IMPORTANT INFORMATION
1. TIME CHANGE - Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday, March 11th at 2:00 a.m. You need to turn your clocks ahead one hour; the easiest time to do it is when you go to sleep on Saturday night.
2. TEACHER IN-SERVICE DAY – Our elementary school faculty will be participating in a teacher in-service on Monday, March 19th; there will be no school for students K – 8.
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SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR
SPHDS’ annual Scholastic Book Fair will be held from Tuesday, March 13 through Thursday, March 15, from 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Students and parents will have a very large selection of books to choose from for their reading pleasure.
There will be a special Family Night at the Book Fair on Tuesday evening, March 13th, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Bring the family to enrich your children’s reading.
We are looking for volunteers to help with the set-up of the fair and/or work at it. If you can help, please contact either Anat Faigon at (650) 964-1232 or anat@yendor.com, or Holly Mendel at (408) 245-3144 or Holly@TheMendels.org.
Purim Prisoners - Tanya and Rachel!!
P U R I M C A R N I V A L
 There was so much happening at this year’s Purim Carnival that one did not know which way to turn for fear of missing what was going on.
In preparation for it, the students in the Gan Aviv preschool were busy with their teachers and parents making and baking hamantaschen which they eagerly devoured on Monday, Shushan Purim. They paraded as cowboys, princesses, butterflies and many other characters around the campus with the kindergartners leading the way. Afterwards they had classroom parties with singing, dancing and delicious goodies.
This fantastic day was concluded with a performance by the Happy Birds…many thanks to the Parents Association for sponsoring it. The parrots and macaws flew across the MPR stage; talked; sang; balanced on swings, skateboarded and rode bicycles; the preschoolers and kindergartners just loved it.
 
A mini-talent show started the carnival for grades 1 – 8. All the talent show participants were pianists and even amidst the hub-bub of the day, the audience enjoyed listening to the beautiful music. Thank you to Daniel Golub, Aaron Pluemer, Esty Starr-Glass and Josh Applebaum. In addition to playing the piano, Josh also performed an entertaining comedy routine.
Afterwards, the children had a ball at the Purim Carnival. There were many games to play – Can, Can; Ring Any Peg; Over and Under; Slap Shot; Pool Shark and many more. They received tokens for participating and winning games and eventually turned them in for fun prizes - stuffed animals, miniature Warrior basketballs, necklaces, stuffed S. F. Giants and Oakland Athletics jerseys and the list goes on.
 
A special guest appeared and delighted everyone, Bugs Bunny! And…what would a carnival be without drinks and cotton candy!
Many thanks to our faculty and staff for supervising the games, and special thanks to our 7th and 8th graders for their assistance at the carnival.
ENROLLMENT ’07
Contracts for the upcoming school year will be mailed to parents who have re-enrolled their children.
Please be aware that we are unable to issue contracts until we have received an enrollment form.
WOMEN'S PHILANTHROPY AND THE "WOMAN OF DISTINCTION"
Women’s Philanthropy (WP) raises and allocates funds to help communities maintain and strengthen Jewish identity locally and throughout the Jewish world.
The Shalom Baby program is a prime example of WP’s community-building objective. Shalom Baby baskets, filled with an assortment of baby items and gift certificates, help families connect with synagogues, pre-schools, and other resources for Jewish living. SPHDS is one of the sponsors of the Shalom Baby program and offers a special tuition discount voucher for the first year of our preschool.
WP fosters community awareness through the quarterly Outreach programs. WP Outreach programs provide interesting, educational and social outlets for women in the Jewish community.
 The highlight of the year for Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley is the annual Woman of Distinction Connection event where women from different organizations and institutions are honored. At this Sunday’s “Tea of Life” SPHDS is proud to have DeeAnn Hazani as our honoree for her more than 14 years of volunteerism and dedication to our school community. She is truly a “Woman of Distinction.”
Mazel Tov DeeAnn for a well deserved honor!
PESACH FOOD DRIVE
The Student Council will hold a Pesach Food Drive beginning Monday, March 12. Food barrels will be available outside of school for wrapped Kosher for Pesach 2007 food items. Examples of requested food items are matzo, matzo ball soup in a jar, gefilte fish, macaroons, and wine. Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley will distribute the packages of food to the needy of our community, for Pesach.
IS IT “I” BEFORE “E”?
The spelling mavens from grades 2 – 8 will participate in the school’s annual Spelling Bee. It is always exciting as students fly by those words with which they are familiar and then slow down, in deep thought, for the words that are not so common.
Preliminary classroom spelling bees will be held; with the top two students in each grade, going to the finals. There will be two divisions: grades 2 – 4 and grades 5 – 8.
Join us on Thursday, March 22nd at 10:30 a.m., in the MPR, for an interesting and challenging activity.
MODEL SEDER SCHEDULE
Monday, March 26 |
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11:00 a.m. Room 1 |
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10:30 a.m. Kindergarten |
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2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Grade 2 |
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Tuesday, March 27 |
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10:30 a.m. Rooms 2 and 3 |
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2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Grades 4 and 5 |
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Wednesday, March 28 |
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10:30 a.m. Rooms 4, 5 and 6 |
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2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Grade 1 |
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Thursday, March 29 |
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10:30 a.m. Grade 3 |
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2:00 – 3:45 p.m. Grades 6, 7 and 8 |
GREAT NEWS!
bob ’n bob, the area’s wonderful Judaic gift and book store has relocated to 4500 El Camino Real, Los Altos (near San Antonio Road). The store is at the crossroads of Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain View, and its new phone number is: 650 947-7010.
Store hours are: Sundays, 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Mondays – Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.; Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.; and Fridays, 10:00 – 3:00 p.m.
NEW TIME FOR MONTHLY BOOK CLUB MEETING
The next Book Club meeting will be on Thursday, April 12th, at a new time, 12 Noon to 1:00 p.m., in the school library. Please note that this will be the first day back from Pesach vacation.
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer is the book selection for April. It is about a young Jewish American who travels to the Ukraine in the hope of finding the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Alex Perchov, a naïve Ukrainian translator and his grandfather were the guides on the journey through Eastern Europe.
NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA JUDAICA IN SCHOOL LIBRARY
We would like to thank the Parents Association for their donation of the new Encyclopedia Judaica.
A searchable electronic version is available on the Library web page at www.sphds.org. Click on "Academics" on the SPHDS home page, then click on SPHDS Library on the bottom left of the Academics page. Enter the password provided and then access will be given to search the entire encyclopedia with print capabilities.
GAN AVIV SUMMER CAMP
Back by popular demand!
After an absence of a number of years we are pleased to announce the return of our summer camp program for preschoolers and kindergartners. Children are eligible if they will be 3 years old by December 1st, 2007 through children entering Kindergarten this September will also be qualified.
There will be 2 two week sessions, the first from June 25th – July 6th and the second from July 9th – 20th. Camp hours will be from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and extended day care will be available from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
It will be an action-packed, fun, summer camping experience with many activities planned. Mr. Dave will be there with Hot Shot Sports; challah baking for Shabbat, water play, art activities, themed weeks and much, much more.
Going by past camp experiences, we know the children will have a “blast.”
Brochures and registration forms are available.
CAMPUS TOURS
Tours are open for anyone who is interested in seeing our school.
Please call Rachel at 408 738-3060 to arrange a personal tour. If you know community families who have children of the appropriate ages, please invite them to call Rachel and arrange a school tour.
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