Weeks 11, 12, and 13: Monday, November 12th – Friday, November 30th

Hebrew

Humanities

ELA: Students have finish writing their personal narratives and started their study of The Crucible. Students are engaging in theatre games, using improvisation techniques to create mini-scenes, and learning about characterization in order to build their comfort with drama and performance.  Students will learn background information about the Salem Witch Trials and begin to read the play next week.

Social Studies: Students have begun to construct paragraph size arguments, using the historical thinking and writing skills they have learned, about interesting events and topics in US history. Topics discussed include the Salem Witch Trials, the historical reasons for celebrating Columbus Day, whether celebrating Thanksgiving is a good idea, and whether the Puritans were selfish or selfless.  Students will continue to explore questions and topics like this as they learn more about what life was like in colonies in the lead up to the Revolutionary War.

Warmly,
Michael

Israel

In the week following the mid-term elections, 8th grade spent some time thinking about the overlap between American and Israeli politics.  Ask your child if he/she thinks that Trump is good for Israel!  This week the students will be researching topics for our “You Be the Teacher” project.   They will learn about topics that are essential to understanding the current state of affairs in Israel, such as “What are areas A, B and C in the West Bank?” and “What happened during the 2014 Gaza Crisis?” Students will teach a lesson on their topic and check their classmates’ understanding with a short assessment.  

Judaic Studies

The 8th graders have thrown themselves into Talmud study with so much focus and enthusiasm! This week we finished a brief discussion in the Talmud about how to observe Hanukah — apparently, there were many more ways of doing this in Talmudic times than there are now! We reflected on the fact that the Talmud does not seem to be a legal code — you rarely walk away knowing the final decision about how to do a particular mitzvah. The Talmud seems more interested in teaching us HOW to think like Jews, than in teaching WHAT to think as Jews.

8Y celebrated finishing our first sugiya (discussion in the Talmud) by trying to illustrate the 3 sections of the argument using potato chips, pretzels and M & Ms! There were some super inventive and thoughtful designs! (8X will get to do this tomorrow!)

Also, we played in the snow!

Shabbat shalom,

Jessica

Math

The 8th grade is steadily moving along with learning about the factorization of quadratic equations and how to use them in order to solve word problems. We’ve been finding measurements of right triangles, sets of unknown integers, areas of rectangles, and analyzing trajectories of projectiles. When first learning about quadratic polynomials, one wouldn’t think that they have so many applications in the real world. For most people, it’s easy to see how arithmetic is utilized in everyday life, but the practical uses of algebra are overlooked by many. There are many branches of mathematics that are used in daily life and Algebra is just one of many that we’ll be exploring.

Science

In science these past weeks we have been conducting experiments exploring molecules and chemical reactions. Students have discovered how temperature is a factor in the rate of reaction. They also explore endothermic and exothermic reactions by measure the temperature of different chemical reactions. Recently we conducted a pH activity in order for students to build their own test tube testing kit. This allowed students to measure the level of pH within an assortment of liquids. Later in science we will be starting of cooking chemistry unit in order to further explore how chemistry is used in the everyday world.