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May 1995 Issue 1 |
Volume 1 |
 Letter to Friends
at Talmud Torahby Eliona Cleodoro and Roberta Tesar Thank you for giving us the opportunity to visit your school. The boys really appreciated the kippots, which they were able to keep. Your synagogue is a beautiful building and the stain glass windows told us a very interesting story of the history of the synagogue. The traditional dance for the Sabbath was very graceful. We still remember the song "Shalom A leichem" that you taught us. We learned a lot about the importance of Jewish traditions to your every day life. The questions that we sent in and asked about were well answered clearly and we were more than satisfied with the answers and the information each student gave. Ricky has played "eight square" and taught it to others after we came back. The coolies were a nice treat for recess. Our class has gained much knowledge of the Jewish culture and traditions. It has helped us understand other beliefs. Our class had Sheldon Oberman pay us a visit and he informed us that he taught at Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate, the school attached to yours. Thanks for your hospitality and generosity. It was an experience we
will always remember. We look forward to seeing you again. Shalom,
On Monday April 10, Sheldon Oberman came to Ralph Brown School to talk to the students in Room 106, 111 and P7. First he introduced himself and told us about his childhood in the North End between Inkster and Matheson Street. He attended St. John's High School. He felt the North End was a great place to grow but he had his share of bullies. He told us about his books and that he wrote The Always Prayer Shawl as a remembrance to his grandfather. His books, T.V. Sal and the Game Show From Outer Space, was written for his daughter who is a T.V. fanatic. Mr. Oberman listened to our ideas for our projects on "The Family" and gave us tips to help us improve our letters, family trees, interviews, etc. We enjoyed having Mr. Oberman at our school and we appreciate the
help he gave us.
Violence Since we know that violence is the root of all evil, we should learn
to stand against it. We can stop violence by offering more after school activities. Some
examples of these activities are: sports, crafts, camps, and so on. There should be more
volunteer jobs that children can do such as helping the elderly, cleaning up the
neighborhood, etc. Another way to stop violence is to have stricter laws. An example of
stricter laws could be charging young offenders as young as eight years old depending on
the severity of their crime. Violence is found at home too. Television shows such as Power
Rangers and certain movies contain a fair amount of violence. They have tried to improve
Power Rangers by installing morals and telling you ways to control your anger, which is
good, but the main portion of the violence remains. Children whose parents have abused
drugs can get very violent and may abuse their children. The children will grow up and
might do to their children what was done to them, which is wrong. Gangs can be very
dangerous, too. Some gangs beat up people just for a jacket or some money. They deface
properties with spray paint and can be very hostile with people they don't know or don't
like because of their skin color, religion and so on. With some social activities for
these gang members they won't have time for violent activities. Racism is also a factor of
violence. People should not hate people just because they are different. I believe racism
starts at home, and should be stopped. It does not matter what color of skin you have or
your religion, it's what's inside that counts.
This year the grade 5's and 6's who are 12 before August 31, 1995 are eligible to enrol in the Red Cross Baby Sitting course. The course is held every, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. in the Nursery room for three weeks. The course is taught by Mrs. Duffy, Mrs. Dmytryk and Mrs. Diakiw. Each student received a hand book with an outline of each lesson. The classes teach about what to do in an emergency, how to build a relationship with the child and how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver and general first aid, etc. All baby sitters should take this course to help them deal with the
children they are responsible for and to be aware of possible emergencies. Baby sitting is
a big responsibility.
Ukrainian Easter Eggs are symbols of remembering such as lost loved ones and things to be thankful for. The process of making the Ukrainian eggs are delicate. You take a keestra, (a keestra is a tool to guide the bee's wax) and bees wax to draw designs. The bees wax is put into a keestra funnel and heated, then you get to draw on the egg. After you've drawn a design you dip your egg into a colored dye for a few minutes. You then draw some more using the melted bees was in the keestra and again dip the egg in another color. The designs are symbols of health, luck and hope. Some of the
designs are horses, rams, fish, birds, wheat and grapes and there is even more.
Today we had a Festival of Dolls. It's also called Hinamatsuri. The Festival of the Dolls is when all the girls bring their dolls and display them and just look at them. The Japanese girls would make paper dolls and write their problems on the paper dolls and throw them into the river. The river carries the dolls and their problems away. Today we also had a Festival of Dolls. We ate pineapple with rice
and rice crispy squares. We drank water. I also brought a doll. It's a puppy. It's special
to me because I had it when I was little in the Philippines. It makes me remember my
teachers, friends and my family and how they cared about me. When they have the Festival
of Dolls in Japan they wear kimonos. A kimono is a dress for girls that is beautiful and
colorful. They also wear a obi which is a long beautiful belt. It is long because they
make a bow on the back.
At the beginning, three kids, with t-shirts that read Green Kids,
pretended to go back 140 years. They all came out as animals - a butterfly, a straw man
and a buffalo. They told us how the buffalo had become extinct, all because of us humans,
and the trees, too. What they are really trying to tell us is to reduce, reuse, recycle
and compost. They told us instead of using paper bags and plastic wrap containers to use
re-usable lunch bags and plastic containers.
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