Friday, March 3, 2023

HUMANITIES

7th graders have wrapped up our unit on short stories by reading and reflecting on the collection of short stories entitled Flying Lessons as well as creating short stories of their own. We started by outlining stories around real events that happened in our lives and subsequently fictionalized some, none, or all of the details in the stories. Ask the 7th graders to share their completed stories with you! In social studies, we have started preparing for our Boston Massacre mock trial. There are eight teams preparing to either defend or prosecute the soldiers or captain involved in the event that ended with the deaths of five colonists. The trials are two weeks away.

MATH

7X is just starting our third topic, Expressions, Equations, and Inequalities, after completing our assessment on rational numbers in which students demonstrated their knowledge of arithmetic and problem solving with fractions, decimals, and integers. 7Y is in the midst of Expressions, Equations, and Inequalities. Students are engaging with the pre-Algebra with excitement!

JUDAIC STUDIES

7th graders are preparing for Purim by thinking about what connects the Jewish people in times when we are dispersed (as we are in the Purim story). We learned several Mishnayot (pieces of rabbinic literature) about the obligation to hear the megilla read on Purim. If you hear someone recite the Megilla by heart, does that count? What about if you take naps in between chapters, or hear Megilla read in a language you don’t understand? What if that language is Hebrew? These Mishnayot allow us to consider the value of a shared story and a shared language in bringing the Jewish people together – ask your 7th grader what they think! 

HEBREW

7th Graders explore further Israeli culture, this time through fashion. The influence on Israeli fashion and vocabulary started in biblical times, but also emerged from the modern world and the countries surrounding it. At last, Israel created its own contemporary fashion. This unit strengthened the students vocabulary and enhanced their understanding of where some of these words originated and the reason why they were and are so essential in the Hebrew language.