This Week at Yavneh Academy

November 12, 2020 | 26 Cheshvan 5781 | חיי שרה

Early Childhood Department

Parsha Comes to Life in Ganon Bet

The Torah comes to life each week in Ganon Bet. Our students love to dress up and act out our Parsha. This week they were Avraham and Eliezer, Rivka and camels. They enjoyed taking turns giving water to the camels with our working well! We even planned a wedding throughout the week! Mazal Tov!

What is a Pattern?

Gan Gimmel has been learning all about patterns. We first defined a pattern as something that repeats itself over & over again and has at least two parts. We explored different kinds of patterns using many of our classroom toys. We then wondered, where else can we find patterns? We came up with many ideas including clothing, music, dance and books. Each child also had the opportunity to share a patterned item from their home in our Gan Gimmel Pattern Museum!

Lower School

Global Read Aloud in Grade 1

Over the past five weeks, Class 1D joined millions of students across the globe in the Global Read Aloud project, where participating students read the same book each week, respond to the literature, and connect through technology. Written and/or illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, the five picture books all varied in content and style, and prompted fascinating classroom discussions and activities. To culminate our study this week, we voted on our favorite book, played a fun Kahoot! game, and had a Zoom session with another first grade class in a mystery location. Each class had to solve the clues provided to figure out where the other class was located. We were so excited to discover our new friends live in... Iowa City, Iowa! The students loved meeting each other and sharing their thoughts about the different books.

Fifth Grade Integrated Learning

The 5th grade has just completed the first of many integrated units. In both Judaic and General Studies, students have been learning about Tevat Noach, the tevah that Yocheved constructed for Moshe, and various ship's explorers used to discover and learn about the new world. To culminate this integrated unit, students were tasked to build their own boat, to reflect all that they learned. After brainstorming blueprints and building their boat, they set out for sail! The mission was to test out every student's boat and discover if it would protect its passengers like the boats we had learned about. Spoiler alert, mission success!

In honor of Parshat Chayei Sarah, class 3A had a Challh Bake night activity with Morah Dalia!

Grade 3 Honors our Veterans

Dr. Alan Perlman, a Yavneh parent and an Air Force veteran, spoke with our third graders about serving in the military. He talked about his role as a doctor and expressed the importance of giving hakarat hatov to members of our armed forces for keeping us safe. The third graders then wrote notes to Bergen County veterans who will receive care packages in honor of Veterans Day. Click here for more photos!

Opera Club is Back!

While our reconfigured classrooms and lunch schedule have made holding our regular lunch time clubs challenging, there was enough of a demand for resumption of the weekly Opera Club for Yavneh music teacher Marsha Motzen to think “outside the box.”This past Saturday night was the first Zoom “Motzei Shabbat Night at the Opera,” which featured the French (with English subtitles) comedy “The Daughter of the Regiment”. Approximately 30 families tuned in to watch as Mrs. Motzen Zoomed the opera from her home, thanks to the Metropolitan Opera’s webstream service to which Mrs. Motzen subscribes. “Watching an opera is one of the things Yaakov and I enjoy doing on a Motzei Shabbat,” said Mrs. Motzen. “I’m delighted to be able to share our love of opera with Yavneh families”.

Every Saturday night will feature approximately one hour of a popular opera, which will continue on subsequent Saturday nights. This week will feature Act l of Verdi’s world famous “Aida,” set in ancient Egypt. Everyone is welcome to join. The Zoom ID is 577 080 7836. Password is yavneh2020. Start time is 6:30.

Middle School

Yad Leah Dash For Dignity and Clothing Drive

Yavneh Academy Middle School was proud to spend these weeks supporting Yad Leah’s work in providing clothes for the needy in Israel. Our students first signed up for the Yavneh Academy Team at the Yad Leah Dash for Dignity. Students enjoyed the good weather and the school spirit as they ran. We then had a clothing drive to collect clothes for Yad Leah from November 4th to November 11th. Our Chesed Team helped pack up the clothes so they can be delivered to the Yad Leah warehouse. And, to top it all off, all tzedakah collected in all the minyanim and classrooms this month is to be dedicated to Yad Leah. Our Chesed Team will again be overseeing the collection of those funds. We are so proud to partner with Yad Leah!

Click here for more photos!

Middle School Commemorates Kirtsallnacht and Veterans Day

Middle School teachers and students commemorated Kirtsallnacht and Veteran’s Day earlier this week. During our Social Studies classes, lessons revolved around the history of The Night of Broken Glass and paid tribute to our veterans.

On November 11th, our seventh and eighth grade students and teachers were privileged to hear a first hand account from Mr. Norbert Strauss who shared his experiences in Germany from 1938 forward. Mr. Strauss was only eleven years old when his world was turned inside out. Mr. Strauss told the incredible story of how Kristallnacht triggered his family’s eventual escape from Germany to the United States, a journey filled with terror and pain but also shaped by unexpected kindnesses and unpredictable good luck.

Mr. Strauss is also a veteran who served for America during the Korean War and then for Israel during the Second Lebanon War. We thank Mr. Strauss for sharing his life story with us and giving us all chizuk to move forward with emunah and strength.

2020 Kaplun Writing Contest

Mazel tov to Sacha Feit for being a finalist in the 2020 Kaplun Writing Contest. Sacha was invited to join 7th and 8th grade students from around the country and become a member of the Kaplun Teen Philanthropy Board. The board consists of the 5 winners from this year and 3 adult members of the Foundation. On Wednesday night, the board had its first meeting to determine the distribution of $5,000 of the foundation’s money to non-profitable organizations. Sacha shared, “It is a really exciting opportunity to be on a board of such an important organization as a 13-year old student. I have already enjoyed meeting with other students from all different schools and hearing their unique ideas about what charities they find most meaningful.”

B2K program, the Bonayich 2000 Math and Science (E2K) Begins

On Tuesday evening we began our B2K program, the Bonayich 2000 Math and Science (E2K) for the 2020-2021 school year. The “B” honors the memory of Mrs. Helen Brueckheimer A”H, a beloved math teacher at Yavneh for many years. B2K is a program developed in Israel to address the needs of Middle School students who are self-motivated in both math and science. It is an extremely successful program founded by the Gruss Foundation to encourage additional learning opportunities. In our first session, students worked together to try to solve a math-logic problem. Their solutions included very creative and out of the box thinking.