Dear Lower School Parents,

I hope you all enjoyed meeting your child’s teachers at Parent-Teacher Conferences. It’s a pleasure for us to host these meetings, showcase work, and connect. These spring conferences are also a benchmark in time, steering us to think about how we plan to guide students through the last portion of their school year.

As we navigate through the final term of this academic year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the important cadence of our school calendar and the timing of our Passover Break. The rhythm and structure of a school calendar plays a crucial role in shaping the learning experience of our students. It provides a framework for academic instruction, holiday celebrations, and ensures a balance between instructional time and opportunities for students to explore their interests, engage in enrichment activities, and recharge their minds. 

This year, our Passover Break takes us right into our last instructional month of the year, when students will be working on culminating projects, engaging in special events and holidays, and crystallizing lessons from their year. It will be a busy yet exciting time for us, with events like Special Friend's Day, Siddur Celebration, Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Siyum, end of year assessments, field trips, and lots more all packed into a month’s time. We will work tirelessly to ensure kids maintain as much consistency and predictability in their routines as possible and it will also be a chance to help our students practice flexibility and adaptability. Calendar events such as these serve a unifying role within our community, providing shared experiences and a true sense of belonging. 

In the meantime, we will be hard at work preparing for Passover by studying special features of the seder plate, crafting afikoman covers, preparing to lead school seders, and understanding the journey from slavery to freedom. Students will also be exploring big questions like “How do we remember our Jewish journey?” and “Why is it important to tell our stories?” knowing that each of these questions carries a little bit heavier meaning right now.

As always, we are committed to student well-being and development. Paying special attention to the nuances of our school calendar now will allow us to celebrate our treasured holiday traditions and culminating school events in a way that best supports students and families. We are looking forward to sharing all of these special events and experiences with you!

Warm Regards,

Karen Leavitt, Head of Lower School