Bais Yaakov e-Newsletter

1 Kislev 5782 | November 4, 2021

Lower Elementary

Parshas Toldos

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PRESCHOOL PETTING ZOO

In honor of Parshas Noach, our youngest girls had an exciting opportunity to see and touch a variety of animals. They were able to see a goose, bunny rabbit, hedgehog, frog, and turtle. The girls were fascinated with the animals, even if they were a bit hesitant to touch the cute creatures.

KINDERGARTEN EXPLORES FAUNA & FLORA ON A NATURE

As part of an annual tradition, Morah Tayna Goldstein and her husband, Mr. Dov Goldstein, an amateur naturalist, escorted her students on a nature hike on our beautiful grounds. They observed a grasshopper and its movement as Mr. Goldstein held it in his hands. They also explored a great variety of leaves of different sizes and colors, large and small feathers, berries, moss, acorns, black walnuts, mushrooms on trees and a smelly stinkhorn mushroom on the ground, the bitter taste of cherry twigs, and lots of "deer beds" (flattened circles of high grass where deer sleep). Each girl illustrated the highlights of their nature excursion on a "Fun in Fall" journal page.

PRESCHOOL "CHASUNAH" DAY

In honor of Parashas Chayei Sora and the marriage of Yitzchok and Rivka, our Kindergarten girls came to school dressed for a wedding – kinesthetic learning on display! This day generated a beautiful ruach in our Preschool with many smiles and laughs. Each class designed a chuppah snack in their classrooms and danced with their moros and classmates to simcha music in the auditorium.

FIRST GRADE BRACHOS UNIT

Our First Graders continue to gain an appreciation for Birchos Hamotzi and Mezonos through baking challos and cookies. The teachers embed a love of Brachos in each child by giving them pleasurable experiences that build their fluency in the words and motivate interest in thanking Hashem for the food we enjoy!

FIRST GRADE MINI FOREST

First Graders are at a beautiful age, full of curiosity and awe at the world around them. Mrs. Simmy Mittleman invited her students to wander into her "Forest in Miniature" classroom. The girls explore the nuances of our ABCs and 123's while learning to respect and appreciate nature around them. Between picnicking with nouns and verbs in grammar fields, they learn how to write delicious sentences which turn into paragraphs! The girls are also adding and subtracting how many steps to take to the grove of trees and how many trees they need to climb to build a treehouse. Mrs. Mittleman's creative theme makes our girls' educational journey come alive.

BOOK BUDDIES PROGRAM

High School Gmach is expanding a collaborative student effort which we began last year between High School students and our Second Graders. This year, the high school volunteers will also be providing services to First Grade students in various categories.

The High School girls are available to read preselected stories with students as "Book Buddies" to strengthen decoding and comprehension skills. They will also provide homework assistance to individual students. "Book Buddies" will benefit parents to ensure that homework is completed on an ongoing basis.

We look forward to creating unique bonds between our Gmach volunteers and your daughters. Special kudos to Gmach advisors, Mrs. Malka Zweig and Mrs. Zehava Lefkovitz, for spearheading this dynamic program!

SECOND GRADE KEVER RACHEL ART PROJECT

One of the highlights of our school program is affording our students an appreciation for Judaica to instill pride in their Torah heritage. Our girls create thematic art projects for all Yamim Tovim to decorate their homes. In honor of Rachel Imeinu’s yahrtzeit on the 17th of Marchesvan, the Second Grade produced three-dimensional renditions of the original Kever Rachel building. Each student received a rectangular piece of wood and transformed it into a masterpiece. They built the building with clay and beads, painted the entrance to the building and dome, and glued felt trees adjacent to it.

SECOND GRADE GRATITUDE FRIDAY LETTERS

Each week, Miss Ilana Paskoff and her students express gratitude to someone in the school with a handwritten note from the class. Miss Paskoff selects one student each week to choose who they should acknowledge. This “student gratitude leader of the week” spends time thinking who the recipient should be. On Friday, the class writes a note together to that person. They brainstorm ideas and think of specific thanks and praise to write. It is a significant experience to express our gratitude to those in Bais Yaakov who are there to help the students. It is an enriching activity that the girls look forward to each week!

SENSATIONAL SCIENCE CLASS

In a sequence of weekly Science experiments that build on each other, Miss Yael Schwartz's First Grade class has been gaining critical science skills. They have been learning how to hypothesize and observe to determine a specific goal. The class has conducted weekly experiments in order to discover and understand why the leaves change color in the fall. These experiments include using scientific vocabulary, understanding colors, diffraction, and how things grow.