October 8, 2020
HUMANITIES Right now, 7th graders are working diligently on their creative project in response to the summer reading of The Outsiders. Students are working on either an illustrated timeline of scenes from the book or creative first-person narratives from the perspective of imagined characters who witnessed scenes from the book. Their creativity is flowing! In Social Studies, students’ knowledge of the geography and spelling of all fifty U.S. states has improved impressively, which will help them as we study our country’s history throughout the year. We continue having weekly lessons on topics related to the upcoming election including how to have civil... Read More
Welcome to 7th Grade!
HUMANITIES Hi everyone! My name is Sammy Meckler, and I am very excited to start my first year as Hannah Senesh’s 7th grade humanities teacher and sixth year as a teacher. I moved to New York–mid-pandemic–from the San Francisco Bay Area where I taught 8th grade humanities at a Jewish Day School for the past three years. This year, the students will read a variety of books, build their writing skills, and develop their knowledge of U.S. history. I am looking forward to helping the students grow and learn, as well as learning alongside them throughout the year. Please feel... Read More
March 6, 2020
Humanities In ELA, we’ve been continuing to read and analyze short stories in a variety of genres. I have loved using classic texts like “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Lottery” to expand students’ concepts of short stories. Their freewrites based on stories like “Seventh Grade” by Gary Soto and “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas were thoughtful and funny, incorporating dialogue and conflict. Students will be writing their own short stories over the next week and a half. In social studies, we are beginning to examine both the early Middle Ages, as well as elements of the Facing History curriculum. Facing... Read More
February 7, 2020
Humanities In ELA, students are putting the finishing touches on their persuasive essays, which hopefully reveal a deft balance of pathos, logos, and ethos. They are also preparing for their 150 word test on February 12th, which is a culmination of ten weeks of vocabulary study. Lastly, students are concluding their third independent reading assignment, due on Friday, February 14th. In social studies, students have embarked on chapter 13, Early African Civilizations. The time period the chapter covers is 550 BC to 1600 CE. However, we’ll be asking some questions about modern Africa as well. Math In Math class... Read More
January 24, 2020
Advisory HS Information Update from Mike Dorfman: Dear 7th Grade Parents, Thank you so much for coming to High School Night last week at Hannah Senesh! It was great meeting you, and I hope you found the session informative and helpful. I wanted to follow up with some links and info from what was discussed: 1) Please find the HS Night Powerpoint here (the first link under “General Information” that says ‘High School 2020 Winter Presentation). 1a) Many of you mentioned it would also be helpful to see the High School Timeline: that is on the resource page as well. 2) Here... Read More
January 10, 2020
Humanities In ELA, students have been finishing analysis of Beowulf: A New Telling by identifying major themes and writing theme statements about the book. We’ve been continuing our second set of vocabulary. Instead of taking a traditional quiz this week, we wrote poems, journal entries, or gratitude notes using at least five vocabulary words from weeks 1-6. I was so impressed and inspired by their creativity and thoughtfulness in this task. They wrote thoughtful, funny poems and kind notes, all using words like bestow, vaunt, renegade, incipient, and many more. In social studies, students are choosing a modern Muslim person... Read More
December 20, 2019
Humanities In ELA, students have been reading Beowulf: A New Telling. They drew fantastic comics strips of interesting moments and practiced visualizing some of the scenes from the book as a strategy for effective independent reading. Then, students began analyzing the use of symbolism in the text. Students were asked to complete their second on-demand writing assignment for the year. To write consistently for 50 minutes, aiming for a cohesive five-paragraph essay, is quite a challenge! I’m so proud of all my students. We are continuing our vocabulary study of both Wordly Wise Grade 7 words and Greek and Latin... Read More
December 6, 2019
Advisory Over the past two weeks, students prepared a lesson on Estela’s Swap for kindergarteners and first graders at Brooklyn Landmark Elementary School. We will ask pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading questions. In the story, Estela has a music box that she gives to someone. The younger students will draw, color, and write about their own music box. In preparing, 7th graders had to practice reading the book aloud and asking thoughtful questions of readers. Humanities We are embarking on Week 4 of a new set of vocabulary. This set of vocabulary switches between Wordly Wise 7th grade words... Read More
November 14, 2019
Advisory On Friday, November 1st, students had their second trip to Brooklyn Landmark Elementary School. They read the book The Good Egg and lead students through a few comprehension activities. Israel 7 with Phyllis and Ilana NB Israel class is getting exciting as the students received their character profiles last week! Each student was assigned a profile that included gender, country of origin, birth date and a date of aliyah. The dates of aliyah correspond to the waves of aliyah from European and Arab countries post-WWII and the establishment of the state of Israel. Students started this year long project... Read More
October 31, 2019
Science Students have finished their blueprints of the “Rube Goldberg Machines”. The science room is now filled with engineers applying their skills. Everyone is problem solving and allow ideas from their partners to be expressed in a positive and professional manner. We cannot wait to see how these machines develop over the next few weeks. Math The 7th grade is almost finished with their second unit; Real Numbers. After that, we’ll be moving onto Unit 3: Introduction to Algebra. This is one of the most important units in the curriculum, as it sets the foundation for Algebra. It introduces... Read More