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Literacy Week at Shulamith is More Than all “Write!” were inspired by Mr. David Seidemann, father of eighth grader Ariella and seventh grader Rina, who shared excerpts from his newspaper column and explained how crucial it is for writers to do research. He also revealed how he uses contrast in his writing to create engaging articles that leave his readers with much food for thought. On Wednesday, the seventh and eighth graders were enriched by Rabbi David Forhman’s presentation on Chumash and Midrashim. In the words of one eighth grader, “The way Rabbi Fohrman explained the Torah, Midrash and Aggada together really showed me that I can’t just read the posuk; I have to look at everything and put it all together to enjoy the entire symphony.” Later in the day, all grades got the chance to attend a Book Fair organized by parent volunteers Mrs. Lisa Abittan and Mrs. Racheli Laufer. All Middle Division parents were invited to join their daughters at the book fair, and it was wonderful to watch mothers and daughters joyfully making selections from a wide range of books. On our final day of Literacy Week, students were treated to two special events. In the morning, students competed in spelling bees. In the first bee, seventh graders Alexandra Anthony, Channa Gelbtuch, Sari Lifshitz, Avigayil Maryles, Eliana Millstone, and Kay-
la Weinerkur competed against eighth graders Shira Baum, Kayla Evans, Michal Haas, Kayla Jacobowitz, and Arielle Seidemann. The competition was fierce, but finally ended with eighth grader Ariella Seidemann, spelling the word “malignant” correctly. Next, fifth graders Leora Goldstein, Shaked Harari. Rose Hecht, Anni Laufer, Jenny Lifschitz, Leora Muskat, Esther Rella Robinson, Yael Schreier, and Bryna Stern, competed with sixth graders Rivka Bennun, Eliana Eichler, Rachee Ganchrow, and Noa Harari. After numerous exciting rounds of spelling, sixth grader Eliana Eichler emerged victorious for the second year in a row. Part of the excitement of the bee was a class competition during which audience members were asked to write the correct spelling of various words. Class 6B and 7B, each with the most number of correctly spelled words in their rounds, won ice cream parties, while spelling bee winners Ariella and Eliana each won a free book.
The last event of the day was a marvelous character pageant. The eighth grade leaders of Literacy Week, Robyn Lerner, Danielle Greenfield, Yocheved Hess, and Devorah Feldman, organized and emceed the event, during which students paraded down a red carpet and displayed ingenious costumes. Based on one-line clues, students in the audience
had to guess who each girl was dressed up as. The characters ranged from Harry Potter to Willy Wonka to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and the costumes and clues were ingenious. From beginning to end, Literacy Week in Shulamith Middle Division was a great success!
Bnot Yaakov of Great Neck Science Fair Bnot Yaakov of Great Neck exhibited their unique scientific perspective as they set tables up with their science demonstrations of various experiments, studies and investigations. Miss Wolfson’s 3rd grade featured their lab sheets of their “flower experiment” that accompanied their study of plants. The girls learned how plants get their nutrients and particularly their water by transferring it through their stem. Their text
lessons were then followed by a celery experiment with water of various colors and they indeed were able to quite literally “trace” the color up the celery stem. That wasn’t the experiment they featured however. “We realize that the water itself goes up the stem, along with whatever color you put in it, so we wondered if that would work for something else also – like smell,” she explained. Her students performed the same experiment they had with colored water except the following time, the water had various “scents” in them instead of simply colors! The girls monitored their flowers by inhaling them daily to watch for subtle changes in smell. Mrs. Kashi’s 4th graders created their own models to illustrate the various functions of the human body and its organs. One student re-created the spinal cord demonstrating the delicate relationship between the
vertebrae, and another did a model of the lungs and diaphragm using a simple bottle and balloon! She showed how with each breath that one takes to inflate one’s lungs that the direct reaction of the diaphragm is to push out in response. Mrs. Akhavan’s 2nd graders did a study of animal camouflage with each student focusing on a specific animal and explaining that animal’s ability to blend into its environment. Each girl wrote about her animal and did her own graphic drawing to accompany it as well. Morah Ilana and Morah Maral’s Pre-1-A has been monitoring their own “tree” since the onset of school, with pictures taken with it, leaf impressions made of its vein patterns and gatherings of its leaves as they emerged in autumn color. The Pre-1-A presented their “gathered data” of their “tree” observations, their tree pictures at stages of late summer bloom, autumn transformation and sans leaves winter!
All classes presented their projects, studies and observations for parents to peruse as they met with teachers at Parent Teacher Conferences and then again the following day for each other as students got a chance to present their class projects for other classes. Bnot Yaakov’s Science Fair isn’t simply about students honing in on flashy science projects for a once-a-year show; it’s the far more genuine and real-time approach to teaching students the value of curious questions, experimental answers and recorded observations.
J a n u a ry 2 , 2014
On Monday, December 23rd, Literacy Week at the Shulamith Middle Division got off to a great start! Professional storyteller, Mr. Gerald Fierst of Encore Presentations, regaled us with tales from around the world. Mr. Fierst’s creative use of voice, sound effects, and hand motions made for an absolutely engaging program. It was wonderful to watch students’ reactions. They laughed uproariously, clapped their hands, and shrieked in surprise and delight as they watched and listened to Mr. Fierst’s stories. Throughout the program, Mr. Fierst spoke about important aspects of writing, such as choosing the right word and developing ideas. Mr. Fierst’s presentation was not only fun to watch, but it also served as a superb starting point for our weeklong celebration of reading and writing. On our second day of Literacy Week, each class was treated to a special appearance by a Shulamith parent. In a presentation titled, “From Concept to Consumer,” Mr. Chaim Schneider, father of eighth grader Nechama and third grader Ilana, gave fifth grade students a peek into the world of publishing. The sixth and seventh graders listened and learned as Mr. Avi Fertig, father of eighth grader Hadassah, discussed persuasive writing techniques that he has successfully used in his career. Finally, our eighth graders
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