Seventh Grade Girls Navi

The seventh grade girls have just completed a marathon of Navi learning. In honor of the Yamim Noraim they worked with diligence and insight to learn the haftarah for the first day of Rosh Hashana- taken from our very text for this year, I Shmuel 1-2. This haftarah tells the story of Chana, Shmuel HaNavi's mother, and her mission to build a relationship with Hashem. Many of the girls went the extra step out of school to be in beit knesset to hear the haftarah and even engaged in meaningful discussions at their respective yom tov tables. The discussion points included ideas such as,

- Why do you think Chazal chose the story of Chana to be the haftarah of Rosh Hashana?

- What is the purpose of tefilla

- If we don’t get the thing that we davened for, does that mean that Hashem didn't hear our tefilla?

Through our study of Chana's story we learned how many of our halachot for shmoneh esrei directly model Chana's tefilla because she is seen as the ideal example of calling out to Hashem. Chana does not simply ask for something; she asks in order to give. This is what a true relationship is all about. 

Just hours before Yom Kippur, 7G1 had the opportunity to write their own bakashot for the coming year. They then added to their tefilla how they would use what they asked for in order to give back to Hashem should his answer be yes. Each girl then chose a special place in the beit knesset to share her tefilla with Hashem by modeling Chana's tefilla. 

May every tefilla bring us closer to Hashem.

Chag Sameach,

Morah Shira

6th Grade English

In Ms. Peyser's English class, the sixth grade students wrote wonderfully creative writing pieces about people in the world who are not appreciated or valued enough. They chose to reflect on the way we value mailmen, book editors, parents, songwriters, janitors, bus drivers, cameramen, chefs, parents and many others. The students shared their writing with one another in small groups.

7th grade boys honors math class explores the coordinate plane

Last week, in Mrs. Sheinfeld's 7th grade boys honors math class, students spent the morning working on effective communication, understanding the value of precise description, and the importance of dimension, size, and scale. Students paired up in groups where one student was the "communicator", and the other was the "artist". The communicator held a card with a geometric rendering that they had to describe through verbal instruction only so that the artist could recreate it without having seen it. When the roles were reversed, each pair was given a card with an "x" and "y" axis imposed on it. The communicator's card held a new geometric image that he in turn described to the artist to recreate. Students began using phrases such as "then continue down into the 3rd quadrant", and to the "left of the origin". It the final round of the activity, with the roles reversed again, the pair was given a set of cards with a full coordinate plane imposed on them. The communicators INSTANTLY noticed how effectively they were able to communicate the renderings when they were able to give precise distances and landmarks for the artist to draw with. When all of the renderings were assembled, the students marveled at how much more precise and accurate their drawings became with the addition of a horizontal and a vertical axis, and subsequently through the use of the grid on the coordinate plane.

Beit Knesset Tefilla Thoughts

I had once heard that, in Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's Mekor Haim Yeshiva in Israel, the faculty members take opportunities throughout the year to talk and reflect about their own spiritual state and growth and not just that of their students. And so, towards the end of last year, we set up about 25 chairs in a circle in the middle of our Beit Knesset, one for each member of our faculty, to do just that. One by one, we each shared a particular memory or moment of prayer that had resonated with us throughout the years. For some, they recalled praying for their children, while others desperately cried out on behalf of an elderly grandparent. Some shared times of feeling particular vulnerability, and others fondly remembered the warmth in holding their parents' hand on the way to Shul. Out of each narrative emerged a simple, yet powerful, thought about each of our personal pathways to prayer, that we thought would be meaningful for our students and selves alike. Please take a look at the thoughts that are now placed dramatically in the front of  our Beit Knesset and feel free to share...

September 11th

At Yeshivat Noam, September 11, 2001, was commemorated with an inspirational tekes for grades 5-8.  The tekes started with an introduction by Rabbi Chaim Hagler , Principal of YeshivatNoam. Rabbi Hagler explained that although lives were tragically lost, the terrorists failed in their goal to break the American spirit. The tragedy brought Americans together and the American principles of freedom and liberty prevail. Students then observed a moment of silence and said a specialtefillah (prayer) composed in recent times to commemorate the day.  This was followed by a first person narrative by LennyHanauer, who was a member of the River Edge fire department at the time and has since joined Teaneck Fire Department. He discussed what it was like for him when he went down to ground zero to help with the recovery the day after, on September 12.  Lenny shared both how he was inspired by the collaborative and collective effort of all the volunteers who were helping in different ways as well as how he was saddened by seeing the debris and realizing all the lives that were lost.  

The tekes continued with short video clips of students who were near ground zero recounting what they saw and the singing of The Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah.  

Alumni Selichot Event 2013

Each year we look forward to the alumni events during which we get to see our former students. Our first event of the year is our Alumni Selichot event. We invite all former students and faculty to join us for shiurim, pizza, basketball, and selichot. This year it is hard to believe that our first 8th graders are now seniors! Watching our students grow into young adults is maybe one of the most magical parts of being an educator, somehow we expect them to always stay the size they were when they graduated 8th grade. Seeing all of our alumnis' excitement and emotions about returning home to Yeshivat Noam was one of the best "take-away" moments of the new year.

6th Grade Math

In Mrs. Sheinfeld's 6th grade math class, students worked on reviewing decimal place value through an activity focused on collaboration, problem solving, and communication. Each student, in each cluster, received one place value digit (in various forms- standard form, word form, and extended form). The students were then given one instruction only- that they could not show their card to any other student. Quickly working together to communicate the data on their cards to one another through writing and orally, the group members discovered that they each held one piece of a larger and more complex number and worked together to discover it.

7th Grade Social Studies

The students in Mrs. Kurtz's 7th Grade Social Studies class enjoyed learning about the Bar Kochva revolts.  Instead of engaging in a traditional model of reading and answering questions, the students had to look for certain proofs for facts that they were given.  This is all part of this year's Social Studies curriculum focus on the core standards, which encourages more critical thinking and close reading.  When asked about this type of learning, Maya said, "Usually I have to skim [the article], but now we need to actually read it".