7G Project Based Learning - Shelach Mural- Morah Shira Greenspan

The 7th grade girls have been hard at work bringing the beginning of Parshat Shelach to life in a beautiful, classroom-sized mural. Creating gigantic fruits of Eretz Yisrael, road signs, GIANTS and the nesi'im, details of the text guided the process of this project. The artists even dressed each of the nesi'im in the colors of their mateh (tribe).

This mural symbolizes our celebration of members of Bnei Yisrael finally returning to the land Hashem had promised Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and their descendants after over two-hundred years of being in galut.

Upon completing this meaningful work, Atara Troodler (Class of '12) shared her modern experience in Eretz Yisrael. Like Calev ben Yefuneh, Atara emphasized that any challenge can be overcome with the right mindset and attitude. We are so grateful to Atara for sharing her inspiring story.

8G English Explores Popular Culture and How it Shapes Identity- Mrs. Samara Wasserman

Over the past few weeks, the 8th grade girls have been exploring how popular culture impacts the way children shape their identities.  As they read The House on Mango Street, a story of a girl who begins to understand her identity in relation to the community and culture around her, the girls spent a great deal of time thinking about what their identities mean and how they mold and continue to mold their sense of self.  As an extension of this, we began exploring how the environment around us also effects us tremendously.  The girls read articles, analyzed commercials, and critiqued popular movies and television shows to gain a greater understanding of how these media contribute to the formation of our identity, as well .  Their exploration and findings culminated this week in a presentation to the 6th grade girls about how popular culture can limit choices and opportunities for children as their sense of identity is forming.

 

7G Tanach Enrichment With Morah Shira Greenspan

The dates of פסח are mentioned in the following places in the תורה:
שמות יב:א-יד, לג:ה, במדבר כח:טז, דברים טז:א-ח, טז:יב
Many events in our history, specifically those included in תנ"ך, do not share with us the specific date on which they occurred. Let us assume that when the תורה does share the time or date with us, there is a significance in that time that comes to teach us something.

Many events, beyond the historical Pesach in Mitzrayim, took place on ט"ו and/or ט"ז of ניסן (the same date as פסח). This is sometimes stated explicitly in the פסוקים and is sometimes only known to us because of מסורת חז"ל. These events include such favorites as: the birth of Yitzchak Avinu (בראשית כא:א-ו), the siege around Yericho (יהושע ו:א-ב), Gidon's appointment as shofet (שופטים ו), the historical Taanit Esther and fall of Haman HaRasha (אסתר ד:טו-יז, ה:א-ח, ז:א-י), and Daniel b'gov ha'arayot- Daniel in the lions den (דניאל ו: ה-כט). 

Over the past three months, ten seventh grades girls have been working through these sources as part of an enriched anchor activity, created under the direction of educational expert, Lisa Morgan. The goal of their learning was to determine, based on the various texts, what the underlying theme of this time of year really is. What common thread is there among such seeming disparate events in our national history? The girls then created seder symbols that represent their Pesach themes so that their message of Pesach can be experientially incorporated into their families' sedarim. Noa  and Eliana  created paper chains made of dolls representing the members of their family joined by hearts and heart shaped pillows to represent the theme of ahava. Leia made place cards for everyone at her seder with personalized messages to help bring happiness, her theme of choice, to the night. Chana created a fully functional game board, symbolizing that this time of year is a time of overcoming obstacles. Avigayil  highlighted this time of year as a time of the downfall of our enemies and creatively made domino-figurines of the various enemies who Hashem knocked down on the dates of Pesach. Ayelet made a puzzle of a picture that she drew with the inspiration of her sister's art of people around the world coming together for this idea of national unity is the theme that she chose. Maayan decorated the pot of a newly blooming flower to symbolize rebirth and renewal. Maya Wind created an artistic torch as fire, a recurring motif among the Pesach sources in Tanach, is dichotomously destructive and redeeming. Finally, Temira  made a goblet of fire that beautifully juxtaposes the icy glass with the hot flames of fire, for this time of year is a time of seeing Hashem clearly. 

These creative seder symbols were presented at our class's model-seder and will be shared with their respective families at the real Pesach seder.

Morah Shira would like to thank Lisa Morgan for all of her support in empowering and guiding the creation and implementation of this project. Morah Shira would like to also publicly express how very proud she is of the grit, insight and creativity that each of these talented girls expressed throughout this project. Kol hakavod!

Rabbi Sharbat's Gemara Classes Prepare for Pesach!

Rabbi Sharbat's Gemara class created their own Haggadah. Each girl received a section in the Haggadah and either found or wrote their own Devar Torah. The girls shared their Devar Torah with the entire class which led to amazing discussions! 

Rabbi Markowitz's Class Creates Haggadah!

Students either found or wrote divrei Torah for their class hagadah.  Click on link below to see it!
7G1 Haggadah
8G2 Haggadah
7G2

Rabbi Kurtz's Gemara Classes Create Haggadot!

In Rabbi Kurtz's 8th Grade Girls Gemara class, we prepared our own divrei Torah on the Haggadah. I edited the divrei Torah and put them together into a dvar Torah booklet. We added a few of my divrei Torah as well. Attached is a copy of that dvar Torah booklet. 

In Rabbi Kurtz's 7th Grade Girls Gemara class, we worked on a Macah/Plague Project, where each student received one macah to research. We also prepared our own divrei Torah on the Haggadah. I edited all of our research and divrei Torah and put them together into a beautiful dvar Torah booklet (34 pages of divrei Torah!) Attached is a copy of that dvar Torah booklet.  

In Rabbi Kurtz's 6th Grade Girls Gemara classes, we learned and discussed 15 pages of divrei Torah. Each of the students received their own Haggadah binder, and filled out the dvar Torah sheets as we learned them in class. We also discussed at least 24 mitzvot that apply on Pesach. This was a continuation of the Mitzvah Program that we have been learning all year! (Ask your daughters about the mitzvah of the day.) Linked is a scan of one of the girls beautiful booklets. Nice Job!

6th Grade Haggadah

7th Grade Haggadah

8th Grade Haggadah

6G1's Nesting Animals- Morah Shira Greenspan

6G1 spearheaded a project to help add yet another dimension of fun to the seder allegory, "Chad Gadya." At the late hour at which "Chad Gadya" is typically sung, the Aramaic words can sometimes be hard to follow- but not with 6G1's creations! They carefully designed nesting dolls to represent each of the colorful characters of the poem. The inner doll was, of course, the one little goat which was then consumed by the larger doll, the cat, and so on and so forth. The students were careful not to create any physical representation of Hashem. What a fun motivation to stay up until the very end of the seder!

6B2's Pesach Puzzle Challenges

6B2 is ready to stump their families at the seder this year with trivia questions like "How many people were in Bnei Yisrael prior to the makot, the plagues," and "Which three things are split on Pesach?" To help even younger siblings figure out the answers to such challenging questions, the astute students of 6B2 created Pesach puzzles that reveal the answers once assembled. Another kind of puzzle that some of the students made was a six-in-one block puzzle which includes six things of Pesach that come in fours (pictured is Jackie B,'s creation which features the Imahot and Arba Banim). The boys look forward to sharing their knowledge and puzzles at the Seder shel Pesach with their families and friends.

7G - Pesach Bingo - Morah Shira Greenspan

Morah Shira's halacha students expertly worked through the Haggadah shel Pesach to complete Pesach bingo boards. Spaces included prompts such as "Something at the seder that comes in 4s," "A part of Hallel said before the part of Hallel," and "A member of our class whose name appears in the Haggadah." Students filled out each box with one of the possible correct answers. All possible correct answers were pooled into our bingo lottery. The first players to reach five filled spots in a row was the class winner! What a fun adventure through the Haggadah shel Pesach.

Mrs. Kurtz's Seventh Grade Legacy Project...A success!

The seventh grade just finished a two week Project Based Learning unit. This PBL focused on answering the question, what is a legacy? The students were assigned a president to become experts on. They researched the president, created a resume based on all of the information they gathered, and then came up with a legacy that defined their president. Based on their legacy, they created an award and decided who to present it to. The culminating project was creating a movenote presentation describing the person they were presenting the award to. Here is a sampling of some of the movenote presentations:
https://www.movenote.com/v/AdmXNNg46t2DR
https://www.movenote.com/v/ClMdWu9TFHe
https://www.movenote.com/v/_S-4Rk4Say9Xw
https://www.movenote.com/v/pdiwuBrc9GH45

Dynamic Earth Expo - Culminating Evening to Earth Science Related Project Based Learning Across Grades 6-8 - Ms. Aliza Chanales

The Earth is a wonderfully dynamic system and the learning of the Yeshivat Noam middle school students in preparation for their Earth Science Expo has been wonderfully dynamic, too.  The goal of the Earth Expo is to give students and parents a more complete understanding and appreciation of the beauty, power, and wonder of Planet Earth. As one sixth grader reflected afterwards, “I never really thought about what was inside Earth before and how big and deep it is.  You just think about Earth where we live, but you don’t think about what is going on inside of it and how that impacts what happens on top of it.”  Students spent several weeks engaged in Earth Science related project based learning, with each grade taking on a different skill and content focus.  Sixth graders studied plate tectonics and geology and designed working models of the processes that shape our planet.  Seventh graders explored different biomes and habitats around the world and designed controlled experiments to delve deeper into the conditions of the ecosystem or the adaptations of the plants and animals that live within it.  Eighth graders took on the many sources of energy that fuel our planet and our lives. Groups investigated the potential power of wind, sun, bioluminescence, and more, while building solar powered fashion accessories, ovens, Rube Goldberg machines, generators, and squishy circuits.  Sixth and seventh graders shared their learning in an interactive museum for parents and elementary school students, while eighth graders gave formal presentations and demonstrations, working in advance to move beyond the boring bullet point riddled powerpoint to more dynamic, intriguing slides.  


In preparation of the Earth Expo, the middle school science lab became a hub of collaboration, research, creativity, and design.  Students worked with each other and their teachers to master new skills, refine their understanding of the material, trouble shoot broken circuits and surprising experimental results, and present their knowledge in sophisticated visual displays, accompanied by thoughtful commentary and demonstration. Students took ownership over their learning and over the many tools available to them throughout this time.  The night was a spectacular culmination of this learning.  Students presented with pride and authority and wowed their parents with just how much they knew about Earth and its ever changing, ever fascinating nature.  

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7G Color War - Morah Shira Greenspan

When Rabbi Koslowe announced that the teacher-donated raffle would take place during the Middle School Purim festivities, a number of girls in the 7th grade had an idea. Knowing that Rabbi Koslowe would enthusiastically announce the name of the winner of each prize, they sacrificed their personal chances of winning for a greater cause; rather than writing their own names on the back of their tickets, they wrote, "COLOR WAR!"

Color War won one of Morah Shira's prizes. After some investigation, the selfless acts of the Color Warriors was exposed and plans for a class color war were immediately under way. During 7G's final assessment on Parshat Behaalotcha, Rabbi Koslowe came into the classroom and, to the astonishment of all of the students, broke out 7G Color War! The following class, 7G celebrated Color War as well as the completion of a packed Parsha by competing as Teams Miriam and Aharon in various trivia and creativity challenges. After displays of inspiring sportsmanship and application of intellect, Team Miriam won by a mere few points (given the end of Parshat Behaalotcha, Miriam really needed that win). Kol hakavod, 7G, for your beautiful camaraderie!

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6G Navi - Mrs. Racheli Taubes

6G finished learning Perek Tet in Navi Sefer Shoftim. They learned about Yotam's mashal to the people of Efraim, criticizing them for accepting Avimelech as king. They learned about possible purposes of mashalim and why someone would use a mashal to criticize. Applying the big idea of mashalim, the students made their own mashalim for various Chumash stories and shared it with their friends in a group setting.

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Unit Rate Store - Mrs. Malka Shapiro

Where you can only buy ONE of every item!

In Mrs. Shapiro’s 7th grade math class, students were learning about unit rates.  Finding units rates is something we do often when we go shopping.  What better way to help my students understand this practical topic than to let them go shopping themselves.  The classroom was converted into a store where there were items for purchase.  The students received calculators and bags of money.  Students were only allowed to purchase one of every item.  The challenge was in the pricing of the items; 6 for $15, 8 for $119 and so on.  Students made ratios of the items and price and needed to calculate the unit rate.  Students had a fun and yummy experience finding unit rates.  

Mishkan Project - Dr. Malki Lanner

The 6th grade students are currently working on the Mishkan (Tabernacle) project.  In order to better understand parshiot (Torah weekly portion) t'rumah, titzaveh, vayakhel and pikudei the students are required to build a kli (vessel) from the Mishkan and one or two of the bigdei k'hunah (priestly garments).  Once the students have completed the research and the building of their respective kelim and b'gadim they then present and teach the information to their classmates.  The goal of this project is to learn about something that was used by Jews more than 2,000 years ago but making it alive and real for us today.

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