6th Grade News: 3/11/22

Humanities: 

This past month in Social Studes, students engaged with our content through primary source exploration, role-playing activities, and discussions about current events. To learn more about the mythology behind Rome’s founding, we read an excerpt from the classic Latin epic poem The Aeneid. The language was sophisticated and complex, but students did a great job reading closely and rewriting the text in their own words. Our class has also experienced ancient Roman life for ourselves by getting into character — which students love! For example, we spent one lesson acting as “plebeians” (commoners) and “patricians” (upper class citizens) in order to better understand the power dynamic in the Roman Republic. While trying to complete a team project together, the students came to recognize firsthand how the plebeians gained leverage and more rights through protests, strikes, and negotiations. During another lesson, we “shmoozed in the forum,” or the ancient Roman meeting place. Students pretended they had different positions in the Roman Republic government, and they learned about each other’s roles and responsibilities while they chatted. And of course, in light of recent news around the world, we are also making time in Social Studies to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Students are eager to follow the events closely, expressing both curiosity about the situation and sympathy for Ukrainian victims. We will continue to follow the news and unpack our emotions around these tragic and scary events.

In ELA, we are several chapters into our new book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Though the book is sophisticated and at times complex, students have been able to follow the events, ask important questions, and respond with thoughtful insight. In order to better understand the historical context of the novel, we are learning more about the racist attitudes and systems that were prominent in the Jim Crow era South. Soon, we will consider how these prejudices and power imbalances continue to impact our world today. Lots of sophisticated learning ahead!

Shabbat shalom,

Naomi

Math: 

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing February break. When we returned to break, 6th graders finished up their lesson on percents with a challenging percents puzzle. After percentages we moved on to converting measurements. This was a short chapter that all students enjoyed and was easy to understand. To celebrate Women’s History Month, we will be learning about specific women who helped change the history of mathematics [Examples include: Grace Hopper and Sofia Kovalevskaya]. On Monday 3/14, we will be celebrating Pi Day! 

 

Judaics: 

In Judaics we took a “mega vocab challenge” where students were tested on a sample of words from all of the levels they have passed this year. I was very happy to see how much they retained from the start of the year!

Students recently worked on translating and identifying verbs in a very dramatic turning point in Moshe’s journey. They took scenes from the text and performed it for the class in all very unique ways! Each group brought up a moral or ethical lesson that they derived from their section. Please enjoy their presentations here! You can also see the picture of their Heroine projects from before break. Please ask your child to explain their art to you! 

We are currently working on organizing the Penny Drive for the annual collection that takes place from Purim to Passover. 6th graders have been working with Hannah from Repair the World to learn about how to choose a good organization and think about what is most needed and meaningful in our community. They are preparing materials for the school and look forward to being the leaders of this fundraiser.

We are also beginning our Purim unit where we will study texts throughout the ages on the changing rules regarding obligations to people who don’t identify as male reading and hearing the megillah. Students will end this unit writing their own rabbinic response. This is a great connection to their upcoming B-Mitzvahs as they begin to think about what it means to them to be responsible or obligated in mitzvot. It also helps us explore the history of gendered Judaism and how it is changing in many circles and staying the same in others. 

Shabbat Shalom, 

Laura 

 

Hebrew with Yuliya:

In Hebrew class we have finished next two units “Jerusalem” and “Day day and more”. Students learned about different places in Jerusalem and wrote their projects “I’m a guide in Jerusalem”. Each pair of students choose places on the Jerusalem’s map and described them in presentation. While learning about it, they practiced a lot how to use accurately past tense and present tense, expended new vocabulary and learned new expressions. Learning unit “Day day and more” students wrote greeting cards and thank you notes for gifts, talked about surprise party and preparation  for it.

 We are currently starting new unit “My room”. Student described the structure, color and furniture of a room and drew the room based on the description in the text. We will discuss different aspects of neatness and messiness, advantage and disadvantage of advertisement and how them influence people.

We had a lot of fun learning new words with Quizlet and Blooket.

Shabbat shalom,

Yuliya

 

Science

During the past few weeks, sixth grade students started to learn about their next body system. We started our exploration with the circulatory system. Students conducted an experiment to see what activities would have higher heart rates. Students experienced rotation stations to discover different aspects of the circulatory system, for example, EKG, blood pressure, and CO2. Students will also use simulation software to explore the parts of the circulatory system. Next week in science, we talked about blood types and students will do an activity to figure out the blood type of four artificial blood samples. They will learn how to figure out O+ blood compared to AB- blood. We will continue our exploration of the circulatory system in the following weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Noll