6th Grade News: 1/2 – 1/5/18

HUMANITIES

After the long vacation, 6th graders were able to jump back into work in Humanities classes. Everyone had finished their ancient Egypt historical fiction novel over break – either Pharaoh’s Daughter or The Golden Goblet. We discussed how we felt about the books’ endings in our mini book clubs, and then continued examining the literary concept of plot pyramid. In History class, students read about a current event related to the Nile River in order to draw connections between ancient and modern times. They learned about how Ethiopia is currently building a large dam on the Nile River, and discussed how this project will impact the water available downriver in Sudan and Egypt. I was impressed with the nuanced and intelligent insight students offered about the ethical implications of Ethiopia’s plans. They also took our conversation in an unexpected but valuable direction when they asked about how fish and other sea animals survive the mechanisms inside large dams. Students did their own research to answer this question, and together we learned about creative innovations like “fish ladders” and “fish elevators.” Lastly, in Writing class, we practiced punctuating dialogue correctly and began to study a new Wordly Wise list.

I wish you all a relaxing weekend. Stay warm!

Naomi

HEBREW

Dear parents,

This week HaKbatza Aleph continued the study of the unit on clothing. The students practiced using the various verbs that exist only in Hebrew to express putting on different items.

HaKbatza Bet practiced using the present tense vs. the infinitive of various verbs when describing things we can or want to do in the desert.

I wish everyone a happy new year and to stay warm,

Andreea

JUDAICS: 

By Isaac:

“This week we came in on Tuesday and immediately jumped into our learning about Israel. We took a pretest to see what facts we remembered about Israel from our past Israel learning. We saw what we already knew and what we needed to learn more about. After our snow day we came back on Friday and talked about different places and people in Israel that we have personal connections to. We learned about what this unit will focus on and we learned about how this year we will look at the conflict’s history from both sides.