Hello Parents,
I want to introduce myself and welcome you to the new school
year. I look forward to your interest and involvement in our Jewish art journey
and I am always interested in your feedback.
My name is Phyllis Levun-Agostino and I have been teaching art at
Shir Hadash since 2009. My fabulous
madrichim this year are Alek Kopulsky, who is a senior in high school
and has been working with me since 2010, and Julia Mostow, who is a
freshman in high school and has been working with me since 2013. Please stop in the kitchen/art room to say
hello and see what we’re doing.
On September 14th the students in grade K-1 and grade
4 had art class. We created a collage/painting for
Rosh Hashanah 5775, which included images of apples and honey, pomegranates, a
shofar, Jewish stars, a birthday cake and the numbers. The 4th grade students also wrote
wishes for the New Year. Before making
the collage we talked about the customs and reasons for these objects in the
Jewish New Year and we brainstormed ideas for wishes. After making the collage, the students added
their unique painterly touch to create a beautiful Rosh Hashanah piece of art.
On September 21st, the students in 2nd grade and 5th grade had art. The 2nd
grade students made a Rosh Hashanah collage painting as described above.
The 5th grade students learned about the custom
of inviting Ushpizin (guests) for the holiday of Sukkot. It is traditional to invite the 7 patriarchs
of the Jewish people to our sukkah for inspiration and wisdom and this
tradition has grown to include the matriarchs and other people who inspire
us. We talked about this tradition and the
names of people we would like to invite, including the patriarchs and
matriarchs. The students were given
information about the patriarchs and matriarchs and then created beautiful
plates and table settings for their guests.
These plates/settings will be
assembled onto a large paper tablecloth and my madrichim will finish the tablecloth
with decorations for Sukkot. This will
then be laminated and hung in our sukkah.
Please look for this in the sukkah and if you would like to add names of
inspirational guests to include in our sukkah, please let me know and we will
add a (paper) chair for your guest. My
email is plevuna@gmail.com
L'shana Tova,
Morah Phyllis
