Middle School Teachers Open Their Homes for Chanukah Parties

Thank you to the Middle school teachers for opening their homes and coordinating activities for the Chanukah parties last night. Six parties - grades 6, 7, and 8 - 3 parties for boys- 3 parties for girls- each party was fun and festive. Yeshivat Noam is so proud of our teachers, who time and again, go above and beyond to foster meaningful relationships and exciting experiences for our students.

Mazel Tov Ms. Senders, now Mrs. Neuman!!

Mazel Tov! Thank you for celebrating sheva brachot with us today!

Color War Zimriah!

And the winner is.....

Color War Art Presentations

Art Presentations

Color War Stomps

Color War Day 2!

Color War 2 - Kizoa Video Maker

Boys Color War Dance!

Color War Team Girl Team Dances!

Color WAR!!!

7th Grade English- Mrs. Jessie Tabak

After reading Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan, the students in Mrs. Tabak's English class were eager to act in a skit in which the characters appeared on a talk show.  As a class, the students created the script, thinking about appropriate questions for each character.  The hardest task was thinking creatively about how to give an answer that stayed true to the characters' distinct personalities, but each class did a great job!
Movie 1
Movie 2

7th Grade English- Ms. Barbra Solomon

7th grade girls enjoying their "greaser"party upon their completion of The Outsiders- with yummy "greasy" food!!
It was a great first read aloud!! Thumbs up!!!

Mrs. Ricki Kurtz- 6th Grade English

The new Common Core Standards mandates the importance of students reading non-fiction text.  In order to encourage this, today the students received a book report using the book Small Steps: The Year I got Polio by Peg Kehret. Peg spends the book describing the year she had polio.  In addition to reading this book, the students are reading articles about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and one by Chava Willig Levi. As part of their assignment, they need to create an invention that would help either Peg, Mrs Roosevelt, or Mrs Levi.

Besides being exposed to non-fiction text, my goal is to increase everyone's sensitivities to people with disabilities. Already the students have showed a lot of excitement about this assignment.

6th Grade Social Studies- Rabbi Jeremy Hellman

While studying Ancient Mesopotamia, 6th graders researched Hammurabi's Law Code. They studied how the 282 laws dealt with everyday life including laws on about marriage, trade, and crime. Students noticed that social hierarchy played an integral role in the law system, as there were different punishments for different social classes. To help understand the laws, students created there own plays depicting one of Hammurabi's laws. Students were intrigued that many of Hammurabi's Laws were similar to the laws of Parshat Mishpatim. 

Facing History- Ongoing PD- Partnership School

Morah Shira, Rabbi Hellman, and Mrs Kurtz attended a Facing History and Ourselves mini conference to collaborate with educators from the tristate area in developing meaningful curricula and programs to enhance our teaching. We addressed key issues such as Jewish identity and the portrayal of Jews in the media. As a partnership school, we were chosen to present about our successful educational Meaningful Adjacency program held earlier this year so that other schools could follow our model. Through continued collaboration, Yeshivat Noam will continue to develop meaningful programming to further students' self of self and responsibility as members of the Jewish people and citizens of the world.

8th Grade Ivrit - Morah Yehudit Liebb

8th grade just concluded their studies with the theme of songs of Tefillah. The students were introduced to modern Tefillah songs  including Tfillah (תפילה)by Chana Senesh, All Kol Eilah(על כל אלה)  by Naomi Shemer, Lu Yehi (לו יהי)by Naomi Shemer, Lamdeni Alokai (למדני אלוקי)by Leah Goldberg , Shalom Al Israel(שלום על ישראל) by Dudu Barak and Todah(תודה) by Uzi Chittman.  We studied the historical context surrounding each Tefillah and why the author was compelled to write his/her prayer. We discussed the differences between  Tfillah from the Siddur and a personal Tefillah. The students enjoyed learning and singing the songs and felt very connected to Am Israel and Eretz Israel through these songs.

We started to introduce to our 8th grade students the author Shmuel Yosef Agnon(שמואל יוסף עגנון) who received the Nobel Prize for Literature. We will read his allegory, Maoyev LeOhev (מאויב לאוהב)that describes the Israeli condition and his vision of peace. We expect to continue great conversations about Israel and through that continue to install love and care for Am Israel and Medinat Israel.

Morah Shira Greenspan- 6B2 Halacha

Videos allow a glimpse through a window to a world of application beyond our classroom. In a class as practically driven as Halacha, videos afford the opportunity of being a part of a halachic experience short of experiencing it firsthand. 

As 6B2 finished learning about the intricate halachot of the bracha of "mezonot," we applied these halachot to a practical Chanukah example. We watched the entertaining Kinderlach Productions' "Samurai Jew: The Eighth Night," (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUFNTu4Mrms

) and students were challenged to-

1. Explain the halachic circumstances as introduced in the video under which one would say "Birkat HaMazon" on sufganiyot

and

2. Halachically prove that the boy in the video did not initially intend to finish all of his family's doughnuts

There was simply no way our class could experientially encounter what Samurai Jew does in the video, nor would Nurse Roberta allow any of us to eat enough baked grain mezonot products (in this case, Chanukah jelly doughnuts) to qualify as a shiur ke'viat seuda, an amount of baked mezonot grain that qualifies as if one has eaten an entire meal, and thus necessitate our saying "Birkat HaMazon" as the bracha achrona.

By applying our newly gained bracha expertise to an engaging video, we safely and memorably engaged in a active halachic process.

Lunch Daf Yomi at Yeshivat Noam! -- Rabbi Ben Pomper

Since Sukkot, a consistent group of students have been using their lunch period to learn "Daf Yomi" with Rabbi Pomper. The program is based on a curriculum developed by an organization in Israel called "Talmud Yisraeli" which takes one concept from each Daf of Gemara and explains it in language and terms appropriate for middle school-aged children. It is amazing to see the commitment from the group to volunteer to learn every day! In the relatively short time that the Daf Yomi has been meeting, the group has gained a tremendous knowledge in various areas of Torah that they would not have  been exposed to otherwise. Completion of each Perek is noted with a Siyum to celebrate the accomplishment. What an impressive way to spend one's lunch!