Mah Chadash: Raising children who make good choices

Raising Children to

Make Good Choices

During this Jewish month that leads up to the Days of Awe, we reflect on our own actions and behaviors, and recalibrate with intentions of being our best selves in the coming year. Lucky for us, Elul falls at the beginning of the school year, and we can use it to reinforce our intentions for your children.

Our goals are lofty at Mirowitz. We want your children to make good choices, but that's just the start of it.

We also want your children to grow confident speaking out when they see unkindness. We want them to notice when something seems wrong, and to instinctively seek to affect change. We want them to see the world through a Jewish lens, and when faced with a choice, to confidently turn to Jewish tradition as a guide toward goodness.

Your children, with their teachers, have established rules based on our school’s core values for their classroom communities.

That community extends online for our older students, and Morah Andrea and their classroom teachers will help them understand the impact of their choices in the digital world. Should they ever, along the way, find that the right thing to do seems ambiguous, we are here to guide them and to remind them to use the foundation of moral structure that our tradition provides.

The ways in which children spend their childhood days will lead them to become teens and adults who make good choices. We know this for certain, and are so proud of our alumni for the way they conduct their lives.

And so we love Elul...for the opportunities it offers. May the "wake up call" of the shofar remind us to stay true to our intention for your children. Y’hiyu l'ratzon.

Shabbat Shalom
Morah Cheryl

September 13: STEAM Studio
September 14: Curriculum night for all school and MS
September 15: Curriculum night Zoom for K, 3 and 5
September 16: Curriculum night Zoom for 1, 2 and 4
September 18: Prof. Development - No School
September 18-20: Rosh Hashanah
September 28: Yom Kippur - No School
September 29: Late Start @ 9:30
October 3-4: Sukkot
October 10: Shmini Atzeret
October 11: Simchat Torah
October 15: Parent Conferences - Noon Dismissal
October 16: Parent Conferences - No School
October 26: Prof. Development - No School

November 3: Election Day/Prof. Dev Day - No School

November 12: Virtual Sneak a Peek (Open House)

Need a lulav and etrog? You can order through school for only $50 per set!

Order here by next Thursday, September 17.

We will let you know when your set arrives. It will be delivered to you in the carpool line before Erev Sukkot.

We have postponed Curriculum Night to give teachers and students a chance to get settled, and so we can give you information that accurately reflects this unique year. Please save these dates and plan to join us online. Zoom links will be sent soon!

September 14
7:15 p.m. — Middle School Parents
8 p.m. — All Mirowitz Parents

September 15
6:45 p.m. — 3rd grade parents
7:30 p.m. — 5th grade parents
8:15 p.m. — Kindergarten parents

September 16:
6:45 p.m. — 4th grade parents
7:30 p.m. — 2nd grade parents
8:15 p.m. — 1st grade parents

We are excited to welcome our own alumna Beca Dennis, RN, to the Mirowitz team. The multi-talented Nurse Beca will take care of both our nursing needs and help teachers with on site tech support.

Beca attended both our legacy schools: RJA and Solomon Schechter. She has spent the last year and a half as a pediatric nurse at St. Louis Children's Hospital. She was educated at Case Western and trained at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic. She has also served as a nurse at a Jewish overnight camp. Beca describes this move as "b'sheret," and we agree!

We also are thrilled that Rabbi Tracy Nathan will be join our team on October 1 teaching Judaic Studies to 5th through 8th grades.

Rabbi Tracy has a love of Jewish text, a love of Mirowitz and years of experience teaching middle school at Solomon Schechter of Greater Boston. She also is the beloved mom of alumnus Hanan Nathan-Slarskey and the wife of our own Reb Scott. We are delighted to welcome Rabbi Tracy back to Mirowitz as a faculty member. Our middle school students have tremendous learning ahead!

We also want to recognize with love Morah Cyndee Levy and Morah Rachel Persellin Armoza who joined us last week and already are filling their student's Hebrew and Judaics lessons with meaning.

Your parents are invited to hear from Carly Sparks, MSW, LCSW, owner of KINETIC Counseling about how to effectively connect with your grandchildren during the Pandemic. Leave with tips and cool websites for engaging with them over Zoom. Q&A to follow.

Date: Thursday, October 1

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Link: https://zoom.us/j/8605349370.

RSVP to Lee'at for the password.

Also make sure your parents know about these upcoming events. Please also ask them if they are receiving Grandparent's Circle emails. If they are not, please let Lee'at know.

Do you have a knack for style? Would you be willing to make Mirowitz fashion recommendations and help organize our Fall Spirit Wear sale?

Let Patty know if you can help!

Fall conferences are Oct. 15 and 16, and you may choose your time slot using our Mirowitz App.

Login to the Mirowitz app. (You can download it from the Apple or Google Play store. Search "Mirowitz.") You cay also log in through this link.
Select Conference Sign Up
Select 2020 Fall Conferences
Choose your child's classroom teacher and Hebrew teachers.
Choose a time slot.

Your child's teachers will send out the Zoom links prior to conferences.

Honor your child's teachers!

You can honor your child's teachers with a donation of $18 to the PTO's "Teacher Appreciation Fund." Your donation and honoree will be announced at Kabbalat Shabbat and recognized in our Mah Chadash newsletter. The funds will be used to shower the teachers with surprises throughout the school year.

Want to make a donation for next week? You can do so here.

My girls love school so much! I can't tell you how grateful I am that they get the best and most loving school experience possible.

Rachael Gossett
Kindergarten Mom

We can't thank Mirowitz enough for the constant communication, and for the safe way they have opened the building and helped bring a sense of normalcy during this crazy time. From Roll Back to School, to the weekly Shabbat gatherings on Zoom, everything is thoughtful. We are so lucky to be part of the Mirowitz community

Lauren and Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham
Mirowitz Parents

Dylan who led the lower school in Torah study this week, and Kenny who chanted Torah in Middle School

Read their commentary about Parshat Nitzavim here.

Read the Middle School commentary here.

to

Caleb Arnow and Kenny Gould who became B'nai Mitzvah last weekend.

(Throw back photo of Caleb and Kenny reading Torah together in 5th grade.)

Samuel Asher Gould

son of Mirowitz board member Julia Kofkoff and her husband Aaron Gould. Mazel tov to both of them, and to new grandparents
Susan and Richard Kofkoff

Wishing a speedy and complete recovery to:

Howard Handelman
Jack Stapleton

Can you pitch in?

Thanks to Scott, Danielle, Jen, Mike, Brett, Bryce, Drew, Simone, Rachel, Corey, Jeremy, Rebecca, Vlad, Rachael and all of our superhero parents who have helped us pitch tents already!

Please join them! You can sign up to setup/take down tents each Monday at 8 a.m. and each Friday at 3:30 p.m. It's easy and makes outdoor learning possible.

You can sign up to volunteer here.