Yeshivat Noam families came out to Barnes and Noble in a celebration of literacy and community. Children excitedly entered the store in anticipation of listening to their beloved teachers and faculty members reading books and telling stories. Parents felt pride as they heard their children read their own poetry and stories to the audience. One of the event highlights was listening to the Yeshivat Noam choir’s beautiful performance, under the direction of Morah Adina Mermelstein. Another notable part of the event was hearing Yeshivat Noam parent Chana Stiefel share her experiences about developing into a published author. The book fair was the culmination of the most recent literacy programs organized by the Yeshivat Noam Parent Association.
Coordinated by parent volunteers, Yeshivat Noam had two authors present to the students in celebration of World Read Aloud Day.
Author and illustrator, Kevin O’Malley, visited Yeshivat Noam Grades K through 6. Mr. O’ Malley, author of 75 published books, including the Miss Malarkey series, discussed his process in illustrating and writing children’s books. While Mr. O’ Malley’s presentations were entertaining, engaging and had the room filled with laughter, his messages for each group were important. He encouraged the younger children to create their own story and illustrated the point with the group rewriting the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. In the presentations to the older children, in his “scheming” voice, Mr. O’Malley enticed children to write stories, because writers “control people’s minds.” He went on to give examples of this in the in advertising and movies. The children responded to the presentations with lots of laughter and asked meaningful questions, such as “How did you come up with your ideas?” and “How long did it take you to write this book?” The Parent Association donated a number of Kevin O’ Malley’s books to the classrooms to read for several years to come.
Andria Rosenbaum, an author of pictures books, poetry and short stories visited the Buds classes and read her book, “Meg Goldberg on Parade.” The children spoke of their experiences at parades and asked her, “Why do you write the words?” Andria’s response was “I love words and it makes me happy.” The Buds students were happy to have met an author of a book they read in class.
