Our Community
Our warm, welcoming community attracts many families. Our active community of parents help with class events and field trips, open their homes for events and serve on our Board of Directors. Joining our PTO, which organizes many activities both in and out of school throughout the year, is a fun and easy way to meet new people.
LGA also deeply engages with the larger Pioneer Valley community.
Students have performed at Northampton’s January MLK Celebration and at the opening of the bus route at Northampton’s Survival Center. They baked cookies to show their appreciation for Northampton’s mayor and his staff, police and fire departments, the Department of Public Works and Cooley Dickinson Hospital Emergency Room staff. They harvest crops at Abundance Farm and donate them to the Northampton Survival Center. They prepare meals for the Northampton Cot Shelter. They run food and clothing drives for refugees and others, and assist at the Amherst Survival Center Thanksgiving Community meal.
There are many ways parents, grandparents and special friends can catch a glimpse of what makes LGA such a special place. We are especially proud of moments of community gathering.
Monday Morning Meeting – The entire community is welcome to join the entire student body and faculty on Monday mornings from 8:20 – 8:40 AM, for singing, celebrating, class presentations and much more.
Kabbalat Shabbat – Students, faculty, family and guests gather for a ruach (spirit) filled Kabbalat Shabbat led by Judaic studies and music faculty to bid farewell to the week, drinking in the delicious smell of challah baked by kindergarten students.
School Assemblies – Throughout the year, LGA has a number of assemblies for holidays and class presentations. Increasingly, we make use of technology by live-streaming events so that extended family and friends may also join us.
Jewish Life
At LGA, we communally acknowledge and celebrate all Jewish Holidays through performances, social activities, learning experiences, special visitors, and family events. Hanukkah is celebrated with a school-wide assembly with performances by each grade. On Purim the 6th grade creates, composes and performs an original Purim Shpiel (comedic play) in English.
Family Education
Through the support of the Harold Grinpoon Foundation, the Family Education program includes at least one grade specific shared experience for families. The dates for these events, which link directly to the grade’s curriculum, can be found on the school calendar. In addition, there is a school wide family Shabbaton retreat in the spring and other special events.