January 16 – January 19

Math

This week, 7X started Unit 7 (percentage) and will be taking the unit test on January 24th. All Unit 6 HW corrections are due January 25th.

7Y will be bringing home their unit 7 test home today and I am happy to say that everyone did really well! It should be signed and returned by Tuesday (23rd) the latest. All Unit 7 HW corrections are due January 26th.

Hebrew

This week, both groups read short texts about the Kinneret and the Dead Sea.
Students learned about the current water situation in Israel and about the Dead Sea “dying” out and drying out.
We learned about the main causes and the devastating effects it has on wild life and tourism.

Judaic Studies

We concluded our Manna Investigation. After examining evidence from the Torah, midrashim, and from secondary sources (including Orthodox scholar Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and Reform rabbi Rebecca Geller) students prepared final reports for Police Commissioner Lissy Trey. In these reports, students suggested answers for our question: What didn’t Bnai Yisrael like about manna? and supported those answers with evidence from the texts we’ve been studying. They also gave Moshe suggestions about how to improve Bnai Yisrael’s relationship with manna, and by extension, with God.

Shabbat shalom!

Jessica

Humanities

Students continued their medieval book clubs this week. It was great to hear each group talk about their favorite parts of each book! I loved bringing my experiences with book club into the classroom. Each student was responsible for a specific job or role; concurrently, students had freedom to format their discussions and bring humor and conversation into this setting. Looking forward to our final discussion and analysis. The upcoming week’s Latin phrase is primus inter paras – the first among equals.

Science

Students this week continued their exploration of water. We focused on different ways water can be polluted. Within a professional laboratory setting, students needed to figure out which water sample of four was safe to drink. They needed to follow detailed procedures and master laboratory techniques in order to produce accurate results. The outcome was students feeling a sense of accomplishment and experiencing an authentic way scientists conduct experiments in order to discover water pollution. Next week we will continue our focus on water properties and pollution factors.