6th Grade News: 12/3 – 12/14/18

ADVISORY

This week in advisory, students focused on team-building skills. They participated in several fun group challenges (ask your child about the marshmallow tower challenge!), and analyzed the qualities that make a successful team. We also celebrated Hanukkah with our 2nd grade buddies! Here are some photos from our activities:

HUMANITIES: 

These past few weeks, 6th graders have been working hard to prepare for the Heroes Convention next Thursday. They finished up their independent reading projects about biographies, wrapped up their own digital hero stories, and thought about the heroes in their personal lives. Students also read and shared poignant quotes about heroes before writing their own definitions. They can’t wait to show off their hard work at the event! We hope to see you on Thursday at 9am in the Hannah Senesh gym.

Aside from our hero projects, we are also approaching the end of our current ELA book, Lois Lowry’s The Giver. It’s been a pleasure to hear students’ views about the dystopian society in the novel. As we read, we’re discussing the value of diversity, what it means to have “freedom of choice,” how Jonas comes of age throughout the book, and more.

Lastly, in Social Studies class, we wrapped up our unit on Mesopotamia with an assessment and a celebratory party. Students should be so proud of all of the valuable skills they practiced while studying this ancient civilization; they analyzed primary sources, drew inferences from maps and timelines, assessed leadership skills in the past and present — just to name a few.

Have a wonderful shabbat and I’ll see you on Thursday,

Naomi

SCIENCE:

Science has continued to explore how genetics produce different traits among life forms. We conducted a fun activity called “genetic smiles.” Students flipped a coin in order to select dominant and recessive traits within their cartoon genetic faces. This allowed students to see a great diversity of genetics with no two smiles looking the same. We will wrap up our unit of DNA and genetics this week by creating different genetic bugs using the same concept of flipping a coin in order to determine dominant and recessive traits.

Mike Noll

JUDAICS:

We are working on a Chumash project that you will be able to see at the upcoming Heroes Convention. We are looking at the heroines found in Shemot: Miriam, Shifra and Puah, Jocheved, and Bat Pharaoh. We studied the non-violent protest that happened in Chile in the 1980’s under the dictator Pinochet. Women made tapestry called arpilleras that told the story of the horrible events that were taking place under Pinochet’s rule. We are using this style of art to tell the stories of how these women in the Torah stood up and acted heroically even when the risk was high. Please watch this clip to learn more about this form of art and the impact of the arpilleras. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/arpilleras-chile-marjorie-agosin

Students are working in small groups asking Kushiyot (text based questions) about the text explaining the heroic moment of their heroine. They have been learning about how smart and non-violent protest takes a lot of listening to your surroundings and making calculated moves. They are practicing balancing their conversations and opinions while working on their active listening skills. You will see their conversations about this text in a color coded fashion that connects to their art!

Shabbat Shalom,

Laura

HEBREW:

Dear parents,

Last week the students finished presenting their verbal projects describing a place of their choice. All the students put a lot of effort into their presentations and did a wonderful job!

This week, HaKbatza Aleph started a new unit on the human body. We have been looking at self-portraits of artists. The students are writing their own analysis of a self-portrait of their choice.

HaKbatza Bet started a new unit on various schools and on how students learn differently in those schools.

I wish everyone a relaxing weekend,

Andreea

MATH