6th Grade Blog 9/17-9/28/18

HUMANITIES

This week in Social Studies class, students learned all about what defines a civilization, and which features all civilizations have in common. For example, all have organized governments, their own forms of art and architecture, and big cities. Students then “created” their own civilizations — describing their civilizations’ important jobs, languages, government positions, and more. It was fun to hear about their creative, made-up worlds, and to see how they all incorporated the key features of a civilization in different ways.

In ELA class, we are just beginning our first class text: The Epic of Gilgamesh. This tale, which tells the story of a semi-mythical Mesopotamian king searching for eternal life, is actually known as the earliest surviving piece of great literature. We began our unit with a discussion of heroism, a theme that will be central to our humanities classes and projects this semester. Students grappled with questions such as: What comes to mind when you hear the word hero? What qualities must a hero have, and which of these qualities is most important? As we read The Epic of Gilgamesh, students will consider whether or not Gilgamesh is a true hero (as his reputation indicates)– or whether, instead, he falls short. I look forward to digging into our first ELA text!

Chag sameach,

Naomi

MATH

In addition to finding the greatest common factor and least common multiple of two or more numbers, students have been exploring the various properties of multiplication. Some were easily identifiable and taken for granted, such as the Zero Property (anything times zero is zero), and the Identity Property (any number times one is itself). However, the Distributive Property allows us to do mental math without having to follow the traditional multiplication algorithm. Many students have proudly shared a number of strategies with their classmates, often performing my role, which is great! We’re just completing our first unit, and will be soon be reviewing for our very first quiz. Don’t worry — there’s nothing to be nervous about.

HEBREW HERITAGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDAICS

This week we continued with learning Mishnah Sukkot. Students looked at the original source of why we build a sukkah in the Torah. They discussed what it would be like if this was our only source for building a sukkah. It was so great to see them discover that the Rabbis in the Mishnah had some of the same questions they were left with after reading the Torah. How tall does it have to be? What can it be made of? etc. We will be looking into the structural details of the sukkah for the sake of figuring out what kind of society the Rabbis were trying to form. We will also see how the size and details of the structure display shared values that we can bring to mind when we dwell in a sukkah. In the pictures below students acted as the Rabbis with different opinions and had to defend their side while being open and understanding to the other side.

Chag Sameach!

Laura

 

 

BAR/BAT MITZVAH CLASS – WITH PHYLLIS

This week in Bar/Bat the sixth graders remembered Hurricane Sandy to help them imagine what victims of Hurricane Florence are going through. On Friday the 6th graders delivered Senesh’s collection for the hurricane to the Brooklyn UJA office. Finally, reflecting on quote from Pirkei Avot – “It is not upon you to finish the work (of fixing the world), but neither are you free to desist from it” kicked off our brainstorm of community needs and ways that we can take responsibility for helping the community.    

 

ADVISORY/ BUDDIES

Last week, 6th graders had their first meeting of the year with their 2nd grade buddies! Most students are paired up with the same buddies they had last year. They’re continuing to strengthen their bonds with the younger students while practicing their leadership skills as the “big kids.” Here are some photos from their icebreaker activity: