OJCS Maccabiah Games 2021- Harry Potter Edition!
Each year, our student government works hard to plan מכביה (Maccabiah) – our school-wide colour war event. Featuring various high-energy events, Maccabi Canada athlete stories, competitions, and even trivia challenges, it is something our students and staff all look forward to. Our school-wide day of friendship and fun will take place on Friday, June 11th, 2021 and we’re gearing up for a great day! How many days until this event? Only 17!
This year, our students are excited to be sorted into the houses of Hogwarts as they prepare for Maccabiah – Harry Potter style. We can’t wait to see what sorts of high-jinks our wizards get into. Will there be potion making? A game of quidditch? A life-size game of chess to reach the Sorcerer’s Stone? Time(turners) will tell!
Though our students will represent Gryffindor (red team), Hufflepuff (orange team), Ravenclaw (blue team), or Slytherin (green team), we know that there is nothing quite as good as when we’re all rooting for the same team – in this case, OJCS. And that’s where we need your help. Our school is just $10,800 away from reaching our fundraising goal this year. That is just $60 per student! Please help support our students (current and future), by supporting our Maccabiah. Feel free to share on social media and with your friends and family:
http://bit.ly/maccabiah2021
Thank you, merci and todah rabah for your help in reaching our goals.
Want to learn more about our past Maccabiah Games? Read Dr. Mitzmacher’s blog ‘Philanthropy is a Learned Behavior: Introducing the OJCS Maccabiah Games’
Follow @The_OJCS on Twitter for event updates and pictures on Friday, June 11th!
Jesse Miller: Safely Navigating the Online World
Even before COVID-19, we’ve been living in a world where social media plays a large role in the way we communicate – for our children too! With lockdowns, school closures, and the need to physically distance, many of us have increased the amount of time we spend online, as a family and as individuals. With this has also come concerns around the amount of screen time for our children, and how to best support them as they navigate an increasingly online world. Jesse Miller of Mediated Reality, is a national social media awareness expert, and he will be holding a parent information evening on Monday, March 1st at 7:30 pm to address parental fears and minimize stress around screen time, discuss perceptions around technology addiction, and answer all your questions.
This is a workshop that shouldn’t be missed! Mr. Miller will also be speaking to our students (4-8) during the day on March 1st, so the evening is encouraged for parents only.
Please register here for this incredible event, or click the link in the flyer below.
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Open in new tab OJCS Chanukah Celebrations
The Chanukah celebrations continue @The_OJCS!
Today our grade 2 classes and Hillel Lodge met virtually for a Chanukah program. Our grade 2 classes shared Chanukah trivia with our Hillel Lodge friends, followed by a Chanukah song-a-long. A big thank you to Morah Batya for coordinating the special event with Hillel Lodge.
The hallways are doors are full of Chanukah cheer too! Classes are participating in a Chanukah door decorating contest and the willing door will be announced on Thursday.
Lastly, please join us for our OJCS school Chanukah celebration on Tuesday, December 15th from 7:00-8:00 PM. Click here to watch the live stream and see what the classes have been working hard to prepare for you! Hope to see you there!
A Week of Camp Ruach
We had a week filled with ruach thanks to Camp B’nai Brith of Ottawa. A big thank you to CBB Associate Director Jill Doctor and Assistant Director Marnie Gontovnik for leading things on the CBB side of things and planning the different activities for our students.
On Wednesday, students in grades 4-5 participated in a Hannukah-themed scavenger hunt. Teams (made of in-person and distance learners!) worked together to complete various tasks like building a 3D menorah and spotting the differences between two maps of CBB.
On Thursday, our K-3 students joined a virtual and interactive theatre experience hosted by Main Stages in NYC!
Today wrapped up with our Middle School Escape Room. Here was the fun escape room storyline.
UH OH! HAVE YOU LOOKED OUTSIDE!?
It’s Friday, December 11th at 11am! OJCS just got hit with 12 feet of snow! WOW – how are you going to go home to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah with your family?!
You’re in luck – Hanukkah Harry is here to save the day! He can get you the tools you need to escape, but first, you need to work together with your OJCS family to show the true spirit of Hanukkah.
You have been put into groups based on your strengths, personality and determination to overcome these tasks. You will be faced with many challenges along the way, but we believe that you and your team will be able to conquer them no problem! I hope you came prepared with your WINNING attitude!
In order to escape, Hanukkah Harry has left a trail of clues for you to follow online. Each clue will give you a tool to use in order to escape the building. You will need all 6 tools in order to successfully escape and go home to your families. However, Hanukkah Harry wanted to make it a little more challenging. You will need to unscramble each clue that comes your way to find out what tool it is!
Please hurry, the second night of Hanukkah is about to start and your family is waiting!
All of the students did escape so you can expect them all home for the second evening of Hanukkah!
You can read and see more about the ruach activities on Dr.Mitzmacher’s blog post today.
Happy Hanukkah to all our OJCS faculty, families, and students!
CBB is Coming to OJCS!
This is an exciting week at OJCS! Not only is it the Scholastic book fair and the first night of Chanukah, but we also have CBB coming to OJCS (virtually!). With the weather getting grey and colder, why not bring some camp-style ruach to our building from Camp B’nai Brith of Ottawa. Have a look below to see the exciting events happening this week.
OJCS Virtual Scholastic Book Fair
We are thrilled to continue with our beloved OJCS Scholastic Book Fair, just this year it will be virtual style! It also means that you can shop from the comfort of your own couch and still be supporting the school as 20% of the sale proceeds are donated back to the school. The book fair runs from November 30th to December 11th.
Some other highlights of our book fair:
- There is free shipping to your home with a minimum $ order.
- There is even more selection this year with over 450 book titles, with 150 being in French.
- Check out our virtual teacher wishlists below. You can click on each teacher’s name in the book spine to open up their wishlist. We just ask that you indicate when you have purchased a book.
- Check out the OJCS Facebook page to see videos from OJCS faculty sharing their book suggestions.
Happy shopping and reading!
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OJCS Maccabiah Games
By: Jenny, Knesset Communications
Guess what’s coming on Friday, June 5th? It’s the OJCS Maccabiah Games! Even under these circumstances, we still want to have a super fun day (#RUACH) filled with different games and activities. Of course, this year will be different than the others, but maybe for the better! We will be playing some different missions on the GooseChase app! There are even special messages for OJCS students from Maccabi Canada athletes and we welcome Lianne Laing as our keynote speaker for our opening ceremonies. As every other year has done, we will be raising money for our school and our fundraising goal is $15,000; however this year there is a twist! The amount of money we raise will be doubled by a generous donor.
Knesset is trying very hard to make this Maccabiah as fun as it can be! We ask of you to have a positive mindset, and get ready for some virtual fun! Can’t wait to see you then! Share your Maccabiah adventures during the day using our event hashtags: #OJCSMaccabiah #4Teams1Heart #ApartTogether
Family Night In 2020
We are excited to share that our ‘Family Night In’ (previously Girls Night & Boys Night In) is taking place on Thursday, May 21st. Grade 4 & 5 families are invited to join us from 6:30-8:30 PM and please RSVP by this Friday to Mrs.Bennett (Grade 4) or Mrs.Thompson (Grade 5) if you are able to attend and/or what talent you should like to dazzle us with for the evening’s talent show!
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RUACH Week is Coming!
RUACH WEEK is coming up from March 9-13. We are so excited to see everyone’s great costumes and school spirit. At our Rosh Chodesh Adar assembly, we shared the following themes:
Monday, March 9th- Crazy Hat and/or Hair Day
Tuesday, March 10th- Purim! Your choice of costume and be ready for a great carnival.
Wednesday, March 11th- Class Theme Day (Classes to determine- Class Sports Jersey Day? Class Emoji Day?)
Thursday, March 12th- Favourite Book/Movie Character Day (How many Harry Potter’s will we see?)
Friday, March 13th- Pajama Day! This year has a little twist to it though. It’s ‘Bring a Pair, Wear a Pair’. Each student is asked to bring a new pair of pajamas to be donated to the Pajama Patrol. Pajama Patrol is a group of parents in Ottawa whose mission is to ensure every child goes to bed with a warm pair of pajamas.
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Rosh Chodesh Kislev, By Jenny P.
ROSH CHODESH KISLEV
By Jenny P., Knesset Communications Rep
Yesterday we had our second Rosh Chodesh assembly for the month of Kislev. This assembly was packed with lots of new and exciting things that will be happening at the OJCS this year. Our leaders for this assembly were Ruben S., Audrey B., and Ben C. To start off the assembly we have to get some RUACH going, and the best way to do so is with the OJCS Ruach Patrol!
The Ruach Patrol did a great job singing all about Hanukkah and giving the students lots of spirit.
We then had our assembly MC’s teach us all about Habit #2: Begin With the End in Mind! We saw a video of OJCS students and faculty sharing how they use Habit #2, which is all about goal setting and knowing the end goal that you’re working toward. Please comment below and share how you use Habit #2!
We also had our amazing Rambots come and teach us all about their mission this year, as well as how they use their 7 Habits!
Come see the RAMBots at their First Lego League (FLL) Competition THIS Sunday, December 1st at Carleton University from 8-5pm. I think they are going to do a great job at their competition! The RAMBots also shared about their goal of creating an inclusive playground area at OJCS.
What organization are we supporting with our November Dress Down Day? This month we are donating the Beit Halochem Canada, to help injured Israeli veterans in Canada. Since we had our Remembrance day assembly this month we want to help support a cause related to veterans.
Lastly, what charity are we giving tzedakah to for the December Dress Down Day? For the month of December we are donating towards The Ottawa Mission to help those that do not have a warm home during Ottawa’s cold winter months. To make this fun we are adding a class challenge! How is this going to work? Each class will be asked to bring in the following items in mens adult sizes:
- Gently used or new hats
- Gently used or new coats/jackets
- Gently used or new mittens
- NEW socks
- Gently used or new scarves
- Gently used or new winter boots
That’s all for our Kislev assembly, can’t wait for next month’s assembly!