September 2: Welcome from the 5th Grade Team

Hi 5th grade families,

Welcome to middle school! Over the past few weeks, the teachers have been busy setting up the rooms, planning lessons, and thinking collaboratively about best practices for our teaching. As amazing as it has been to have this time together as a staff, it is much too quiet around the building and we are eager to welcome back our students next week!

We look forward to meeting the 5th graders during orientation on Tuesday, September 6, 9:00-10:30. 

This year’s 5th grade teaching team has a mix of old and new faces. We’re excited to welcome Matt Teitelman (Judaic Studies), Tamar Matza (Hebrew), Tomer Yanay (Hebrew-new to middle school, but not Senesh), Dave Suskin (PE), Landon Braverman (music), and Tim Jalbert (STEM Director and technology teacher).

They join Katie Adams (math/5th advisor), Sarah Fielkow (humanities/5th advisor), Sammi Butwin (science), Ilana Nowatzy-Bendet (Hebrew heritage), Kate Barton (MS counselor), and Lauren Goldberg (MS Director/5th advisor).

Katie Adams

Hi, I’m Katie! I grew up in Florida, but I have been living and teaching math in Brooklyn for 15 years. This is my 5th year teaching 5/6th grade math at Hannah Senesh. I am really looking forward to collaborating with the middle school team, bringing current events and our school values into the classroom, and teaching the students how math is all around us! When I am not teaching, I am outdoors exploring in nature with my husband and three sons. I am confident this year will be exciting and engaging! 

Sarah Fielkow

Welcome to 5th grade! I’m Sarah Fielkow, your child’s humanities teacher. I am originally from New Orleans but have lived in Wisconsin, Chicago, and Brooklyn for the past four years. This will be my fourth year teaching humanities at Senesh. I have previously taught at Chicago Jewish Day School and New Orleans Jewish Day School. In my class I aim to instill a love of reading, collaboration, and respectful discussion. We will begin the year reading the novel Wonder together, writing memoirs reflecting on each person’s unique experiences and contributions to our community, and learning about the evolution of humans as we make our way into ancient civilizations.

This year I am excited to not only be a Senesh teacher but a parent as well as my older son (Jesse) joins the kindergarten class! I also have a 20 month old, Emile. When not at school, you can find me folding laundry, cooking three different dinners for my family, juggling schedules, and watching Elmo. As a family we enjoy chasing waterfalls, playing mini-golf, and watching our favorite sports teams.

Ilana Nowatzy-Bendet

I am very excited to enter my 10th year at Hannah Senesh!

My work experience includes Archeology teacher in Elementary school in Jerusalem, guide at the Museum of Bible land and Israel Antiquities Authority, 10 years as a High school History teacher and educator as well as two years at educational programs developing curricula for teaching history at the National Holocaust Memorial center of Yad VaShem.

I am a graduate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem History, Archeology and Education departments with a degree in History (B.A, M.A and Ph.D.), Archeology B.A and Teacher’s Certificate in History and Archeology. I have a Ph.D. in History from Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

I came to Brooklyn 12 years ago with my family due to my husband’s work. I have two boys Jonathan and Tom (17 and 15) who we love spending time together. My goal is for the students to enjoy learning Hebrew and connect with Israeli culture.

Matt Teitelman

Shalom! My name is Matt Teitelman, and I will be your child’s Judaics and Tefillah teacher this year at Hannah Senesh.  I am so excited to get to know your children and for us all to have this opportunity to learn together. This year we will be focusing on the Joseph stories in Chumash, pre-1948 Israel history, and values and text-based holiday studies. We will also continue working on skill-building to become both independent learners of text and good chevrutot (learning partners).

This past May I earned a Master’s in Jewish Education from Machon Pardes in Jerusalem and Hebrew College in Boston, and this is my first year at Senesh – and in the classroom – after more than a decade serving as an informal educator. I love bringing offerings and ideas from my outside-of-school life into the classroom – you’ll find me singing and teaching ukulele on Friday mornings, for example, and using big life questions to inspire classroom learning, such as: “How do our life circumstances help shape who we are?” “Do intentions matter?” and many more.

When I’m not teaching, you might catch me playing the drums or exploring Brooklyn with my family: Sivan,  Aidan (6), and  Elsie (1). 

Please feel free to reach out to me any time with questions, concerns, or ideas of ways we can grow and learn together!

mteitelman@hannahsenesh.org

Shavua nifla (have a wonderful week)

Sammi Butwin

Welcome back! I am so excited to start our 3rd year of science together. I hope it is comforting that among all the change is still a familiar lower school face. This year, we will meet twice a week in the science room. And yes, I mean the actual middle school science room upstairs! Moving on up! 5th-grade science is a big change from lower school science. We will dive deeply into some challenging physical science topics, starting with “The Physics of Flight”. This first unit is grounded in engineering work, which I know the students really enjoy. I can’t wait to get started and see everyone next week!

Tamar Matza