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December Begins! (8th Grade Blog)

Hello, Senesh families,

These past few weeks in humanities, students have been accomplishing a lot! In ELA, we began reading and acting out The Crucible. Students are getting so excited to choose their characters and act out this crucial American masterpiece! In Social Studies, we have just finished our unit on Colonial America, and students took a cumulative test over the material, ranging from the first European contact up until the time of the Salem Witch Trials.

Additionally, the students have been doing really beautiful volunteer work with the elders at the Ezra Project Center. On Tuesday of last week, the students put on a talent show! Here is a picture from it:

Science

Science is wrapping up the unit of molecules and chemical reactions. Students had the opportunity to explore the differences between physical and chemical changes. They were giving a menu of demonstration activities. They had to select what they thought was 2 physical changes and 2 chemical changes. This gave the students the opportunity of free choice and explore demonstrates they thought were interesting. As we wrap up this unit, we cannot wait to apply this chemistry knowledge to culinary science. 

Mike Noll

Math

The 8th grade has been applying what they learned about systems of linear equations to real-world problems. They have been working on a group project in which they start a food truck business, design the food truck, then solve various systems of linear equations to determine their budget, savings, menu, item pricing, etc. It’s been really fun to witness the creativity going on in the classroom and the students are having a lot of fun with it! 

Here are the photos of their food truck designs, as well as their completed projects displayed on the bulletin board!
Hebrew
These past two weeks students have been practicing their verbal skills intensively. Hebrew 8K has been studying “The Weather and Our Environment”. On Thursday, the students shared with us memories from a trip they took in the past.
Hebrew 8J has been studying the topic of music. On Wednesday, they shared with us the advice they have for life. I am posting the link to the two videos. Enjoy!
Andreea

 

Heritage Hebrew

להורים שלום,
השבוע חזרנו לעבוד על הסיפור החייכן מאת יצחק נוי, קראנו את הטקסט ועבדנו על הבנת הנקרא, שוחחנו על משמעות הטקסט והרלוונטיות שלו לחיים שלנו. בנוסף הגיעו אלינו השינשינים שערכו פעולה עם משחקים שונים.
בשבוע הבא ביום שלישי יתקיים מבחן, הכולל חלק של הבנת הנקרא מטקסט ושימוש נכון של מילות קישור.
סוף שבוע נעים,
אילנה

 

Judaic Studies

We are learning a long sugiya (Talmudic discussion) about Hanukka! Ask your 8th grader for another reason why Hanukka is 8 days long (it might not be because of a miracle of oil lasting for 8 days…). Students are dealing with the Talmud text in the original Hebrew and Aramaic, and they are truly showing the Senesh value of hatmada/perseverance! It is hard! I am so impressed with their focus, motivation, and ability to learn how to think like the rabbis.

And here are a few more photos from our amazing trip to Project Ezra. 8th graders interviewed the elders about their high school experiences, creating fake “yearbook” pages for them. They learned about applying to medical school and Jewish quotas at NYU, trying to get through high school as a Jew in Russia, and heard some great stories of first love!