This Week at Yavneh Academy!

This Week at Yavneh Academy - FEbruary 6, 2020/11 Shevat 5780

פרשת בשלח

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Yavneh Academy is proud to join with Sharsheret for their annual Pink Day on Wednesday, February 12. Please wear pink! Please note: Regular dress code applies, unless a student is wearing a YAVNEH PINK DAY SHIRT from any year.

Early Childhood Department

Eliezer V'hagezer

Morah Meital, our Ganenet, retold the all-time favorite story "Eliezer V'hagezer (and the Carrot)" by Levin Kipnis, using music, props and her story box. The story is told of a strong and stubborn carrot sown in Grandpa Eliezer and Grandma Elisheva's vegetable garden. When Grandpa Eliezer tries to get it out of the ground, it didn't budge, no matter how hard he pulls. When Grandma Elisheva comes to his aid and joins him, the carrot still does not move. One by one, granddaughter Abigail, the puppy and the cat arrive, trying to pull out the carrot, but to no avail. Only when the little mouse arrives did the stubborn carrot come out and everyone was happy.

As a follow up activity, the children had a sup"herb" trip to a shuk with Morah Meital learning all about garden vegetables, "Yerakot Gina" in all five senses as they visited "the Shuk," tasted the vegetables, made healthy choices, cut up the vegetables and followed the recipe to prepare an Israeli salad, all while conversing in Hebrew.

Ganon Students Use all Five Senses to Create Tu B'Shvat Projects!

Ganon at Yavneh Academy is a multi- sensory experience. Each and every day the children use all 5 senses to navigate the classroom in all areas; including art, dramatic play, manipulatives, etc. This week in honor of Tu Bshvat, Ganon Aleph used their sense of touch to create beautiful trees paintings. Instead of using paint brushes, the children used their arms to create the bark of the tree, their hands as the leaves and grass, and their fingers turned into fruit! To some the paint tickled, others said it felt funny, but all around everyone had a great time creating their masterpieces!

TerraNovas will be given to students in grades 2 through 5 on Wednesday, February 19th through Tuesday, February 25th and to 6th and 7th grade students on Wednesday, February 19th through Friday, February 21st. All TerraNovas take place in the morning.

Lower School

Kitah Gimmel Update

We have a busy and exciting week in kitot Gimel. It was our privilege to have a very interesting program about seeing eye dogs. We met a dog in training, a working service dog and the blind lady who now owns him.

Erev Rashi is around the corner and we are practicing with our study partners!

Tu B'Shvat Seder

In advance of Tu B'Shvat, which falls on this coming Monday, our bnot Sherut Leumi prepared a beautiful seder Tu B'Shvat for our lower grade classes. Together, the students recited the brachot for different minim and listened to a story told by Meitar and Einat.

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Reading Buddies - 5C and 1C
After the success of the Intergenerational Learning for the Siyum, 1C and 5C decided to continue their partnership with Reading Buddies. Every Friday, the two classes come together to read, discuss, and build friendships. It is so nice to see younger and older students supporting one another.

Middle School

Our Bnot Mitzvah Look to the Future

On Sunday, February 2nd, Yavneh Academy grandmothers, mothers, aunts and 6th grade girls joined in a Bat Mitzvah celebration honoring the generations of women.The class of 2022 partnered with the Bnot Mitzvah of Bayit V'Tikveh, House of Hope, in Netanya for a festive morning.

The morning event included an art gallery, dance and song presentations and a number of messages for our young women. The girls who participated in the art gallery had learned psukim from Tanach which incorporated this year's theme, Yavneh sees the Good... The girls translated the psukim into artistic renditions which were displayed. The Yavneh and Bayit V'Tikveh girls both prepared songs and dances to share. The Skype session was great as we met our "sisters" in Israel. Jamie and Ayelet Weiss shared pictures and highlights from their recent visit to Bayit V'Tikveh.

Upon arrival, families began working on customized pens which will be sent to the girls in Netanya. Mrs. Linda Esses introduced the theme, Mrs. Barbara Rubin, Principal, discussed the responsibilities of women and Mrs. Jordana Baruchov, Middle School Dean, spoke about the importance of relationships and making connections. Dr. Aliza Frohlich distributed Yavneh Academy's Bat Mitzvah gift of chumashim with personalized inscriptions, while a slide show featuring each Bat Mitzvah was shown in the background. The slides were pictures of the girls receiving their first chumashim in 2nd grade! Thank you to our committee members, Mrs. Tova Burack, Mrs. Linda Esses, Mrs. Shira Marks, Mrs. Shani Norman, Mrs. Dassa Novoseller and Mrs. Deborah Pearlman.

Not only did the girls look beautiful but they felt beautiful. It was a true celebration of family, Chesed, Torah and womanhood!

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Math Counts

Ten of our middle schoolers competed in the MATHCOUNTS competition. MATHCOUNTS, is a nationwide middle school mathematics competition held in various places in the United States. Its founding sponsors include the CNA Foundation, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Thirty-six schools, with 310 students, from Bergen and Hudson counties, competed in this competition on Shabbat. The organizers of MathCounts were gracious and allowed us to participate on Monday morning. The competition consisted of two individual rounds (with and without a calculator) and a team round. The students showed great enthusiasm and were excited to discuss their work after the competition. It was great to see such enjoyment from the study of math!

We are proud of Zachary Krohn, Jed Sultanik, Hannah Weinberger, Avi Sebrow, Sophia Esses, Tali Berman, Yishaya Pearlman, Nathaniel Tare, Dovi Jacobs and Ari Lewis for participating. We do not yet know how well we did on this competition, but we are looking forward to our next competition later this year.

Grade 6 Lunch and Learn

This past Thursday, teachers and parents were treated to original words of Torah at a lunch-and-learn, led by the students of 6A.

In their mini-shiurim, the students presented their own informative and inspiring chiddushim, in the form of lessons and important ideas about davening that one can take away from the mishnayot of 4th chapter of Mesechet Brachot, part of Yavneh's Mishnah curriculum. Each shiur was developed, written, polished, and practiced by the students themselves, who also prepared source sheets and slideshows to enhance their presentations.

These shiurim were the culmination of a unit of Project-Based Learning, which fosters deeper learning by encouraging students to learn and apply knowledge and skills through engaging, "real-world" experiences.

Yavneh Academy / Yachad NCSY Super Bowl Bash.

Yavneh Academy Middle School students were proud to partner with Yachad NCSY for a Super Bowl Bash. Students entered the room to a spirited atmosphere. Students and Yachad members gathered around a big screen television watching the game while eating sandwiches and poppers. On the other side of the room, a DJ played lively music. The Super Bowl game was playing with subtitles while students joined Yachad members in games such as musical chairs, limbo and freeze dance. A highlight of the evening was when our students won Yachad onesie pajamas in these games! More importantly, our students once again learned that Chesed and fun are a powerful combination. Thank you to Dr. Aliza Frohlich for coordinating a wonderful evening.

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8th Grade Learns about Reconstruction

The 8th grade students concluded their study of the Reconstruction time period by creating projects that showcased the events and challenges in the South after the Civil War. Students created a variety of projects including Choose Your Own Adventure games on Google Slides, Dioramas and board games. The 8th graders had the opportunity to teach visiting 6th grade students about this time period when they presented their games and projects to the visiting students. The classroom was transformed into an interactive experience where the 6th grade students could see vivid models of destroyed plantations and scenes depicting the challenges former slaves faced. Each Google Slides or board game took the students on a chronological journey of the Reconstruction time period including the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the impeachment of President Johnson, the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau and the Black Codes.