LAG BA'OMER IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

We are grateful to Mr. Lenny Attman for sponsoring Lag Ba'Omer activities in memory of his mother, Mrs. Ida Attman A"H , whose birthday was on Lag Ba'Omer and always enjoyed providing Bais Yaakov talmidos with special treats l'kavod this day. It was a great day of memories for all.

The talmidos in Upper Elementar y had a wonderful time on Lag Ba'Omer . Each girl received a package in advance of Lag Ba'Omer with a complete set of activities that the girls did with their moros . The teachers spent much time planning these engaging games that included a BINGO game, a scavenger hunt around their homes, and a delightful watch that was decorated and had a timely message: "We miss the time we spend with you!" Some teachers also went all around town delivering ice cream and other treats to their students.

DISTANCE LEARNING IN THE UPPER ELEMENTARY

Bais Yaakov moros and teachers have been putting in tremendous effort to pull together effective instruction using all the tools of distance learning. These include the popular BY hotline, live phone conferences and engaging videos, which are being used to shares stories, songs, tefillos and many teacher led lessons. Each teacher has found time to prepare two weeks or more of materials and send them out to students to supplement and support the lessons. Teachers also make the learning fun with great videos, in person "social distancing" visits, and other fun activities where the girls win prizes and raffles and lots more.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Our halls may be empty, but the ruach is still in the air. Despite the myriad of challenges and the newness of distance learning, the Rabbi Benjamin Steinberg Middle School is forging ahead with its trademark excitement and positivity!

G.O. held live calls with a special guest speaker and a fun activity where students had to guess their teacher’s name based on their voice and special hints. G'mach is holding weekly calls inspiring the girls to develop different middos during the weeks of sefira . Project Yud Beis learned about kavana in tefilla by playing a special “Mystery Sisters” game, and all of the 6th Graders are filling out a chart to help them enhance their davening .

In addition to the regularly scheduled classes, our dedicated and creative teachers continue to offer amazing, fun and enriching voluntary educational opportunities such as the Jump Rope Challenge, Baking Show, Scrapbook Project, Dramatic Video Interviews, Recorded Book Readings, Science Club Videos, Crayon Painting Art Class and much more. Our devoted and talented Learning Center teachers , tutors and classroom assistants are also working with and supporting all of their students remotely.

Moreover, our teachers search for ways to convey to their students just how much they miss them! The 5th Graders received a special diamond art notebook to craft, the 8th Graders were given their very own s’mores packages in honor of Lag Ba'Omer, and the 6th and 7th Graders look forward to their special Shavuos projects that they will be receiving shortly.

HIGH SCHOOL

High School life has thus far weathered the pandemic fairly well, relatively speaking. Teachers have given phone classes their all – both in presentation and additional preparation. Extra curricular, distance activities have kept us all together while apart. So many teachers and grade counselors have found creative ways to reach out, whether with phone learning chaburos , Ninth Grade Monday morning phone times, gift packages, email messages from teachers to students, etc. Some teachers even found surprise visitors on their front lawns, with prescribed distancing!  Discovery , G'mach and Gedolei Yisroel have ploughed ahead with distance programming.  Rabbi Zweig has delivered messages to the entire school in an attempt to foster a together feeling, even as we are apart.

Special kudos to the G.O. for sponsoring a most creative, Distance Student Shabbos ! This included distance activities before and after Shabbos , featuring guest speakers Rabbi Yechiel Spero and our own Rabbi Shapiro , a faculty panel discussion, songs, our own packed “ Mishpacha ” magazine with high school news and entertainment, Shabbos nosh, and a one-of-a-kind introductory video.

We thank the students for your resilience and spirit, the parents for your support, and of course our one-of-a-kind, amazing faculty. We also thank Bais Yaakov CEO Rabbi Zalman Nissel for guiding every aspect of the school’s new reality with such selflessness and care, and with his overriding concern for our health and safety.