The Charlotte Jewish News - February 2007 - Page 19
Schools
Charlotte Jewish Preschool - Building a Better World
Children at the Charlotte
Jewish Preschool get an early
introduction to the concept of
tikkun olam, or repairing the
world. Beginning with weekly
Shabbat renditions of the song
“Building a Better World,” and
continuing with service projects
throughout the year, Judaica
teacher Elka Bernstein helps teach
the children of their responsibility
to make the world a better place.
So far this year, Morah Elka has
organized several opportunities
for CJP children and families to
participate in acts of tikkun olam.
At Sukkot, the preschool held a
food drive for the food pantry at
Jewish Family Services. Many
classes were able to
hand deliver their food
donations to JFS and
see where their contri
butions went. In
December, a “quiet
tzedakah” project, in
which children were
encouraged to con
tribute a dollar bill, I
rather than coins, for I
their weekly tzedakah, I
raised $500 to help JFS Charlotte Jewish Preschool learn about
make Hanukkah ,, 'r d>cl.
... - ^ the world on Tu B Shevat.
brighter for some of
our neighbors. In
January, Morah Elka taught the
children about the mitzvah of vis
iting the sick, bikkur cholim, and
children learned about physically
healing the Earth and completed a
special tzedakah project that was
six months in the making. At the
beginning of the school year, each
child decorated a blue tzedakah
box with stickers representing the
seven days of Creation. The chil
dren took the boxes home with a
letter asking families to contribute
tzedakah weekly for a special
project to plant trees in Israel. For
Tu B’shevat, CJP received a visit
from “Blue Box Bob” (Director
Denise Abadi, dressed up to look
like a blue tzedakah box), who
collected the tzedakah to be sent
to the Jewish National Fund,
which will use the money to plant
trees in Israel.
Todah rabah to CJP staff, chil
dren and families for their dedica
tion to building a better world. O
about Martin Luther King and his
efforts to build a better world.
In honor of Tu B’shevat, CJP
704.609.5639 BRUCE MEHLMAN
BRDKnR, / R.FALTOR®QSC
bmchltnan@hclcnadamsrcaUy.coni
Levin Middle School P.E. Rocks
Six Climbing Classes at Inner Peaks
By Jessica Sammis
The students at The Barbara
and Jerry Levin Jewish Middle
School have many wonderful
opportunities available to them
that students at larger middle
schools do not. One of them is our
unique physical education pro
gram. I wrote earlier this year
about one of our series of classes
with Mike Hartman of Better Life
Training. Since then, the students
have taken classes in soccer, ten
nis, and Krav Maga.
Our current PE class is a four
week series at Inner Peaks Indoor
Climbing Center. There are many
benefits for middle schoolers of a
class like this over a traditional PE
class. First, the act of climbing
builds upper and lower body
strength. The students are also
improving their core strength
without doing sit-ups, which are
much more boring than scaling a
wall. In addition to the obvious
physical benefits, climbing chal
lenges students to think on their
feet, constantly having to readjust
to their position on the wall, and
to overcome their fears. The com
bination of improvements in all
these areas can be a terrific self
esteem booster as well.
The middle school students
have really had a positive
response to this class. The flin
nature of climbing walls helps to
keep the students engaged in the
activity,^ which is another impor
tant feature of the class. While
they only think about how fun it is
to climb, the wonderful staff at
Inner Peaks and I know that they
are learning much more than just
to have fun.
15235-J John J Delaney Dr:: Charlotte, NC 28277:: 704.341.0279
Rachael Hall works her way up a
challenging incline during our lat
est PE class. Climbing challenges
the students to think on their feet
while overcoming fear and build-
4 lower body strength.
. ^ PLEASE JOIN us FOR A
^casino Night and Silent
V* Auction
Benefiting The Jewish Preschool on Sardis
Saturday, February 24 ♦ 8 PM
' JCC Lerner Hall
5007 Providence Road
For tickets, caii 704-364-8395
Presented by Prudential Carolinas Realty
Let’s Celebrate Together
Ice Skating with CJDS far Hanukkah
at Extreme Ice Center
By Jessica Sammis
Students at The Barbara and
Jerry Levin Jewish Middle School
have a very close connection to
our younger neighbors down
stairs, Charlotte Jewish Day
School. One of the benefits of this
relationship is that we often share
our celebrations with each other.
One such event occurred in
December to celebrate Hanukkah.
If you have any questions
about the Barbara and Jerry
Levin Jewish Middle School,
our one-of-a-kind PE program,
or our special events, please
contact Jessica Sammis at 704-
366-4885 or Jsammis@cjd-
school.org. Also, please
remember that tickets for our
annual raffle are currently on
sale! The prize this year is
$1000, and the money raised
by the sale of tickets helps to
fund our students ’trip to Israel.
Please contact the school, or
one of the student directly, if
you would like to support our
school through the purchase of
a ticket. Thank you.
All students from both schools
joined together at the Extreme Ice
Center to enjoy a day of ice skat
ing fun. Here is a picture from that
great day.
Sixth grader Brianna Shporer
skates with fifth grade CJDS student
Cailey Kreitman during the
Hanukkah Day ice skating celebra
tion in December. The middle
school students enjoyed spending
time with some of their younger
friends in the elementary grades.
2007 S-Type
Charlotte
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