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6th Grade: Winter Updates 1/27/23

Math:

In math, 6th graders have been focusing on dividing fractions and operations with decimals. They have been engaging in hands-on activities and real-world problem solving to deepen their understanding. They are currently working on a project where they will be creating apartment complexes. The models will be inspired by Architect, Moshe Safdie. Students will analyze the cost and revenue of their apartment complexes based on windows and floor level. They will present their apartments to the class next week. 

The next topic we will cover is: Rational Numbers. 

Katie

Humanities 

January has been a busy month with full weeks of learning!

In ELA, we have been diving into deep and meaningful discussions about our current book: The Giver. The students have impressed me with their abstract thinking skills and ability to imagine an alternate universe without many of the things we take for granted in our own world: colors, love and hate, knowledge of history, freedom of choice, and more. It’s fascinating to hear everyone’s opinions about big questions and thought experiments like: Why do we have rules in the first place? What would our world be like if everyone had the same skin tone? What if there were no colors, and everyone wore the same thing? Together, we are gradually arriving at conclusions about the value of diversity, the power of choices, and the privilege we have to embrace our own, unique and individual identities.

In Social Studies, we are wrapping up our ancient Greece unit with some interactive role-playing activities. First, we held our annual 6th Grade Ancient Greek Olympics competition! Students were divided into four teams from different Greek city-states: Miletus, Argos, Thebes, and Corinth. Then we competed in ancient-Greek style competitions, including our own versions of discus, javelin, long jump, and relay races. Congratulations to the winning team, Argos (Green team), who were awarded with olive wreath crowns AND a sense of honor! See photos from the event attached to this blog.

We traveled back in time again while participating in our “Peloponnesian Summit.” For this activity, we pretended to be Spartans and Athenians at a peace conference, trying to draft a treaty to end the Peloponnesian War between the two city-states. First, students presented their research about different aspects of each city state: Education, Economy, Government, and Social Structure. Then, we had a few meetings where we discussed which parts of each city-state we liked best, and which we wanted to emulate as we built our “New Greece” together. Through structured and cooperative class conversations, we shared opinions and voted on several topics, including: Should our new country rely more on TRADE or on FARMING? Should we focus on building up our NAVY or our ARMY? Ask your child which decisions their class made about how their new Greece will operate!

Shabbat shalom,

Naomi

Judaic Studies

Since the winter break, the 6th grade has been diving deep into some of the richest stories of women the Torah has to offer and they are all packed into 2 chapters! We learned and translated the story of the midwives’ refusal to follow Pharaoh’s unjust decree to kill baby Hebrew boys. We followed Yocheved as she hid her precious baby until the last moment and set him gently in the reeds of the Nile in a waterproof basket, Miriam as she kept watch of the baby, and Bat Pharaoh who brought the young Moshe out of the water, reunited him with his mother, and adopted him as her own son. Through all this, we examined the heroism of the characters, the risks they took to do what was right and the ways in which they continue to inspire us. 

Students got into the “reeds” with these characters, asking kushiot, offering potential solutions, and researching commentaries to find answers. They finished their research by creating felt tapestries of the biblical scenes in the style of the Chilean arpilleras, protest art made by women in the 70’s and 80’s against the brutal Pinochet regime, and connected the artistic choices in their tapestries to their research through symbolic colors and imagery. We capped off the project by examining the role of visual art in telling a story, giving a different perspective, and inspiring in a different way from the written word.
Up next, Tu Bishvat!
Shabbat shalom,
Matt
להורים יקרים שלום,
לאחר חודש של עבודה קשה של התלמידים ונכונות מדהימה מצד ההורים להגיע אל כיתתינו ולהרצאות על מקומות מדהימים בישראל, סיימנו את היחידה. התלמידים הציגו את עבודותיהם בכיתה בפני חבריהם וזכו לתשואות רבות על המאמץ והעניין שהשקיעו בעבודה. השבוע התחלנו יחידה חדשה ״תמיד יהיו ספרים״ הלקוח מתוך מאמר של דב אלפרון אשר עוסקת בשאלה, האם בעידן המודרני שבו מרבית מהסיפורים מועברים לצג דיגיטלי, יש מקום לספרים? תוך כדי קריאת הטקסט נעסוק בשאלה, מה ההבדל בין דעה לעובדה. התלמידים ילמדו מילים חדשות ויחשפו למשימות שונות אשר יעזרו להם לגבש את עמדתם בנושא.
מאחלת לכולכם, סוף שבוע נעים.