Students celebrate Hanukkah, study science

Day School Roundup

The Day School Roundup is a monthly feature in which the local Jewish day schools inform the community about what is happening on their campuses.

Tri-City Jewish Community Center Day School

The school has been working hard to raise money to purchase new playground equipment. The latest fund-raiser was to sell hot chocolate during lunch to preschool and day school students.

The day school choir also put on their first performance of the year combined with a fund-raiser dinner, catered by Sabuddy's Israeli Restaurant in Tempe. Great food, fantastic music and warm conversation proved to provide a wonderful evening for all.

Our fourth and fifth grade attended a science fair at the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School. They had a wonderful time with all of the other day schools.

Julie Greenwood, Aubrey Jaros and Michelle Culbertson won awards for their artwork in the Hadassah Art for Peace project.

The first grade just finished up a unit about seeds - they compared the taste and texture of pumpkin, squash, and other vegetable seeds.

The second/third grade class has begun to research their own family history. They are learning what countries their ancestors came from and how they ended up in America.

Students will sing songs, play dreidel games, and eat lots of latkes at the school's Hanukkah party.

Our entire school is getting ready for the Maccabiah Games in January, along with the other day schools.

The Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School

The high school had a visit by more than 200 students from Pardes Jewish Day School, Phoenix Hebrew Academy, The King David School and Tri-City JCC Day School on Dec. 4. The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and our students and teachers teamed up to host a Science Field Day where the students participated in a variety of competitive and non-competitive educational events in the physical, earth, and life sciences.

Also on Dec. 4, our annual fall Sports Banquet was held. Gary Cruz, the sports anchor of CBS New Channel 5, was our guest speaker. The football and volleyball teams were regular season champions. In the post-season tournament, the football team placed second and the volleyball team placed third.

Our Book Buddies program is coming to the close of a very successful semester. All of our students visited the elementary students at Madison Meadows once a month to read to them, which allowed them to develop a sense of community and respect for human diversity.

This year's Student Council officers are Ari Lewine, president; Maria Restivo, vice-president; Sara Loeb, secretary; and Alicia Miller, treasurer. Felice Weiner, student council faculty adviser, is excited to be working with such as great group.

Judith Brandstadter's studio art class celebrated Hanukkah on Dec. 11 with Janet Klein of Hadassah. Klein presented Samantha Katz the grand prize for her painting for the Book of Peace Contest. Sara Loeb, Charles Sacks and Rebecca Rosenfield also received honorable mention.

The King David School

Kindergarten students did a unit on Thanksgiving and dressed up as pilgrims with their bonnets and capes. This was followed by learning about Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, exploring lights in nature and lights created by humans. Parents prepared centers for a fun-filled morning of Hanukkah projects.

Each first-grade student did a book report about Thanksgiving and the two classes did a Thanksgiving play for parents.

Third grade went on a field trip to the Desert Botanical Garden to complete their science unit on plant life. The excellent educational package received from the Botanical Gardens prepared students to learn about and appreciate our desert environment.

All new students to KDS had speech, language and hearing screenings on Dec. 5.

Fourth through eighth graders participated in non-competitive events at the first Science Field Day hosted by the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders continue their science learning with a water experiment in conjunction with the Jewish National Fund in Israel.

Seventh and eighth graders bonded in a bowling event with Pardes Jewish Day School students.

The community was invited to the first all-musical Winter Extravaganza on Dec. 18, starring students in kindergarten through eighth grade, which took place at Shadow Mountain High School.

Pardes Jewish Day School Day School

The students in the elementary division at Pardes have been very busy preparing for Hanukkah. Our fourth graders have two separate holiday drives in progress. Lisa Speck's class has been collecting new books to distribute to children at the Creighton School. Many of these children have never owned a book. Hannah Toporek's class is organizing the collection of gifts for a family referred to us by Jewish Family & Children's Service.

On Dec. 12, Linda Feldman from the Bureau of Jewish Education visited the school to demonstrate how oil is made from olives. The Pardes Middle School music ensemble performed Hanukkah music for the elementary students during the Hanukkah program on Dec. 16.

Students from Pardes Middle School were the overall champions at the First Jess Schwartz/Weizmann Science Field Day on Dec. 4.

Ariel Silverman, an Arizona State University student, spoke to the middle school students about her experiences as a blind person.

Seventh and eighth graders from Pardes and King David got together for an afternoon of bowling.

The drama, music, and life-skills enrichment classes are starting their new rotation.

Eighth-grade physical science classes finished their unit on hydrocarbons and seventh grade biological science is starting its unit on genetics.

The whole school participates in a weekly math challenge problem, with the winners receiving homework passes.

The middle school is currently collecting books, games, videotapes and art kits to be delivered to children's units in hospitals.

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