September 5, 2019

Judaic Studies

It’s been a pleasure getting to know the 7th graders this week! We began by exploring one of our major school values: מסע/Journey. This is a key value for us this year, because will be studying the book of במדבר/Numbers, which details the journeys of Bnai Yisrael on their way to Israel. This brought up a kushiya/question for us: If God is all-powerful, why doesn’t God just magically put all of Bnai Yisrael in Israel? Why do they need to travel through the wilderness? This led to a powerful conversation about why struggle and challenge might be important for growth. See comments from our discussion below!

Shabbat shalom!

Humanities 

I loved spending time with the new 7th graders this week. We read a letter from S.E. Hinton that detailed her experience writing The Outsiders at the age of 16! It was fun to watch student grapple with how much reading and writing has affected her life, and they wondered to what extent reading and writing would affect their lives. We also explored a map of ancient Rome and thought about how the geography of Italy may have affected ancient Rome’s ability to build an empire. Looking forward to the next two weeks!

Hebrew Heritage

Math

It’s been a fun week getting to know the 7th graders! We spent the first few days discussing classroom rules, procedures, and organization but we’re ending the week with a review of Factors and Multiples. The 7th grade is a great year for math, as the topics learned lay the foundation for higher level math courses such as Algebra I, which they will be taking next year. I look forward to immersing the 7th grade in the world of math and hope they enjoy the journey.