Second Semester
We want to start the second semester off on the right foot. Here are a few things we went over to ensure everyone is enjoying their time at Yachad.
Classroom Expectation/Behavior
Coming back from break and starting the new year we are reminding our students that we want our school to be a warm and inviting place. Rabbi Epstein and Cantor Josh have come around and spoken to students in all of Yachad to remind them of expectations as we entered the new year. Cantor Josh came to 7th grade dinner last week and specifically talked about respecting each other and teachers. He spoke about the importance of this year as they look toward their b’nei mitzvah and take on the maturity and responsibility of becoming a Jewish young adult.
Cell Phone Policy
Our cell phone policy from the beginning of the year has been that all phones are to be put away while students are at Yachad from 5-7pm. In order to make it easier for students to resist the urge to take out their phones, we will start collecting all cell phones when students get to class at 5pm. We will have each student label their phone with a sticky note so it can be easily returned to them at 7pm for dismissal. As always, if you ever needs to reach us or your child during class, you can call the Yachad office at (718) 768-3814 ext 100 or email yachad@cbebk.org.
Dinner on Thursdays
On the topic of the new year and starting fresh, we are piloting a new schedule and will start serving dinner at the end of class instead of in the middle. We found that asking students to transition from a social dinner setting back into a classroom setting did not contribute to a positive and successful learning environment. We want to give our students the best opportunity to succeed in the classroom as well as socially. Additionally, since we are moving dinner back a bit, we will also provide students with a small snack when the get to class at 5pm.
The schedule we are piloting is:
5:00pm-5:45pm: Period 1 (Torah, Mitzvot, Tefilah)
5:45pm-5:50pm: Break
5:50pm-6:40pm: Period 2 ( Tikkun Olam/Mitzvah Project Prep)
6:40pm-7:00pm: Dinner
The expectation is that all students will stay until 7pm for dinner and social time.
Mitzvah Projects
As the second half of the year is underway, we want to remind you all of what’s to come in terms of the students’ mitzvah projects. Here is the link to the project outline which was handed out during the parent orientation at the beginning of the year. We will review the project expectations and dates with the students this Thursday, and we encourage you all to take a look and review yourself. Project topics are due on February 14th (3 weeks from this Thursday). Students will be expected to turn in this topic selection sheet which we will pass out to them in class. We encourage students to start reaching out to organizations they are interested in working with to speak about possible volunteer opportunities. We are more than happy to help facilitate this outreach, so please be in touch with us if you’d like our assistance finding or getting in touch with an organization.
Best,
Hannah, Lauren, Emily, and Emma