Friday November 11th 2022
Directed by Ms. Oluwabunmi Olusina and Ms. Liliam Ochoam, focusing on Robotics this year. The class inspires children to connect with the fun and approachable side of science by teaching them to create robots, assemble drones, design race cars and other machines of their own design. A very interactive course that takes kids through the basics of robotic construction/design, circuit building, alternative energy sources and engineering.
Wild Science Experiments (STEAM) is a hands-on science and experiments program designed to inspire future inventors, scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Students will create soap powered boats, oxygen propelled airplanes following a curriculum that covers appropriate concepts in chemistry, biology, natural sciences and real-world physics applications.
Why did you decide to coach the YCQ basketball team? Growing up in Kew Gardens Hills I had a lot of friends who went to YCQ, and although I went to Yeshiva Har Torah I took a lot of pride in my neighborhood’s and friends’ success on the basketball teams, except for when they beat us in middle school many, many times. When I heard there was an opening coaching the JV Team I jumped on the opportunity, because I was this age when I first got into playing basketball competitively.
What are your goals for the year? One of my goals is to develop a sense of teamwork among the boys, to show that as individuals they’re good, but as a team no one can beat them. Our realistic goal as a team is a championship. Plain and simple. We’re all developing and learning to play more as a team and trust one another, and we all understand that being selfish won’t help on the court and won’t help off the court, outside of basketball as well.
Which strengths does the team already have? Our team right now is led by very mature players who are great shooters, willing passers, and tenacious defenders. The boys are great listeners, and really have the desire and hunger to be better players, not only as individuals but as a team as well.
What are you most looking forward to this season? As B’nei Torah we believe that united we can overcome anything, but divided, we fall. We need to learn to trust one another, and if we do, I have no doubt in my mind that this team is more than capable of winning many games this season and winning the championship.
This week in the library, Grade 1 students collectively agreed that “Pigeon has to go to school,” and drew cartoons of him using circle eyes; long, rectangular necks, and triangular beaks. One big fan of the comical bird even gave him punky hair! What does Pigeon like to eat before Thanksgiving? Pizza seemed a logical answer, as written in one of Willem’s legendary word bubbles. A reading of the title book Pigeon has to go to school led to a predictable outcome. Why does he want to go there so much? All predicted that the best reason was to enjoy the ride there on the legendary bus! Mrs. Etta will follow up with more bird-friendly books in the library as we approach Thanksgiving. Perhaps we will give Mr. Turkey a special holiday break!
Why did you generously decide to coach the YCQ Hockey Team?
I have been a part of the Yeshiva Hockey League for years. I have spent most of that time as a referee but have coached as well. I spent the past 2 summers in Camp Dovid doing both and while I enjoy “reffing” nothing tops the feeling of coaching the younger generation and seeing them grow and learn. Coaching at YCQ, where my children go to school, allows me to give back to the school which has been so good to my family. I can coach so many players that I know and now have the chance to pass along what I’ve learned with my amazing staff, Assistant Coaches, Judah Gomberg and Lee Gherman.
What are your goals (pun intended) for the year?
I think we obviously want to win. Everyone wants to win. But to me it’s more than that. I want the kids to learn how to play not only individually but as a team. I want them to have a good time, to play a great game, and to represent themselves and YCQ as proper Bnei-Torah.
Which strengths does the team already have?
The team came in with a solid foundation. A good portion of the players were on the team last year. This showed them how a team should operate. A lot of the kids have grown up together and played together. They know how their friends and teammates think and play and I think that will give us an edge.
What are you most looking forward to this season?
Ultimately the ability to really teach the players how to win the right way. We’ve stressed from the beginning of the year that it is important to win but only if we do it the right way. I want them to have fun, to play hard and to enjoy winning. We are looking forward to a great season.
By: Assaf and Yair Davidov (Grade 8)
This week was the beginning of the YCQ 2022-2023 debate season. The Yeshiva Debate League
is run by Commissioner Waterman, who sends the resolutions to all the participating yeshiva day schools (HANC, Moriah, BPY, HAFTR, Noam, JKHA, Yavneh, and Yeshiva of Central Queens). The YCQ Debate Team is coached by Mr. Miles Ehrenkranz, who led the team to victory in last year’s championship. He stated, “Debate competition exercises our brains and therefore improves multiple skill sets. The increased ability to think critically, as well as more swiftly, are skills that exhibit themselves in debate competition. But what sets YCQ apart, and places us in position to win numerous individual and team awards, is our constant focus on improving.”
Says Mr. Ehrenkranz “Our success last year sets the bar we need to beat, not meet. Our recipe
for success always starts with respect. Respect for each other, respect for our opponents, and respect for the league’s honorable judges. We then skill-build with a focus on public speaking by enhancing debater voice projection annunciation, research, speech writing, cross-examination, and extemporaneous argument presentation skills. I am proud of every student on our YCQ Debate Team, and strongly believe we will live up to, and conquer, the challenges that a year-long, four-tournament season demands.”
Last year’s team had only three debates because of COVID-19, but this year’s team has four prescheduled debates. The students on the debate team work extremely hard to perfect and hone their debating skills, whether it’s speech writing or cross examination. The Grade 8 Co-Captains include Assaf Davidov, Yair Davidov, Adam Kaykov, Micheal Zavulun, Eliana Aminov, Emily Abkashev, Jonathan Khimov, Ben Toobian and, Max Basalely. The team members include Joni Musheyev, Binyamin Flamenbaum, Ethan Mordukhay, David Nikolsky, and Mikey Fried, David Kovan, Eylon Wortzel, Moria Cohen, and Elisheva Schutzman. Adam Kaykov, Co-Captain, reports, “Our success is really based on our ability to work together as a team. Since we are many talented debaters with many different styles of debating, we take all of our abilities and put it together to make
one championship debate team.” While the team prepares for the first upcoming debate, Rabbi Landsman, Principal of YCQ, acknowledged the hard work and effort of the team. “I am extremely proud of our debate team for their hard work to win last year’s debate championship, and of Mr. Ehrenkranz for his advice and leadership. He is an excellent coach, and we couldn’t have won the championship without him.”
If everybody in the world jumped simultaneously, would Earth’s motion change? Can people see the Statue of Liberty and Great Wall of China from space? Are bats really blind? These are a few questions Grade 3 and 4 students were asked this week in library class, based on astounding findings found in the book National Geographic Kids: Myths Busted! Just When You Thought You Knew What You Knew by Emily Krieger. The myths in this book are based on popular beliefs that may be partly true or proven completely false. The students played a thumbs-up or thumbs- down game to vote on their assumptions before discovering answers they may or may not have suspected. For instance, though the vast majority of students believed that bats are actually blind, this is a mistaken notion because they have small eyes and keen ears. In truth, bats have an expert ability to use sound called echolocation. Even more astounding, though humans cannot see the Statue of Liberty or Great Wall in China from space, the Pyramids of Giza is visible from that vast distance away. Stay tuned in the near future as third-and-fourth graders are urged to challenge Mrs. Etta and their peers with other mystifying myths. Truth or busted?
An Interview with Morah Shirley Pourad-Kaikov, Director of Student Activities K-5
What were the different activities the children had the opportunity to experience?
The children were able to experience all different types of animals in the Tevah. There were snakes, llama, bunnies, goats and fish. The students especially loved getting to meet Poochi the Monkey. Following the monkey show, where they got to see the monkey do several tricks, Some students were able to give Poochi a coin and watch her put the coin in the tzedakah box. The students were able to pet and feed the animals, but especially loved how they connected what they learned in class about Noach and his Tevah to what they saw.
How did the weather effect the event?
Though it didn’t rain for forty days and forty nights, we knew there would be no canceling this activity despite the rainy day. The kids really got to feel what it was like when Noach and the animals boarded the Tevah.
What types of animals did Noach bring?
In addition to Poochi the Monkey, there were snakes, llama, bunnies, goats and fish.
How do you think this event impacts the students understanding of the Parsha?
Our younger students mostly learned about the rain, and that Noach had to choose and take two of each animal onto the Tevah. During this program, the students got to see what the Tevah might have looked like by climbing aboard a tevah, in addition to meeting and petting many different species of animals.
In preparation for Yom Kippur, grade 5 students visited Flushing Meadows Corona Park to
participate in the tashlich ceremony. At the park, Rabbi Rohr shared a story about a villager who
went to the big city to learn how they put out fires. However, he mistakenly thought the alarms and sirens
themselves put out the fires! He compared this to the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. Just as the alarms alerted the firefighters to take action, the shofar alerts us and wakes us up, but each of us must actually perform the actions of teshuva. After learning the meaning of tashlich and hearing the story, the students said the tashlich prayer by the water and cast of their sins.
During an oneg shabbat, students in grades 1–5 listened to an explanation of why we do kaparot. Rabbi Landsman said that the chicken that we are saying kaparot with will be shechted and killed, and we
are thinking that this really should be happening to us because of all the bad deeds we’ve done, and Hashem is giving us mercy for our teshuva. Students each brought in money that they used to perform kapparot. Viviana Olsen, grade 4, learned that “All the money that we use instead of chickens, is going to people that really need it and that we are giving this money instead of us. Because really, we know this should be happening to us instead of the chickens because of all the aveirot we have done.”
On Thursday, October 6, the eighth grade students visited Ellis Island and the 9/11 Memorial
Museum. The students sailed past the Statue of Liberty on a beautiful ferry ride. The students took a tour of the Ellis Island Museum and learned about the history of the island. They ate an outdoor lunch overlooking the Statue of Liberty and spent time at Battery Park. At the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the students toured, and observed all the meaningful exhibits and displays, followed by dinner at Bravo Pizza. The eighth grade students had a wonderful educational day of touring lower Manhattan.
YCQ’s seventh grade had a fascinatingly educational field trip to the iconic Intrepid Aircraft
Carrier and Museum on Thursday, October 6.
Students were were provided with a private tour, and learned important facts about the aircraft carrier,
including the ship survived multiples wars from World War II to Vietnam. Students felt the most interesting and surprising fact, that despite the Intrepid having been torpedoed, bombed, and intentionally hit by enemy planes, the Intrepid did not sink.
Students saw one of the most impressive planes on the Intrepid, the Lockheed A-12, the fastest, highest flying jet aboard the Intrepid’s flight deck. Following the Intrepid experience, students were treated to games of bowling, before returning to school after a full day of education and fun.
