17 Adar 5776
Shabbat Parshat Ki Tisa
Candle Lighting 5:25 PM
Havdalah 6:26 PM
Mazal tov to Noam Barenholtz (7), parents Yael Bloom and Daniel Barenholtz, and the entire family on Noam's bar mitzvah!
Mazal tov to Benny Attar (7), parents Daisy and Alberto Attar, and the entire family on Benny's bar mitzvah!
Mazal
tov to Aliza and Gideon Black, big brother Judah (PK), and the entire family on the birth of a baby girl!
Mazal tov to Josh and Morah Shoshana Goldstein (T) and the entire family on the birth of a baby boy!
Mitzvah Cards:
If you would like to send a mitzvah card please contact Shani at
x10 or
[email protected]
Monday (2/29)
RSVP Deadline for Evening of Achdut (
click here to RSVP)
Tuesday (3/1)
Wednesday (3/2)
9AM: Fourth Grade Heritage Fair
Last Day to Schedule Parent-Teacher Conferences (
click here to schedule)
Motzei Shabbat (3/5)
8PM: BPY Women's Book Club
Upcoming Events:
Sunday (3/8)
9:30AM: Matan Bat Mitzvah Program
Monday (3/7)
Tuesday (3/8)
Scholastic Book Fair Opens
Wednesday (3/9)
5-8PM: Junior High Parent Teacher Conferences
Friday (3/11)
Beit Sefer L'Musica
Topsy Turvy Day
Sunday (3/13)
9AM-4PM: Parent Teacher Conferences
Monday (3/14)
Staff-in-Service Day
NO SESSIONS
Tuesday (3/15)
8PM: Evening of Achdut
Sunday (4/3)
11AM and 3PM: BPY Drama Club Willy Wonka Performances
Sunday (4/10)
5-7PM: Circus Grand Night Out
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Parshat Hashavua Winner
Congratulations to our winning class for sending in the most signed
parsha sheets!
This week's winner is....3C!!!!
We can't wait to see who next week's winner will be....
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Dedicated Days of Learning
Thurday's learning was dedicated by the Rehanian and Zakaim families to commemorate the
yahrzeit of
שרה בת אליהו
Jannette Sara Zakaim, z"l.
Friday's learning was dedicated by
Dara and Jason Silverstein
to commemorate the yahrzeit of Jason's father,
Steven Silverstein, z"l, g
randfather of Yoel, Orly (1) and Dina (1).
If you would like to dedicate a day or week of learning, please contact Rachel Weiss at x35 or [email protected]
Sponsorships begin at $180
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Thank you to everyone who
has already joined our
ACHDUT ANNUAL CAMPAIGN!
Your generosity is essential to BPY's continued ability to provide innovative and enriching educational experiences for our nearly 500 students each day.
MAKE YOUR ONE TIME OR RECURRING GIFT TODAY AT:
**All recurring, automatic monthly donations are now being matched, dollar for dollar! Any new $10,000 gift will be matched at 50 cents to the dollar.**
To discuss a pledge or gift, inquire about sponsorship opportunities, or volunteer to help with the campaign, please contact Rachel Weiss, BPY's Director of Development
(201-845-5007 x35,
[email protected]) or Josh Drazen, Achdut Annual Campaign Chair (
[email protected]).
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2015-16 Junior High
Basketball Season
BPY students, parents, and staff members are always invited to attend any of our BPY basketball games and cheer on our teams.
The game schedule can be found on the BPY Google calendar, on the BPY website, on the BPY app, or by
Let's go BPY!!!
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Scan to download the NEW BPY APP!
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The NEW BPY App is now available for free download on Google Play and the App Store. Download it today for instant access to pictures/videos, the school calendar, lunch calendar, classroom blogs, daily homework, and more!
Available for iPhone and Android!
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If you love us, why not "like" us (on Facebook)?
Don't miss out!
Facebook friends...
- get all of our videos first
- see daily photos and updates about exciting school activities
- connect with other BPY families
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The BPY Store
Stay Warm This Winter With BPY Winter Gear!
- BPY pullover hoodie sweatshirt (navy with BPY on the sleeve in green): $25
- BPY Bling logo zip-up sweatshirt: $35
- BPY Logo zip-up hoodie sweatshirt: $30
- BPY Sweatpants: $20
- BPY Legwarmers: $15
- BPY Pajama Pants: $25
- BPY Winter Hat: $15
Show Your BPY Pride Any Time:
- BPY Polo Shirts: $15
- BPY Glitter Headbands: $8
- BPY Bling Headbands: $10
- BPY Phone Case: $5
Email [email protected] to order your BPY gear today!
$10 each
felt, corduroy, t-shirt, mesh
to order
The 2015-16 / 5776 BPY Discount Card is here!
Only $60 for 2 cards gets you great discounts at many area stores - this card will pay for itself!
Buy yours in the BPY office.
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CAMP KEF/
CAMP MA'ALOT
to register for CAMP KEF
to register for
CAMP MA'ALOT
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BPY Women's Book Club
The next book selection for the BPY Women's Book Club is
The Ambassador's Wife by Jennifer Steil
Meeting and discus
sion at the home of Shelley Fisher
449 Claremont Avenue in Teaneck
Saturday Night,
March 5 at 8PM
New (and old!) members are warmly invited to attend!
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BPY Birthday Book Club!
With your donation of $18, $36, or $54, the BPY library will add a new
book to its collection in honor of your child's (or grandchild's)
birthday. Each
book will include a customized dedication bookplate in honor of the child's
birthday with a special message of your choice.
Each
book helps to build our library - what a wonderful way to celebrate a
birthday!
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Community Events and Announcements
Community event listings are included in this newsletter as a service to the community and to our BPY families. Inclusion of community events in this newsletter does not constitute an endorsement by Ben Porat Yosef.
The Life Support Training Center
at HackensackUMC
is offering the
American Heart Association's
Heartsaver CPR AED course
for students in 8th through 12th grades. Please
for more information.
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Shabbat Shalom
From Rav Tomer Ronen
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| In this week's parsha, Ki Tisa, we read the famous story of the chet ha-egel, the sin of the golden calf. This morning, during kabbalat Shabbat with our elementary school students, we |
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compared and contrasted this event to the story of
Bnei Yisrael donating their valuables to build the
mishkan that we read in
Parshat Terumah.
In the building of
mishkan, the Torah specifies that everyone, men and women, contributed their valuables towards this communal effort. Beyond that, the Torah explains that the women were so talented that they specifically were involved in the actual building of the
mishkan.
In the case of the golden calf, however, Rashi explains that when the people demanded of Aharon that they produce for them new gods since Moshe had not yet returned, he decided to try to delay them to give Moshe more time to get back. Therefore, he asked them to go and get the jewelry that belonged to their wives and their children and bring it to him. However, the
pasuk says, "
And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their [own] ears, and brought them unto Aaron." (Shmot 32:3) The midrash explains that the women refused to hand over their jewelry because they did not support the cause for which it was being collected. Rather, they had true emunah, faith, in Hashem that Moshe would return and continue to lead them.
By comparing these two episodes in the Torah, we see the value and strength of true
emunah. It should be a lesson to all of us that our belief in Hashem should guide us and always help us determine right from wrong.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rav Tomer Ronen
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The Creation of Ben Porat Yosef:
An Interview With Steven Sarao |
BPY's current president, Cheryl Rosenberg, recently asked BPY's visionary founder, Steven Sarao, to share the story of the school's beginning. Read this fascinating interview to learn more about the inspiration for Ben Porat Yosef!
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Hunger Awareness Chesed Fair
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Kol hakavod to all of our BPY students on an absolutely incredible Hunger Awareness Chesed Fair last Sunday! Our students came up with so many creative ways they could help address the problem of food insecurity and brought them all together in one place so the entire community could get involved. The learning and chesed continued this week as students sorted and counted all the food and funds that were donated. They were even able to use some of the canned goods as weights to test their bridges on Discovery Learning Day before donating them! As a community, we raised close to $1000 and collected many pounds of food, all of which will be donated to food relief agencies.
This event is featured in this week's Jewish Link article, "BPY Works to Create Greater Awareness on Hunger." Click here to read all about it!
A special thank you to BPY's chesed committee and to all of the teachers and parents for supporting our children's efforts and helping to coordinate this very special event. Thank you so much to
Daisy Attar
Rachel Barber Schwartz
Deborah Blaiberg
Rifki Charytan
Jodi Cohen
Lori Fein
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Laurie Eagle
Shelley Fisher
Karen Goodman
Dori Haberman
Susan Helft
Lori Kronzon
Naomi Lubarr
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Vicky Nadel
Debra Passner
Yael Rabitz
Lauren Stark
Ilana Tachauer
Jamie Toporovsky |
for all of your help spreading chesed through our children's classrooms and putting together the Hunger Awareness Chesed Fair. Your hard work has helped the children see how their small steps can really help others. Tizku L'mitzvot!
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Discovery Learning Day: Bridges
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Our elementary and junior high school students have spent the last few weeks learning all about different kinds of bridges and how they are built in preparation for our Discovery Learning Day engineering challenge on Thursday: Build the strongest possible bridge across a 60 cm span. Each team received construction materials, completed plans, and built initial models. After testing them and consulting with our visiting engineers, they went back to work improving their designs and rebuilding their models before testing their finished products. There were many very impressive structures, with the strongest bridges created by a seventh grade team (holding 6800 grams) and an eighth grade team (holding 9500 grams). We definitely have some future engineers in our school!
Thank you to our visiting engineers, Morys Guzman (George Washington Bridge), Dennis Pietrocola (George Washington Bridge), Shlomo Yadoo (Port Authority of NY and NJ), and Narik Yakubov (Port Authority of NY and NJ) who helped educate our students about bridge design and consulted with them on their models. A special thank you to Morah Jean Myers, Morah Stephanie Goldberg, and Mr. Aaron Kogut for creating yesterday's program and to all the BPY elementary and junior high school teachers for bringing it to life for our students!
View many more pictures in our Discovery Learning Day 2016: Bridges! album on Facebook. |
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...98, 99, 100!!! BPY kindergarten students celebrated the 100th day of school on Thursday with a day full activities, all about the number 100! Children brought in collections of 100 objects, made 100 bead necklaces, created 100 sticker crowns, prepared a 100 snack mix, went on a 100 Hershey kiss treasure hunt, ate a cake that was in the shape of 100, and much more! What a 100% fantastic day!
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| Patty McGee Shares Reader's Workshop Insights with BPY Parents |
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Thank you to renowned literacy consultant, Patty McGee, for joining us on Tuesday night to present "A Parent's Guide to Reader's Workshop." Patty explained BPY's approach to teaching reading, explained how teachers support individual student growth in reading at school, and offered tips for parents to encourage their child's reading at home.
Over the course of this year, Patty has been working with our general studies team as we transition to the Reader's Workshop model. Reader's Workshop is a balanced literacy program that takes place every school day for a full class period and aims to prepare students for any reading task.
As Patty shared, the instruction in Reader's Workshop relies on research that shows that children need to read a lot of texts, with high comprehension, in order to move up in levels of text complexity. Research suggests that volume of reading is linked to attaining higher-order literacy proficiency and that the amount of time spent reading is the best predictor of reading achievement.
At home, Patty suggests that parents:
- share a variety of literature, both fiction and non-fiction
- ensure that books are easily accessible in the house
- read aloud and model good reading habits
Thank you to Patty for this informative presentation and to all the parents who attended!
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| Around BPY Early Childhood |
Penguin Alert: The precious little penguins of Gan Kochavim (NA) were recently spotted waddling through the halls of BPY!
After reading The Mitten by Jan Brett, everyone in Gan Shira (PKA) traced and cut out their own mittens. The children chose which friend to sew their mitten for and practiced sewing by moving the needle in and out.
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| Around BPY Elementary School |
As part of their school study unit, first graders have been studying maps of BPY. Last week, they followed maps of the school as they toured the building. This week, our junior cartographers worked in groups to begin making their own maps of different parts of the school.
Some students used blocks to make three dimensional maps
, while others drew their
maps
on poster board. The students had a great time while practicing important mapping skills.
Second graders have been learning all about fractions. They learned about equal and unequal parts, and then halves, thirds, and fourths. Finally, they learned how to add fractions together and make a whole. To wrap up their unit, the students planned out a design for a cookie. The students chose to divide their cookie into halves, thirds, or fourths, and then decorated each part with frosting and toppings. After drawing their designs and explaining them in words, the students decorated their cookies to match their designs. Everyone had a great time learning about and eating fractions!
Kitah bet students are getting ready for Purim and creating their own
megillot!
After their lesson about the Jewish calendar, fifth graders created a game to help them learn and remember which
chag is in which month.
Each student created a wheel with all the months of the Jewish year. The students wrote the names of the chagim on clothespins and then had to place the pins on the correct months.
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To complete their unit on measuring matter, sixth graders used their measuring skills to determine the mass and volume of different denominations of coins. Then, they calculated the density of those coins and compared their individual results to both the class results and to the actual density of the coins.
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BPY eighth graders are selling yearbook ads to support eighth grade activities, including yearbook publication and the eighth grade class trip. Ads purchased by March 1 will receive a 10% discount. The deadline for all ads is March 15. |
For ad pricing and to purchase an ad, please
click here
. You can include the text for your ad in the "notes" space and the
yearbook
staff will design it for you or you can submit a print-ready ad in a JPEG or PDF format via email to
[email protected] (preferred).
Any ads that include Hebrew text
or photos must be s
ubmitted via email to
[email protected]
, print-ready, and formatted exactly as they should appear.
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| BPY Bar/Bat Mitzvah Projects |
A message from BPY 6th grader Isabelle Bersson about her bat mitzvah project:
"For my bat mitzvah project I will be raising money for soldiers in Israel.
I want to help the soldiers by showing how strong civilian gratitude is towards the Israeli Defense Force's effort to keep Israel safe and strong.
The money that I collect will buy backpacks with a portable canteen inside of them. These are called shlukkerim in Hebrew. This will help keep the chayalim (soldiers) hydrated and it will eliminate the burden of having to carry a standard issue canteen. The backpacks keep the water cool, and have handy drinking spouts, making the water easier to carry and more accessible. My dad was in the Israeli Army a "few" years ago and he wishes he had one of these back then.
Please join me in raising money to help the Israeli soldiers by clicking here. 100% of the money raised on my site will go towards the soldiers in the IDF -t here is no overhead to support with this program.
The most exciting part is that while I am in Israel for my Bat Mitzvah, I will personally visit a base and deliver the shlukkerim directly to the soldiers.
Sincerely,
Izzy
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Es Kumt Mir: Entitlement and Narcissism
by Stanley Fischman |
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There are two character traits that we would wish to see dissipate but that are, in fact, growing and expanding in intensity: self-absorbed narcissism and a sense of personal entitlement.
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Each morning, I have the opportunity to listen to the tefilot of our third grade students. I get much joy hearing them and listening to the words they are reciting or singing. It is hard not to be inspired and to focus even more on my own morning prayers. No doubt almost everyone has had an occasional experience of inspiration that caused him to express himself more devotedly to Hashem. Often times, however, these feelings evaporate almost immediately....
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Evening of Achdut
Parent and Staff Appreciation Event |
| Willy Wonka Tickets On Sale Now! |
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*RSVP BY
APRIL 4TH*
Click
HERE to RESERVE TICKETS
Click
HERE to PURCHASE TICKETS
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Along with hundreds of schools worldwide, BPY is proud to be participating in #
Trees4Ezra, a collaborative effort to plant fruit trees in Israel in memory of
Ezra Schwartz, z"l. Together, we are hoping to plant 100 or more trees in our own BPY grove in the "Ezra Schwartz Vineyard."
WOW, WE HAVE PLANTED 72 TREES SO FAR...
HELP US REACH 100!
Click here to plant your tree today:
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TeachNJS Missions to Trenton:
Secure Schools for ALL New Jersey Children |
Tuesday, March 8 - Sunday, March 13
Including picture books, chapter books, middle school and young adult novels, games, kits and more!
Students in each grade will enjoy half an hour at the book fair during school to browse the displays and reserve items pending parental approval, no later than Sunday, March 13.
Parents and grandparents are welcome to come to the book fair during their children's assigned class times, before or after school, or in between parent-teacher conferences.
Click here to sign up to volunteer at the book fair.
We look forward to seeing you there!
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The awesome
prizes
keep pouring in for BPY's upcoming online
auction
!
We don't want your
prizes
to be left out....
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Advertise and Support Our School!
Contact Shoshi at [email protected]
for more details.
Inclusion of any ads in this newsletter does not constitute an endorsement by Ben Porat Yosef. Ben Porat Yosef accepts no liability in connection with the use of any product, service, or technique advertised.
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CMEK
will be running a special one-day
camp
for BPY students on
Monday, March 14
during the staff-in-service day:
9AM-3PM $50 per child (or $75 for 2 siblings, $100 for 3 siblings) Optional Lunch: $10 includes Poppy's pizza, drinks, snacks, dessert (or bring your own!)
Register by Tuesday, March 1st and save an additional $5 on your total purchase. Sign up by emailing
[email protected].
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