This Week at Yavneh Academy

February 18, 2021 | 7 Adar 5781 | תרומה-זכור

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Early Childhood Department

Hip, Hip, Hooray, It’s the 100th Day!

Gan Gimmel has been excitedly preparing for the 100th day of school. Since the first day of school we have been counting towards this special day. We learned to count to 100 by ones and tens, and we also now know all about a tens frame. In celebration of this day, each child made a unique hat with ten rows of ten designs. All together their rows of ten made 100 creative designs on their headpiece. As the children worked we heard much enthusiastic counting. We can’t wait to celebrate the 100th day wearing our one-of-a kind creations!

Ganon Bet Purim, Detectives

Ganon Bet loves to be detectives. This time we took it to another level. Around the classroom were hidden many pictures of our famous Purim characters along with an assortment of silly looking Hamantashen. Each of our three teams were named either Megillah, Mishloach Manot or Matanote La’Evyonim. Each team had a basket to fill. The Ganon Bet detectives worked together to find as many game pieces as they could. They then sorted them on the table. Together we counted how many of each item the teams found. We then tallied them up and wrote the numeral to remember it’s value. Great teamwork was used while practicing our SEL and math skills!!

Lower School

President Lincoln Visits Grade 3

Class 3B was treated to a special visit from President Abraham Lincoln in honor of his 212th birthday! The students heard some stories about Lincoln’s childhood and asked Lincoln many questions about the challenges he faced early in life and during his presidency.

Fourth Graders Lean about the Lenape, First inhabitants of New Jersey

Who were the first inhabitants of New Jersey? Mrs. Gans’ fourth grade students are currently learning about the Lenape, New Jersey's indigenous people and how the area in which they lived affected their lifestyle. To get a flavor of what their life was like the students are watching short videos which were filmed in a recreated Lenape village. Through the videos, along with textbook pages, the students are learning about the roles of women and men, the homes in which they lived, what they wore, and what they ate. While reading and watching about the Lenape, the students are also developing their note taking skills by completing informational graphic organizers. After learning about the Lenape, the students will be divided into groups to research tribes from various regions around the country. They will then share their knowledge with their classmates so that they can learn from each other.

Middle School

Author Chat with Jeanne DuPrau

This past Monday, Jeanne DuPrau, author of City of Ember, flashed onto our Zoom screen to audible excitement from the students. This was the culmination of an engaging unit, weeks of organization and prep, and some minor tech issues. The entire 6th grade had gathered on Zoom for Ms. DuPrau, who had graciously given her time to engage in a conversation around City of Ember and answer student questions.

We reached out to Ms. DuPrau a number of weeks ago, not knowing if anything would come of it. We knew what value such a meeting could add to the City of Ember unit and the opportunity it provided to extend and enhance the excitement around the book. It also allowed us to explore a skill we had been working on: how to formulate questions as we read. In the week leading up to the meeting, we spoke about how to ask strong questions and which types of questions are fitting to ask of an author. We discussed authorial intent and the notion that we should assume every choice an author makes is done with intention (and therefore worthy of questioning and analysis). As individuals, the students thought of five questions each. We then reviewed them as a group, and the list was whittled down to our favorite questions.

On Monday afternoon, when the meeting arrived, pre-selected students took turns asking these insightful questions to our visiting author. Questions included: “Did you draw from anything in your own life when writing this book?”, “When you are creating characters, do you decide on all their character traits from the start, or do you ‘get to know them’ as you continue writing?”, and “Were you trying to make a statement about society, or the direction society is going in this book?” Ms. DuPrau had initially promised us 15 minutes of her time. She spoke with us for half an hour, patiently answering each question with a smile and providing really interesting color to our understanding of this book. She was engaging and kind and our students were respectful and impressive. It was such a wonderful way to end the unit, and it left the students requesting that we do it again with future books.

Grade 6 Bat Mitzvah Event

The 6th grade girls at Yavneh Academy had a wonderful time marking the milestone of becoming b'not mitzvah! Teachers and students joined together to celebrate on Wednesday evening, February 17th. This program focused on the importance of letting our inner beauty shine, recognizing that we each have something to contribute and we can make a difference by using our talents and strengths, as beauty goes far beyond what we see on the outside. Leading up to the event, all 6th grade girls were involved in the planning - voting on a t-shirt design, ordering decorations, setting up, creating artwork, writing a song and practicing a dance. The girls took a gallery walk as they entered the lower school gym to see the beautiful pieces of art created by their classmates, followed by words of Torah, a chesed project, a choir performance, a dance performance and delicious dinner from Sender's Smoke Joint. At the end of the program each girl received a Chumash as a gift. It was a very enjoyable and special evening of sharing talents and celebrating together.

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Purim Auction for Middle School Students

We are so excited to offer this year's Middle School Purim Auction virtually. In keeping up with the times and remaining true to our traditions we present to you this year's Purim Service Auction. Please jordana.baruchov@yavnehacademy.org with any questions. The auction will be closed on Tuesday evening, February 23rd, at 8pm. All winners will be announced on Wednesday during our MS Purim programming.

Click HERE to purchase tickets and view the list of prizes.