This Week at Yavneh Academy!

This Week at Yavneh Academy - December 12 , 2019/15 Kislev 5780

פרשת וישלח

Calendars YAVNEHACADEMY.ORG Parent Locker

Picture Retake Day:

Monday morning, December 16, 2019

for students in Pre-K through grade 7

If your child takes a re-take photo, the original photo will no longer be available online for purchase. If you have any questions, please contact Judy Friedman at judy.friedman@yavnehacademy.org.

If you would like to sign up for a retake, please click here.

Early Childhood Department

Exploring Our Senses in Ganon Bet

After learning a couple of weeks ago about how Yitzchak used his senses in Parshat Toldot, we began exploring our own five senses in Ganon Bet. For the sense of sight, the children took turns doing different activities both with and without a blindfold and concluded that it's much easier to complete tasks using the sense of sight! For hearing, they tried to identify their friends' voices while blindfolded. They played a hearing Bingo game while identifying different sounds, and they compared the sounds made by different objects in a can. For touch they experimented with different textures; for smell, they identified different spices, and for taste they tried different flavors. Of course, the most fun sensory experience of all was sledding down the hills and playing in the snow!

Reading is Fun!

Kindergarten literacy may look different for each student on any particular day, but every student is learning letters, sounds, and decoding skills at their own pace and ability level every day. Focusing on short vowel sounds first, our students are beginning to read CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words by blending the sounds they know. Students in Gan Aleph are learning about word families and they love using the literacy table to write and READ words they build after putting sounds together!

Lower School

To Infinity (Rooms) and Beyond: Yavneh Fourth Graders Experience the Yayoi Kusama Show at David Zwirner Galleries in New York City

On Monday December 9, Yavneh Academy fourth graders taking the art elective with Mrs. Malky Kazam, were invited by Jonathan Laib, Director of the David Zwirner gallery in NYC, and parent of Yavneh students Benji, Ethan and Noah Laib, to privately view the Yayoi Kusama show. Kusama is a 90 year old contemporary Japanese artist widely considered to be one of the most popular artists in the world.

On any given day there can be up to a two and a half hour wait to enter the gallery. Mr. Laib gave the students a VIP experience that will stay with them for a very long time. Upon arrival at the gallery, the children were greeted by Mr. Laib and given a brief overview of the show. In the main gallery, the students were awed by a wall of 42 large scale abstract, colorful paintings and a striking floor-based constellation titled "Clouds." The students also saw one of Kusama's iconic pumpkin sculptures, a glowing "ladder to heaven" installation, as well as cotton-based sculptures about the family unit. The highlight of the trip, however, was definitely the Infinity Room. Kusama created the room by installing hundreds of flashing colored LED lights into a mirrored room. The globes of light reflect repeatedly in the mirrors, making you feel as though you are in an infinite space filled with polka dots of light. For one minute the students watched as the lights flickered and glowed, dimmed to complete darkness before glittering brightly again, all while fully immersed in this experiential art work.

Third Graders Began Preparing for Siyum

In honor of the upcoming Siyum HaShas on January 1st, third graders began preparing for our own siyum on sefer Bereishit! We learned all about Daf Yomi and its history, and watched a beautiful video of Daf Yomi around the world. We discussed that, at Yavneh, all the grades will be making a siyum together, just like the major siyum HaShas at Metlife Stadium. We began with learning Parshat Vayeishev. In Parshat Vayeishev, Yosef did not get along with his brothers because he said things he shouldn't have said. We discussed the importance of thinking before we speak and did an activity of using our words for the good of uplifting our friends. We also did collaborative work on the iPads reviewing the parsha. We are so excited to be involved as active participants in such a wonderful experience of the school-wide siyum!

Fifth Graders Begin Fractions Unit

5A has begun working on their new math unit, the wonderful world of fractions. They have been exploring Prime and Composite numbers, Greatest Common Factors, Least Common Multiple, Equivalent Fractions, and Simplifying Fractions. One of the ways they explored fractions was to work with Pattern Blocks to visually reinforce the concept of fractions. The students really enjoyed working together with this hands on activity to solidify their understanding of fractions.

Hour of Code Returns to Yavneh Academy

Hour of Code made history as the largest learning event ever. More than 100 million students have participated in Hour of Code, a world-wide initiative designed to introduce students to computer science. The Technology Department at Yavneh Academy (Mrs. Chani Lichtiger, Mrs. Claire Hirschhorn, and Mrs. Tova Burack) is proud to have facilitated Yavneh's participation in this global event. During the week of Hour of Code, each Yavneh student experiences coding and receives exposure to computational thinking, Students have the opportunity to try different age appropriate coding activities, including coding games, coding apps, or programming robots. A very special aspect of Yavneh's Hour of Code is that Middle School students teach coding to the Early Childhood and lower grade students. This is a win-win situation on so many levels: empowering students, creating friendships, providing role models, and of course, experiencing exposure to coding. To enjoy coding with your child at home, try some of the following: Hourofcode.com, code.org, Kodable.com, or Scratch.mit.edu.

Hour of Code was not only experienced at Yavneh Academy, but was brought to the Jewish Home at Rockleigh. During one of our monthly visits, the residents at Rockleigh participated, along with our eighth graders, in coding and robotics activities. They were exposed to small robots called Ozobots and learned how to program them. Additionally, they logged onto code.org, the leading curriculum site for K-12 computer science, and experienced coding for the first time in their lives.

Click here to view more photos!

Middle School

Jewish Association for Developmental Disabilities - Chesed Team Event

On Wednesday evening, YACT, Yavneh Academy Chesed Team, proudly partnered with J-ADD, the Jewish Association for Developmental Disabilities, to make menorahs and custom dreidels to celebrate Chanukah. In addition, countless gifts were packaged and will be delivered to a local shelter to help bring Chanukah to many children.

There was lots of laughter and conversation among the many adults, caretakers and children who joined for a great night. Thank you to Rabbi Goldin, who also shared his talent of ballooning, Dr. Frohlich, and the many parents who volunteered to ensure a festive evening.