Car Parade of Teachers Visits Students

By Shula

On Wednesday, May 6, a large group of teachers left their classes early, telling the 5th grade students that they had a special meeting to go to. They all left their houses, got in their cars, and drove to every house of every student in the 5th grade.

Henry, who was visited first by the car parade, said, “I was really surprised when I heard all the honking.” Another student, Avital said, “On our street we get a lot of accidents and when we heard honking we just thought someone had crashed. So we decided to go outside and check. When I came outside, my teachers were out there cheering for me. It was the first time that I felt hope during all of this.” Maya said she was also confused, “There were so many cars in front of my house and then I heard a lot of honking and people yelling my name. I had no idea what was going on. This really made my day. It was so kind of the teachers to take their time to go to every single one of our houses.”

The teachers were standing outside each house holding up signs that said: Celebrating Our Graduates, מזל טוב, #PJDS2020. The 5th graders each got a sign to put on their lawns. The fifth graders expressed that they were so grateful for their caring teachers. Jacob said, “I was speechless, I didn’t know what to say.” Also the teachers gave their feedback after the event.

Wendy Smith, Stern campus principal, said, “We did it. 36 kids. 36 signs. More than that, the kids were so happy and felt proud and loved. It was a long day, but together we brought some happiness and personal connection to our school, back to our kids who were craving just that. Their smiles said it all. It was an incredible day. One I will personally never forget.”

It was amazing that the teachers made all 36 houses all around the Philadelphia area. Rabbi Chaim said, “It was a great idea and the evidence of its success was on the faces of kids and parents!” Ms. Frank agreed, adding, “The evidence was also on the teachers’ faces.”

Everyone agreed that they would all remember that moment forever. Mr. Burg said, “The facial expressions of students, parents, and teachers were priceless. These are memories that will stay with me a long time.”

The entire 5th grade would like to thank all these teachers. This was such a wonderful moment and memory for the 5th graders. This is something we will never forget. This shows that though we are all in quarantine there are still many things we can do to bring our community together.

“It felt amazing to be a part of this rewarding experience!” said Morah Shani.

What is Happening to Gesher?

By Shula, Adele, and Aviva

Gesher is a celebration that 5th graders look forward to every year. Gesher is the Hebrew word for bridge, and when Gesher comes around the bend, the 5th graders are ready to cross that bridge to middle school. At the Gesher celebration, the 5th graders sing and dance for their special guests. They show off all that they have learned that year. Gesher is one of the biggest steps the 5th graders take while at PJDS. The 5th graders put so much work into Gesher. But, this year the 5th graders have been wondering what will happen to their Gesher celebration?

This was a question that none of the 5th graders knew the answer to, so we decided to go to the professionals. We interviewed two fifth grade teachers with knowledge of the event, Mrs. Civan, and Morah Bar Yotam. Then we interviewed the one and only Wendy Smith, Principal of Perelman Jewish Day School Stern campus. We asked them all some questions so we could learn more about Gesher this year.

“We will have Gesher in some format,” Mrs. Civan said, responding to our question about whether or not we will even have Gesher this year. Clearly, this year’s Gesher will be so different from past years’ celebrations. We asked Wendy Smith when Gesher will be held, and she responded, “We are coming up with the time and date of Gesher now, and we will be sending it out in less than a week.” Wendy then informed us, “Right now, teachers and I are planning Gesher. We are working on making it very fun and exciting, and something the 5th graders will remember.” She continued, “We know it will be different, but different can be good. We have been having meetings and putting together slideshows, pictures, [and the 5th graders will be] learning songs . . . It's going to be some kind of virtual reality and there will be things that happen in Gesher [this year] that won’t/don’t happen in others.”

The 5th graders are always excited to show off what they have learned to their families and special guests, and we wanted to know if the teachers and administration thought that more or fewer guests will come this year? Mrs. Civan answered, explaining, “I think there will be more [guests] because I think sometimes people have families that are out of town, or sometimes at camp, or recitals, so I think there will be more extended family who will come because they are free.”

We started thinking about how many students and parents don’t know how to use Zoom very well, so we asked Wendy about her ideas to make Gesher go smoothly? She said, “We are learning more about living in a virtual world. [We are] thinking of all that will go right and wrong. We will probably do some dry runs of things.”

Here is a little sneak peak of what will happen this year for Gesher from Mrs. Civan and Morah Bar. Mrs. Civan told us that “whenever we make Gesher, we always want to celebrate what the 5th graders have learned (during all their years at Perelman), and think about how far they have come . . . I think what makes Gesher so special is when we first talk to the 5th graders and have them share their memories, and we use that to make it more special.” For example, fighting over a marker, or being in a certain club. This year, too, teachers and administrators will ask fifth graders “What makes your time special?” and those will be the little and big things that you will remember in your life!”

Usually when the guests come each year, the fifth grade shows off all of the dances they have learned throughout the year, and celebrate with a party afterward. So we asked Morah Bar what the fifth graders will do this year. She said, “I don't think you should give up the dance party, and you can plan a dance party after the stay-at-home order is over.” We also asked her what to do about playing music, and muting and unmuting students. She said, “I think a great idea is to record a song, and then play it to everyone during the party.” Then we asked her if she thought that we would still hold Gesher in person when school was initially moved to online learning. “I really didn't think that we would have to meet virtually for so much time,” she responded.

We hope that we answered any questions that you might have about Gesher. Fifth graders, I hope the final plan is good. We would like to thank Wendy, Mrs. Civan, and Morah Bar Yotam for providing this information. We really hope that this year the 5th graders have fun even though we are in a time of virtuality.