Gan Aleph Learns About Voting

Gan Aleph had an exciting week! The children learned that voting is when the country comes together to decide important things for our country, such as who gets to make laws, what laws they should make, and where our money goes. The children filled out their own voting ballots and we held our own mini election. Gan Aleph voted whether we would rather have an ice-cream party or a pizza party. The lesson was concluded by tallying all the votes and the majority voted for an ice-cream party, which they will have soon. 

Gan Daled is Inspired to Learn About Building

Gan Daled has been so inspired learning about building sukkot, building teivot and building Avraham and Sarah's tent we decided to launch a building investigation. So far, we learned about our own houses by taking a gallery walk of photos of our own homes, and we created a web chart to brainstorm everything we know about building. Our next step will be dividing into groups to dig deeper into bridges, houses, ancient buildings and sky scrapers. 

Parshat Vayera

In honor of Parshat Vayera first grade students welcomed students from the other first grade classes to their classroom, which had been transformed into a desert oasis. Each child in the class had a role in the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim in their re-created ohel Avraham. Sarah and Avraham, Yishmael, the 3 malachim, the cooks, and the Klezmer band were on hand to welcome all of their guests to the tent. They even shared a snack with all of their guests. A great time was had by all!

First Grade Learns About Nutrition

Over the past two weeks, the students in 1B have been busy learning about nutrition. We learned about the five food groups and which foods fit into each category. The students made a giant Food Plate, organizing many items into the different categories. Then, they made their own plates, using their favorite foods from each of the food groups to depict a nutritious meal.

1B will continue to learn about nutrition and making healthy choices!

First Graders Vote!

First graders held The Great Cookie Election after learning about how voting and elections work. Each student filled out a voters registration card, a ballot form in the voters booth and once the ballots were counted, picked a class cookie. The winner was frosted cookies and everyone celebrated with a cookie of their choice.

Commemorating Kristallnacht - Yavneh Academy’s Commitment to Teaching the Shoah

Mr. Norbert Strauss

On Wednesday morning, Yavneh Academy’s 8th graders were honored to hear Mr. Norbert Strauss’ first hand account of surviving Kristallnacht and the dark days of the Shoah that followed. Mr. Strauss told of the horrors of Kristallnacht including his father's ordeal and eventual immigration to America as well his uncle’s restaurant business being destroyed. He recalled the burning of the shuls as the beginning of Hitler’s Final Solution unfolded. Mr. Strauss was 11 years old when Kristallnacht occurred. Yet the memories shared were clear and concise.

Mr. Strauss, was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Strauss, who is Rabbi Knapp’s mother, as well as his daughter Esther Perl. Mr. Strauss shared that his Judaism was always important to him and how his emunah kept him strong. Today, three of Mr. Strauss’ great-granddaughters are students at Yavneh Academy!

May Mr. Strauss and his family grow from strength to strength and may we be zocheh to have him visit Yavneh Academy again and again.

Bringing Anne Frank to Yavneh

The Diary of Anne Frank was one of the first publications to bring a personal story of the Shoah to life. The diary has been published in over 70 languages and is taught across the world to guide young adults to understanding the atrocities that befell Eastern European Jewry.

To commemorate Kristallnacht, Living Voices’ Through the Eyes of A Friend was presented by Elgin Kelley to our 6th and 7th graders. The program began with a historical perspective of how Hitler rose to power. Our children learned that Anne and her family left Germany and ran to Holland where they thought they would be safe from the Nazis.The performance was interactive with Ms. Kelley playing the role of Sarah, Anne’s friend. The dialogue is based on archived pictures and information from those who knew Anne in Holland and later in Auschwitz.The presentation concluded with a question and answer session.

Yavneh Chesed Team Partners with Yad Leah

Yavneh Academy's Chesed Team spearheaded a month-long campaign to support Yad Leah, beginning with a very successful clothing drive. Students also participated in Yad Leah's Dash for Dignity Race and ran to raise funds for Yad Leah. Finally, the Yavneh tzedakah committee launched a month-long campaign to donate tzedakah that is collected after davening to Yad Leah.

LOWER GRADE BREAKFAST

This past Sunday, Yavneh Academy held its annual Lower Grade Breakfast for grades Pre K - 2nd grade. Over 300 students and parents enjoyed a bagel brunch, while being entertained by the Schnitzel Guys. The children also enjoyed a balloon artist and Yavneh photo booth. The center pieces were raffled off to seven lucky children at the end of the event and the rest of them were donated to the Yavneh Early Childhood Department to enjoy in their classrooms. Thank you to our event sponsors: Ma’adan, Teaneck Hot Bagels and Purple Bow for your generosity. Thank you to our amazing chairs of the event: Mindy Gindea, Ruth Himelstein, Felicia Hoenig, Chani Kohn, Talia San Solo and Yael Stone.

BOOK FAIR

This week, the YPAA hosted the annual Scholastic Book Fair. Thank you to Jessica Rosner, Rebecca Stamler and Jen Yedlin for all the hard work organizing the book fair. Over 40 parent volunteers came in to help at the book fair. Thank you to all of our volunteers. All of the funds raised will be given back to the school to purchase school supplies and enhancements to the classrooms.