Rosh Chodesh Adar

Rosh Chodesh Adar at the Academy is one of my favorite days of the year.  It's not just the incredible ruach generated by 207 dancing students along with their teachers and faculty, but it's the way the high school students take the 1st graders on their shoulders, the way the 5th graders dance with the Kindergarteners, the 10th grade rebbeim hold hands with the 3rd graders, and so on and so forth throughout every division and every grade.

It is a family simcha in the every sense of the word.

From Movies

Weather Man comes to MHA

As part of their unit on atmospheric science, Mrs. Henry's 5th grade science class had a special guest teacher today: Channel 3's Chief Weather Anchor, Tim Simpson.  Mr. Simpson spoke to the kids about the various components of weather and the tools we can use to predict it.  He also drew his own weather map and explained to the 5th grade what the various signs and symbols represent.  Perhaps most exciting for our kids, though, was the little "shout out" he gave them on this evening's news:

 

Mrs. Schmitt

Last week we lost a long time member of our faculty, Mrs. Karin Schmitt.  If you knew her, please share your memories with her family by posting something either on the Commercial Appeal's memorial page or on the Legacy.com guestbook .

Here are the words I wrote to our school community immediately after hearing the sad news:

Dear Students, Parents, and Faculty,

I was just informed of the sudden passing of our beloved Math teacher, Mrs. Karen Schmitt earlier today.  As you know, Mrs. Schmitt was a fixture in our Junior High and High Schools for decades.  Her no-nonsense style was complemented by a tremendous heart that wanted nothing more than to see her students succeed.  She would meet with students in class and outside of class,  she'd take on extra sections and create sections within sections, just to give our students that extra boost they needed to taste success. 

In recent years, her declining health forced her into a wheelchair and one only had to watch the way in which our students would gently wheel her from place to place, out to her car, or into the building, to see that our students cared for her as much as she cared for them.  Indeed, our Girls High School had announced that their upcoming Girls School Dinner would be dedicated to honoring Mrs. Schmitt for her years of unwaivering dedication to our school.  Sometimes, though, G-d has other plans. 

Our thoughts and sympathy go out to her family today as they mourn this terrible loss.

Mrs. Schmitt was a teacher who touched the lives of countless students here at the MHA / FYOS and we, as a school, will forever remember her as such.

Sincerely Yours,

Rabbi Perl

Round-table on Kids & Sleep

The Early Childhood Program sponsored a breakfast Round-table discussion for parents this past Wednesday on the issue of children and sleep. Pediatrician Dr. Ellen Stecker,Child Psychologist Dr. Kip Parrish, and our own Early Childhood Director, Mrs. Charna Schubert, offered expert advice to parents on topics ranging from bed-wetting and bed-times to daytime naps and children who don't sleep through the night.

The feedback was quite positive and we hope to host similar forums for parents on issues of interest to them in the near future.  If you have a suggested topic feel free to let Charna know.

Siddur Play

The first graders did a terrific job in their Siddur play this past Sunday.  Under the direction of Morah Chavi Katz, they showed off all the Hebrew they have learned through singing and speaking while demonstrating their growing love for davening and Jewish life.  At the end of the program, Rabbi Greenblatt handed each child the special siddur which their parents worked hard on decorating, followed by a wonderful celebration organized by the many volunteers who helped out.  Thank you to everyone for making it so special and we look forward to watching as these 1st graders use their siddurim for many, many years to come!

From Siddur Play

Friday 1/29 - School is Closed

While there is nothing falling from the sky at the moment, all indications are that by mid- morning travel conditions will, in fact, be dangerous.  We are concerned that waiting until the precipitation has started to cancel school putting may put our students and faculty who live farther from the school in harm's way. Furthermore, the fact that both the city and the county schools have closed would put a significant strain on our faculty for the day.

So...we are closed.  Bring on the snow!

MHA Science Blog

I am thrilled to announce that Mrs. Shelli Henry, our Elementary School Science teacher, has started her own class blog! Mrs. Henry joins Mrs. Johnson (AP English), Mrs. Hood (HS English), Mrs. Perl (AP Psych), Mrs. Tsuna (JH English), and Mrs. Fleischhacker (Art) as the 6th MHA / FYOS teacher to enter the blogosphere.  

Be sure to check on all of them regularly through the links on the bottom left corner of this blog.  Enjoy!

  

Student Wins National Leadership Award

We are very pleased to announce that senior Mendel Lazaros has been selected as a recipient of the 2010-2011 Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship. This award, funded through The Comcast Foundation, recognizes high school seniors from Comcast communities for commitment to community service, academic achievement, and demonstrated leadership. In addition to many other accomplishments and accolades, Mendel currently serves as president of the CYHSB Student Council and President of the Midwest Region of NCSY.

We know this is just the beginning of Mendel's foray into Jewish communal leadership and we can't wait to see what the future will bring!

Geography Bee

Congratulations to all of our students who competed in today's Geography Bee.  This year's winner, Shmuel Meir Perl, will take a written exam later this week and if he places amongst the top one hundred students in the state he'll be off to Nashville to compete for the State title.  Good luck!

Images from Gatlinburg

The first pictures from what was a truly inspiring, uplifting, (a little wet) and incredibly enjoyable Boys High School retreat in Gatlinburg are now in.  More to come soon...

Article On Line

The Main Street Journal's article on our school is now available online.  While it does not do justice to all of the wonderful elements of our school that have been in place for decades and have created generation after generation of exceptional students, and while it doesn't even capture many of the new initiatives upon which we've embarked (e.g., the process of NAEYC accreditation under Charna Schubert's direction in the Early Childhood, the curricular overhauls of our Lower School General Studies curriculum under Mrs. Gersten's guidance,  the cutting edge Hebrew immersion environment we've created under Rabbi Greenblatt's leadership, and the increased rigor of our Girls High School program under Mrs. Kampf), it does paint a nice picture of a few of our institutional accomplishments as well as our goals for the future.  So, have a read and pass on the link: www.tinyurl.com/mhamainstreet .

Main Street Journal

The January issue of the Main Street Journal contains a feature article in their education section entitled "The Margolin Hebrew Academy: A Salute to Excellence." Unfortunately, the article is not yet available on line, so be sure to pick up a hard copy and share it with your friends!

Memories of Chanukah

I decided that now that the doldrums of post-vacation, sub-freezing, I-can't-wait-until-Pesach blues are upon us, it would be a good time to reflect on all the fun and excitement we had in school just before we went on break, in celebrating and learning about the holiday of Chanukah.

In case you don't know - or can't remember - all that we did, here's a quick refresher of just a few of the highlights:  Boys High School Maccabi Games, Elementary School Bat Ami Program, Girls High School Yom Iyyun, Elementary School Edible Menorah Contest, Boys High School Edible Menorah Contest, Early Childhood Chanukah Celebration, First Grade Chanukah Presentation, Girls High School Chagigah, Girls High School Bowling, Boys High School Siyyum Breakfast, Elementary School “Light Up the Night” Perfomance, Girls High School Chesed Trip, Elementary School Shabbat Chanukah Oneg, and a whole host of others.

Here are some pictures to help bring back the memories...

From Movies

An Evening of Torah

In case you missed the impressive evening a few weeks ago, when three of our high school boys, under the direction of Rabbi Gersten and Rabbi Avi Goldberg, delivered sophisticated, in-depth, shiurim on complex halachic topics to a Beis Medrash filled with parents, students, and community members, you can get a get a glimpse of what it was like from the clips below.

A belated - though so well deserved - yasher koach to the boys and their rebbeim!

From Evening of Divrei Torah

From Evening of Divrei Torah

Upset!

In the biggest upset of the Cooper Invitational's first round, the 12th ranked Cooper Macs knocked off the 5th rank North Shore Stars to advance in the Tier 1 bracket.  For details on all the games and to join the 14,000 listeners from across the country who tuned in to the tournament's webcast, visit http://www.cooperinvitational.com/.

A Stellar Performance

There's no better way to describe what our Girls High School students did tonight.  Their rendition of The Diary of Anne Frank was authentic, insightful, harrowing, and moving.  It transported an audience of a hundred and fifty adults back to the attic of an office building in war-torn Amsterdam and deep into the heart and mind of a precocious thirteen year-old Jewish girl.  It told a story of suffering and a story of hope.  A story of destruction and a story of survival.

It was another masterful production by Dr. Kutliroff and another exceptional performance by our girls.  It was everything The Diary of Anne Frank was intended to be.



Click on the slide show to view and download pictures from the play.

First Class Kickoff

The Cookbook Kickoff for Simply Southern: With a Dash of Kosher Soul, brought Jews and non-Jews alike from across the city and across the country to the Baron Hirsch Congregation on Thursday night.  Samples of the recipes in this book - which has sold hundreds of copies across the country on only its first day of publication - were available for all to try.

If you haven't gotten your copy of Simply Southern yet, just go to their website and order one.  It's quickly becoming something no kosher cook wants to be without.

 

Diary of Anne Frank

Though only a dress rehearsal, the middle schoolers from the Bornblum Solomon Schechter School as well as the 9th graders from the Hollis F. Price Middle College High School walked away from our Girls High School's performance of The Diary of Anne Frank, thoroughly impressed and visibly moved. Once again, the professionalism of the show, the quality of the acting, and superb directing by Dr. Jerry Kutliroff far exceeded expectations for small school like ours.

Don't miss the real performance, Monday night, December 14, at 7:00 pm in the MHA / FYOS Gym.

 

JV Takes on Brooklyn

The CYHSB Junior Varsity Basketball team took to the court (and kosher restaurants) of Flatbush last week at the Thomas Hausdorff Memorial Tournament.  While our team, led by freshmen Justin Wruble, Ethan and Dylan Cooper, and Asher Silberman, along with sophomore Aaron Rubenstein, came in a respectable third place.  Even more impressive, though, is that the Cooper Macs took first place in the Skills Competition and Justin Wruble's 49 points made him the tournament's high scorer.

Everyone we spoke to - from host families to the shabbaton coordinators - had only the best things to say about the boys from Memphis.  Thank you Coach Carr for making it happen and thank you boys for making us proud!

 

Tournament of the Millenium

Here's are segments from a recent post about our upcoming Cooper Invitational from the forum at JewishHoopsAmerica.com:

I've got a confession to make. I missed the boat on this Cooper tournament. I just had the opportunity to look through the participants this year and dare I say this tournament more than rivals the Saracheck? Dare I say it? Once again, I dare...

Somehow the Cooper school was able to attract the elite of the national schools across the country to come to Memphis, TN for a weekend that will potentially provide some matchups that will go the distance to help determine the national rankings, in my humble opinion...

Most tournaments we see these days usually and unfortunately include a few teams that are auto-wins for the rest of the pack. But with 16 teams and 2 Tiers you are looking at potentially the years best and most competetive tournament. In fact it may be the millenium's best tournament thus far...


For the entire post click here.