MIDDLE SCHOOL MOMENTS 10/14

TECH TALK TUESDAY

On Tuesday, November 1, the Counseling Department, led by Dr. Levey, introduced an exciting new program to all Middle School students - Tech Talk Tuesday or TTT.

The goal of this program is to spend approximately 5 minutes in each class on Tuesdays talking about issues related to technology.

First, Dr. Levey showed the students a poster-board with some "unbelievable things" that occur every 60 seconds. For example,

Every 60 seconds approximately:

31,000 tons of water flows over Niagara Falls

21,000 slices of pizza are eaten

8 gallons of blood is pumped by our hearts

Dr. Levey then showed each class a wheel he created illustrating the various activities that occur on the Internet every 60 seconds.

The students were surprised to hear and see how much activity occurs on the Internet every minute. For example,

Every 60 seconds approximately:

21,000,000 WhatsApp messages are sent

150,000,000 e-mails are sent

700,000 people log onto Facebook

520,000 photos are shared on Snapchat

51,000 apps are downloaded from the Apple website

38,000 posts to Instagram

10,000 articles are pinned on Pinterest

Stay tuned for next weeks Tech Talk Tuesday topic!

PEER MENTORING PROGRAM

On Wednesday November 2, 2016 the Counseling Department, led by Dr. Levey and Mrs. Steiner, gathered together our first ever Big brother/little brother, Big sister/little sister group for a "get to know you" lunch featuring pizza and soda.

The Big brother/little brother, Big sister/little sister program is a new initiative created for the 2016/2017 academic year at the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County middle school. The goal of the program is to pair new students to HANC (students who did not attend a HANC school in 6th, 7th or 8th grade) with 8th grade students who have attended HANC for a number of years.

As students entered the room they found their name on a place card. The students sat next to their Big brother/little brother or Big sister/little sister.

The group spoke about various issues in which a quick phone call, text, e-mail or face-to-face chat might be meaningful and beneficial. For example,

A quick check in - "hi, how's it going"?
Help and/or insight into an upcoming homework assignment, project or class trip.
Questions about getting a ride to someone's house for Shabbat, a party or get together.

These were just a few examples that were raised by the group.

It was awesome seeing the Big brother/little brothers, Big sister/little sisters exchanging numbers and e-mail addresses.

We will get together as a group again in the near future!

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

On Thursday, November 3, the seventh and eighth graders had a special assembly. They had the opportunity to have their own mock presidential debate. Ori Baer was Donald Trump, Ilana Pfeffer was Hillary Clinton, and Mrs. Seeno was the moderator. Some issues discussed were immigration, medical care, and terrorism. The students did a great job portraying the candidates. They were very authentic, humorous, and knowledgeable. Students all enjoyed watching the debate. Monday they will cast their votes on who they want as President.

Will it be Trump or Hillary? Stay tuned....

AND THE WINNER IS...

CLINTON 27 TRUMP 65

THE SHABBOS PROJECT

To kick off all of our Shabbos Project programming, the Middle School had the opportunity to hear from Rabbi Bentzion Klatzko. Rabbi Klatzko spoke about the beauty of Shabbat. He explained that Shabbat is the connection between Hashem and the Jewish people. We get dressed up and we bring home flowers. Rabbi Klatzko explained when you are talking to someone you should turn off your phone and/or computer so that you are concentrating on them. Shabbat is our opportunity to turn everything off and concentrate solely on us and Hashem. Rabbi Klatzko started a website called Shabbat.com which is a website dedicated to help people find a place to stay for Shabbat. A staggering number of people use the website. It is also used for people to list themselves to be hosts. The students heard how the website got started. Rabbi Klatzko was in the middle of a business meeting when his wife called to tell him that their house burned down. It was one week before Pesach. They had nowhere to go. They ended up staying at a beautiful hotel and Rabbi Klatzko spoke a number of times over Pesach. One of the people who heard him asked if he could speak in their shul. Rabbi Klatzko said yes. In that speech, he mentioned that he wanted to start a website called Shabbat.com but he needed some money to get it off the ground. An individual came over to him and said they wanted to start it and the rest is history. Rabbi Klatzko encouraged us to see the beauty of Shabbat and to step up our Shabbat observance. This is a presentation the students will not soon forget and was the perfect kickoff to our Shabbos project activities.

OPEN FORUMS

Over the past two weeks on November 2 (Plainview) and November 7 (West Hempstead) we held our Open Forums for parents of 5 ^th and 6 ^th graders. This allows the parents to hear about all of the wonderful things going on in our Middle School. Thank you to:

the hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Boord and Mr. and Mrs. Kaufman

the student speakers, Ali Lenefsky and Aaron Afrahim

the parent representatives, Mrs. Rena Boord and Mr. Jeff Hoch

Mrs. Schneider, Dr. Levey and Mrs. Fryman

A special thank you to the all of the parents who attended.

Engaging Enrichment

HANC Middle School is committed to encouraging and supporting all students as they strive to reach their highest potential. To that end, enrichment assignments are always available for those who wish to delve deeper, go further, or even go off on a tangent to satisfy an individual thirst for more knowledge. Teachers in all subjects are available during lunch hours to mentor those who want to stretch their learning as well as for those who want some extra support on a particular topic. The enrichment activities are appropriate for all students since they can work on their individual levels. Below are some of the enrichment projects teachers offered so far this year. New ones are constantly being made available.

English 7 - (after writing an original short story) -Turn your story into a graphic novel. Use any media (pencil, crayons, paint, etc.) to add a cover and images. Include captions and speech bubbles.

English 8 - (after reading "The Most Dangerous Game") - Draw a map of Ship Trap Island including each location mentioned in the story. Include a key with a description of each location. Include a path taken by each main character. Be creative and include any other details you think will be intriguing.

(after reading "The Tell-Tale Heart") - Illustrate important scenes in the story. For the captions, include either some dialogue or descriptions of what is going on. Focus on the emotions of the characters. Why is the narrator an example of a psychotic personality?

Science 8 - Recreate the "Table Challenge." Take pictures and create a write-up that explains why your original prototype was not successful and the changes you made. Use one 8x8 piece of cardboard, one yard of tape and eight sheets of newspaper. Identify the amount of weight or items held.

Science 7 - Create two graphs on the computer (Microsoft Excel or similar program). One should be a bar graph and one a line graph. Include IV and DV on the proper axis, a correct scale for each axis, data you created, and a title. (Students were given everything needed to complete this project).

Social Studies 7 - Choose an explorer (from Chapter 2) and create three journal entries as if you were that explorer. Include realistic dates for each entry, what you are searching for, problems you encounter and a discovery you made famous.

Social Studies 8 - Reaction and DBQ-like response to primary and secondary sources related to the Civil War.

Math 7 and 8 - There are many short projects available including: a recipe booklet, logic problems, creating games, planning a budget, affording a vacation.

KRISTALLNACHT

This week we held an assembly commemorating Kristallnacht. This year marks the 78 ^thanniversary of Kristallnacht when the Germans broke glass and set buildings on fire. At our assembly we saw a very moving video where six people who went through Kristallnacht spoke about their experiences. It is incredible what they went through and it was a very meaningful program.

STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS

This year the Middle School decided to have student council. Twenty one students ran for the different postions of president, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. After our primary, the candidates went down to 10. On November 9, each candidate spoke for two minutes and told everyone what their ideas were and why people should vote for them for Student Council. We finished the voting the following day and the student council leaders are:

President - Baruch Kutner

Vice President - Abigail Mottahedeh

Secretary - Nili Kushner

Treasurer -Joshua Aryeh

Members of the cabinet are: Ori Baer, Leah Frankel, Yaira Goldress, Emily Keehn, Nava Lippman, Eli Nenner

Shabbos Project 2016

This year the Shabbos Project programming had a number of great components. As you know on October 31, we heard a very inspirational talk from Rabbi Benzion Klatzko. During the first two weeks of November, each first period class has been collecting money for Tomchei Shabbos which we will send in next week. Tomchei Shabbos is an organization dedicated to helping people have food to put on their table for Shabbat especially. A number of our students had the opportunity to go to the ECCs in Plainview and West Hempstead and read Shabbat stories to the kids. I am not sure who had more fun, the Middle School students or the ECCers. Today, we had a fantastic oneg. There was dancing and Divrei Torah. Each student in the Middle School was asked to write a paragraph about something relating to them and their Shabbat experiences. Eight students were chosen to read their pieces. We had a fantastic hilchot Shabbat gameshow where students signed to participate. There were buzzers and lots of excitement. Of course, there was great music, fantastic cholent (thank you Benci) and a lot of candy. Finally, for this Shabbat, we are asking students, if possible, to host people at their house. This will enhance one of the ideas of the Shabbos project which is "keeping it together." A special thank you to Morah Hakimian for coordinating the Shabbos Project programming.

*** 7th GRADE BOYS' ONEG TONIGHT AT RABBI HARRIS'S HOUSE***

7:30-8:30PM

Each month we will spotlight 1 Judaic studies and 1 general studies subject so that you can hear about all of the great learning going on in our classes. This months spotlight is on...

CHUMASH

BOYS: Rabbi Harris

7th grade boys Chumash has gotten off to a very exciting start this year. We have begun Parshat Shelach, and the boys were astonished at just how careful the Jewish people had to be in selecting an appropriate spy to scout out the land of Israel. In addition, we have learned about how these spies would scout out the land of Israel, and what information they were required to bring back to Moshe so that the Jewish people could be prepared to enter into the land of Israel. The boys have been exposed to a wide array of meforshim (commentaries) on the text that we are learning. Everyone has been amazed at how many different viewpoints there can be on every pasuk that we learn.

Rabbi Olshan

S efer Devarim takes place at the end of the 40 years the Jews were wandering in the desert. The Jews were camped in the Plains of Moav, their last stop before entering Eretz Yisroel. Moshe wanted to speak to the Jews one last time. On the 1^st day of Shevat, 36 days before he died, Moshe gathered the Jews to speak to them. All of Sefer Devarim is Moshe's speech!

Parshat Re'eh begins with Moshe informing the Jews about the blessing and curse that would later be pronounced on Har Grizim and Har Eival. After discussing how one receives the blessing and curse, Moshe begins to speak about mitzvos that have particular relevance to Eretz Yisroel. The first mitvah we discussed was the eradication of all idols from the land of Israel. After that we discussed korbanos, both animal and agricultural, and where and when the Jews were permitted to bring korbanos on Bamos and where and when they were not permitted to bring korbanos on bamos. A Bama is a private/personal altar.

GIRLS: Morah Klein

The 7th grade girls have been busy learning Parshat Shelach in Chumash class. As we read through the Pesukim and Rashi's we focus on our reading, translating and analyzing skills. The most important part of all our learning is to recognize how the Torahs lessons apply to us daily in the 21st century. We have been doing so in a variety of ways one of which is through adding lesson pages and creative assignments to our project binder. Each student recently composed a "news report" written as if we were living in the time when the spies were sent. While they were sent thousands of years ago unfortunately we still suffer nowadays from the damage of lashon hara. As we learn this unit we will do many activities and watch inspirational videos reminding us of the importance of guarding our speech.

In 8th grade Chumash we take our skills to the next level by exploring a large variety of sources....starting with Rashi working our way up to the Ramban, Iben Ez ra, Kli Yakar, Seforno etc. In the Pa

rshiot that we are learning of Sefer Devarim (Re'eh, Shoftim and Ki Teitze) Moshe Rabbeinu reviews well over 100 Mitzvot with Bnei Yisrael. As we learn each mitzvah we make our way up blooms taxonomy first making sure we have knowledge of the basic laws then analyzing, synthesizing and applying all our learning to our lives. We will soon start our very own "Sefer HaMitzvot portfolio" and add a page for each mitzvah we learn. This will G-d willing help us not only learn Torah but live Torah and love Torah.

ENGLISH

The 7 ^th graders in Mrs. Wasser's classes have been engaged in an exciting short story unit. We explored stories that varied in genre as we discussed all of the elements necessary to write a successful and entertaining story. The students especially enjoyed reading Science Fiction stories that contain surprising endings. As our short story unit has now come to an end, the students are writing short stories of their own. The students are working very hard and are going through the drafting process. We can't wait to share the finished products!

As our next topic of focus, we are now working with the textbook, Collections. We have been reading and writing about bold actions and have gotten to see many examples of bravery within our own society. We are very excited to continue to use our textbook, especially since we are able to access it with the chrome books that each student was given. From this point on, we will be able to access all stories, skills, background information, practice and enrichment on our personal devices no matter where we may be.

English is full of excitement for the 7th grade!

The 8 ^th graders in Mrs. Schneider's classes began with a unit on horror. To nobody's surprise the students were intrigued. Short stories included "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Most Dangerous Game." Many students opted to do enrichment projects based on these stories and we thoroughly enjoyed reading them. Poetry included "Frankenstein", an unusual takeoff on the popular novel. We also focused on vocabulary and grammar embedded in the readings in Collections, our amazing ELA program. We will complete this unit shortly and will move to non-fiction as we continue to focus on close reading and the skills we need to be life-long readers.

Additionally, grade 8 has been working on improving and expanding our writing skills and learning strategies for the new PSAT 8/9 high school entrance test we will take on November 16. It's hard to believe how much we've accomplished during the short amount of time we've actually been in school this year! We're eager to continue English.

UPCOMING EVENTS

November 14

- Torah Bowl @ HAFTR

November 14 - Author Visit for 7 ^th grade - Mrs. Bonnie Grubman

November 16 - Parent-Teacher Conferences - 6:00PM - 9:30PM - signup by 11/14 @ 11:59 PM

November 17 - Debate @ HANC

November 17 - Scrabble tournament @ Willets Road School

November 20 - Jewish Education Project Judaic Studies Exam @ HANC

November 21 - Parent-Teacher Conferences - 6:00PM - 9:30PM - signup by 11/14 @ 11:59 PM

November 22 - Boys Basketball @ HALB - 6:30

November 23 - Hockey @ Barkai - 7:30

November 24-25
- Thanksgiving Break - no school