Week 9: Monday, October 30th – Friday, November 3rd

Advisory: 

This week in advisory, students learned about mindful bodies- still and calm and mindful listening. Next, we discussed what are the behavioral expectations from 8th graders, and then the students shared their thoughts on the tragic events in Tribecca.

Hebrew and Heritage: 

Dear parents,

This week the students finished taking the Avant test.

Next, HaKbatza Aleph read texts about how school used to be many years ago vs. today. HaKbatza Bet is working on an individual project:: being a tour guide and presenting the itinerary of a trip.

I wish everyone a wonderful weekend,

Andreea and Ilana

Humanities: 

Literature and Writing: 

In Literature, we finished our review of Act I of The Crucible by taking a true/false quiz on the plot of Act I.  Students then finished their in-class performance of Act II of The Crucible and should be prepared for a multiple choice quiz on Act II this coming Tuesday. In Writing, students continued to work on their Christopher Columbus essays by drafting thesis statements.  We also began to study rhetoric and to look at how rhetorical appeals are deployed to craft an argument.  Next week, students will determine the audience, context and speaker of their essays in order to create an appropriate and persuasive message in their writing.

History:

In History, students learned what life was like for a variety of different colonists during the 1700s.  Using “fake news” headlines generated by The London Chronicle (itself a fake newspaper), students used primary sources as well as textbook readings to learn about the differences between city and country life, the role of religion in daily life, what leisure activities colonists engaged in, and what rights certain colonists had at the expense of other colonial populations.  The culmination of their learning about colonial life is to write a short newspaper article rebutting the inaccurate headlines to give a more honest perspective on what it was like to be an early American. Next week, we will learn more about what the founders of the colonies were really like and take an in-depth look at how slavery developed in the colonies.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekends,

Michael

Judaic Studies: 

The week began on a high note with an amazing trip to visit with elderly Holocaust survivors through Selfhelp Community Services. Students helped serve and clear lunch, listened to stories, and danced! We were a huge hit; on our way out several people pulled me aside to insist we come back soon. Our next two visits will be November 30th and December 21st.

In class, we had incredible conversations inspired by Dvarim (the book of Deuteronomy). Do people feel closer to God during times of sorrow or times of joy? We translated part of Moshe’s speech, and discovered that he is worried that Bnai Yisrael will look around at their nice houses, flocks of animals, and piles of gold, and think “I did this all myself! Me, me, me, me!” What is the difference between feeling pride in your hard work, and being arrogant? What happens to a society if people feel all of their accomplishments are theirs alone? Ask your 8th grader for his/her thoughts!

Math: 

This week in 8Y, they started on a new unit involving the expansion of algebraic expressions. They learned how to foil (which we don’t actually say anymore) as well as other methods to solve those kinds of problems. Next week they will continue on chapter 3 and finish up the unit and have a test by the end of the week. In 8X, they finished up Unit 2 with a test on Friday. All of their work should be in to me by Monday for me to check and grade. We will start unit 3 next week. It has been a quick week and am looking forward to next week.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Craig

Science:

This week in science students conducted an experiment with the focus on trying to control their reaction. Building on the first chemical reaction conducted last week, they required to measure proper amounts of the reactants and order to provide a control reaction of the products. Students in pairs were required to discuss and within three attempts keep the reaction in the graduated cylinder without it overflowing. We will next week continue with our exportation of chemical reactions and the interactions of molecules

Mike Noll