This Week at Yavneh Academy!

This Week at Yavneh Academy - January , 9 2020/13 Tevet 5780

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Early Childhood Department

Pre-K Havdallah Night

At a recent Project Inspire Shabbaton, Charlie Harary spoke to the 700 people who just spent Shabbat together, and right before Havdallah he shared the following: "The power of a Havdallah candle and its light is more powerful than any other light you will find. And you know why? It's because it's not one light, it's two, connected, and when you connect and when you have unity, there's nothing more powerful. There's nothing more powerful than when we unite as one."

With our pajama-clad Pre-K children and their proud parents, this year's PreK Havdallah Night was another successful event for our Yavneh Academy and Gan Yavneh children and families. It was an evening filled with nachat, as children and parents partnered together to create their own havdallah kits, sang songs, and heard the melodious Havdallah tune from Rabbi Daniel Fridman. Every child left the event with their own child-designed Havdallah set, their own Hamalach Hagoel pillow customized with their Hebrew names, and some magical memories and moments to hold on to.

Lower School

Using STEM to Learn About Directions

Second graders are completing a very extensive unit on communities. Our final section included the understanding of directions. The children learned about the Compass Rose, the 4 main directions, as well as intermediate directions. They then applied their knowledge during a STEM activity. Using cardinal directions, they programmed an Ozobot by coding it to move around a drawing of a dreidel and recorded the direction it was taking. It was an exciting way to end the unit!

Celebrating the Response of Amen

The fifth grade study of Mishna Brachot led to the Bracha-Amen project. Aside from learning about the proper bracha on particular foods, students were encouraged to say their brachot on snacks out loud so others may respond Amen.

Our class met and even exceeded the initial goal of 100 brachot, and we celebrated the 500 goal with a Melavah Malkah Brachot Party.

Students enjoyed an engaging video on the "Power of Amen," had fun playing a brachot game and took part in an assortment of delicious snacks. Of course, brachot and Amen resounded throughout the party.

Family STEM Night

Yavneh Academy hosted its fifth annual Family STEM Night on January 6, 2020. This event is a very popular parent/child event for Yavneh families to learn about STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math. As in past years, the evening was driven by the Middle School students who participated in our STEM leadership program. The STEM leaders spent the semester exploring various aspects of STEM through hands-on activities, and subsequently led over 75 participating families in STEM related activities at the event. The evening consisted of numerous interactive, hands-on activities, with an emphasis on robotics, engineering, electronics, and collaborative skills. These activities ranged from low-tech (build a tower using KEVA planks) to high tech (code a robot to perform a task), and encompassed all aspects of STEM. Family STEM Night was hosted by Yavneh's Educational Technology Department: Mrs. Chani Lichtiger, Mrs. Claire Hirschhorn, and Mrs. Tova Burack.

Middle School

7th and 8th Graders View Screenagers Film

On Tuesday Jan. 7 our 8th graders participated in the community wide Bergen County middle schools Screening our Future campaign as they joined 8th graders from the other local schools in viewing the film "Screenagers," focusing on the impact of technology on today's teens.

The boys, hosted by BPY, first heard a dynamic introduction by Rabbi Yaakov Glasser. The girls, hosted by Moriah, were introduced to the program by an inspirational talk by Rabbi Beni Krohn. After the film, the students split into discussion groups which mixed together students from different schools. At the end of the discussion groups, the students were asked to pick one concrete change they will now put into place to contain their technology use. They were then given a pouch with the names of all the schools on in which to put their phones when they do not want to be distracted. THe message on the pouch said, "Take a break. Your phone can wait." The joining together of all the schools truly made an impact on the students making them realize that this is an issue we all face, and it is important enough for us to take the time to unite to figure out solutions.

Eighth Graders Go Snow Tubing!

Our 8th graders enjoyed a January 4th Motzei Shabbat event of snow tubing, capped with hot chocolate and Munchkins. Morah Baruchov, Rabbi Menchel and Mrs. Rubin were joined by close to 80 students. The mountains of Campgaw were filled with laughter, cold noses and singing! Our eighth graders are now preparing for their next chesed morning, January 14th, when they will head to Daughters of Miriam, The Jewish Home at Rockleigh, Cafe Europa and Mitzvah Clowning at Care One.

Yavneh's Middle School Advisory Featured on Prizmah Blog

Prizmah, a network for Jewish day schools across North America, recently featured Yavneh's Middle School Advisory program on their blog. Dr. Aliza Frohlich commented in the article, "The skills learned each year are targeted to the needs of that age group. We never lose sight of the fact that the skills are life skills - needed beyond school to raise resilient, successful and happy adults. Click here to read the blog.