This Week at Yavneh Academy

February 17, 2022 | 17 Adar I 5782 | כי תשא

Early Childhood Department

Ganon Learns about Brachot and Nutrition

After learning all about the different brachot and food groups Ganon students celebrated with a healthy nutritious breakfast. We came to school dressed in our pajamas with our favorite cuddly toy. We had fun squeezing our own orange juice and setting the table for our special breakfast.

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President Lincoln Visits Yavneh Academy

On Monday, several classes received a visit from President Lincoln. Lincoln shared some funny stories that happened during his childhood and told the students how he helped free the slaves in our divided nation.

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Lower School

Third Graders Visit the Library

Our third grade students took a stroll to the Paramus Public Library. We learned that the Paramus Library is just one of 77 libraries in Bergen County, all connected through the BCCLS (pronounced “buckles”) system. We discussed the variety of services that the library has to offer and learned how to use our cards to search, place a request, and even borrow books from our very own home. We really enjoyed browsing and borrowing books from such a beautiful facility. How fortunate we are to have such a lovely library in our backyard!

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Silhouettes in Third Grade

In connection to our recent unit, 3A and 3B expanded their character traits vocabulary while looking within themselves to design their very own silhouettes. The students learned that authors often don’t write out that a person is sincere or ambitious, but making inferences and paying attention to their actions help us define who a character is. It was really beautiful hearing all about the different “characters” we have in our classes, as they shared what actions define who they are inside.

Chagigat Hasiddur

Mazal Tov! First grade students received their siddurim last Sunday. The students and their families celebrated Chagigat Ha'Siddur in the Beit Midrash. The 1C and 1D performance, included songs that the children learned this year. They also recited lines that described daily life as a student in Kita Alef at Yavneh - B'Ivrit! The excitment grew as parents, siblings and proud grandparents together with their first grader, were called to receive their first siddur. Everyone then recited שהחינו and שמע together.

Book Character Day

Lower School celebrated literacy with the Second Annual Character Day. In general studies, students played character Bingo, created character stickers, and enjoyed a special read-aloud, DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time and snacks. In Judaic studies, students compared their book characters to Parsha and Navi characters. They also wrote acrostic poems about their Parsha stars! Finally, all classes participated in a Character Day parade to showcase their costumes. The day was jam-packed with memorable and educational activities.

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Brachot Experience

This week, students in grades 3, 4 and 5 participated in our Brachot Experience. Working with groups of students in their class, students participated through a set of different competitions that showed how well they knew their brachot on foods and mitzvot! Ruach was felt throughout the room as students worked together to beat the clock! Fun was had by all!

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Our first graders are learning how to tell time!

STEM Day at Yavneh Academy

This year, our annual STEM night was transformed into STEM Day. Students in grades 2 through 5 came to the lower school gym to explore, tinker, and create. STEM Day will continue in first grade where the students will use ordinary corks to build toy sailboats that help the students explore and understand buoyancy. They will also be introduced to computer coding using an app that interacts with manipulatives called Osmo.

During STEM Day, the students were assisted by the fourth and fifth grade STEM Peer Leaders. These students chose STEM as an elective and experience hands-on learning on a continuous basis. They helped their fellow students construct some of their favorite STEM projects: Harry Potter wands that light up when a switch is pressed for fifth grade and dancing bristlebots for fourth grade. Third graders turned ordinary index cards into flashlights and in second grade, the students built glowing clothespin critters. Every student left school that day with an exciting and tangible memento of the day’s learning.

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SEL Update

The first graders have been exploring how they can use their minds to help regulate emotions and behaviors. This week, students began learning about positive self talk. Students have started noticing when their “inner complainer” (negative self talk) is taking charge and are practicing replacing it with their “inner coach” (positive self talk). Students practiced using phrases such as, “This is hard, but I’ve got this!” and “It’s okay to make mistakes, I just have to try my best.”

Art Enrichment Club

Students were introduced to the concept of a “Still Life” painting, and we discussed light sources to create them, and how we use colors to create the lights and darks. The students drew pears, the horizon lines and where the shadows would fall first in pencil. Then we started painting with acrylics. The students were also shown how to shadow the pears to coincide with the dark sides of the painting

Middle School

Count Your Blessings with Yavneh Academy

Yavneh’s Middle School gathered together for an exciting Brachot Bee on Wednesday. Morah Rachel Amster began by introducing our finalists, Ilan Bersson, Gabi Davis, Ami Forman, Emanuela Milman, Ashi Poltorak, and Aviva Zelkowitz. The challenge then began. Morah Amster asked question after question with our students buzzing in hoping to be the first one to answer correctly. Our judges, Rabbi Aaron Ross and Mr. Josh Rossman, listened intently to ensure the answers were correct and complete. There were brief interludes where our raffle winners were announced for having participated in our 50, 75 and 100 brachot a day challenge. Students filled out cards to keep track of their daily brachot count; they challenged themselves to try to make 100 brachot a day. Congratulations to Yakira Mershon, Meirah Klayn, and Judah Schreiber on winning our bracha raffles. The Bee ended with Ami Forman winning the title, Brachot Bee Champion.

Ami, joined by his 8th grade classmates, then participated in Who Wants to Be “Brachanairre.” Mr. Rossman conducted the finale with difficult questions including, “What is the bracha that is said every twenty eight years?” and “What are brachot I only say once a year?” Ami did benefit from using his lifeliness. We all ended the day as winners!

Wednesday’s activity was the culmination of activities to promote using Brachot throughout the day. Our Middle School students enjoyed Chopped with Naomi Nachman, an Amen campaign, a brachot raffle and the in class bees leading to the Brachot Bee. Kudos to our programming team, Morah Rachel Amster, Morah Jordana Baruchov, and Mr. Josh Rossman for bringing Brachot to the forefront for all of us.

Robotics and STEM - Perfect Together

Yavneh Academy’s 7th and 8th graders began their spring electives on Wednesday. STEM, a new addition to our electives line up, is led by Mr. David Beckman who will be joined bi-weekly by the Frisch Robotics Team. It was wonderful welcoming the team and their advisor, Mr. Travis Merritt, to Yavneh. Many of the team’s members are Yavneh alumni!

The Robotics Team will be teaching coding and robotics skills which are used in many of the local and national competitions. The experienced juniors and sophomores created an excitement among our 7th & 8th grade students when describing the different aspects of robotics. This week’s class provided student teams with the challenge to copy and build a structure. The hook - the builder could not see the structure and could only work with the verbal instructions provided by their teammate, the coder.