April 5, 2019

Meanwhile, 7X is busy learning about ratios, rates, and unit rates. They’ll be expanding that knowledge by using ratios for conversions and then applying those foundations to percentages and probability.

The essential question “What does learning about the choices people made during the rise of the Nazi Party, and the Holocaust teach us about the power and impact of our choices today?” has framed the seventh graders Holocaust unit. For example, discussions about why do we humans so often divide into “we” and “they,” or “in” groups and “out” groups allow us to better understand how and why the Nazi party appealed to the German people. Over the past three weeks we have focused on how the conditions in Germany post World War I and during the Weimar Republic set the stage for Hitler and the Nazi party to gain control. Next week we will learn about how Hitler used both propaganda and the youth movement to further his goals of German pride and racial purity.

Phyllis and Ilana

In social studies, we are examining some of the causes of the decline of the Middle Ages – how the Black Death, the invention of new weapons, the rise of nationalism, the questioning of church teachings, and many other factors set the stage for the massive growth, change, and development of the Renaissance.

In ELA, students have been thinking deeply about Anne Frank’s words and experiences. I have loved watching them engage in the text, find connections, and articulate those connections in compelling ways. We’ve been working on a few different skills: having successful literary analysis discussions, writing on-demand using text evidence, and thinking critically about identity. Students used Anne’s own words to give voice to Anne’s process of identity development and Anne’s reaction to the trauma of her experience.

Students are concluding out unit on the power of words. With Rivke, our student teacher, the 7th graders looked at Chapter 12 of Bmidbar/Numbers, studying the story of Miryam and Aharon talking about Moshe. We are now exploring Talmudic texts, keeping the idea that words have power in mind. What do Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai say about what to do when the values of being kind and not lying conflict with each other? Is it okay to invite someone to your Bat Mitzvah if you know they can’t come, and you just want a check? If you give someone an expensive present that you actually got for free, do you have to tell them? As we think about these amazing Rabbinic texts, students were also asked to live out the idea that words have power, building our skills of listening and articulating in chevruta.

7J

This week we continued to learn about the topic of “Big Cities”. We discussed ecology and recycling. We debated about the advantages and disadvantages of the topics above.

 

7K

This week we strengthen the kids’ ability to compare and contrast by discussing schools in Israel and schools in the states. The kids wrote conversations and simulated discussions between Israeli and American students.  In addition, we continued to review future tense by conjugating verbs and in writing.