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Est. 1952 as Yavneh Day School

22 May 2015 4 Sivan 5775

In This Issue:

From the Desk of David Finell, Head of School

Upcoming Events

3rd-6th Grade Fine Arts Evening

Rockwern Academy Annual Meeting, Wednesday, June 3

Development Doings

Shalom

Chaverim Chappenings

Kindergarten Shema

6th Grade Mitzvah Project

ECEC Shabbat Breakfast

Lunch Menu

Spring Birthday Book Club

Box Tops Winners!

Annual Butterfly Project

Lincoln Elementary Visit

Because of Winn Dixie Literature Study

Library Book Donations

From the Desk of David Finell, Head of School

Torah and Blintzes One of the major holidays in Judaism - Shavuot - begins Saturday night at sunset and ends Monday night at sunset. (In Israel it is celebrated for one day). Shavuot, the feast of weeks, is celebrated seven weeks after the second Passover seder. I can't believe it has already been seven weeks since Pesach. Dorey and I still haven't finished all of our matzah and horseradish! Although Shavuot began as an ancient harvest festival, the holiday has also been identified since biblical times with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai and is one of the

three pilgrimage festivals during which our ancestors would travel to the Temple in Jerusalem of offer sacrifices. (The other two pilgrimage festivals are Pesach and Sukkot). It is a tradition to stay up late studying Torah throughout the night on the evening of Shavuot, and in our community there are many such study sessions and youth programs being offered over the weekend at different synagogues. Synagogues such as Northern Hills, Adath Israel, Wise Temple, Shaarei Torah, and Rockdale Temple are all having creative services, good food, and engaging study sessions. Please check your synagogue's website for more information. I encourage all Rockwern families to attend a service and study session at the synagogue of your choice for this very important holiday. Of course, at Rockwern Academy we are having a number of special programs today, including a parade bringing canned foods to donate to the needy, dancing, studying and singing. Ice cream is being served after lunch, courtesy of our wonderful PTO. One of my favorite parts of Shavuot, besides eating blintzes, throwing my caloric intake to the wind, and staying up late studying Torah, is reading the Book of Ruth. The Book of Ruth is the book traditionally read at Shavuot for many reasons but ostensibly because the story (like Shavuot) takes place at the time of the barley harvest. The book tells of the Moabite woman, Naomi, and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accepts HaShem as her God and the Jewish people as her own people. In Ruth 1:16 and 17 Ruth famously tells Naomi, her mother in law, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be

ECEC End-of-Year Picnic

Kroger Plus Card

Candle Lighting

Lost and Found

Camp at the J

Cincy Journey: Overnight Jewish Camping

School Safety

Rockwern Families

Shabbat Shira

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it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." Tradition has it that King David descended from Ruth and that the Messiah will descend from this same line. While Judaism is not a proselytizing religion, the decisive role of converts in the life of our people and in the ultimate redemption of the world is made quite clear. Our tradition teaches that the Messiah will be a descendent of a convert to Judaism. What stronger message could be given as to the centrality of those who choose to join the Jewish people and of the importance of inclusivity? Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach! David B. Finell, Head of School

Upcoming Events

Monday, May 25

Shavuot & Memorial Day - NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, May 27

Date Change - Fine Arts Program - Grades 3 - 6 at 6:30 p.m. now on Wednesday, May 27.

Wednesday, June 3

Pomegranate Society Cocktail Reception 6 - 7 p.m.

ANNUAL BOARD MEETING 7- 8 p.m.

Thursday, June 4

Last day of school for ECEC classes

Friday, June 5

Maccabia Games

Last day of school - Grades K - 6

ECEC Picnic 10:00 a.m. at Bechtold Park.

3rd-6th Grade Fine Arts Evening

DATE CHANGE: 3rd through 6th Grade Fine Arts Evening (art show and music performance "Together") has been changed to Wednesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m.

Rockwern Academy Annual Meeting, Wednesday, June 3

We hope you have received your invitation to Rockwern Academy's 2015 Annual Meeting on Wednesday, June 3, at 7 p.m. Please join us as we present Bobbie Signer with the inaugural Miriam's Cup Award. RSVP to Tamar at tasmith@rockwernacademy.org. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Development Doings

Shalom

Elad Lahav, 6th grader, will be returning to Israel this next week. We wish him and his family, Chagai, Dorit, and Roei Lahav, much joy, health and happiness as they return home. He and his family will be greatly missed. Shalom.

Chaverim Chappenings

The year is over for our Chaverim - Tal and Natan.

In order to prepare your students for summer - they learned all about summer in Netanya. Summer beach sports and drinking "shokoh" (chocolate milk in a bag) were the favorites.

The students also learned all about Israeli youth groups and made up their own Rockwern youth groups.

It has been a busy end of year.

Kindergarten Shema

On Sunday and Monday, May 3rd and 4th, the Rockwern Kindergarten Hebrew classes celebrated the Shema program with their

families. Dr. Jason Kalman and Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi spoke about the Shema in a study session with the families.

6th Grade Mitzvah Project - needs donations

Dr. Netanel's 6th Grade Class Philanthropy Project: Donate to Tikvah Odessa, a Jewish orphanage for kids with no family and hard conditions in Odessa, Ukraine. Everything must be brand new. Clothing, toys, books, and school supplies, are all needed. No Food, please.

The Maccabia team that donates the most items gets the most points for their team. We need everyone's help with this important Mitzvah! Please bring in all items by Friday, May 29! Thank YOU!

ECEC Shabbat Breakfast

What a beautiful morning shared by generations of Rockwern families!

Lunch Menu

Click on the link to see the lunch menu: May-June Lunch Menu

Spring Birthday Book Club

The Spring Birthday Book Club was held in the library on on Wednesday, May 20. Thank you to the children and parents who participated, and a special thank you to Patti Levine and Marsha Witt.

Marsha Witt launched the Rockwern Birthday Book Club in October, 2003, and it has become a cherished tradition in the school and library.

Box Tops Winners!

Congratulations to Box Tops Winners, Jacob Baron (2nd Grade) and Shayne Baron (Pre-K). They collected 226 tops. We also congratulate Leah Sherman (Kindergarten). Leah collected 225 tops. A huge thank you to everyone who participated. We collected 2608 tops! That's $260.80 of free money for our school. Combined with the number we collected in the fall we raised $363.60 this school year. Keep collecting those tops over the summer for next year! We will have new contests starting at the beginning of the year!

Jessica Kuresman Box Tops Coordinator

Annual Butterfly Project

On May 13th, students from John Paul II Catholic School came to Rockwern to participate in our annual Butterfly Project commemorating the one and half million Jewish children lost in the Holocaust.

This project is done in partnership with CHHE. Our 6th grade students lead a tour of the Mapping Our Tears exhibit at the CHHE, and then the students decorated clay butterflies to be displayed in Boymel Synagogue.

Lincoln Elementary Visit

Rockwern's 5th Grade traveled to Lincoln Elementary School in Dayton, Kentucky, yesterday to donate books.

Some of our student's reflections: "This involvement has been really eye opening for me. It makes me think about all the stuff I take for granted." "Lincoln Elementary was a good learning experience for me because we got to see a different kind of school and meet new people." "In my opinion, reading is one of the main sources of education. Reading is a way to experience something impossible, a way to be taken into an imaginary and wondrous world. We are very privileged to be able to read at almost any time. Some kids never even see books."

Because of Winn Dixie Literature Study

The 3rd and 4th grade participated in an integrated Literature Study of the Newberry Honor book, Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.Each student had an important role to prepare for while reading, including Summarizer, Connector, Investigator, Word Wizard, and so on.

The classes met and were divided into groups to share their discoveries and discuss the nuances of the book in depth. The students then participated in a whole-group discussion,

sharing particularly interesting parts of their literature group conversations.

To celebrate their learning, the students recreated the final party scene from the book including candle light, camping chairs, streamers and a variety of dog photos.

While enjoying, pickles, cookies, and homemade dump punch, each student also wrote a "mistake" they have made, sealed it in a bottle and hung it on the "Mistake Tree." This is very similar to the character Gloria Dump's tree in her backyard. The third graders performed a Reader's Theater Skit and the fourth graders read their essays on the various themes found throughout the book. The final activity involved everyone holding a "Litmus Lozenge" on their tongues with eyes closed. Many students expressed feelings of melancholy mixed with sweetness, just like in the book! The students shared that they enjoyed the experience and wish there was a sequel to the book.

Library Book Donations

Thank you to the women of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati's Lion of Judah Society for the generous donation of books to the Rockwern Academy Library.

Books donated by Lions of Judah

Thank you to Dr. Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus for the wonderful book donations to the Rockwern Library, selected by her children, Rockwern students Hila and Yair.

Books donated by Dr. Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus

ECEC End-of-Year Picnic

Kroger Plus Card

It's time for everyone to renew or add the PTO to your community rewards. Set up and renewal is easy. To Renew/Add Community Rewards go to www.krogercommunityrewards.com If you do not already have an account with Kroger.com, please set up a new account. Once you are logged into the Kroger website, click "my account". If you already have an account you can go to the Community Rewards section and update, otherwise you will need to Click on Kroger Plus Card and add your Kroger Plus Card number. Click on Community Rewards and then click Edit Community Rewards. Add Rockwern's PTO number 81748 and be certain you see Rockwern PTO listed. You are done! Thanks for helping the PTO! Jessica Kuresman

Kroger Cards Coordinator

Candle Lighting

Shabbat Shalom! To see this week's candle lighting times, just click here. Remember that some families in our community do not work, drive, answer the phone, attend events, etc. during these times.

Lost and Found

Hard to believe, but the school year is drawing to a rapid close. Our Lost and Found is overflowing. Please check the Lost and Found in Eden Hall (the cafeteria) to see if any of these items belong to your child(ren). Lost and Found items are on the clothing rack, just inside the cafeteria doors. All "lost" items will be donated at the end of the school year. Todah Rabah!

Camp at the J

Cincy Journey: Overnight Jewish Camping

It's still not too late to get a Cincy Journey's overnight Jewish camping grant funded by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and administered by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. Grants of up to $2800 are available for approved overnight Jewish camps, application forms and more information are available at www.cincyjourneys.org or call Karyn Zimerman (513)985-1534.

School Safety

Dear Parents, Please use caution when driving through the school parking lot, especially before and after school. We have had cars moving too fast through the lots, and a few drivers have not been paying attention to pedestrians and children. Please take extra precautions when leaving your vehicle in the parking lots. Be sure to lock and take purses/valuables with you when you leave, even when you are "just running your child to class." In an effort to keep our families safe, please secure your valuables. For safety and security, please remind your children that they are NOT to leave the building without an adult. They must wait inside until you, another adult, or their teacher is ready to leave the building with them. Thank you.

Rockwern Families

Dear Families, We would like to be sure that as many Rockwern grandparents as possible are getting the Shabbat Shalom each week so they can be kept informed about the great happenings at school. Therefore, please call 513-984-3770 or email Rexann in the front office at reroades@rockwernacademy.org to let us know if there are grandparents of Rockwern students who would like to receive the Shabbat Shalom, but are not already getting it. Thank you.

Shabbat Shira

Shabbat Shira

Every Friday that school is in session

3:00 - 3:30 p.m. in the Boymel Sanctuary

Parents, Siblings, Grandparents, Community Members -

All are welcome to join us as we bring in the Shabbat

with joyful singing led by Rabbi Dellal.

Hope to see you there!

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Rockwern Academy | 8401 Montgomery Road | Cincinnati | OH | 45236