6th Grade News: 4/16/21

Humanities: 

We had so much fun in Social Studies this week celebrating our Rome research projects during our 6th grade Roman Banquet. At the banquet, students read from their research essays and shared “artifacts” they made related to their topics. Check out all the artifact videos at this link (if it asks for a password it’s RomeResearch), and see photos from the event at this link. We reclined on pillows and blankets, just as wealthy Romans did during ancient times, we sipped on grape juice just like they drank wine, and we enjoyed ancient Roman entertainment in between presentations, like Youtube videos of ancient Roman music and dancing. All in all, the students felt proud and excited to show off everything they’d learned, and it was nice for them to teach and learn from each other.

In ELA, we are nearing the end of The Giver and continuing our discussions about themes like the importance of individuality and diversity, and the balance between rules and freedom of choice. Throughout the unit, we’ve also focused on key literary elements like mood and conflicts. Students are practicing identifying different kinds of conflicts in literature, TV shows, and movies, and they’re becoming more adept at analyzing the mood in text, pictures, and videos. We are also studying more Greek and Latin roots and using those to expand our vocabulary. Try quizzing your child by asking them what the roots HELI or COSM means. (Hint: COSM has two different meanings!)

I hope you have a relaxing weekend and a shabbat shalom,

Naomi

 

Math: 

The 6th graders have been continuing to learn about percentages. They are full speed ahead in solving real world word problems to apply their skills. We had a special lesson that focused on voting and what needs to happen to win the majority when the group is divided.  Coming up next will be calculating tax, tip, discounts, interest rate, and percent increase/decrease. This is such a great unit for applying real life scenarios. Our next unit is going to be Probability and Statistics! 

Katie

Hebrew Heritage: 

להורים שלום,

אני מקווה ששלומכם בטוב.

לפני החופשה התלמידים סיימו את עבודתם על הפרוייקט ״ספורטאים ישראלים״ והציגו את עבודתם בכיתה. משבוע שעבר התחלנו יחידה חדשה בשם ״אוכל ישראלי״, נבדוק מהו אוכל ישראלי, מה התלמידים מזהים כאוכל ישראלי, אוכל ביתי. אוכל אצל סבתא וסבא, אוכל במסעדות ישראליות וכו’. לאחר שנסקור את המאכלים השונים ננסה להשיב על השאלה האם קיים מטבח ישראלי או שבעצם הוא מארג של עדות ותרבויות שונות. נערוך מסע קולנרי ונשוחח על מאכלי עדות שונות.

מאחלת לכם סוף שבוע רגוע.

אילנה

 

Judaics: 

The 6th graders did a wonderful job finishing their last Holiday Mishnah lesson about Passover. They wrapped up their Mishnah learning by getting to know that Rabbis of the Mishnah better. This year they gained the skills to discover the intentions behind the rules, think about what kind of society the Rabbis were trying to set up with the rules and decode key words and phrases in original text!

They also just finished a unit around Yom HaShoah. We looked at the state of Germany post WW1 and tried to understand how Hitler took advantage of their situation with promises of rebuilding the country. We built empathy for the German’s who felt hopeful when they heard his promises and tried to understand how people could ignore the growing dictatorship and antisemitism. It was amazing to hear student’s reflect on how we need to understand the circumstances of his rise to power so we can make sure to never let that happen again, even if we feel like we are in a vulnerable state when voting. We then compared Hitler and Germany to the way Pharoah led in Egypt. Students wrote beautiful reflections connecting these tragic moments in history to the line that we say all the time “זכר ליצאת מצרים Remember the Exodus from Egypt”.

We are now continuing our history unit looking into Israel’s establishment as a State and its complex history surroudning the treaty of Versailles and the Sykes Picot agreement. We will be practicing active listening, mindful sharing and seeing multiple points of view as we dive into this time period. We began by exploring our own connections to Israel today. Please feel free to add yours onto this Jam board! 

With the student teacher, Hannah, the students will continue in Shemot looking at Moshe’s rise to leadership.

Shabbat Shalom,

Laura

Science:

Before the break students continued learning about body systems with the exploration of the skeletal system. Students completed a hands on activity which required them to use toothpicks to create a skeleton model of the basic human bones. This allowed students to appreciate how many bones are in the human body. Next students used a coding program called “Scratch” in order to create an informational program about any body system. They produced very clever programs that informed the user of five basic body system facts. This allowed them to be creative and take ownership of explaining a body system.  In the coming weeks we will start to explore the immune system. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Noll