Weeks 14, 15, and 16 – Monday, December 3 – Friday, December 21st

Hebrew

Humanities 

ELA: Students have worked their way through The Crucible. They have finished reading the play and have met in groups to track the development of the major characters in text and also analyze how Arthur Miller explores the themes of religion, intolerance, hysteria, and rebellion throughout the play. After finishing the play, students learned more about how Miller’s personal life and the Second Red Scare influenced the play. When we get back from break, students will finish their work on The Crucible by dramatizing a scene from the play with a partner and reflecting on how their choices as an actor conveyed the important elements of the character they were portraying and how this scene connects to one of the themes we have explored as a group.

Social Studies: Students have finished their work on what life was like in the colonies. The have learned about the different colonial regions, the religious practices of specific colonies, and read excerpts from a wide variety sources that showed the various levels and forms of self-government that began to take hold in the colonies.  When we return from break, students will work on an essay where they will argue whether or not the colonies’ grievances against King George were reasonable grounds to declare independence from England.

Everyone enjoy the break and see you all in January.

Warmly,

Michael

Israel 

Dear parents,
The students are currently researching an important topic related to Israel’s history. In January, the students will present the topic and teach their classmates about it. The students are very interested and enthusiastic about the project.

We wish you a relaxing break,
Phyllis and Andreea

The 8th graders completed our study of a long section of Talmud about Hanukkah. We will have a quiz on Wednesday on terms and concepts learned in this unit. We concluded by looking at where the conversation in the Talmud goes next — to discussing who is liable for the damage if a camel’s load catches on fire from a storekeeper’s candle. Does it matter if the candle is inside or outside the store? What if it’s Hanukkah? Ask your 8th grader to share the Talmudic understanding of what constitutes negligent behavior.

Next week we will be beginning a new unit: the story of how Bnai Yisrael carried on without Moshe and finally entered the land of Israel in the book of Yehoshua. What does it mean that our Promised Land already had people living in it, and we were expected to conquer and expel them in order to take possession?

Some photos from 8X’s celebration of completing a section of Talmud:

and from our trip to Selfhelp:

Math 

The 8th grade has been expanding their knowledge on factoring quadratic expressions. They have been learning about how to use factorization to solve quadratic equations, as well as simplifying algebraic fractions. Algebraic fractions are especially difficult and simplifying them is almost puzzlelike. They are definitely not for the faint of heart and our 8th graders have been handing them with ease. When we return from the break, we’ll move onto Geometry where we’ll be learning about congruence, reflections, and different types of transformations. See you in 2019!

Science 

Science has started our new unit of culinary science. Groups have been formed and excitement for this unit has started. We have already explored the concept of Boyle’s and Charles’s gas law using popcorn. We conducted an experiment that demonstrated the balance of temperature, volume and pressure with a popcorn kernel. We also had a fun activity, discovering the importance of propositions in a solution. We used the challenge of making lemonade that needed to have the three parts of water, lemon juice and sugar in a proper balance. During this challenge, some students discovered the concept of a saturated solution when using a lot of sugar in their attempts. We cannot wait to continue this unit discovering more chemistry behind cooking when we return from our winter break.