Izzy, Ava and Sholom in Mrs. Golds Jewish Thought class.

This week, Mrs. Gold and Mrs. Brackman's 7th and 8th Grade Jewish Thought  classes began a unit focusing on the city of Jerusalem in preparation for Yom Yerushalayim. They  discussed different major cities around the world and talked about the difference between a major city and an important city, as well as what makes Jerusalem an important city. They are looking forward to discovering new facts and insights about this holy city.

	Ava and Anna

Mazal tov to Anna Copeland (6th) and Ava Noth (7th) we won in the Asher Judaic Artwork Contest. As members of Mrs. Brackman's Tefillah group, they each chose a part of Tefillah to research and illustrate. Anna researched a prayer from Hallel, describing the way G-d helps us when we are distressed, and Ava focused on the prayers of Chanukah as they were submitting their artwork during that time.

Mrs. Esse's 3rd/4th grade class created landforms using a paper mache-type substance, and then they became professors to their classmates, teaching them about their landform. Students also researched, wrote, and spoke about a time in history when their landform became famous. For example, Masada is a famous Mesa, Pearl Harbor is a famous port, the Ganges is a holy river to the Hindus. The foothills of Jerusalem are where we can still see the now rusted "armored" cars when the Palmach was trying to bring supplies to blockaded Jerusalem in the War of Independence. Who knows what a hoodoo is? The 3rd/4th graders do!

Alicia Chipman in her Humanities class

Alicia Chipman teaches one of our Humanities classes, coming to it from a background of having taught history in high school. "I am fascinated by the power of stories in Humanities-both historical and fictional," she says. "Reading and writing skills come together in Humanities." With degrees in both History and English, Ben Seigle teaches our other two Humanities classes, and while he and Ms. Chipman don't teach classes together, they definitely develop units together. 

As part of the Holocaust unit_ students created studies about life in concentration camps.

"Our current unit on the Holocaust is history-focused (as opposed to literature-focused)," says Ms. Chipman, "but we also look at the social aspects of a historical period. With the Holocaust we focused on the role of the bystander, asking, What source of person enables? " Mr. Seigle elaborates: "Our unit has focused more on the German side. We've asked questions like what kind of political, economic, and cultural contexts made the rise of Nazism possible? How did Hitler and his followers make so many human beings into agents of genocide? These questions relate to more fundamental ones about how societies become susceptible to violence and hatred." 

This has been a natural segue from the previous unit on slavery. Ms. Chipman: "We discuss current events once a week and always look for how the themes of history and literature are relevant today." The slavery unit brought with it a discussion of the controversy over Confederate statues.

Both Ms. Chipman and Mr. Seigle taught high school before Akiba. How does teaching 7th and 8th graders differ from teaching high schoolers? Not that much, they found. "Kids are less inhibited here," says Mr. Seigle. "They feel valued and are confident," Ms. Chipman adds, "They listen, and they care about each other. Not that high schoolers don't, but here kids are still full of energy and joyous about learning."

by Sara Price

All physical education classes from Kindergarten to 6th grade are beginning the penultimate unit: soccer. They're looking forward to taking advantage of the spring weather (when it arrives) and playing outside.