeting with students individually and in small groups, as well as visiting classes on a regular basis. Whole-class discussions will include a wide variety of relevant topics, such as stress management, self-esteem, bullying, and peer pressure. Thanks to Mrs. Beck, we will now be better equipped to address the social and emotional needs of all of our students. So, at the day’s end, B”H, some items can be crossed off the “Torah School To- Do List.” Yet, there are so many more goals to fulfill and dreams to realize for our children! But, once again, it will be morning, and as our children sing their uplifting songs of praise and gratitude to G-d, they will continue to inspire and encourage me to plan, to work, to accomplish.

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