builds the Bais Hamikdash and sacrifices kor-,לקט bonos on the Mizbeach. This is why the

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1 PPROUD*** I S S U E ** 23 April \ I already Parshas Emor sent it Hadlakas Neiros:7:30 out. I al- Havdalah: 8:49 PM ready sent it out. YBHighlights CALENDAR Sunday, April 28th Lag B Omer Father-Son Bonfire/BBQ ******* We hope you are all as psyched as we are for the upcoming Bike-A-Thon on Sunday, May 5! See attached flyer for details ******* Learning during free time READ MORE ABOUT TIKI INSIDE. A Message from Our Menahel It was truly a pleasure seeing how involved the girls were at the Torah Fair. We greatly appreciate the work Morah Stern and all the Morahs put into creating the beautiful presentation. One of the booths at the fair was about the mitzvos that can only be performed in Eretz Yisroel. The pasuk the students were working with comes from this week s Parshas Emor. The Torah says: ובקצרכם את קציר ארצכם,לא תכלה,פאת שדך בקצרך ולקט קצירך לא תקלט,לעני ולגר תעזב אתם, אני ה אלקיכם. )כג:כב ) It is interesting to note that this pasuk is sandwiched between the Yomim Tovim. First the Torah discusses Pesach and Shavuos, then the subject of פאה & שכחה,לקט and finally, Rosh תורת Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkos. The explains this by saying that one who gives כהנים is compared to one who פאה & שכחה,לקט builds the Bais Hamikdash and sacrifices kor-,לקט bonos on the Mizbeach. This is why the,מועדים is in the middle of the פאה &שכחה which is a time when many korbonos are brought. Rav Shimon Schwab, zt l, adds that the Torah is hinting about Tisha B Av, when in the future, instead of it being a day of mourning, it will be a.מועד Imagine on the same day that the Bayis Rishon and Sheini were destroyed, Moshiach will come and it will become!ששון ושמחה a day of We can take this a step further (says Rav Schwab, zt l). Bayis Shlishi will be built through Moshiach ben Dovid, who was a descendant of Rus, who married Boaz after they met in the field while Boaz was being מקיים the mitzvah of & שכחה,לקט.פאה Moshiach will bring back the offering of korbonos in the Bais Hamikdash. We now have a deeper understanding of the order of the pesukim. First comes Pesach, then Shavuos, followed by the Yom Tov of Tisha B Av, in the future (which we now know is a result of & שכחה,לקט (פאה and then Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkos. We see how appropriate the juxtaposition of the pasuk of... Shavuos. is in the order following ובקצרכם May we be זוכה through giving tzedaka to the poor and other forms of tzedaka (replacing the mitzvos that can only be performed in Eretz Yisroel) to the arrival of Moshiach and the building of the Bayis Shlishi, when Tisha B Av will be a,מועד speedily in our times. Good Shabbos! Rabbi Berel Leiner Menahel

2 Parnes Hayom Learning was dedicated on the following days: Monday, 12 Iyar - (4/22) In commemoration of the yartzeit of Zev ben Mordechai great grandfather of Elisha (7B), Netanel (5B) and Yoel (2B) Schmutter sponsored by the Schmutter family I think it is with much relief to everybody that IOWA testing is happily over! Although some find the tests relaxing, the tedium can make the tests feel endless and I am sure the children (and teachers) are happy to jump back into the usual routine of stimulating learning. Standardized testing does play an important, but only a small role in the way we assess learning. Because the scores are measured against national norms, the tests allow us to see how our children are progressing against a set standard. The tests tend to focus on the most critical and core skills including basic reading comprehension and language or math skills, which are at the core of all learning and as such, important to assess annually. On the other hand standardized testing does have its glaring flaws. For one thing, each school has its own curriculum and its own set of priorities. Standardized testing takes none of that into account and therefore does not necessarily test the things we emphasized in our classrooms. GENERAL STUDIES UPDATE Particularly now, with educational philosophy placing such an emphasis on critical and open ended thinking, right / wrong tests like the ones we just administered really do not reflect all of the efforts we are putting in to raising the bar for our students. In addition, because we want so much open ended and thought provoking, learning, we do not teach or test our children throughout the year in this multiple-choice format and therefore some children perform differently than they might if they could write their own sentences. Most of all, it is important to remember that standardized testing is an isolated experience. Anyone can have an "off" day - if a child's scores on a given test are lower than expected, it is hard to know if that is a true reflection of their ability or their mood that day. As such, standardized testing scores are an excellent supplement to the other measures we use to assess learning - the regular classroom assessments, report cards, open ended writing assignments, math computation activities etc. Standardized tests can either corroborate what we see daily or, if the standardized testing scores are surprising in any way, they can open our eyes to investigate why and lead us to a better understanding of the child. If your child missed any of the tests, please send in a note explaining why. We will be administering make up tests on Monday and Tuesday only, so please be sure your child is in school both of those days. The test scores will be sent to you with the report cards at the end of the school year. Use them for what they are worth, and remember to take them with a grain of salt. After all your precious children are much bigger than just one test! Have a great Shabbos! Mrs. Estee Hebel General Studies Principal

3 LIMUDEI KODESH UPDATE BOYS MAZAL TOV TO The Mishnah in the third perek of Pirkei Avos states: כל שרוח הבריות נוחה הימנו רוח המקום המקום נוחה הימנו A person that people are pleased with, Hashem is pleased with. The importance of being a pleasant person who is welcoming and friendly to those around him, cannot be overstated. Good middos form the foundation for positive relationships with peers, teachers, and as the above Mishna states, with Hashem. Developing these middos through lessons and positive experiences is vital for every child s chinuch. While formulating good middos is always a priority at YBH, we place particular emphasis on this during these days of Sefirah leading up to Kabalas HaTorah. This period of national mourning for the 24,000 talmidim of Rebbe Akiva, who lost their lives be- - לא נהגו כבוד זה בזה cause they didn t behave with proper dignity toward each other compels us to seek improvement in our own be-. כבוד זה בזה havior of Our yeshiva has joined two very special initiatives of the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation that are geared toward that goal. The first one featured a compelling film presentation called The Outsider that illustrated what life is like for a boy who feels excluded. We saw how even children that are talented and personable can be excluded if they are perceived as not fitting in. We learned how empathy and understanding what others feel is the key in avoiding and correcting such situations. Following the presentation, each rebbe had a discussion with his class about practical applications of the lessons learned. The second program, an antibullying program called Tiki, focuses on making recess fun for everyone. The objective is met by involving the students in developing positive strategies for handling various scenarios that may occur during recess. Students listen to a story depicting a possible recess scenario and hear resolution options. They can then call the Wonder Words hotline at night to vote for their choice of the best possible resolution. The program will culminate before Shavuos with a poster contest. I am personally amazed at the level of enthusiasm our boys have shown for this program. Even students in the grades that weren t originally part of the program are begging to join! Of course the best part is when you see tangible results. My jaw dropped when I heard the following illustration from a rebbe: The boys in his class decided to stop keeping score during their recess football games. While the game remains the same, removing the high stakes of competition has resulted in the following changes: There are almost no arguments during play, all the boys (including the more athletic players) report enjoying the games more and most importantly, boys who previously avoided participating in games have now begun to participate. What an amazing accomplishment! These boys have much to feel proud about and we are very proud of them! K lal Yisrel prepared for Kabalas HaTorah by attaining the supreme level of achdus - כאיש אחד בלב אחד unity, like one person with one heart. May our combined efforts bring us even closer to this lofty goal in preparation for our own Kabalas HaTorah on Shavuos. Good Shabbos, Rabbi Binyomin Perlstein Rabbi Eliyohu Goldberg, our very own first grade Rebbe and his wife, who will be honored along with his esteemed parents, Harav Aharon Dovid Goldberg, Rosh Hayeshiva, Telshe, Cleveland and his Rebbetzin, at the 38th Anniversary Dinner of Rabbi Eliyohu Goldberg s Yeshiva, Yeshiva Derech Chaim on May 12th, 2013 CONDOLENCES To Mr. Ruby Stepansky on the loss of his mother, Rebbetzin Stepansky Hard work deserves a good game of basketball or football or both!

4 A Peek Into Our Week: Rabbi Goldberg s Kitah Aleph: The first grade boys have finished Parshas Bereishis. What an accomplishment! They are onto Parshas Noach and are learning Boruch Sheamar and Ashrei in tefillah. We hope to finish learning the entire daily tefillah by the end of the school year. Davy the Donut Man helps them with kriah and they are also participating in a contest that encourages them to go to sleep before Havdalah so they can be awake and refreshed for Sunday morning learning. They have accomplished so much this year! Mr. Nagel s Middle School Social Studies classes: 8B-The eighth grade boys are preparing for their journey to high school next year. Not only are they honing their academic skills by strongly challenging themselves at the end of the year. They have also started to study the history of the Yeshiva Movement. They have been learning about many of the great institutions whose legacies remain today; the illustrious Volozhin Yeshiva as well as the Mir Yeshiva, Telz, and Slobodka. No history of the Yeshiva Movement can be complete without understanding the origins of the Mussar Movement, whose founder R Yisrael Salanter, created a recipe for self growth that has been adopted and applied until today. They are now preparing to start a unit on the Industrial Revolution and its impact on contemporary life. 7B-The seventh grade is hard at work learning the history of the Jews under Islamic rule and in Bavel (modern day Iraq). The boys recognize how much Islam has learned from their Jewish cousins and how at one point in time this led to peaceful relations between both religions. Unfortunately, things have changed drastically in current times. The boys have just finished their newspapers and are currently presenting them to the class. 6B- Not too long ago the boys were graced with the presence of Mr. Brenner, an expert Egyptologist, (and a YBH parent), who presented to us that learning about Egyptian culture can help us understand Chazal in greater depth. The boys are currently working on completing their unit project by creating a timeline of both Ancient Egyptian culture and Jewish History. It is not uncommon to hear comments from the boys such as Wow! The Ancient Egyptians were around for so long, but the Jews are still around today! By the time they reach the end of the unit, the boys may just have acquired enough information to actually add to Mr. Brenner s repertoire of information. Rabbi Bacharach s Kitah 4B: The boys finished learning אז ישיר with a special tune from. We learned that the mitzrim drowned in three ירושלים different ways. The best of the mitzrim drowned quickly like lead sinking in water. The not as bad drowned like stones in water, which sinks slower than lead. The worst of them drowned like straw, which gets thrown around in the water. To highlight this point, Rebbe brought in a piece of lead (thank you, Rabbi Rajchod, for providing it) and a stone for the class to feel the difference in weight between the two. We were amazed to see just how heavy lead really is! Morah Rennert s Pre1A-R class: Spring is here and even though the thermometer does not always show a temperature that s considered warm, we have been doing spring science experiments. Each of our children colored a picture that we taped onto colored paper and hung on the window facing the sun. Since the sun s rays are so strong, we will see how the sun will eventually fade the original color around the picture. The sun is a wonderful gift from Hashem which gives us light and helps all our plants grow. However, the sun s strong rays can also damage the skin and give us a sunburn, which is why we use sunscreen. We are looking forward to the warmer weather and a healthy summer. ECD HIGHLIGHTS Morahs Also Go To School: On Wednesday April 24 th the Pre-1A Morahs and I, along with several resource room teachers, were off to Brooklyn for a day of learning at the Torah Umesorah Teacher Center. We went to a Kriah Expo which explored techniques and tools to strengthen the children s Kriah. The keynote speaker focused on maximizing every child s Kriah potential, giving us many tips that we can incorporate into our classrooms. A new teaching method on the rules of the sh vathe nekudah that the children are trying to master right now, was shared. We split up into three concurrent workshop groups, focusing on strategies for the struggling reader and an innovative encoding program. We look forward to a team meeting where we will share all that we have learned with one another. Over the summer we will review, re-evaluate and upgrade the Kriah program in place now, to ensure that all children reach their potential and feel the success of their reading accomplishments.

5 GET READY!! GET SET!! GET SPONSORS!!! FOR THE BEST EVER YBH BIKE-A-THON Riding Times: Sunday, May 5 Third Ward Park by the Duck Pond Boat House. Rain Date: May 13. Registration: Beginning 15 minutes prior to riding times Girls: Grades 1-8: 10:30AM to 12:30 PM Boys: Grades 1-8 1:30PM to 3:00PM Pre1A: Choose either boys or girls session (cycle around the park center circle) Training wheels are permitted but roller blades and scooters are not. Water available for everyone. Helmets are an absolute requirement!!! Prizes! Prizes! Prizes! Prizes! Prizes! Grand Prize for the top YBH fundraiser Gift Certificates for the most laps completed (both boys and girls) Prize for everyone who raises a minimum of $30 dollars Premium level prize for everyone who raises a minimum of $100 dollars To volunteer for the day of the event contact Avi Turkel at (917) or Shmuel and Tamar Schock at (973)