March 22, 2019
Hebrew
7J
This week we continued learning about Tel Aviv. We also started learning about Hiriya, Israel, a city that used to be filled with garbage and then turned into a beautiful city with a beautiful park named after Ariel Sharon. In addition, we started learning future tense.
7K
This week we learned a song by Dag Nachash, describing the preparation of Shabbat. We had a conversation about what Shabbat is like here vs. what it is like in Israel. The kids started learning a few new Hebrew expressions. We also continued studying future tense.
Hebrew Heritage
Previously on the 7th Grade Math Blog…
“The 7th grade has been learning about one of the most useful mathematical concepts in everyday life; ratios and rates…After that unit, we’ll be moving onto the holy grail of ratios: percentages.”
Two weeks later and we are back! Indeed, we have been learning about different aspects of percentages. Percentages of a quantity, finding an unknown quantity given a percentage, percentage increases, and percentage decreases, to name a few.
We’ll be ending the unit with one of the most useful real-world applications of percentages; discounts and sales tax! This is one of those math concepts that will stick around for the rest of their lives, whether they’re the ones calculating the values or not. Ask them to give it a try next time you take them shopping!
Humanities
I can say that it’s been a wonderful and fulfilling literary experience to watch students write their short stories. They are responsible on this assignment for editing their own work (no peer editing). However, they have been asked to highlight one area in their story they are struggling with and one area in their story they are really proud of. This has been a great moment for me. I have loved providing targeted feedback and having students take ownership over their strengths as writers. The characters they are creating are complex and intriguing. The language they are using is sophisticated and thoughtful. I’m very proud of them.
In history, we’ve been vacillating [vocab dab!] between studying the later Middle Ages and the Facing History and Ourselves curriculum. For the Middle Ages, students made FANTASTIC History Channel trailers. I was blown away by their inventiveness and creativity in this assignment. In Facing History, students asked core questions about our identities as people and how we construct a “universe of obligation.” Looking forward to the next two weeks.
Judaic Studies
Students have been learning Chapter 12 of Bmidbar/Numbers with our student teacher, Rivke Canning. They have been reading the text closely, trying to figure out what Miriam and Aharon say about their brother Moshe, and whether or not their intentions were positive or negative. Rivke will be with us til Thursday, and then will be returning to Israel to continue her studies.
Science
In science, we have been comparing the differences between weather and climate. We started to explore the different biomes on Earth. Students had to use simulation software in order to build six different land biomes. They collected this information and made an informational slideshow in order to highlight the differences in these biomes (including their climate). Later, we will investigate how global warming can influence climate and these biomes.
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