This Week at Yavneh Academy!

This Week at Yavneh Academy - January , 2 2020/6 Tevet 5780

פרשת ויגש

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Early Childhood Department

The Gift of Shabbat

When we walked into our classroom on Monday we noticed a big box filled with wrapped presents. We had no idea where this box came from or who even delivered it! As we opened the gifts, we realized each present was to help enhance our Shabbat. The gifts included challah, Shabbat candles, kiddush cups, and benchers (just to name a few). As we continued to open the box, we noticed it was also filled with Havdalah helpers. We set each gift on our white Shabbat tablecloth and welcomed Shabbat into our class!
We learned how Shabbat is a gift given to us from Hashem, and we shared how Shabbat is special to us all in our own ways! Throughout the week Ganon Gimmel prepared for our Pre-K Havdalah night this coming Saturday night.
We decorated pillows with our Hebrew names on one side, and the words to Hamalach HaGoel on the other side. We can't wait for Havdalah Night to sing and celebrate with our families!

Gan Bet Mini Makerspace

Our Gan Bet Mini Makerspace has really evolved since September! It has become a vital center in our classroom where we gather tools and materials to create, invent, tinker and design. Taking the students' interests and curiosities into consideration, we have been expanding and modifying the materials and tools in order to best help our students achieve their goals. While we initially thought the Mini Makerspace would enhance the students' imagination and perception of how things work, we are blown away with their perseverance, vision and achievements! They are budding scientists, architects and engineers, and we cannot wait to see what they come up with next!

Lower School

Mr. Aaron Tauber, Blind Attorney, Addresses Third Graders

Third grade students have begun their next integrated unit

learning about individuals who are deaf and/or blind, and their ability to overcome obstacles, as well as the inventions that help them. In connection with the unit, Mr. Aaron Tauber, a Harvard-trained, blind attorney made a special visit to Yavneh Academy. He talked to the students about being blind and the assistive devices and materials that have helped him to be a successful leader in shul and as an attorney.

The students were fascinated by his ability to read and write in Braille in both English and Hebrew! We truly appreciate the important messages of understanding, self-pride and grit that Mr. Tauber relayed!

Fourth and Fifth Grade Book Club

Twenty-one of our fourth and fifth graders have been participating in a book club. Over the last month, the students have been reading the book Crenshaw by Kate Applegate. The students have enjoyed opportunities to read together in the Learning Commons and independently at home. Paramus librarian, Mrs. Parker, led the book club in a culminating discussion and celebration. The students enjoyed sharing their thoughts and feelings about this powerful story! We are so grateful to the Paramus library for helping us select a book and organizing this fabulous opportunity for our students.

Middle School

Yavneh Students Prepare for Siyum Hashas with Intergrade Learning and School-Wide Siyum

While the Siyum HaShas and Daf Yomi seem to have been on everyone's minds over the past few days and weeks, for most elementary school students, these are concepts that are not yet a part of their lives in any meaningful way. At Yavneh, we spent the day before the siyum and the weeks leading up to it, preparing our students to feel that they were a part of Klal Yisrael's broader celebration of completing a section of Torah.

Beginning roughly a month ago, all students in Grades 1 through 8 were assigned an age-appropriate portion of learning. Grades 1 through 3 collectively learned Sefer Bereishit, Grade 4 learned Masechet Avot, and Grade 5 learned Mishna Masechet Brachot. In Middle School, students were given the opportunity to sign up to learn individual mishnayot in Seder Moed, and every Mishna and Gemara class was assigned a perek within the Seder, thus ensuring that every student in the school took part in the learning.

On December 31st, Grades 1 through 8 engaged in an intergrade learning program, where students from the older grades taught students from the younger grades a lesson about the concept of siyum and what it means to start and finish a monumental task - and why we celebrate when we successfully do so. After the learning, all students moved into our Middle School Gym where they watched a video about the Siyum HaShas and heard from several Yavneh parents who themselves are finishing Shas this cycle, several of whom were in attendance as honored guests. Following the video, 7th graders Daniel Lechter and Mia Kaplan presented the final lines of Seder Moed and read the Hadran on behalf of all of their fellow students. After the Hadran was completed, the entire school sang several slow songs, led by the music of Johnny Shlagbaum and Yitzy Glicksman, and then ended the day with dancing. It was a truly memorable celebration and was emblematic of our ongoing dedication to aiming to continuously achieve greater heights in our Torah learning.