Parshat Chayei Sarah in ECD

This week our ECD students learned about Parshat Chayei Sarah.

Children acted out Eliezer going to the well with the camels and finding a wife for Yitzchak.

In addition, the children baked challot in their classroom in honor of Sarah Imeinu. 

Gan Aleph welcomed their first guests this week to bake challah with the children. When Sarah passed away, the Shabbat candles were extinguished and the challah dough did not rise. When Rivka entered the tent as Yitzchak's new wife, the candles stayed lit and the dough rose once again! 

Gan Gimmel Enjoys Learning about Nature

Gan Gimmel has enjoyed learning about nature. Inspired by the many outdoor changes in the fall, the class went on a nature walk around the Yavneh grounds. Each child gathered and collected fall items of interest to them. Then, they enjoyed shaping and designing with clay to create trivets and decorative rocks. The children used fall items they had gathered to imprint their design. This included leaves, pebbles, acorns and twigs. 

SEL Update

After exploring the four core emotions, sad, mad, scared and happy in the SEL Ganon classes, the students created “I Can” books with strategies to help regulate their body and mind. The students collaged and illustrated the different emotions and then picked strategies such as deep breathing, coloring, taking a walk or playing with a fidget to help for each emotion. The students are so excited to bring home their “I Can” books.

First Grade Engineers

What an incredibly creative engineering morning we had with KIBO the robot. Today was trip day for KIBO. The children collaboratively created a teepee destination for KIBO. They also designed beautiful Native American flags to fly on KIBO. The students also created a program that would take KIBO down the road to the destination. This involved learning how to use the repeat sandwich blocks, the appropriate parameter number blocks, and learning how to program KIBO. Between the artistic destination, the programming and the problem solving the class did an amazing job!

Second Grade Writers

Our second graders have been working diligently on their first paragraph writing entries for their writing binders. The first draft was written on a graphic organizer using a topic sentence followed by three details and a concluding sentence. The students were able to extend their ideas by using two related sentences for each detail. They all did an amazing job and were so proud of their published pieces. 

Third Graders Write about Sarah Imeinu

Class 3A just finished learning פרק כ״ג in פרשת חיי שרה. We learned that Sarah Imeinu died when she was 127 years old and Avraham wrote a eulogy for his beautiful wife. 3A students also wrote a הספד for Sarah in Hebrew using Book Creator.

Mike Dube Addresses Middle School Students about Standing Up for What's Right

Mr. Mike Dube, a proud parent of two Yavneh alumni, came to speak with our 7th and 8th graders about his unique experience sitting court-side at the Brooklyn Nets game after Kyrie Irving's comments went viral. Mike, together with seven other Jews, proudly wore Fight Antisemitism T-shirts. That photo from the game then went viral and Mike has since spoken with several news and media outlets across the country and around the world. Mike shared his love of and faith in humanity and motivated our students to always stand up for what is

right and good and to share a message of kindness and peace at every

opportunity.

Operation Respect

The 7th graders embarked on a new unit in Advisory called Operation Respect. The goal of this unit is to inculcate skills of empathy through developing a relationship with the Hackensack homeless shelter. A representative of the center spoke to the students and launched their unit of weekly training sessions regarding the steps needed for empathy. He described what their shelter does to help the homeless and what role they can play in making a difference. 

Yavneh and Yachad Partner to Return Lost Items

Our Lost and Found Committee which was developed by the students to help return items in our lost and found is partnering with the Yachad day program this year. Once a week, Yachad members will be coming to Yavneh to help sort and identify items. Our students are looking forward to this partnership! 

MAZAL TOV!

Mazal tov to 8th grader Etiel Knoll for being one of three students nationwide to be awarded the top prize in the Truman Scholars summer essay context. Etiel's essay on how the unsettlement in Europe led to the settlement of Colonial America was selected from a pool of essays that addressed themes in American history in the light of Jewish ideas and ideals. Etiel is one of our participants in the Truman Scholars program, which educates its participants about America and Israel, with a specific focus on the Hebraic and Biblical influences on America's leaders, the intellectual and religious spirit of Zionism, and the unique connection between the two countries.

Mazal tov as well to 8th graders Eitan Babich and Zachy Horwitz and 7th grader Mia Vogel for finishing all of Mishnayot Seder Zeraim with the OU's All Mishna program. Eitan, Zachy, and Mia took time every day for the past several months to learn two mishnayot per day, every day, and today were privileged to make a siyum on the first of the six sedarim of Mishna. The Mishna Yomi program started Seder Moed today, and all students who were interested were given a copy of the Artscroll Elucidated Mishna Masechet Shabbat. We look forward to even more students making the next siyum!