Archive for September, 2009

Sephardic Rosh Hashanah Seder at Yavneh Academy

September 30, 2009 · Filed under Jewish Day School, Jewish Resources · Tagged ,

Sephardic Rosh Hashanah Seder

This Thursday our third grade students will participate in a Sephardic Rosh Hashanah Seder. This the first time ever at Yavneh Academy!

Being a Persian Jew I am really excited to share my minhagim (traditions) with my students. Tomorrow I will go to the fruit and vegetable market to purchase different items. For example: pomegranate, zuccinni, chives,dates and of coarse apples. We will also have red kidney beans that I will purchase in a can.The children will also recite the proper Yehi Razons before they eat anything and learn why the brachah goes with that specific food item. For example for the pomegranate we are hoping to have done as much mitvot (good deeds) as the seeds in a pomegranate. The only thing missing from our seder is tongue (to be the head and not the tail).

This will be a very exciting day at Yavneh Academy not only for the students but my fellow faculty members who are looking forward to learning what the persians old traditions are to this very joyous time of the year. I want to wish everyone a very healthy and happy new year!

PS I will post the pictures from the special day soon! Keep checking for them

Dalia Golbari

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Attendance on Schools-On-I-Net School Portal

September 30, 2009 · Filed under Education Technology, Schools-On-I-Net, Teacher Tools · Tagged , , ,

Taking Attendance at Yavneh Academy using School’s On I Net

This year at Yavneh Academy teachers in the lower school are required to take attendance using Schools on Net. In the past everyday we were required to write down on paper each child’s name  who was absent. A person from the office would pick up the document and then hand it to the nurse. The nurse was responsible to enter into the computer the students names from the entire school who were absent on a given day. There were many steps to this process which caused many problems.The teachers had to also write on the paper which bus the child would have taken home if  he/she was in school.

The problem arrived when a child would come to school late and wouldn’t report to the office to have his/her name removed from the absentee list. Often at  end of the day the teachers who had bus duty would have the wrong list and sometimes children who were assumed absent were really in school. As you could see there was a “balagan”.

Now taking attendance is just 1 click away. Simply you log onto your  account and look for attendance. Automatically it shows 100% attendance which makes it simple for you without needing to click each and every student who is in class. If a child is absent or late you simply click what ever the case may be and that is it! After we do attendance which takes about  a whole minute we then print 2 copies. One for us to have to give to the teacher who is teaching in the afternoon and 1 for the office to have for their records. Its that simple!

Thank you Schools on Net for making it easier for us!

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Education Technology: Yavneh Academy White Board

September 30, 2009 · Filed under Education Technology, Schools-On-I-Net, Teacher Tools · Tagged , , ,

Yavneh’s   White Board is open!

Finally this past Friday we teachers got access to the Staff White Board on our Schools-On-I-Net system. The whole summer teachers were given limited access while the school office setup the academic year…this past Friday we were able to access our full accounts and see the white board.

The reason I’m so excited to get the white board back is because its the best way we as a family within our school communicate with each other in a quick and fun way (only faculty and staff members can use the Staff White Board). Any day you will find a member of the faculty or Administration using the white board to announce a birth of a new child or grandchild…. in return we wish him/her a Mazal Tov!  Often we are invited to a bris or wedding on the white board.  Oh yes, and announcements of future meetings, times and room numbers are also just a click away.

The SOIN white board is our mini network as well…just last year I knew of a girl coming from Israel and who was looking to find work in the US as a nanny.  I put a message on the white board to see if anyone was looking for a nanny from Israel and to let me know.  Only 2 seconds later I received a few responses for my search. The girl came happily knowing she had a  job waiting for her.

We use the staff whiteboard to share websites that are helpful to use in the classroom simply by pasting the web address onto the white board. Last year we shared many holiday sites for great lessons on Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Chanukah etc. They were sites that we all,  including the students,  enjoyed.

Today I finally checked the whiteboard and Yes! there were announcements, some fellow teachers have posted sites on getting started in the academic year and tips for using SmartBoards, and some have posted on new babies who were welcomed over the summer. One faculty member had a boy in July and 2 faculty members announced the arrival of new grandchildren. Mazal tov to all!!

Mrs. Golbari, Elementary Teacher

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