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Weeks 1 and 2: Tuesday, September 4th – Friday, September 14th

Hebrew

Dear Parents,

Welcome to an exciting year! The 8th grade started the year by discussing the five senses and the ways in which we can use them to describe our memories and experiences. This year the focus is on conversational Hebrew. The students started each class by practicing for 15 minutes in Hebrew how to introduce themselves to a new person.

I look forward to meeting everyone at back to school night and wish everyone Shannah Tovah !

Andreea

Heritage

,להורים שלום

השבוע עבדנו על הסיפור “הסיר של סבתא” המתאר כיצד סיר אחד מעניק לאנשים רבים כל כך מענה לצרכים קיומיים. כיצד מעשה טוב, יוזמה עצמאית של אדם אחד יכול להוביל למעשים טובים עבור  אנשים אחרים תחת הפורמט המוכר “תעביר את זה הלאה”. הסיפור זה מתקשר לערכים של בית ספר של ערבות הדדית, ערבות לקהילה.
מאחלת לכם צום קל וגמר חתימה טובה.
אילנה

Humanities

ELA: In ELA, we started work discussing the major themes and conflicts of The Chosen, their summer reading book.  They are also working on editing, revising and submitting a final draft of their essay on an important theme in the novel.  In the coming weeks, we will finish our look at The Chosen and begin our first unit of new material, looking at memoirs and the crafting of our own personal narratives.

Social Studies: In Social Studies, we learned the basics of how to use a map to determine relative location.  We will continue to review the basics of using a map to gain historical perspective.  In the coming weeks, students will take a quiz on map skills and turn their attention to studying the unique geographical features of the United States.

Judaic Studies

8th grade began the year with a deep dive into an uncomfortable tefila: the Unetaneh Tokef. We explored the language and theology of this prayer, which states that God determines our fates on Rosh haShana and seals them on Yom Kippur. 8th graders listened to the amazing Leonard Cohen song Who by Fire, read a variety of articles about this tefila, and wrote their own response to it. Students also created their own “Sefer Zichronot”/Book of Memories as a way to reflect on the previous year.

In preparation for Yom Kippur, the 8th graders will be learning an aggada/Talmudic story about a man named Pleimo who encounters Satan on Erev Yom Kippur. Stay tuned!

Shana tova and gmar chatima tova,

Jessica

IMG_8758 IMG_8762 IMG_8764

Math 

a^(m) x a^(n) = a^(m + n)

a^(-n)=1 / a^(n)

you = confused?

If so, no worries because our 8th graders could easily explain these to you. Since the start of the school year, the 8th grade has been discovering and utilizing the laws of integer exponents. This week, we will continue mastering integer exponents before moving onto fractional exponents and scientific notation. Being able to manipulate exponential expressions and understand scientific notation are useful skills that can be applied outside of math class. Nine out of ten astronomers, chemists, and engineers would agree.

Shana

Science

Science started strong with discovery of what is an atom. Students created 3D models using beads and pipecleaners. They needed to correctly position the three basic particles within an atom, namely the electron, proton, neutron. This first interactive activity allowed students to visual see these particles and start to understand the structure of an atom. We also used our interactive software from “Explore Learning” in order to have a further discovery of these particle interactions within atoms. Within the next few weeks we will continue our discoveries of atoms and how they are applied to the periodic table. We are off to a strong and exciting science school year.

 

Mike Noll