O Canada!

While "visiting Canada," our students colored pictures of some animals native to Canada.

The newest installment in our After-School Enrichment Class: Go Geography has taken our students to Canada! So far, we've visited Russia, Israel, Brazil, and Canada. Did you see our post on Russia?

During the Go Geography! program, our students take imaginary trips where -- during two classes on each country -- they learn from native speakers, participate in class discussions, art projects, and songs. We'll be spending time on weather, the landscape, interesting or unusual native animals, history, customs, music, and food.

So far, the pre-K students have learned an Israeli dance from the eighth graders, they have played with Russian matroyshka (nesting) dolls, gone fishing, and explored caves in Russia. They also learned how to sing a french folk song "Frère Jacques," and there are still two weeks left to go!

Will You Be At Our Open House?

We hope you'll tell your friends!

Biome Boxes

Our sixth graders have been busy at work on their Biome in a Box Projects. Enjoy the video below of one of our students and her Biome on the Boreal Forest.

A Weather Writing Adventure

Our Kindergarten is spending the week learning about different kinds of weather. All of the students came up with some very exciting activities to do during sunny, snowy, and windy days, and the students are busy writing about what they like to do on snowy days.

A Shabbaton Shindig

Click to see the collage full-size!

HAMC hosted its second annual Shabbaton on Friday and Saturday for 36 fifth through eighth grade students. It was a spiritual, fun, and unforgettable experience for the students. From lighting Shabbat candles on Friday night and a beautiful Shabbat dinner to Olympic games, singing, a midnight treasure hunt, and so much more.

Havdallah services, which ushers out Shabbat and welcomes the week, were followed Saturday night with the band Spin180 playing all our favorite English and Hebrew songs. Head of School Moshe Vaknin played with the band, and some of the kids joined for a few of the songs.

Innovations: Touch-Screen Learning

At HAMC, we're always looking for new ways to give our students the proper tools to take on the constantly evolving world of technology. Our newest innovation? We've introduced touch-screen computers in our Junior Kindergarten (JK) classes!

In one class, our JK students were at the touch screens reinforcing initial consonant sounds of the names of animals as a follow-up to the Houghton Mifflin Animals Everywhere theme, and in another class, students were working on the touch-screen computers to reinforce their counting skills at their own level as a follow-up to their Everyday Math program.

We're so excited that we can integrate the necessary tech skills to succeed in today's world with our JK student's play days!

After-School Electronics

Our students love our electronics guru Moti Vaknin, and they love our great after-school program where they are soldering circuitry and creating useful gadgets like an emergency light that can be operated by any remote control in their house. Students also are working on a voice changer and police lights. Check out some photos of our students in action!