An Evening of Culinary Genius!

More than 50 current parents, alumni parents, and HAMC staff participated in the HAMC Master Chef Class with Susie Fishbein, sponsored by the Parent Association. The Kosher by Design author and chef demonstrated three recipes -- Chummus with Morrocan Cigar, Chicken Lollipops, and Pear-Apple Tartlet for dessert.

The evening included a book signing with Susie and a three-course meal, which was delicious! Everyone walked away with books, recipes, an HAMC MasterChef Apron -- and, of course, full stomachs!

A Simchat Torah Shindig

This morning at HAMC we had a special morning prayer service as we celebrated the holidays of Hoshanah Rabba and Simchat Torah!

The auditorium was overflowing with excitement as the entire school marched around with their mini Torahs and Israeli flags in hand. After a beautiful Torah service, we said the blessing on the lulav and etrog and had a blast smacking the aravot on the floor to “get rid of our sins.” 

The festivities concluded with singing and dancing as Moreh Moshe played his guitar and the entire school joined in song, waving their flags high in the air.

Chag Sameach everyone!

Slurpin' in the Sukkah

Our annual Spaghetti in the Sukkah was a huge success! 

More than 120 people attended for singing in the sukkah with Moreh Moshe, a spaghetti dinner, pumpkin decorating, and fresh dipped caramel apples by the eighth-grade girls!
What was your favorite part of the event? Have any pictures of your own? We'd love to hear more about your spaghetti and sukkah experiences!

In Touch With Nature, Jewishly

Our sixth-grade students are busy on their four-day, three-night Teva Learning Alliance trip in Connecticut with so many activities including night hiking, bread-making, and nature art. The trip is flying by for the students with hot chocolate in the Oolam and hearty meals together.

We want our sixth graders to focus on merging Jewish values and culture with the caring and preservation of the Earth, and we hope they'll return with a deeper understanding that as an individual or as a community, we need to take care of the planet that takes cares of us -- Earth!

Every year, our sixth graders go on this four-day, three-night trip with several other Jewish day schools, too. What is Teva?

"The Teva Learning Alliance, North America's foremost Jewish Environmental Education Institute, is a non-denominational educational service for participants from throughout the Jewish community. Working with Jewish Day Schools, Congregational Schools, synagogues, camps and youth groups, Teva's programs touch the lives of 3,000 participants annually."

For more information, click here. 

Unmasking Minerals with the Fourth Grade

Earlier this week, fourth-grade students had a lab testing the hardness of minerals, including Quartz, Flourite, Graphite, Hornblende, and Calcite. They scraped the minerals using different tools and recorded their answers. Did your student have anything exciting to report about the project? We'd love to hear it!

An Adventure Down Under

What a great kickoff "Go Geography" had last Friday! The students marched to the maraca beat throughout the hallways as onlookers happily heard them say we were traveling to Australia. We found Australia on the globe and mapped our travel from New Jersey to Australia. We had a mystery box in filled with animals that the students picked, including whales, camels (who would have thought they live in the land down under) crocodiles and dolphins, everyone loved learning about the animals.

The students had their waists measured and compared them to the size of a whale's length. It was a 30ish-inch difference! Then they dipped their fingers in warm water to see what tropical temperatures whales prefer to swim in. During these activities, we told the students whale facts to reinforce all that we'd discussed.

After a brief four-minute movie in which they saw Australian coral reef, manta rays swimming, clams and sharks on the smart board, the boys played soccer (aka football!) in the gym much as boys in Australia would do (or rugby and tennis), while the girls made a collage of Australian sea and land life animals.

Many thanks to eighth-graders Charlotte S. and Sarah B. for graciously volunteering their time to assist in the learning experience.

G'day mate! And be sure to check out our other Go Geography adventures. 

Growing Green at HAMC

Here at HAMC, we are green with ... pride! We know, it's not the usual expression you find attached with "green," but we're happy to announce that during the summer, our school qualified for the Green Schools Honor Roll.

That makes us the first school in New Jersey to make the prestigious list from the Green Schools Initiative! Check out our profile here.

Students with our new composter!

Our HAMC Green Team is so fortunate to have an administration and staff that fully supports our environmental efforts -- especially because the green message dovetails with the core Jewish value of Tikkun Olam.

We're encouraging parents to pack eco-friendly lunches for their children (with thermoses instead of juice boxes and reusable containers instead of plastic baggies) and to follow the new school policy of "No Idling" in the pick-up line. Also, we hope that all staff members will join us in our efforts to help keep our green school its greenest. With our new Green Schools Honor Roll status, we feel the added responsibility to "walk the walk and talk the talk." Please help us, in any way that you feel comfortable, to spread the message of Tikkun Olam and how it relates to environmentalism. Here are some suggestions:

• Join your students in packing a lunch that reduces waste at school.
• Turn off the lights whenever the class leaves your classroom--even better, let the students do it. At the end of the day, please turn off all computers and monitors.
• Use paper cups instead of plastic cups at snack time. Without liquid (preferably water), these can go into your mixed paper bin. The school is working on supplying compostable cups for all classrooms--which can go into our brand-new composter, located near the greenhouse.
• Your mixed paper bin is not just for paper--cardboard boxes from snacks can be disposed of there, too.
• Avoid plastic or styrofoam for arts & crafts projects, instead choosing "green" materials such as recycled cardboard.
• Encourage the kids to drop off their old, broken crayons in the school's crayon recycling bin, or at the front office.
• Read green books to the children and discuss ways that even the smallest students can make big differences for our planet. It's very empowering for them to learn that their choices have real and measurable effects.

We have another wonderfully green year ahead, from poster contests to special guest presentations to "green captains" in the student body -- all tied into the core Jewish value of Tikkun Olam. We can't wait to share all of our green goings-on here on the blog!

The green message is universal -- how do you go green?