Nursery students are curious about and eager to understand the world around them. Teachers design units that encourage students to explore aspects of their immediate environment, hypothesize about how things work, and then test out their hypotheses. Children often repeat experiences so that they can understand that certain outcomes occur reliably. Teachers provide a multisensory learning process and reinforce their understandings through a variety of modalities. Teachers provide a range of experiences that help children establish a solid understanding of concepts such as shape, color and size. Through daily classroom experiences, children begin to develop a sense of mathematical concepts such as sorting, pattern, amount, quantity and one-to-one correspondence. Classroom activities encourage students to make connections between classroom experiences and their existing knowledge. By providing the scaffolding necessary to make these connections, teachers present the basis for students to develop the thinking skills necessary to make sense of their surroundings.

As Nursery students study the cycle of the school year, they learn about Jewish holidays. They hear the stories of the holidays, create art projects, learn songs and participate in classroom celebrations. To punctuate their school week, children celebrate Shabbat. Through these experiences, they learn that there are multiple ways to celebrate and observe Jewish traditions. Nursery students also encounter Hebrew language in songs, blessings and games.

During the Nursery years children’s language abilities develop rapidly. Teachers facilitate language development through a variety of activities, such as speaking with children frequently, one-on-one, in small groups and as a whole class. Teachers also encourage students to talk about their experiences in and out of the classroom and to comment or question skillfully as their peers learn to elaborate. As the year progresses, children answer specific questions or comment on specific topics; they often speak in front of a group, sharing information about themselves and their experiences outside of school. As teachers read and discuss stories, both in class and during library sessions, children develop and share their own stories, which they often dictate to teachers and then illustrate. Signs, charts and graphs also introduce children to using written language to organize and represent various aspects of their experiences. Through extensive exposure to print in the classroom, teachers help children begin to be able to identify letters and the sounds attached to them and to understand linguistic concepts such as rhyming and alliteration.

Children are eager to master physical challenges. They want to learn to run faster, jump further and climb higher. They also want to develop the physical skills necessary to create the artwork and constructions that they imagine. Opportunities to use a variety of art and constructive materials help students to develop their fine motor skills. Teachers encourage students to explore independently using various materials and then provide guidance about using effective methods. Teachers also help children develop a sense of personal space and learn to navigate spaces within the classroom. Opportunities for gross motor play, either on the rooftop playground or in the gym, occur every day. During these times, teachers encourage students to participate in physical activities, take on new challenges and develop new skills. Teachers urge children to practice skills that they are working to master and may offer suggestions about more effective ways to do certain tasks. Through introductory yoga poses, students explore the connections between their minds and bodies, as well as the physical space around them. Students are also encouraged to move expressively to music during organized music classes and specific classroom activities.

Teachers seek to provide children with the skills necessary to play and work together. These skills include helping children understand and articulate their own desires and emotions as well as recognizing the effects they have on others. Students also practice concrete skills, such as joining a game, asking for a turn, asking someone to stop and speaking thoughtfully. Many classroom activities encourage awareness of the whole class and simultaneously allow each child to recognize his or her own unique place within it. Classroom jobs and expectations also teach students the responsibilities of belonging to a group. Jewish ethics as well as lessons drawn from Torah stories underpin most social emotional learning.

Students build upon their introduction to Jewish themes and topics. They continue to study the Jewish holidays as they punctuate the school year. Jewish stories and songs infuse the year with an implicit ethical basis for discussion. Children are exposed to the Hebrew language and gather each week to celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat.

Throughout the day children develop and strengthen language and literacy skills through a variety of activities whose primary goal is to establish a solid foundation for reading and writing skills. Language and literacy skills are incorporated in all activities and the nature of school itself provides a rich environment in which students continuously expand their abilities.

During story time, students use their listening skills and engage in classroom discussions that encourage them to reason and express their thoughts and feelings. Children formulate stories from their drawings and the teachers then record those stories in writing. This effort provides a sense of the power of the written word and the experience of communicating in writing. Over time, children develop an understanding of letters and sounds and how sounds map onto written words. Communication skills also grow during interactive play as students initiate and maintain conversations with peers and adults, while simultaneously learning to verbalize their wants and needs.

During weekly visits, Pre-Kindergarten children forge strong connections. With guidance, students find books of individual interest to bring home. Read-aloud stories are drawn from a variety of authors and illustrators with themes closely tied to the concerns of four- and five-year-olds. Along the way, students are introduced to the basics of books themselves, their care and the valuable role they play in children’s lives.

In Pre-Kindergarten, math exploration is a large part of work and play. Students encounter basic concepts, such as color, shape and size, through the use of manipulatives. Daily tasks, such as calendar, attendance and snack time, introduce counting, sorting and patterning. Calling children to activities based on attributes (shoe type, hair color, month of birth) offers a personal way of experiencing the mathematical concepts of classifying and sorting. Cooking experiences expose students to measurement, quantity and sequencing. Experience charts, graphs and other visual comparisons allow students to infer quantity and to compare amounts.

Teachers offer many opportunities to practice and develop gross and fine motor skills. Children have an informal, supervised physical play period each day as well as formal physical education instruction during the week. They develop and refine gross motor skills through the loco motor movements of climbing, running, jumping, galloping and balancing. In the classroom, children continue to practice and hone their fine motor skills through painting, drawing, finger painting, coloring, paper tearing, cutting and folding. Working with manipulatives (pegboards, Tinkertoys, Lego blocks) develops the small muscles later needed for handwriting. Daily experiences offer opportunities to use small muscle coordination in activities, such as zipping, buttoning, tying and pouring.

Teachers introduce children to the scientific method through hands-on exploration. Children then apply their five senses as tools for scientific discovery and report their observations of experiments to the teacher and the class. Through the study of physical, earth and life sciences, students form questions, predict outcomes and draw conclusions.

Using an integrated approach, children learn to navigate their world and identify all that is special about themselves. They examine our school, the seasons, their family and themselves while building both social and pre-academic skills which are heavily based upon Reform Jewish values.

Art experiences are media-driven, sensory-oriented and interdisciplinary as children practice their fine motor skills through drawing, writing, cutting, building and creating. Students study the color wheel with a focus on primary colors. Continuing their exploration, students create paintings using both geometric and their own invented shapes. Students also complete an activity that challenges them to sort colors into warm and cool categories and then to develop warm and cool color collage paintings. A study of artist Piet Mondrian furthers their experience with primary colors and the art element of line. Holiday related projects such as children’s illustrations of scenes from the Passover story remain favorites. No year is complete without a self-portrait framed in a pattern of the child’s own conception and execution.

Vocabulary taught builds on students’ existing knowledge. It continues to remain part of the classroom’s daily routine as students announce the month and year in Hebrew during morning meeting time. Oral activities such as Hebrew snack time and the singing of songs in Hebrew strengthen students’ understanding of the language and help instill a love of it. Students learn to read and write individual letters and vowels, build and read syllables and form full words and sentences.

The Jewish Studies curriculum provides students with traditional experiences connecting their Jewish heritage to their everyday lives. Holidays are observed both as part of a spiraling curriculum that increases in complexity from grade to grade, and as an integral and joyous aspect of Judaism. Such experiences are integrated into daily classroom life and extend to the home via holiday projects. Students strive to follow mitzvot and to create a kehila kedosha, a holy community. The values and traditions implicit in the Torah stories they learn are discussed and connected to students’ daily lives. Kabbalat Shabbat celebrations familiarize students with Jewish symbols and ritual objects, stories, songs and blessings—all of which are reinforced with Hebrew vocabulary and direct teaching.

The language arts program is an integral part of each day and includes a multitude of applications. The three main areas of our language arts program are speaking and listening; reading; and writing. Through the constant interaction with the spoken and written word, children’s skills continuously expand. Students participate in a comprehensive word study program that includes phonics, reading fluency and handwriting.

Children encounter many forms of reading throughout the day. Shared reading, poetry and read-alouds provide students with rich literacy experiences on which to model their individual skills as readers. In addition, the children meet in reading groups for an introduction to and reinforcement of specific reading skills. These groups offer children to practice strategies such as identifying letters, vowels and sounds, as well as approaching new words in context and expanding their basic vocabulary. Children read books to become more familiar with using context and picture cues. When planning reading instruction, teachers consider each child’s level of readiness and specific instructional needs.

Teachers encourage the development of listening skills daily through class discussions. In sharing activities, students present information and respond to comments and questions from peers and teachers. By formulating questions to clarify understanding and participating in class discussions, children enhance their skills in verbal expression.

The program includes a modified Writer’s Workshop, which enables children to express themselves through drawing and writing. In shared writing experiences, a teacher models appropriate conventions of writing while aiding the class in producing a cohesive work that is the result of being part of a collective. Stories, rhymes and poetry read on a daily basis allow children to become engrossed in different genres of literature and nurture their enjoyment of reading.

Students explore the benefit of reading books for information and pure enjoyment. Kindergarteners learn the basic vocabulary of books: author, illustrator, fiction and nonfiction. Classes visit the library each week to hear a story and borrow books. Children begin to follow their own interests in choosing books and are also introduced to books that will stretch their horizons. Read-aloud texts chosen from a variety of picture books, authors and illustrators, align with curricular themes and children’s interests.

The mathematics program is a hands-on curriculum based upon constructing mathematical concepts. This program stresses working with different manipulatives, active exploration, discovery through all five senses and discussion of children’s work, thinking and observations. In addition to formal instruction, there are many “math moments” during the day, including taking attendance, sorting blocks during cleanup time and navigating the calendar. Children explore numbers important to their lives, they learn counting skills, number writing, greater than and fewer than concepts, and joining and separating number sets. Children study measurement concepts and work with charts and graphs . Students investigate patterning and basic geometry as well. Students identify and know the value of common coins and can solve simple addition and subtraction problems both written and oral. Throughout the program, students learn to verbalize their mathematical thinking.

The program provides a supportive environment through singing, movement, games and playing instruments. Kindergartners learn basic musical note values, physically respond to notes played, and progress toward verbal identification of various rhythm patterns. In addition, children work with percussion instruments and play simple rhythms together.

Students focus on movement awareness and develop the skills to move safely in personal and shared space. This includes the development of spatial and directional concepts, exploring levels, directions and pathways and various locomotor and non-locomotor movements. Students participate in many gross motor and cooperative learning activities including parachute, scooter and hula-hoop challenges and games, which emphasize teamwork and fair play. Indeed, such cooperative learning is an integral portion of every class. Many of the Kindergarten classroom activities also give children practice in fine and gross motor skills. Classes go to Central Park and students further develop their gross motor skills while running, jumping, climbing, swinging and sliding.

Numerous hands-on activities allow students to investigate science concepts. Through experimentation, discussion and observation, students learn how and why trees and plants change with each season. Students begin to make connections between these seasonal events and the cyclical nature of the Jewish calendar, particularly with harvest and pilgrimage holidays. The year culminates with an in-depth study of Central Park.

The social studies program examines the spectrum of individual identity through a values-based approach. Jewish ethics are at the heart of students’ social emotional learning and classrooms regularly engage in giving back to their community. Kindergartners come to view themselves as individuals and as active participants in society. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students examine community through active investigation in activities related to science, art, math, music and literature. The year concludes with an in-depth study of Central Park, which includes much first-hand observation as well as the students’ constructing their own model park.

Each year second graders experience, painting, printmaking, and collage and create a 3D sculpture using clay, wood or papier mache. While the specific projects may change from year to year, they are designed to focus on developmentally appropriate skills and to inspire curiosity as well as a love of art. The focus of the Second Grade social studies curriculum, New York City, serves as inspiration for many art projects throughout the year. Awareness of composition and perspective are stressed as students create paintings and collages of cityscapes while learning about foreground, background, and horizon line. After observing their surroundings and examining works by Harlem Renaissance artist and writer Romare Beardon and Ashcan School painter Edward Hopper, students build a multi-medium skyline using paint, pastel and collage. Students enjoy the multi-step process of printmaking and find it rewarding. They draw an image, transfer and engrave it into Styrofoam plates, and then go through the process of creating multicolor prints using ink, brayers, and barrens. Each year we do at least one in-depth artist study. In the past we have studied, Calder, Klimt, and Louise Nevelson to name a few.

In Second Grade, the focus shifts to written Hebrew. Students review how to form their letters and learn the script equivalent; once they have mastered script, they are expected to use it in their own writing. Students review and study vowels and the rules governing them. Students examine simple sentence structure and craft their own sentences. They learn the rules governing masculine and feminine nouns. They also learn the plural forms of verbs. Verb use is confined to the present tense, with an increasing number of verbs to be mastered. Pronouns are introduced as well as the construction for “I am in/I am not home” and proper placement of nouns and adjectives. Bridges are made to topics studied in Jewish Studies.

Second Grade focuses on the Torah and the many blessings that are part of Jewish sacred text. Students dive into a study of Breisheit that engages students in the narrative, but that also asks students to read closely and to ask questions. Students review the brachot they have learned thus far and examine the structure of a blessing, both in Hebrew and in English. They contemplate the meaning of prayers and examine their role in the liturgy. Second graders give a d’var brachot that centers on blessings including; blessings for what God gives us, blessings asking for help, and blessings of thankfulness for what we have. They learn about the morning blessings and blessings that are specifically related to Israel. At the end of the year, students participate in a Shavuot Torah assembly that summarizes their yearlong study of Torah. Jewish ethics are tied to classroom rules as well as learned through text.

The Second Grade language arts classes participate in guided, shared and independent reading activities during regularly scheduled reading periods and throughout the rest of the school day. The decoding and comprehension skills introduced during these periods address the needs of each student, or group of students, ultimately reinforcing and supporting the unique course of their reading development. Materials for these sessions are selected according to the skill being taught, as well as the interests and reading levels of the students involved. Genre studies are also introduced throughout the year and are connected to the writing curriculum.

Writers Workshop is a favorite period in Second Grade classrooms. During workshop time, children explore the process of taking a writing idea from its original seed form to a complete, published piece. Each workshop period begins with a mini-lesson that focuses on writing craft, structure, or genre. When the lesson is over, the children apply the knowledge gained to their own work. Students organize and create their own written pieces and also conference with teachers and peers regularly. One the highlights of the year is the Expert Expo where students showcase their knowledge of non-fiction content and structure.

Students solidify their understanding of phonics rules and begin to apply spelling rules in their own writing. Students continue to practice their handwriting both through discrete exercises as well as in their daily work.

Librarians present literature that integrates elements or the broader curriculum as well as Jewish values and tradition. Librarians’ suggestions, book talks and comprehensive reading lists encourage reading at different levels throughout the year. Second-grade fluency skills include reading motivation, selecting resources to meet individual and information purposes, learning strategies for transitioning into chapter books, learning to search for books in the library catalog and understanding appropriate library behavior in a shared environment. Librarians also teach media literacy, including the building blocks of good digital citizenship.

Students continue to develop and deepen their number sense. They use strategies such as doubling and compensation to build fluency of addition and subtraction facts. They understand number relationships and ways to represent numbers and number systems. They can select the appropriate algorithm to solve a problem and identify the place value of two, three and four digit numbers. Students collect,interpret and represent data in multiple forms. In geometry, students recognize, name, draw, and sort both 2D and 3D figures. Students learn the components: sides, vertex, face, and edge and work with the concepts of transformations and symmetry. By the end of the year, students can find the perimeter of basic two-dimensional shapes. Students can tell time to the quarter hour and in five-minute intervals, measure length in inches and centimeters, and understand the value of coins and bills. Students continue to estimate and make predictions using basic probability. Initial algebraic concepts include forming inequalities and analyzing change on a number line.

Students develop general movement skills, fundamental game and sports concepts and social awareness through group activities. As the program and the children progress, each of these areas becomes increasingly specialized. Specific goals in Second Grade include adding more complex skills, rules and games and introducing fitness activities, cooperative games and games of low organization. Children also play introductory games for sports, such as basketball, kickball and soccer.

The curriculum includes life science, physical science and earth sciences. The year begins with a life science unit in which students create a controlled experiment using pea plants after reviewing the anatomy of a plant and its requirements for growth. Students also observe the life cycle of the mealworm and learn the four stages of its development. The physical science unit begins with electricity, specifically, current and static electricity. Students learn through experimentation and reading nonfiction. The second part of the physical science curriculum concerns magnetism. Students then turn to their health unit on oral and dental hygiene. The year concludes with earth science, and students learn about New York City waterways and landforms as they examine topographic maps. Trips to Riverside Park and Central Park complement students’ understanding of local land formations.

New York City is the focus of the Second Grade social studies curriculum. Children begin the year by defining community. Using this foundation, students begin to investigate the city around them and the elements that make it unique. This investigation specifically targets learning more about the five boroughs. Through research and class field trips, students learn about specific neighborhoods and then create their own ideal neighborhood, which they display in the grade’s New Neighborhoods Exhibit. As the year closes, second grade students begin to look at the characteristics of New York State to prepare for the transition to Third Grade.

Each year in the art studio builds off the previous one. Students continue to develop skills in drawing and perspective and move on to the next stage of developing small motor skills by working with sculpture; collage; paint and printmaking. During an in-depth study of Wassily Kandinsky, students learn about the symbolism in his work as well as his use of lines and shapes; they use this knowledge to create a painting that we call “Taking a Line for a Walk.” The project culminates with a trip to the Guggenheim to see the Kandinsky collection. Third graders love doing self-portraits and one very successful piece is creating a self-portrait in the style of Gustav Klimt which allows third graders to work in gold and to have the option of creating a shiny self -portrait. Students learn about proportion and value before they begin and then, once their faces are painted, they collage them into a gold background. Printmaking in Third Grade is usually some form of monoprinting. Whether it is a relief print that they build over several classes or a gel print that they create in thirty seconds, printmaking teaches organization and patience while building successful pieces of art. Though the medium changes from year to year, third graders also create sculptures that inspire out of clay, plastic bottles, and wood.

Students use a variety of resources including the Hebrew textbook series Chaverim B’Ivrit and HaKol Chadash, both published in Israel. Connections and contrasts among roots, word use, and even typeface show students that Hebrew is both an ancient and a living language. Through the course of the year, each student delivers a d’var Torah, his or her explication of a Torah portion, which includes an analysis of the Hebrew in the text. Students also continue to develop their reading fluency and written expression.

Third Grade focuses on Israel, both ancient and modern. There is significant crossover among Jewish Studies, Hebrew, and Social Studies that enriches the experience for students. They study the Israel of the Bible, using text and maps to aid them. They study modern Israel, with its various climatic regions and its thriving industry. Students complete an in-depth research project on Israel that culminates in a student created digital presentation. Students examine the meaning of prayers, learn their place in Tefillot, and practice finding them in Siddurim. In their d’vrei Torah, third graders respond to the weekly Torah portion and address the rest of the grade at Kabbalat Shabbat services.

The reading program provides students with many opportunities to expand the skills needed to process information and to think critically about reading content. Third graders read, discuss and write about literature in small groups and as a whole class. Students also read independently for personal enjoyment. In addition, students use content area texts to gain knowledge in specific subject areas while they learn strategies for reading non-fiction text. Reading skills emphasized throughout the year include identifying main ideas, recalling specific details, making connections to concepts outside the text, decoding accurately, reading fluently, using context clues to discern meaning, participating in discussions and supporting ideas with textual evidence.

The writing curriculum emphasizes basic skills as well as developing style and presentation. Students utilize opportunities to produce writing that is interesting and reflects critical thinking. Selections cover a variety of genres and personal and expository writing. Goals for the year include using correct sentence structure, expressing written ideas clearly, generating topics for writing, revising written work, and grasping basic grammar concepts including parts of speech and simple tenses.

Children study spelling and vocabulary words drawn from word banks of weekly assigned words and their own writing. Goals include learning spelling and vocabulary concepts, applying correct spelling outside of tests; demonstrating awareness of phonetic concepts, and applying spelling rules when writing unfamiliar words.

Students refine their print skills and learn cursive handwriting. Goals include writing neatly and legibly as well as spacing words and letters accurately and consistently.

Students learn about the Dewey decimal classification system and study which subjects are included. Students explore new nonfiction areas, which may spark new reading interests and expand their understanding. Information fluency skills include reading for multiple purposes, seeking information of personal interest, and understanding the organization of libraries. Librarians also teach media literacy, including the building blocks of good digital citizenship.

In Third Grade, students solidify their knowledge of addition and subtraction and they extend place value to the millions and hundredths places. Students understand multiplication by single digit numbers and by multiples of 10, carrying with multiplication, patterns in multiplication tables, the commutative property , and the multiplicative properties of the numbers one and zero. Students can divide by single digits, by 10s, and by regrouping. They can perform the long division algorithm without and with remainders. Students learn more advanced concepts regarding money including unit cost and a running balance. Students can regroup when telling time and are introduced to the concept of elapsed time. Students read, interpret and create bar graphs, pictographs, tables, charts, pictographs, arrays, line graphs, rows, and columns. Students learn geometric principles of two- and three-dimensional figures including: their parts (face, vertex, angle), classifications (polygons), manipulation (symmetry, congruence, flips, turns, slides), location (points), and linear relationships (perpendicular, parallel, intersecting). Students investigate how fractions relate to each other including the ideas of equivalence and ordering. Students also learn how to reduce fractions, to work with mixed numbers, and to find a common denominator. Students continue to hone their problem solving skills. In addition to solving pre-algebraic equations for missing numbers, they encounter spinner, dice, and coin toss probability problems. Throughout the year, the skills of estimating, predicting, and rounding are reinforced.

The program continues to develop competence established in previous grades. The curriculum also includes an introduction to recorders, differentiation between chest voice and head voice, in-depth study of treble clef notation, and basic theory. Music and Jewish Studies continue to be integrated as seen in the Third Grade production of “Music Makers.” Individual students may choose to take advantage of options such as instrumental lessons, ensembles, elementary choir, and after-school music activities.

Developing general movement skills, foundational game and sports concepts and social awareness through group activities make up the core of the program. Specific goals include building upon games and concepts learned in lower grades, extending cooperative activities, playing introductory games for more complex sports, practicing increasingly team-oriented and competitive games, learning beginning sports and beginning cardiovascular endurance work as well as continuing fitness activities.

Life, physical and earth science are each incorporated in the foundation of the curriculum. Students use the inquiry process and structured guidance to direct the course of their study. Students ask questions and define their own understanding of the scientific world through guided activities, experiment and observations. Topics include states of matter, surface tension, oil spills, habitats and ecosystems, and plate tectonics.

The Third Grade curriculum begins with a review and extension of mapping and geographical knowledge. Students are exposed to the five major geographical themes with a particular focus on the themes of movement and human-environment interaction. They study the Haudenosaunee people who settled New York State as well as European Exploration of the Americas. Their immigration unit focuses on the push pull factors that led people to leave Europe for America and on the myriad cultural influences immigrants bring to the United States. Specific emphasis is paid to Jewish immigration to New York City. During the latter half of the year, students examine some basic economic principles and gear up for their invention project where they research historical inventions and create their own inventions that solve specific needs. Relevant field trips including a voyage on The Pioneer sailing ship and visits to the Eldridge Street Synagogue and the Tenement Museum round out the course of study.

As part of a opening study of color theory, students create a color wheel using primary colors which serves as a reference point throughout the year. Students undertake an in-depth artist study that addresses core skills. In past years, students have created drawings with scissors like Henri Matisse and Cubist relief sculptures like Pablo Picasso. The unit typically culminates with a trip to one of the city’s many art museums. Another project integrates with a nonfiction writing unit on animals. In art class, students draw the animals they have researched and paint acrylic on canvas landscape paintings of the animals in their natural environments. Students also create at least one three-dimensional projects. Recent projects have included variations of 30″ by 20″ papier mache sculptures. Students have created human figures, Alphabet letters, and numbers. The sculptures are painted with bright color acrylics and designed with characters inspired by 1980s artist Keith Haring. The year ends with an integrated math project in which the students study symmetry and create a circular, symmetrical hoop painting.

Students expand their knowledge of Hebrew through increasingly complex language tasks. Through core texts such as Chaverim B’Ivrit, students explore the composition of text and its relationship to oral language. Students also continue to peruse Jewish texts including excerpts from siddurim and Tanach as well as texts related to Shabbat and the Jewish holidays. The similarities between Biblical and modern Hebrew are explored and students deepen their sense of pride in Hebrew and their Jewish heritage.

The theme of the year, Covenant, allows students to contemplate humanity’s relationship with God. As students’ abstract-thinking skills continue to develop, the focus of Jewish Studies begins to shift to exploring the reasons behind belief and practice in addition to learning content. Students examine prayers in close detail and deliver d’vrei t’fillot to their peers and parents at the weekly Kabbalat Shabbat service. Fourth graders also begin to take an increasingly active role in the service itself and often lead the prayers. Students hone the skill of locating a specific Torah portion, chapter and verse. They also stretch their critical thinking skills in the context of Reform Judaism’s emphasis on informed choice in interpreting text ranging from the last three books of the Torah to Prophets and Writing. They begin to study and to write their own midrashim and often draw on their knowledge of Hebrew to help them interpret the text.

The reading program incorporates multiple aspects including guided, shared and independent reading. Reading groups focus on a variety of genres and expose students to skills necessary to be critical readers. In addition to their in-school reading, students complete regular homework assignments. Several times a year, students complete Literature Connection projects; these projects are scaffolded to be completed increasingly independently as students learn time management skills. Students continue to read independently as they become increasingly able to select reading materials appropriate to their interests, accessible to their personal reading abilities, and encompassing a variety of genres.

Using Writer’s Workshop, students create many process pieces and several published pieces each year. Students continually mine reading content for models of good writing structure, style and content. As the year progresses, they write increasingly sophisticated pieces and apply the rules of spelling, grammar, usage, syntax and punctuation. Goals for the year include constructing strong paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details, incorporating literary devices, writing succinct summaries, revising and editing, and presenting published work. Particular grammar and punctuation concepts include a review of previous topics; mastery of parts of speech, simple verb tenses, plurals, main and auxiliary verbs, end punctuation; and further practice with commas, quotation marks, titles and contractions. Students continue to practice cursive handwriting and also word process final drafts.

Students learn spelling and vocabulary words explicitly and implicitly. Weekly assigned words review spelling patterns and create class lists of common vocabulary. In addition, spelling and vocabulary are personalized. Students generate lists of personal spelling and vocabulary words from their own writing and independent reading. Vocabulary also makes up an integral part of guided reading mini-lessons.

Students learn information fluency skills including practice locating materials, participating in book talks and discussions, seeking information to satisfy personal interests, finding appropriate books for independent reading, and learning to identify relevant facts presented in different forms. Students also learn media literacy and expand on their understanding of good digital citizenship.

Students develop an increasingly sophisticated number sense. Students are familiar with properties including the commutative, associative, and distributive properties and know that multiplication and division, and addition and subtraction are inverse functions. Students learn benchmark fractions, decimals, and measurement units as well as how to use them to compute efficiently. Students can convert fluently within a measurement system and are able to mark elapsed time. Students develop their mental math, estimation, and rounding strategies and choose appropriately from these in addition to using paper, pencils, and calculators. Students are able to use algebraic reasoning to express math relationships and to predict how one variable affects another. Students use visualization of geometric shapes, modeling, and spatial reasoning to solve problems. After generating questions, students develop a plan for collecting and interpreting data; they use a developing understanding of mean, median, mode, and range to analyze their results. Even as students learn specific math vocabulary such as “likely, unlikely, certain, equally likely, and impossible” to describe concepts (probability), they also relate these concepts to their daily lives.

The music curriculum continues to build on competence developed in previous grades. Added elements include exploration of classical music culminating with a trip to one of the city’s preeminent musical venues. Students also explore popular music of the 20th century and research a chosen recorded piece, examining its evolution to finished product. Students play an active role in songs composed for the Midrash Hour as part of the integrated curriculum with Jewish Studies. Some students elect to participate in elementary choir, private study of all strings, winds and percussion, ensembles.

The program reviews and builds upon skills learned in previous grades. Specific goals include more advanced introductory activities involving positions, strategies and a higher degree of skill levels for basketball, softball and other sports. Students also begin learning the rules of and practice playing football, handball, volleyball, softball and track and field. The program also provides opportunities for leadership as students continue fitness activities.

Students continue to encounter new information through the inquiry process. The class uses a variety of tools, technological resources, and hands-on experimentation as students explore topics such as measurement with lab tools, states of matter, food chains, and our solar system. Highlights of the year include the dissection of owl pellets and a visit from live birds from the Tenafly Nature Center’s raptor program.

In 4th Grade, students survey four regions of the United States: the Northeast, South, Midwest and West. They learn how to read a variety of maps, recognizing elevation, population and longitude and latitude. While studying the individual regions, students learn about moments in history specific to that region including the Colonial Northeast, the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War and Westward Expansion. Teachers base their curriculum on textbooks and a rich array of technological resources. Students learn strategies for reading nonfiction text and also experience history hands-on through primary source texts and images. They also routinely engage in simulations and projects designed to bring history alive.

At the heart of the middle school is our advisory program whose primary goals include nurturing students’ social-emotional development, as well as facilitating academic and intellectual growth. Advisors provide guidance and encouragement to students throughout their middle school experience and serve as the child’s advocate, in addition to serving as the main point of contact for parents. Each student is assigned an advisor. Advisory groups are led by a middle school teacher and generally consist of 6-9 students. The advisor meets with the family during parent conferences, and is the person the family communicates with directly for any matters concerning their child’s experience at school.

Advisory is a time to focus on social and emotional development. Advisors may use this time to navigate social issues, to discuss relevant grade level or current event topics, or simply engage in a fun game or activity that will help the group bond and develop deeper relationships with one another. Advisory periods are also occasionally used for other grade wide programming including Wellness & Sexuality classes and our responsible digital citizenship curriculum. Students also meet individually with their advisor for guidance and support.

Each child is assigned an advisor when they begin 5th Grade and they have that advisor for one year. In 6th Grade, students are assigned a new advisor who they generally stay with from 6th through 8th Grade. An important feature of the advisory program is the active participation of students in their own academic and social emotional development. Over the course of the three years and daily meetings, a deep and enduring relationship forms between advisor and advisee. This relationship transcends the usual teacher student relationship and often forms a bond that continues past a student’s graduation.

In 6th Grade studio art classes, students begin the trimester with an in-depth study of the contemporary painter Roy Lichtenstein. They explore Lichtenstein’s use of thick, horizontal stripes, and Benday Dots to reinvent the comic book style. Benday Dots were initially used for printing colored pictures in books and newspapers. Students create self-portraits inspired by his work. Working from a small 8”x 8” photograph of themselves on a 1” grid, each student copies and enlarges their photograph onto a 2” grid. Students also spend time producing a portfolio of multiple linoleum reduction prints. A reduction print is created when the artist prints with multiple colors from the same block. Each color is printed on top of the previous one. Students create an image, then copy it onto the linoleum before carving. They carve their first layer to print and repeat it three times before they finish the entire series.

In 6th Grade Drama, the trimester begins by approaching the stage and establishing a relationship with the audience using a dynamic presence that is honest and personal. In The Commercial assignment, students are asked to create and “sell” a product as a means of offering positive self-attributes to the audience. During the improvisation unit, students learn the fundamentals of theatre using techniques that concentrate on human behavior, emotion, and theatrical presentation. Through the Live Music Video assignment, students construct a fully realized (lip-synced) performance of a song using appropriate staging and theatrics as a means of understanding source material and interpreting it to connect to an audience. Through the final project students focus on scene study where students are paired up to rehearse a pre-written scene. The basics of acting are explored including: identifying the character’s circumstances, playing their objective and conflicts, and affecting/responding to the other in the scene accordingly.

In the English department at RSS we create a safe and supportive environment for students to explore and practice reading and writing strategies within novel-based units of study. Novels are chosen for their text complexity and themes present, while allowing for a diversity of voices and stories. Varied opportunities are provided for students to grasp a strong comprehension of the class texts, followed by diverse written and spoken forums where students can express their theories and ideas about what they are reading. Both reading and writing are explored as a process. As students make their way through the steps of learning a specific reading or writing skill, teachers structure lessons around the gradual release of responsibility; first introducing a skill with teacher-led support, then moving students towards trying that same skill with the support of a peer, and finally encouraging students as they work to master the skill independently. Grammar is taught within the editing stage of the writing process and its instruction is based on the individualized needs of each group of students. Finally, a space is created within each unit for project based learning, offering differentiated opportunities for all types of learners to interact with the curriculum in creative and complex ways.

The theme of 6th Grade English, Examining Communities and their Power Structures, can be traced throughout the class texts which include The Giver, Julius Caesar, New Kid, and excerpts from Stamped. The rigor of texts, analysis, and inquiry is elevated in 6th Grade. While still grounded in literacy skills, students are asked to find their unique voice as a writer, interpret the author’s purpose, and stretch themselves as readers. Students use class literature to examine the themes of identity, community, and power. An emphasis on conflict, sacrifice, and maturity underscore the study of each text. Additionally, students learn about traditional archetypes, like the hero’s journey, and track their appearance and transformation in class texts and independent reading.

Students hone their writing skills through a wide variety of assignments. Written work becomes increasingly complex while maintaining a focus on clarity of expression. Students expand their practice beyond a formal paragraph and into essay writing; they practice crafting strong introductions and conclusions, developing a convincing thesis, and supporting their argument with relevant textual evidence. Students also complete creative writing assignments and independent book projects. In-class discussions and questions on their reading, summaries, and personal responses remain part of their regular tasks.

Mini-lessons and regular evaluation of writing continue to spotlight the application of correct grammar, spelling, punctuation and usage rules. Additionally, grammar lessons are integrated as a response to student needs as well as within the context of the recursive writing process. Vocabulary and spelling practice continue to be drawn from the class reading.

Students are expected to arrive to class with a proficient comprehension of whole class texts. That baseline understanding is then used as a springboard to launch analytical conversations and engage in interactive activities. Students work independently, in partners, in small groups, and as a whole class. Each unit and daily lesson is designed with the needs of all learners in mind.

Major topics:

• Writing: Essay writing, literature responses, personal responses, introductions and conclusions, developing an argument, selecting and interpreting textual evidence
• Literary terms: symbol, tone, metaphor, foreshadowing, logical fallacies
• Reading: Whole class texts and independent reading, thorough and meaningful annotations, story elements: conflict, turning point, theme, characterization, point of view
• Grammar: sentence structure, complex comma usage, complex verb tense agreement

Romance Language classes at RSS give middle school students the opportunity to develop new ways of expressing themselves and understanding their world through a multicultural lens. French and Spanish classes are taught with an immersive approach, allowing students to read, write, listen, speak, and think in another language. Teachers model authentic and comprehensible language with the aid of props, storytelling, images, songs, games and other tools. Instruction is designed around communicative tasks about topics students can relate to and are excited about. These goal-oriented activities require students to interact with each other in the target language. Through meaningful exchanges with their peers and strategic and engaging repetition by their instructors, students naturally and more easily acquire language structures, accurate pronunciation, vocabulary terms, and common expressions. Daily lessons incorporate opportunities for both guided and independent practice. Students also demonstrate progress through creative and fun projects.

In 6th Grade French, students learn vocabulary and expressions for immediate communication and begin to converse about themselves and their daily lives. The course incorporates four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing—with an overall emphasis on oral proficiency.

Class activities include vocabulary practice, directed listening and video activities, role-playing, and grammar explanations and exercises. Frequent creative projects that include art, drama and music allow students to use the language in new ways. Students work individually and cooperatively in class.

By the end of 6th Grade, students are able to form simple sentences in the target language. They introduce themselves, express their likes and dislikes, describe their friends and family, and talk about their classes, city, and home.

Major topics:

• Presenting personal information
• Introducing friends and family members
• Describing people and things
• Speaking about school, work, and home
• Discussing leisure activities
• Asking questions
• Regular and irregular verbs in the present tense

Our Middle School Hebrew program uses a whole language approach emphasizing all four components of developing language skills- listening, speaking, reading and writing. While the pace and volume of the curriculum can vary from class to class, we use a variety of methods including dialogue, games, reading, writing, conversation, and an online program called “Ulpan Or.” The program is designed to increase students’ appreciation for the Hebrew language and their heritage. We provide students with the ability to communicate in Hebrew in a variety of situations and expose students to the life experiences of Hebrew speaking students in Israel. Students are exposed to Hebrew slang and gain a deeper understanding of Israeli culture. Throughout the program we reinforce and review grammatical sentence structures and conjugation of verbs in the present and past tenses.

The Hebrew curriculum for 6th Grade teaches the following skills: reading, writing, comprehension, and conversation. These language proficiencies are taught through dialogues, games, stories, visual aids and videos. Supplemental material from various sources is used as part of a whole language approach. At the beginning of the year, our studies focus on summer vacation, the High Holy Days and Sukkot. We review holiday blessings, sing festive songs and learn new vocabulary words related to the holidays. We discuss the theme “New Beginning” – offering wishes and prayers for the New Year. As Hanukkah approaches we review the blessings and sing Hanukkah songs. Students explore the miracle of the oil by making ancient oil jugs in the Creation Lab. The students continue to expand upon their vocabulary, learn Hebrew phrases, slang and more groups of verb conjugation in the present tense. Students also learn a new conjugation of verbs in the present tense (Binyan Hifil). They continue to develop the skills of identifying the structure of keywords and word families through the use of word roots, suffixes, and prefixes. In connection with the Jewish Studies curriculum, the students learn Birchot Ha’Torah and the Haftarah blessings. 6th graders continue to use the online program – “Ulpan Or: Hebrew at the Speed of Light.” This program is innovative, interactive and research-based, developed using 21st-century technology from Israel. It includes short video clips, audio clips, built-in structured exercises, virtual flashcards, Israeli songs and much more. The ultimate goal of each unit is for the students to be able to act out in Hebrew a dialogue given to them in English.

Major Topics:

• “In school”
• “At work”
• “In the family”
• Trope: Torah Cantillation
• Blessings: Birchot Ha’Torah, Haftorah, Aleinu, Lecha Dodi

In middle school, history students access a range of historical time periods, ideas, and themes. Each unit closely focuses on a particular era or geographic part of the world. Units are spiraled from one to the next and students frequently make content connections to prior units of study, both within a particular year and from grade to grade. RSS honors the different voices that shape history. History classes include the narratives of those who have often been marginalized in the past. Students learn to differentiate primary and secondary sources and learn to corroborate and read into the bias, nuance, and subtext, of primary sources. Students learn to engage with a variety of primary sources – including speeches, letters, poetry, artwork and images, architecture, and legal codes. Each grade level looks at the relationship between cause and effect to glean historical significance as well as change over time. Writing is an essential part of the history curriculum and is spiraled across the four grades.. Students begin middle school by learning to write with supporting historical evidence, and by the time they graduate they are able to articulate arguments about the past that are supported by numerous sources. By the time students graduate, they are not only expected to be able to incorporate pieces of historical evidence and quotes from primary source documents, but are also expected to show the importance of that evidence as it connects back to their argument. Geography is woven into each unit of study across all grade levels as students learn the importance of physical and geographic features as well as its relationship to historical events. Furthermore, lessons and assessments utilize different modalities of learning, allowing for a range of learners to access the material.

In 6th Grade History, students examine the major religions of the world and explore some facets of the history that surrounded the creation of these faiths. They begin the year by interrogating the definition of religion, considering key components like sacred texts and rituals through multiple lenses. They then learn about the rise of Rome and its transition from republic to empire. They study how the growth of Christianity fits into this historical narrative and learn about key teachings through close-reading of New Testament passages. Students then shift their attention to ancient India. In their study of Hinduism and Buddhism, students investigate the way that religious tenets shape and are shaped by social structures. Students end the year with a unit on Islam. As they learn about the birth of this new faith and its rapid growth, they are challenged to make connections between units of study and to use their burgeoning research skills to apply what they have learned to current events.

Students continue to complete a combination of textual and hands-on assignments on the various aspects of historical study. Assignments include geography posters, debates, and speeches. Students continue their explicit study of comprehension strategies as the history texts become increasingly more challenging. They learn to differentiate between primary and secondary sources and begin to engage in primary source analysis. Students write well-supported paragraphs and work on various research skills and assignments. As 6th Grade students solidify their study skills, there is increased emphasis on content mastery.

Major Topics:

• World Geography
• Ancient Rome
• Christianity
• Ancient India
• Hinduism and Buddhism
• Islam

In Middle School Jewish Studies, students are asked to read, think, and write critically about Jewish texts, particularly the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Whether through the study of Jewish holidays, theology, or the historical experience of the Jewish people, students sharpen and employ general academic skills – close reading, primary source analysis, and public speaking among others – as they navigate a structured, spiraled curriculum that challenges them intellectually, spiritually, and ethically. In addition, students learn skills specific to Jewish Studies, whether Tanakh and Siddur navigation, the rabbinic style of commentary, or, guided by the core Reform Jewish value of “informed choice,” how we might derive contemporary meaning from ancient texts, customs and ideas.

In the 6th Grade Jewish Studies program, students learn how to study Torah. Students learn how to closely and critically read a text, ask meaningful questions, consider commentaries, and develop their own interpretations. Students begin this process by learning about the traditional hevrutah (study partner) model of study, and then study texts in hevrutah. The first semester culminates in the 6th Grade iQuestion Project – a long-term, multi-step project where students apply their learning creatively to a chosen narrative text from the Torah. In the second half of the year, students will take a deep dive into the events of Ancient Jewish history, and will learn about how Judaism as we know it came to be after the destruction of the First and Second Temples.

Major Topics:

• Identity and Community
• Hevrutah
• The Art of Interpretation: iQuestion Project
• Jewish History: Temple Times
• Jewish History: The Destruction of the First and Second Temples
• Jewish History: Post-Temple Times

The RSS Middle School Math program is designed to help students develop as mathematicians and emerge from 8th Grade ready to take on High School level Geometry, Algebra 2, and higher level courses. Throughout the curriculum, lessons are designed for students to further develop their vital mathematical processes including problem solving, reasoning and proving, communication, making connections and representation. In 6th-8th Grade, there is one honors sections of math, allowing students to be appropriately challenged as necessary. While students continue to study an overview of mathematics including number sense, geometry, statistics, and probability, there is a particular emphasis on preparing students for Algebra in 8th Grade. Beginning in 5th Grade, students explore ratios, proportional relationships and algebraic expressions through contextual problems and stories. The Math department constantly evaluates the best curriculum resources to use, pulling from researched based curricular including Prentice Hall, Connected Math, Structure and Method, and Blitzer textbooks. Using a combination of curricula allows students to make relevant connections to their everyday life and model the math around them. Teachers emphasize the use of multiple strategies to solve problems and guide students to find the most efficient solution. Throughout the middle school years, there are certain components of the curriculum that “spiral,” purposefully repeating, allowing students to explore concepts and topics with increasing complexity, and to reinforce previously learned information. In addition, students are supported at their individual level while improving their note taking, organization, and collaboration skills. As appropriate, lessons and sometimes class sections are further differentiated to allow for advanced or extended study of mathematical concepts. All students have the opportunity to participate in more challenging independent study through “Problems of the Week” or “Anchoring Activities.” In addition, students may join the Mathletes club to compete in Math Olympiad contests.

6th Grade mathematics extends students arithmetic skills and moves to proportional thinking and reasoning. Students review the properties of numbers and examine their applications to fractions, decimals, percents, and integers. Students continue to select the best methods to solve a problem, employ estimation, and evaluate their answers. When studying ratios and proportional reasoning, students complete “The Scale Model Project” by enlarging or reducing a household item and creating a model using their own materials and calculated measurements. In 6th Grade math, algebraic reasoning begins to be taught explicitly, with an easily identifiable letter or symbol in place of an unknown quantity in an expression or equation. Students move from representing familiar problems arithmetically to doing so through algebra. During the study of Probability, students test hypothesis in activities like “Coin Flipping” or “Cup Tossing” to find the experimental probability and extend to theoretical probability. Students continue to explore geometrical concepts and begin to use coordinate geometry. They study the defining properties of two-and three-dimensional objects. They use formulas to find circumference, perimeter, and area of two-dimensional figures. Throughout the course, students analyze and compare methods for solving problems and representing data, and select the method that best serves their needs.
Major topics:

• Integers
• Fractions, decimals, percents
• Ratio and proportion
• Geometry and measurement
• Statistics, data analysis and probability
• Simple algebraic equations
• Problem-solving

The RSS Physical Education Department seeks to empower all students to sustain regular, lifelong physical activity as a foundation for a healthy, productive, and fulfilling life.

The PE curriculum is based on physical activities and an introduction to a variety of sports in an active, caring, and supportive atmosphere in which every student is challenged and successful. RSS provides all students with a variety of activities and challenges that contribute to the development of their physical, cognitive, and emotional well being.

RSS PE program focuses on the following:

• Outdoor education
• Skill development
• Competitive play
• Collaborative skills and fair play
• Cultural movement activities
• Fitness
• Electives
• Parks & off campus locations

In the RSS Middle School, students engage in a year long course of study that utilizes local parks and other off-campus locations as its classroom. The middle school Physical Education curriculum is designed to meet the physical, social, and emotional needs and interests of the individual student. Students participate in individual and team sports in each grade, where the faculty emphasize skill development, fair play, and healthy competition. To encourage lifelong fitness skills to maintain a healthy lifestyle, different fitness components of cardiovascular exercises and muscle strengthening are embedded into each PE unit.

As part of a diversified curriculum, 5th-7th graders participate in one of three cultural projects, with each unit culminating with a performance for the full middle school student body. 8th Grade students choose electives that are unconventional team sports and fitness offerings. This allows for the students to learn in small groups and an opportunity for students to explore their interests. Some past offerings included indoor and outdoor rock-climbing, yoga, rugby and long-distance running.

In the warmer months, RSS utilizes Riverside Park for Physical Education classes. In an effort to maximize ‘active minutes,’ students safely walk to the park as a group before using the fields, trails, and courts for class. Beyond the normal team sports (soccer, football, frisbee, etc.), students participate in different types of outdoor activities such as bouldering, trail-runs, and trust walks.

During the winter months, RSS is fortunate to have access to the JCC and Police Athletic League Duncan Center as indoor sites. Our curriculum concentrates on indoor sports, such as basketball, floor hockey, team handball, and volleyball.

As physical activity and play is an essential part of child development, we make every effort to give students an opportunity to participate in physical activity regularly.. Additionally, the Skydeck is open for recess three times a week during morning break. There is a choice recess period twice a week during advisory where students can choose between study hall, recess, gardening, arts, or other activities.

The RSS Middle School Science Program expands students knowledge of the world around them by understanding the principles of science. Students explore phenomena through testing, exploration, and observations. This is completed through in-class demonstrations, individual and group work, projects, and lab work. Students are encouraged to try out new ideas, make mistakes, and then learn from those mistakes. One of the core principles in exploring science is to be a resilient and reflective thinker, and that is the main goal of the RSS science program. As students enter middle school, the focus is on process and standards of scientific inquiry, slowly building from concrete to more abstract concepts. We move from simply showing how things work, to applying knowledge to new and different contexts. Each year students have a final project that they present at the annual STEM Expo. The projects are student driven and allow students to explore their individual interests. At the completion of 8th Grade, students leave Rodeph Sholom with a solid foundation for further study in science and yearning to learn more.

In 6th Grade science, students immerse themselves in the study of physics with a focus on engineering. This course lays the groundwork for further studies in physics, earth science, astronomy, and chemistry. The course is split into two parts, Electricity & Magnetism and Forces & Motion.

During their coursework, students conduct various tests independently to confirm scientific principles and formulae. Students begin with some initial instruction on a topic and then explore with materials to come to confirm their hypotheses.

The year begins with a study of the scientific process and the analysis of what comprises “good science” and “fair tests.” Students work through how to collect and graph their results, and discuss the difference between independent, dependent, and controlled variables.

The following unit examines the two fields of electricity, electrostatics, and electrodynamics. Much of the exploration of these topics includes observing phenomena and relating it back to the scientific principles and laws learned in class. Students are given their own programmable circuit kit where they learn the basics of making circuits. They start by making circuits using resistors, LEDs, and switches. By using Ohm’s law they are able to calculate the current in their circuits and choose appropriate resistors.

Once the basics of circuitry are mastered, students use an Arduino circuit board to make programmable circuits using block programming. Here they can control the circuits directly using “if/then” and “if/else” statements, and components like diodes, motors, ultrasonic sensors, thermistors, light sensitive resistors, and transistors can also be added. Students explore, build their own designs, are able to discuss electromagnetism, and design simple homopolar motors. Through these experiences, students have a solid foundation in circuits and programming.

In 6th Grade students also learn how gravity, friction, momentum, and forces affect the motion of an object. This is related with vectors and force diagrams on objects while students observe the motion of objects and relate it to scientific laws governing motion. All of these concepts lead to the STEM Expo project, where students design and build truss bridges using the science and engineering principles learned in class. The strength of each bridge’s structural engineering is tested before the entire Middle School at the annual STEM Expo. Students write a paper to examine the process of building the bridge, what they learned, and what they would do to improve their bridge.

Lastly, 6th Grade students examine mechanical waves and sound. In this portion students learn to turn a wave into a graph, and interpret the data found in graphs. Simple machines, like pulleys, and mechanical advantage are also studied in this final unit. As a final project, students work on a collaborative week-long problem-based-learning project in which students design a working Rube Goldberg machine using many of the principles used throughout the year.
Major Topics and Projects:

• Circuit and Arduino unit with block programming
• Force Labs
• STEM Expo Bridge Engineering Project
• Rube Goldberg Project

Romance Language classes at RSS give middle school students the opportunity to develop new ways of expressing themselves and understanding their world through a multicultural lens. French and Spanish classes are taught with an immersive approach, allowing students to read, write, listen, speak, and think in another language. Teachers model authentic and comprehensible language with the aid of props, storytelling, images, songs, games and other tools. Instruction is designed around communicative tasks about topics students can relate to and are excited about. These goal-oriented activities require students to interact with each other in the target language. Through meaningful exchanges with their peers and strategic and engaging repetition by their instructors, students naturally and more easily acquire language structures, accurate pronunciation, vocabulary terms, and common expressions. Daily lessons incorporate opportunities for both guided and independent practice. Students also demonstrate progress through creative and fun projects.

6th Grade Spanish makes up the first half of an introductory language course. Students learn vocabulary and expressions for immediate communication and begin to converse about themselves and their daily lives. The course incorporates four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing-with an overall emphasis on oral proficiency.

Class activities include vocabulary practice, directed listening and video activities, role-playing and grammar explanations and exercises. Frequent creative projects that include art, drama, and music allow students to use the language in new ways. Students work individually and cooperatively in class.

By the end of 6th Grade, students form simple sentences in the target language. They introduce themselves and discuss personal information. Students practice describing their likes and dislikes, classes and daily activities.

Major topics:

• Discussing personal information
• Introducing family members
• Portraying leisure activities
• Describing people and things
• Asking questions
• Forming affirmative and negative questions
• Regular and irregular verbs in the present tense
• Direct Object Pronouns

Students are assigned to study hall periodically throughout the week. This is a time for students to work independently, with the support of a teacher if needed. During study hall, students can arrange to meet with a teacher, work with other students in the Action Center, study, or get ahead on assignments.

The 6th grade Health and Wellness curriculum this semester covered a range of topics including reproductive anatomy and physiology, and puberty. We go into detail about the social, emotional, mental, and physical changes a body goes through. Most importantly, changes do not all take place at once (it is a process, not a single event) and happen at different times and rates for every person– there is no right or wrong. Knowing the facts about bodies and how they work helps young people make healthier, safer, and more well-informed decisions.

The Action Center is located in the Middle School Library, is a drop in space for academic support, with a focus on curriculum and organization. Students go to the Action Center for help with their assignments, need help getting started or to better understand a concept learned in class. The AC is staffed by Middle School faculty who are able to guide students in any subject. Students choose to go to the AC during their study hall periods, if they prefer to receive extra help instead of working independently. The Action Center encourages students to take responsibility for their learning, and independently advocate for their academic needs.

In middle school, some students attend the Learning Center (LC) instead of a Study Hall, typically once a week. The LC functions as a guided study hall where students receive curricular support on assignments and are encouraged to work on aspects of learning that are more challenging for them. With the guidance of the learning specialists, study skills and effective strategies are embedded into the academic work, and students use this time to sharpen their understanding of personal strengths and areas for improvement. Every period in the Learning Center looks different: students might work one on one or in small groups with a learning specialist; they may work on the same assignment as their peers or focus on different school subjects. The role of the learning specialists is to gently and consistently support students’ curricular challenges. Through our work in the Learning Center, we aim for students to internalize the strategies that they are learning and practicing, and to apply them independently in their work both at home and at school. We believe that teaching children how to be students is just as important as what they are studying, and so we help to build these important lifelong student skills. Learning specialists regularly communicate with subject matter teachers, advisors and department heads to understand the curricular expectations and the students as they grow. This collaboration is key in supporting students and helping them to meet the curricular standards, enhance their confidence, and build their independence.

At the heart of the middle school is our advisory program whose primary goals include nurturing students’ social-emotional development, as well as facilitating academic and intellectual growth. Advisors provide guidance and encouragement to students throughout their middle school experience and serve as the child’s advocate, in addition to serving as the main point of contact for parents. Each student is assigned an advisor. Advisory groups are led by a middle school teacher and generally consist of 6-9 students. The advisor meets with the family during parent conferences, and is the person the family communicates with directly for any matters concerning their child’s experience at school.

Advisory is a time to focus on social and emotional development. Advisors may use this time to navigate social issues, to discuss relevant grade level or current event topics, or simply engage in a fun game or activity that will help the group bond and develop deeper relationships with one another. Advisory periods are also occasionally used for other grade wide programming including Wellness & Sexuality classes and our responsible digital citizenship curriculum. Students also meet individually with their advisor for guidance and support.

Each child is assigned an advisor when they begin 5th Grade and they have that advisor for one year. In 6th Grade, students are assigned a new advisor who they generally stay with from 6th through 8th Grade. An important feature of the advisory program is the active participation of students in their own academic and social emotional development. Over the course of the three years and daily meetings, a deep and enduring relationship forms between advisor and advisee. This relationship transcends the usual teacher student relationship and often forms a bond that continues past a student’s graduation.

In the first part of the trimester, students master their spatial awareness and learn the fundamentals of working with clay to create a Bas Low Relief sculpture. Bas-Relief is a technique that allows several layers of clay to be “pulled away” thus revealing the foreground, middle ground, and background. The students experiment with shapes and dimensions, analyzing what and how to create balance and applying this to their pieces. Through the creation of their work students explore scale, depth, proportion, symmetry, texture, and pattern. Using India ink and brushes, 7th graders also produce traditional Chinese pen and ink paintings. Students experiment with creating several hues from black ink and paint intricate flowers from observation. The experiments lead to investigating texture, gradation in tone, light, shadows, and depth.

7th Grade Digital Art works off of the foundation students gain in their design thinking, 3D design and innovating from their time during their 5th and 6th Grade classes. Students begin the trimester working on a project called Making the Space. They problem solve by designing tools, labels, and other components to enhance the Creation Lab, making it accessible for both Elementary and Middle School students. The students are then given the autonomy to choose their projects for the remainder of the time by combining different applications, tools, and materials available in the Creation Lab.

In the English department at RSS we create a safe and supportive environment for students to explore and practice reading and writing strategies within novel-based units of study. Novels are chosen for their text complexity and themes present, while allowing for a diversity of voices and stories. Varied opportunities are provided for students to grasp a strong comprehension of the class texts, followed by diverse written and spoken forums where students can express their theories and ideas about what they are reading. Both reading and writing are explored as a process. As students make their way through the steps of learning a specific reading or writing skill, teachers structure lessons around the gradual release of responsibility; first introducing a skill with teacher-led support, then moving students towards trying that same skill with the support of a peer, and finally encouraging students as they work to master the skill independently. Grammar is taught within the editing stage of the writing process and its instruction is based on the individualized needs of each group of students. Finally, a space is created within each unit for project based learning, offering differentiated opportunities for all types of learners to interact with the curriculum in creative and complex ways.

7th Grade textual offerings include appropriately challenging literature that pulls from contemporary and canonical sources. The theme of 7th Grade English is Social Perceptions and Stereotypes.

As students navigate the B’nai Mitzvah process, they are encouraged to deepen their sense of what it means to grow up within and against the pressure of social perceptions. They become adept at recognizing how different patterns of experience based on gender, sexuality, class, and race intersect within society. Students read about the coming of age of an adolescent Chicano girl from Chicago, Esperanza Cordero, in The House on Mango Street, and what her yearning for a “real house” symbolizes. They also read Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, exploring how the different rules of the fairy kingdom, Athenian court, and forest worlds can help us understand society outside the play, as well. Through the graphic novel American Born Chinese, they consider how the desire to fit in can leave people feeling estranged from themselves and their heritage. Finally, students finish the year by reading All American Boys, a dual-narrated novel that explores two sides of contemporary racial issues in the United States and emphasizes the importance of seeking truth outside one’s own personal experience.

Students learn to develop a thesis grounded in a specific topic and how to present a precise interpretation. They learn to build arguments based on several supporting features or stages in progression. Students quote textual evidence and learn parenthetical citation. They practice the fluid introduction and interpretation of quotations with particular attention to the isolating and explication of figurative details. Students learn how to respond to various types of analytical and creative prompts. To further develop their vocabulary, students use Membean, an online program with exercises calibrated to each student’s skill level.

The 7th Grade curriculum expects a high level of content mastery. Lessons are designed to appeal to a variety of learning styles. Students work as a whole class, in small groups, and independently.

Major topics:

• Writing: Essay writing, literature responses, personal responses, creative writing, writing a thesis, developing an argument, citing textual evidence, analyzing figurative language
• Literary terms: vignette, allusion, subtext, connotation, panel, composition, motif
• Reading: Whole class texts and independent reading, reading for figurative language

Romance Language classes at RSS give middle school students the opportunity to develop new ways of expressing themselves and understanding their world through a multicultural lens. French and Spanish classes are taught with an immersive approach, allowing students to read, write, listen, speak, and think in another language. Teachers model authentic and comprehensible language with the aid of props, storytelling, images, songs, games and other tools. Instruction is designed around communicative tasks about topics students can relate to and are excited about. These goal-oriented activities require students to interact with each other in the target language. Through meaningful exchanges with their peers and strategic and engaging repetition by their instructors, students naturally and more easily acquire language structures, accurate pronunciation, vocabulary terms, and common expressions. Daily lessons incorporate opportunities for both guided and independent practice. Students also demonstrate progress through creative and fun projects.

7th Grade French provides students with a second year of introduction to French and develops a strong base for further study that encourages creative exploration of the language. Students participate in simulations of situations that a young person might encounter in the target culture such as engaging in a conversation about what sports they enjoy or clothes they prefer to wear. In a variety of activities, students discuss rooms in a home, furniture and decor, chores, food and drinks, transportation and shops.

Students continue to learn the fundamentals of grammar including subject/verb and noun/adjective agreement. They also learn to distinguish between present, future, and past tenses. Throughout the year, students work on short writing assignments, creative skits, and projects, which help them express themselves in more complex sentences.

Major topics:

• Naming and describing clothing and accessories
• Asking and giving opinions about outfits
• Saying what you are going to do
• Expressing a recently completed action
• Talking about which sports you participate in
• Expressing possession
• Giving commands
• Saying what you know how to do
• Responding in the negative
• Talking about the past
• Saying where you are and where you will go

Our Middle School Hebrew program uses a whole language approach emphasizing all four components of developing language skills- listening, speaking, reading and writing. While the pace and volume of the curriculum can vary from class to class, we use a variety of methods including dialogue, games, reading, writing, conversation, and an online program called “Ulpan Or.” The program is designed to increase students’ appreciation for the Hebrew language and their heritage. We provide students with the ability to communicate in Hebrew in a variety of situations and expose students to the life experiences of Hebrew speaking students in Israel. Students are exposed to Hebrew slang and gain a deeper understanding of Israeli culture. Throughout the program we reinforce and review grammatical sentence structures and conjugation of verbs in the present and past tenses.

The Hebrew language curriculum for the 7th Grade revolves around the following skills: reading, writing, listening, and conversation. These proficiencies are taught through dialogues, stories, writing assignments, songs and games. We continue to focus on reading comprehension, grammar, oral language, and Jewish holidays. Our year begins with our Summer Vacation unit, High Holidays and Sukkot. We review the blessings for the holidays and sing holiday songs. Students explore the theme of Gvurot Yisrael – “Heroes of Israel” – by designing and decorating Maccabee shields in the Creation Lab. Other topics include a study of directions and one on home. They also learn the “Aleynu” prayer. Students continue to encounter different genres of text and have opportunities to hold class discussions on what they read. They continue to develop the skills of identifying the structure of keywords and word families through the use of word roots, suffixes, and prefixes. In the 7th Grade, students continue to use the online program “Ulpan Or: Hebrew at the Speed of Light.” This program is innovative, interactive and research-based, developed using 21st-century technology from Israel. It includes short video clips, audio clips, built-in structured exercises, virtual flashcards, Israeli songs and much more. The ultimate goal of each unit is for the students to be able to act out in Hebrew a dialogue given to them in English.

Major Topics:

• Ulpan Or:
• Time
• Directions
• Places, home, apartment
• Semikhut: Construct state of nouns
• Binyan Pi’el
• Prayers: Yigdal, Havdalah, Amidah

In middle school, history students access a range of historical time periods, ideas, and themes. Each unit closely focuses on a particular era or geographic part of the world. Units are spiraled from one to the next and students frequently make content connections to prior units of study, both within a particular year and from grade to grade. RSS honors the different voices that shape history. History classes include the narratives of those who have often been marginalized in the past. Students learn to differentiate primary and secondary sources and learn to corroborate and read into the bias, nuance, and subtext, of primary sources. Students learn to engage with a variety of primary sources – including speeches, letters, poetry, artwork and images, architecture, and legal codes. Each grade level looks at the relationship between cause and effect to glean historical significance as well as change over time. Writing is an essential part of the history curriculum and is spiraled across the four grades.. Students begin middle school by learning to write with supporting historical evidence, and by the time they graduate they are able to articulate arguments about the past that are supported by numerous sources. By the time students graduate, they are not only expected to be able to incorporate pieces of historical evidence and quotes from primary source documents, but are also expected to show the importance of that evidence as it connects back to their argument. Geography is woven into each unit of study across all grade levels as students learn the importance of physical and geographic features as well as its relationship to historical events. Furthermore, lessons and assessments utilize different modalities of learning, allowing for a range of learners to access the material.

7th Grade history surveys American history from European exploration of the Americas to the Civil Rights Movement. This includes introducing the economic, social, racial, and political context of theNorth American colonies.

The focus of study continues chronologically, towards the American Revolution and the creation of the Constitution. Students explore how the sociopolitical context of colonial America impacted the desire to separate from England and the development of the new U.S. Constitution. Students study the compromises that made up the framework for the Constitution and become familiar with various Constitutional principles while reckoning with the choices the American Founders did – and did not make – regarding slavery. Following this exploration, students will research a woman or BIPOC from early America and seek to place their story within the larger context of the period. They will explore how those without formal power sought to exercise control over their own lives and over the development of the burgeoning nation around them.

After learning about the founding of the republic, students explore the development of the young nation and how its first 80 years were inextricably linked to slavery – in both the south and the north. They will study the lives of enslaved peoples, how they rebelled in large scale revolts and how they resisted through quotidian actions, how they formed familial bonds and the precariousness of the family under slavery, and how through their actions they repeatedly put slavery on the national agenda as a question that had to be resolved.

Students will then study how the growing geographic divisions over slavery – and the ways in which slavery affected all other areas of American life – led to the Civil War. Rather than study specific battles or tactics, the Civil War unit covers the actions of the enslaved in the South and how they forced the meaning of the war to change from one of union to one for a new birth of freedom.

Students then learn about Reconstruction and how its idealistic aims created the first multiracial democracy in American history, but also how its eventual failures created a status quo that was consistently challenged in a century-long struggle for African Americans to gain equal civil rights.Through learning about the Jim Crow South students will see how new institutions of racial hierarchy were created in the South and learn about the Great Migration to the North.

Students will explore the North primarily through a case study of Chicago where they will learn about race riots and redlining. They will see how there was more freedom in the North, but will also see the clear limits of that freedom and the circumscribed nature of Northern cities. In particular, they will make connections between early 20th century events and policies (such as redlining and restrictive covenants) and the American they inhabit today.

The course will conclude with an exploration of the Civil Rights Movement as students seek to piece together their knowledge and arrive at a better understanding of the world and nation they see around themselves.

In the 7th Grade, students encounter increasingly difficult textual material. They are also expected to offer complex analyses of historical evidence. Projects which value a variety of modalities continue and are expected to be completed at a more advanced level. Student work involves a greater complexity of synthesis and analysis. They write traditional essays and practice writing a solid thesis, supported by ample evidence. As their research skills have further developed, the emphasis of the research process shifts to the development of a cogent argument. The curriculum emphasizes advanced study skills and requires content mastery and application.

Major Topics:

• Ancient History and European Settlement
• Revolution and The U.S. Constitution
• Young Republic and Slavery
• The Civil War & Reconstruction
• Jim Crow and Great Migration
• Chicago and the North
• The Civil Rights Movement

In Middle School Jewish Studies, students are asked to read, think, and write critically about Jewish texts, particularly the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Whether through the study of Jewish holidays, theology, or the historical experience of the Jewish people, students sharpen and employ general academic skills – close reading, primary source analysis, and public speaking among others – as they navigate a structured, spiraled curriculum that challenges them intellectually, spiritually, and ethically. In addition, students learn skills specific to Jewish Studies, whether Tanakh and Siddur navigation, the rabbinic style of commentary, or, guided by the core Reform Jewish value of “informed choice,” how we might derive contemporary meaning from ancient texts, customs and ideas.

7th Grade Jewish Studies focuses on Judaism as an evolving religious civilization. The study of Judaism’s continual survival in the Diaspora in the following thematic units are examined: In our History unit, students learn about Jewish life in the Diaspora, starting with the codification and development of the Oral Law in Babylonia and adaptation and cross-cultural exchange in Muslim Spain and Christian Europe during the Middle Ages, focusing on the individuals who influenced the Jewish world most. In Tanakh, the focus is on developing skills for critical textual analysis and mining texts for moral and religious meaning. Students study Jewish holidays through the lens of each holiday’s Haftarah or Megillah, exploring the relationship between the themes of the holiday and the chosen narrative and/or work of wisdom literature. This will enable us to engage in our Theology unit, in which we will learn about important and influential theologians and their different conceptions of God. The year is completed with a Capstone Project, which provides an opportunity for students to synthesize the ideas worked on over the year, connected to Jewish textual reasoning: how did central ideas of Jewish philosophy and practice (who/what God is, how the universe came to be, what the God/human relationship involves) take shape and develop over time, and how do they emerge from classical Jewish sources?

Major Topics:

• Haftarah, Megillah, and Wisdom Literature
• The development of the Oral Law: Mishnah, Gemara, Talmud
• Babylonia and the Geonim
• The Golden Age of Spain: Yehuda Halevi and Maimonides
• Moses de Leon and the Zohar
• The Emergence of Ashkenaz: Rashi
• The Documentary Hypothesis
• Introduction to Jewish Theology

The RSS Middle School Math program is designed to help students develop as mathematicians and emerge from 8th Grade ready to take on High School level Geometry, Algebra 2, and higher level courses. Throughout the curriculum, lessons are designed for students to further develop their vital mathematical processes including problem solving, reasoning and proving, communication, making connections and representation. In 6th-8th Grade, there is one honors sections of math, allowing students to be appropriately challenged as necessary. While students continue to study an overview of mathematics including number sense, geometry, statistics, and probability, there is a particular emphasis on preparing students for Algebra in 8th Grade. Beginning in 5th Grade, students explore ratios, proportional relationships and algebraic expressions through contextual problems and stories. The Math department constantly evaluates the best curriculum resources to use, pulling from researched based curricular including Prentice Hall, Connected Math, Structure and Method, and Blitzer textbooks. Using a combination of curricula allows students to make relevant connections to their everyday life and model the math around them. Teachers emphasize the use of multiple strategies to solve problems and guide students to find the most efficient solution. Throughout the middle school years, there are certain components of the curriculum that “spiral,” purposefully repeating, allowing students to explore concepts and topics with increasing complexity, and to reinforce previously learned information. In addition, students are supported at their individual level while improving their note taking, organization, and collaboration skills. As appropriate, lessons and sometimes class sections are further differentiated to allow for advanced or extended study of mathematical concepts. All students have the opportunity to participate in more challenging independent study through “Problems of the Week” or “Anchoring Activities.” In addition, students may join the Mathletes club to compete in Math Olympiad contests.

In 7th Grade mathematics, students study pre-algebra. They continue to study an overview of topics including number sense, algebra, geometry, measurement and probability. Throughout these content strands, students develop their communication, processing, reasoning, and analytical skills. With this combination of content and process, students improve fluency and efficient application of concepts. They continue to reflect on their solutions, evaluate best strategies, engage in mathematical discussion with peers, and advance their own conjectures with justification. Algebraic reasoning is the backbone of the course. Students continue to develop their understanding of variables, representing and comparing relationships through different means including tables, graphs, words and symbolic rules. They study the relationship between linear equations and graphs including predicting changes. Students translate word problems into algebraic expressions. 7th Grade students continually add to their understanding of math vocabulary; adeptly translating word problems and using appropriate language to convey their ideas. During their study of Geometry, students construct the meaning of three-dimensional volume by studying the “Popcorn Problem” and comparing the amount of actual popcorn used to fill different sized cylinders at their table. Through investigating their conjectures and evaluating mathematical proofs, students build upon their mathematical knowledge. Lastly, students begin their study of computer coding, using the coding language Racket, through the Bootstrap program. To demonstrate their understanding, students complete the “Flag Project”, which includes creating their own replica flag of their favorite country through code.

• Working with real numbers
• Solving equations and inequalities
• Factors, fractions and exponents
• Ratios, proportions and percent
• Linear functions and graphing
• Surface Area and Volume
• Right triangles in algebra
• Data analysis and probability
• Nonlinear functions
• Bootstrap Algebra Coding Program
• Systems of Equations (honors)
• Polynomials and Factoring (honors)

Through our 7th Grade Music class, students learn to play drums and guitar. Borrowing from George Lawrence Stone’s classic book, “Stick Control,” students learn to play the snare Drum. Students focus on a stick holding technique, a handful of basic rudiments, exercises, rhythms, and note reading. Halfway through the trimester, the course switches to learning the guitar. Each student receives a nylon string classical guitar which they learn to tune,play chords, and melodies. While learning the drums and the guitars, students use their listening (tuning and playing back rhythms and melodies), and music theory fundamentals such as tempo, dynamics, and time signature to improve their musicianship.

The RSS Physical Education Department seeks to empower all students to sustain regular, lifelong physical activity as a foundation for a healthy, productive, and fulfilling life.

The PE curriculum is based on physical activities and an introduction to a variety of sports in an active, caring, and supportive atmosphere in which every student is challenged and successful. RSS provides all students with a variety of activities and challenges that contribute to the development of their physical, cognitive, and emotional well being.

RSS PE program focuses on the following:

• Outdoor education
• Skill development
• Competitive play
• Collaborative skills and fair play
• Cultural movement activities
• Fitness
• Electives
• Parks & off campus locations

As physical activity and play is an essential part of child development, we make every effort to give students an opportunity to participate in physical activity regularly.. Additionally, the Skydeck is open for recess three times a week during morning break. There is a choice recess period twice a week during advisory where students can choose between study hall, recess, gardening, arts, or other activities.

The RSS Middle School Science Program expands students knowledge of the world around them by understanding the principles of science. Students explore phenomena through testing, exploration, and observations. This is completed through in-class demonstrations, individual and group work, projects, and lab work. Students are encouraged to try out new ideas, make mistakes, and then learn from those mistakes. One of the core principles in exploring science is to be a resilient and reflective thinker, and that is the main goal of the RSS science program. As students enter middle school, the focus is on process and standards of scientific inquiry, slowly building from concrete to more abstract concepts. We move from simply showing how things work, to applying knowledge to new and different contexts. Each year students have a final project that they present at the annual STEM Expo. The projects are student driven and allow students to explore their individual interests. At the completion of 8th Grade, students leave Rodeph Sholom with a solid foundation for further study in science and yearning to learn more.

The 7th Grade Science curriculum is divided between two main disciplines of science: chemistry and earth science. The chemistry portion of the year begins with a discussion about matter. The unit begins with types of matter, then moves on to the ways matter can be measured. The second unit relates the scientific laws of gases due to volume, temperature, and pressure. This includes reading and interpreting data on a graph. Throughout this first portion of the year, students complete a handful of in-class labs and create a detailed lab report. Scientific writing as well as data gathering and interpretation are important skills practiced in lab reports.

Throughout the year, the focus of 7th Grade is hands-on, collaborative lab work, and projects. Students develop and continue to practice important scientific skills, as well as group work, presentation, and independent research skills.

The earth science portion of the year uses the principles of chemistry as the framework to our discussion of the continued evolution of our universe, solar system, and planet. The earth science unit begins with a discussion of astronomy. Through project-based learning, groups of students each become experts on one of the five phases of the evolution of the universe, and teach that knowledge to the rest of the class. This spans information from the big bang theory through how life on Earth developed.

We continue with Plate Tectonic Theory and study how the earth is constantly moving and changing. As a part of this exploration, students learn about the consequences of this movement, including volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Students use real maps to analyze the tectonic activity of an assigned location on Earth.

The year ends with a brief environmental science unit in which we discuss weather and how humans shape our planet.

In late winter through early spring, students work on their STEM Expo project. They choose one scientific concept to explore and represent. These can be ideas explored in 5th, 6th, or7th Grades, or a new idea that captures their attention. Students ultimately create a research paper, tri-fold display board, model, and presentation to fully communicate their scientific concept to an audience in an engaging, detailed way.

• Classifying and Measuring Matter: Labs on how to quantify matter, including mass, volume, and density
• States of Matter: Changes in states of water lab
• The Gas Laws: Imploding Can Lab, exploring the relationship between pressure, temperature, and changes in state
• Astrophysics: Story of the Universe group project
• Plate Tectonic Theory: Exploring a Plate Boundary group project
• Weather: using weather station to gather and analyze weather data

Romance Language classes at RSS give middle school students the opportunity to develop new ways of expressing themselves and understanding their world through a multicultural lens. French and Spanish classes are taught with an immersive approach, allowing students to read, write, listen, speak, and think in another language. Teachers model authentic and comprehensible language with the aid of props, storytelling, images, songs, games and other tools. Instruction is designed around communicative tasks about topics students can relate to and are excited about. These goal-oriented activities require students to interact with each other in the target language. Through meaningful exchanges with their peers and strategic and engaging repetition by their instructors, students naturally and more easily acquire language structures, accurate pronunciation, vocabulary terms, and common expressions. Daily lessons incorporate opportunities for both guided and independent practice. Students also demonstrate progress through creative and fun projects.

7th Grade Spanish concludes the two-year introduction to language and provides a strong base for further study that encourages creative exploration of the language. Students participate in simulations of situations that a young person might encounter in the target culture such as extending and accepting invitations and making plans. In a variety of activities, students discuss people, feelings, conditions, and places to visit.

Students learn the fundamentals of grammar including subject/verb and noun/adjective agreement. They also learn to distinguish between the present and the past tenses. Throughout the year, students work on short writing assignments and creative skits, which help them, express themselves in more complex sentences.

Major topics:

• Commenting on food and ordering in a restaurant
• Outdoor activities, sports and discussing health
• Planning a party
• Discussing household chores
• Describing vacations
• Informal command form
• Regular verbs in the present tense
• Commonly used irregular verbs in the present tense
• Regular and irregular verbs in the past tense
• Reflexive verbs
• Object Pronouns

Students are assigned to study hall periodically throughout the week. This is a time for students to work independently, with the support of a teacher if needed. During study hall, students can arrange to meet with a teacher, work with other students in the Action Center, study, or get ahead on assignments.

The 7th grade Health and Wellness curriculum this semester covered a range of topics including a review of reproductive anatomy and physiology, reproduction basics, and all of the different ways to create a family. Additionally, we reviewed responsible decision making, including the pros and cons of decision choices and how one’s actions may affect others. We also explored passive, aggressive and assertive communication styles using scenarios that highlighted unhealthy vs. healthy relationships and personal boundaries.

The Action Center is located in the Middle School Library, is a drop in space for academic support, with a focus on curriculum and organization. Students go to the Action Center for help with their assignments, need help getting started or to better understand a concept learned in class. The AC is staffed by Middle School faculty who are able to guide students in any subject. Students choose to go to the AC during their study hall periods, if they prefer to receive extra help instead of working independently. The Action Center encourages students to take responsibility for their learning, and independently advocate for their academic needs.

In middle school, some students attend the Learning Center (LC) instead of a Study Hall, typically once a week. The LC functions as a guided study hall where students receive curricular support on assignments and are encouraged to work on aspects of learning that are more challenging for them. With the guidance of the learning specialists, study skills and effective strategies are embedded into the academic work, and students use this time to sharpen their understanding of personal strengths and areas for improvement. Every period in the Learning Center looks different: students might work one on one or in small groups with a learning specialist; they may work on the same assignment as their peers or focus on different school subjects. The role of the learning specialists is to gently and consistently support students’ curricular challenges. Through our work in the Learning Center, we aim for students to internalize the strategies that they are learning and practicing, and to apply them independently in their work both at home and at school. We believe that teaching children how to be students is just as important as what they are studying, and so we help to build these important lifelong student skills. Learning specialists regularly communicate with subject matter teachers, advisors and department heads to understand the curricular expectations and the students as they grow. This collaboration is key in supporting students and helping them to meet the curricular standards, enhance their confidence, and build their independence.

In 8th Grade, students are given the opportunity to choose two out of five arts electives for the year. Two of those electives are studio art classes, and in each of those courses, they create pieces using a variety of mediums. While the classes cover specific topics, the students are given the freedom to create with fewer restrictions on materials than they have had in the past. They choose their mediums and work through their ideas one-on-one with their teachers. In previous years, classes have used recyclable material and created personal history sculptures and paintings with old or broken articles collected from home and at school. Classes have also delved into puppetry and crafts from around the world. These year-long courses culminate with presentations of student work at the all-school arts festival in May.

In this year-long 8th Grade Digital Arts class, students begin advancing their skills in three-dimensional design. They are introduced to computer modeling and graphic design, and encouraged to use collaborative, and creative skills. During the first trimester, students begin to use Tinkercad, a web-based design program that allows users to create 3D designs that can be 3D printed or used in computer modeling. The students learn how to create a twenty-sided die with specific dimensions to familiarize themselves with the tools. Then, as their primary project, students are asked to recreate an iconic building from a city skyline, to illustrate their understanding of the tools and core design concepts.

In the English department at RSS we create a safe and supportive environment for students to explore and practice reading and writing strategies within novel-based units of study. Novels are chosen for their text complexity and themes present, while allowing for a diversity of voices and stories. Varied opportunities are provided for students to grasp a strong comprehension of the class texts, followed by diverse written and spoken forums where students can express their theories and ideas about what they are reading. Both reading and writing are explored as a process. As students make their way through the steps of learning a specific reading or writing skill, teachers structure lessons around the gradual release of responsibility; first introducing a skill with teacher-led support, then moving students towards trying that same skill with the support of a peer, and finally encouraging students as they work to master the skill independently. Grammar is taught within the editing stage of the writing process and its instruction is based on the individualized needs of each group of students. Finally, a space is created within each unit for project based learning, offering differentiated opportunities for all types of learners to interact with the curriculum in creative and complex ways.

8th Grade students read a variety of both contemporary and classic literature. Texts include Lord of the Flies, The Crucible, From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, Maus, and Night. This year’s theme, Justice and the Appropriateness of Taking Action, closely parallels the Judaic concept of tikkun olam, repair of the world through social action. Throughout each novel, students debate and discuss concepts including the power of fear and conformity within society, human nature vs. nurture, the loss of innocence, and the individual vs. society. Students’ work builds to the final unit in which they use Night and Maus to explore The Holocaust.

Students have a variety of opportunities to practice their writing in several different formats including: analytical essay writing, rhetorical analysis, literature responses, personal responses, creative writing, blog posts, and through the use of visual storytelling apps. Assignments emphasize the development of a coherent argument, significant analysis, and use of textual evidence.

Students also work to hone their academic discussion protocols, participating in and eventually leading socratic seminars. Learning is differentiated through project-based activities and interactive games, and various resources are woven into the fabric of the 8th Grade curriculum.

Teachers expect students to apply previously learned grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage rules. Vocabulary drawn from the class readings emphasizes words students will be exposed to in High School as well.

Major topics:

• Writing: Writing an in-depth, specific, and succinct thesis, developing and elaborating upon an argument, citing textual evidence, writing insightful conclusions
• Literary terms: polysyndeton and asyndeton, bildungsroman, meter, diction, syntax, subtext, anaphora, connotation, logical fallacies, rhetoric
• Reading: Close reading, reading through historical, psychoanalytical, gender, cultural and race lenses, effective annotation, cross-text analysis

Romance Language classes at RSS give middle school students the opportunity to develop new ways of expressing themselves and understanding their world through a multicultural lens. French and Spanish classes are taught with an immersive approach, allowing students to read, write, listen, speak, and think in another language. Teachers model authentic and comprehensible language with the aid of props, storytelling, images, songs, games and other tools. Instruction is designed around communicative tasks about topics students can relate to and are excited about. These goal-oriented activities require students to interact with each other in the target language. Through meaningful exchanges with their peers and strategic and engaging repetition by their instructors, students naturally and more easily acquire language structures, accurate pronunciation, vocabulary terms, and common expressions. Daily lessons incorporate opportunities for both guided and independent practice. Students also demonstrate progress through creative and fun projects.

In 8th Grade French, class activities emphasize speaking, vocabulary, listening comprehension, reading, writing, and cultural study. 8th graders use their language skills as they work with authentic materials like magazines, music and internet resources. The students explore different types of media through oral presentations, planning trips to foreign countries and expanded writing activities.

Students begin to study the past tense and learn to distinguish between the present, future, and past tenses. They frequently practice telling stories and relating series of events.

Major topics:

• Narrating a story
• Describing objects
• Discussing social issues
• Asking and giving opinions and explanations
• Expressing commands, obligations and interdictions
• Double object pronouns
• Possessive pronouns
• Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns
• Qualitative adjectives
• Regular and irregular future tense
• Preterit and imperfect past tense

Our Middle School Hebrew program uses a whole language approach emphasizing all four components of developing language skills- listening, speaking, reading and writing. While the pace and volume of the curriculum can vary from class to class, we use a variety of methods including dialogue, games, reading, writing, conversation, and an online program called “Ulpan Or.” The program is designed to increase students’ appreciation for the Hebrew language and their heritage. We provide students with the ability to communicate in Hebrew in a variety of situations and expose students to the life experiences of Hebrew speaking students in Israel. Students are exposed to Hebrew slang and gain a deeper understanding of Israeli culture. Throughout the program we reinforce and review grammatical sentence structures and conjugation of verbs in the present and past tenses.

The Hebrew language curriculum for the 8th Grade is based on the following skills: reading, writing, listening, and conversation. These proficiencies are taught through dialogues, stories, writing assignments, songs, games, and visual aids. At the beginning of the year, we open a discussion on the topic “New Beginning,” which enables the students to reflect upon their personal experiences. We also read the story “If Not Higher,” by I.L. Peretz. By examining this folktale, students have the opportunity to see the importance of going beyond Tefillah (prayer) and doing Tzedakah – helping people in need. Topics of study include “In the Family – The Israeli Family” and “Food”. Students learn new vocabulary words, a new group of verb conjugations in the present tense (Binyan Hitpael and Binyan Hitpael), Hebrew phrases and slang. Through our content, we expand our knowledge of Israeli culture. Students explore the theme of Bayamim haheim Bazman ha’zeh – “Then and Now” – by making laser-cut wood stencils containing verses from the Hanukkah liturgy in the Creation Lab. Eighth grades continue using the new Hebrew program “Ulpan Or: Hebrew at the Speed of Light.” This program is innovative, interactive and research-based, developed using 21st-century technology from Israel. The program includes short video clips, audio clips, built-in structured exercises, virtual flashcards, Israeli songs and much more. The ultimate goal of each unit is for the students to be able to act out in Hebrew a dialogue given to them in English.

Major Topics:

• “On the plane”
• “In the Family”
• Food
• Israeli Family
• Binyan Hif’il
• Binyan Hitpa’el
• Introduction to future tense
• Past Tense

In middle school, history students access a range of historical time periods, ideas, and themes. Each unit closely focuses on a particular era or geographic part of the world. Units are spiraled from one to the next and students frequently make content connections to prior units of study, both within a particular year and from grade to grade. RSS honors the different voices that shape history. History classes include the narratives of those who have often been marginalized in the past. Students learn to differentiate primary and secondary sources and learn to corroborate and read into the bias, nuance, and subtext, of primary sources. Students learn to engage with a variety of primary sources – including speeches, letters, poetry, artwork and images, architecture, and legal codes. Each grade level looks at the relationship between cause and effect to glean historical significance as well as change over time. Writing is an essential part of the history curriculum and is spiraled across the four grades.. Students begin middle school by learning to write with supporting historical evidence, and by the time they graduate they are able to articulate arguments about the past that are supported by numerous sources. By the time students graduate, they are not only expected to be able to incorporate pieces of historical evidence and quotes from primary source documents, but are also expected to show the importance of that evidence as it connects back to their argument. Geography is woven into each unit of study across all grade levels as students learn the importance of physical and geographic features as well as its relationship to historical events. Furthermore, lessons and assessments utilize different modalities of learning, allowing for a range of learners to access the material.

8th Grade History studies the emergence of the United States as a world power. Students begin the year examining the development, causes, and effects of American imperialism. In particular they examine how American imperialism in the Pacific and Latin America affected the indigenous peoples of these territories. Students then study European imperialism of Africa of the late 19th/early 20th century to explore and describe the conditions and dynamics – namely nationalism – that led to World War I. Students then examine the causes of World War I, conditions of the battlefield, and US involvement both during the war and in securing a lasting peace. The year continues as students investigate how the failure of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations coupled with a worldwide depression allowed for the rise of totalitarianism and the onset of World War II. The course concludes with a unit on World War II and the United States’ role in it, including an examination of Japanese Internment and the dropping of the atomic bomb.

8th Grade History is designed to be a challenging and collaborative experience. Students work with primary sources, maps, charts, graphs, political cartoons, newspaper articles, and statistics and hone their critical thinking skills. The course is project-centric and provides students with several different modalities to both learn and demonstrate their knowledge and skills. In collaborative groups, students advance and debate their interpretations in light of historical evidence. Students also incorporate 21st century work skills and present their ideas using technology. Whole class activities, including simulations, are designed to help students synthesize the material they have learned in engaging ways.

Add Major Topics:

• American Imperialism
• The Scramble for Africa
• World War I
• World War II

In Middle School Jewish Studies, students are asked to read, think, and write critically about Jewish texts, particularly the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Whether through the study of Jewish holidays, theology, or the historical experience of the Jewish people, students sharpen and employ general academic skills – close reading, primary source analysis, and public speaking among others – as they navigate a structured, spiraled curriculum that challenges them intellectually, spiritually, and ethically. In addition, students learn skills specific to Jewish Studies, whether Tanakh and Siddur navigation, the rabbinic style of commentary, or, guided by the core Reform Jewish value of “informed choice,” how we might derive contemporary meaning from ancient texts, customs and ideas.

In the 8th Grade Jewish Studies curriculum, students examine significant moments in modern history and the major themes of modernity, belonging and identity. Students focus on the image and role of the Jew in modern times by chronicling the emergence of the major denominations of Judaism, anti-Semitism in 19th century Europe, and Zionism. 8th Grade students continue to learn about Jewish holidays, though in greater depth and complexity than previous years, and they continue to engage in careful textual study of Biblical and rabbinical sources. They end the year with a multidisciplinary examination of the Holocaust and World War II in Jewish Studies, English, and History.

Throughout the course, students examine material that is closely tied to contemporary Hebrew and Israeli culture and their trip to Israel. By examining in depth both the varieties of Zionist thought, and the promise and peril of life in the Diaspora, students are prepared to take full advantage of the amazing Israel trip, the culmination of their learning in 8th Grade Jewish Studies and the capstone of their many years at RSS. The students forge a profound bond with the land, people, and state of Israel as they contemplate how they will continue to nurture their Jewish identity after graduating from RSS.

Major Topics:

• Haskalah and the emergence of modern Jewish denominations
• Anti-Semitism in 19 and 20th century Europe and the United States
• Secular Hebrew and Yiddish culture in Eastern Europe
• Zionism and the idea of a Jewish State
• The Holocaust

The RSS Middle School Math program is designed to help students develop as mathematicians and emerge from 8th Grade ready to take on High School level Geometry, Algebra 2, and higher level courses. Throughout the curriculum, lessons are designed for students to further develop their vital mathematical processes including problem solving, reasoning and proving, communication, making connections and representation. In 6th-8th Grade, there is one honors sections of math, allowing students to be appropriately challenged as necessary. While students continue to study an overview of mathematics including number sense, geometry, statistics, and probability, there is a particular emphasis on preparing students for Algebra in 8th Grade. Beginning in 5th Grade, students explore ratios, proportional relationships and algebraic expressions through contextual problems and stories. The Math department constantly evaluates the best curriculum resources to use, pulling from researched based curricular including Prentice Hall, Connected Math, Structure and Method, and Blitzer textbooks. Using a combination of curricula allows students to make relevant connections to their everyday life and model the math around them. Teachers emphasize the use of multiple strategies to solve problems and guide students to find the most efficient solution. Throughout the middle school years, there are certain components of the curriculum that “spiral,” purposefully repeating, allowing students to explore concepts and topics with increasing complexity, and to reinforce previously learned information. In addition, students are supported at their individual level while improving their note taking, organization, and collaboration skills. As appropriate, lessons and sometimes class sections are further differentiated to allow for advanced or extended study of mathematical concepts. All students have the opportunity to participate in more challenging independent study through “Problems of the Week” or “Anchoring Activities.” In addition, students may join the Mathletes club to compete in Math Olympiad contests.

In 8th Grade, students study algebra with the strong foundation from studying pre-algebra in 7th Grade. They learn to express relationships in algebraic terms and to recognize algebraic expressions as denoting specific mathematical relationships. They can translate math vocabulary into algebraic equations from real world contexts including uniform motion and area problems. From there students move onto factoring polynomials and working with algebraic and complex fractions. Midway through the year, students review linear functions and how graphs change as the variables change. Students learn to distinguish between linear and nonlinear functions. Students learn about domain and range and think about how to apply their new understandings of linear functions to practical problems. Students also learn how to graph inequalities before moving on to study systems of equations. Students are asked to organize and communicate their reasoning clearly. While studying functions, students explore the history and context of the book and film, “Hidden Figures.” Students discuss intersectionality, the “single story,” women in STEM, wage gap, segregation, and more. After watching the film, students participate in a simulation of communications between mission control and an astronaut to describe the route of linear and nonlinear functions using their vocabulary and skills from recent units of study. The year concludes with a study of quadratic functions. They learn how to graph quadratic equations and develop several tools, including the quadratic formula, for solving such equations. They discover real life examples of quadratic functions and how they can use their new skills to solve problems. Students continue their work with the Bootstrap Coding curriculum through which they translate algebraic concepts into the Racket coding language. For their year-long Bootstrap project, students create and code a “Video game” that they present to their peers in May.

• Solving equations and inequalities
• Polynomials and factoring
• Fractions and applications
• Linear and nonlinear functions
• Systems of Equations
• Rational and irrational numbers
• Quadratics
• Bootstrap Algebra Coding Program
• Trigonometry (honors math)

The Arts program at Rodeph Sholom provides our students opportunities to experiment and produce work in a safe and nurturing environment where they are encouraged to be curious, take risks, and learn from their mistakes. Through process and creation, RSS students develop the skills to be creative thinkers, capable of reflection and solving problems. Students work individually as well as collaboratively in an artistic medium which includes studio and digital art, drama, and music. Our goal is to instill love and appreciation of artistic expression as well as curiosity and personal growth. To provide middle school students with a broad variety of art classes, they cycle through a different art discipline each trimester. By the time students reach 8th Grade, they have a breadth of experience and are able to select two, year-long arts electives that allow them to concentrate on a specific art. In addition to the regular curriculum, students may elect to join an art or music club, participate in the middle school musical and play, as well as be a part of advanced band. Additionally, after school instrumental lessons, taught by professionals from the symphonic and Broadway community, complement our program as do a variety of instrumental ensembles. RSS student work and performances are highlighted at the end of school year annual Arts Festival.

Drama

This advanced course offers students an in-depth study of acting. Students focus on character analysis, monologue, and scene study incorporating the physical and vocal techniques taught in previous courses. In addition, the class seeks to enhance the student’s enjoyment and understanding of the theatrical experience as students examine the components of theatre, as well as its history and how audiences view theater today. Activities include warm-ups, games, exercises, solo and partner performances, improvisation, written work, and media.

Digital Arts: 3D Modeling and Graphic Design

In this year-long 8th Grade Digital Arts class, students begin advancing their skills in three-dimensional design. They are introduced to computer modeling and graphic design, and encouraged to use collaborative, and creative skills. During the first trimester, students begin to use Tinkercad, a web-based design program that allows users to create 3D designs that can be 3D printed or used in computer modeling. The students learn how to create a twenty-sided die with specific dimensions to familiarize themselves with the tools. Then, as their primary project, students are asked to recreate an iconic building from a city skyline, to illustrate their understanding of the tools and core design concepts.

Music

8th Grade music focuses on voice. Students are tasked with completing a number of projects that grow in complexity through the school year. They begin the class by recording their voices, separating each word, and forming a word collage that explores the various effects and mixing tools offered in Garageband. Then, they are given a choice of three contemporary pop songs, which they put into GarageBand, chop up, loop, and add their own elements to in order to produce an original piece of music. We call this the “Find the Loop” project, and once students find their loop, they combine the songs into one composite song and create a music video for their peers to enjoy during the talent show

Studio Art

In 8th Grade, students are given the opportunity to choose two out of five arts electives for the year. Two of those electives are studio art classes, and in each of those courses, they create pieces using a variety of mediums. While the classes cover specific topics, the students are given the freedom to create with fewer restrictions on materials than they have had in the past. They choose their mediums and work through their ideas one-on-one with their teachers. In previous years, classes have used recyclable material and created personal history sculptures and paintings with old or broken articles collected from home and at school. Classes have also delved into puppetry and crafts from around the world. These year-long courses culminate with presentations of student work at the all school arts festival in May.

The RSS Physical Education Department seeks to empower all students to sustain regular, lifelong physical activity as a foundation for a healthy, productive, and fulfilling life.

The PE curriculum is based on physical activities and an introduction to a variety of sports in an active, caring, and supportive atmosphere in which every student is challenged and successful. RSS provides all students with a variety of activities and challenges that contribute to the development of their physical, cognitive, and emotional well being.

RSS PE program focuses on the following:

• Outdoor education
• Skill development
• Competitive play
• Collaborative skills and fair play
• Cultural movement activities
• Fitness
• Electives
• Parks & off campus locations

In the RSS Middle School, students engage in a year long course of study that utilizes local parks and other off-campus locations as its classroom. The middle school Physical Education curriculum is designed to meet the physical, social, and emotional needs and interests of the individual student. Students participate in individual and team sports in each grade, where the faculty emphasize skill development, fair play, and healthy competition. To encourage lifelong fitness skills to maintain a healthy lifestyle, different fitness components of cardiovascular exercises and muscle strengthening are embedded into each PE unit.

As part of a diversified curriculum, 5th-7th graders participate in one of three cultural projects, with each unit culminating with a performance for the full middle school student body. 8th Grade students choose electives that are unconventional team sports and fitness offerings. This allows for the students to learn in small groups and an opportunity for students to explore their interests. Some past offerings included indoor and outdoor rock-climbing, yoga, rugby and long-distance running.

In the warmer months, RSS utilizes Riverside Park for Physical Education classes. In an effort to maximize ‘active minutes,’ students safely walk to the park as a group before using the fields, trails, and courts for class. Beyond the normal team sports (soccer, football, frisbee, etc.), students participate in different types of outdoor activities such as bouldering, trail-runs, and trust walks.

During the winter months, RSS is fortunate to have access to the JCC and Police Athletic League Duncan Center as indoor sites. Our curriculum concentrates on indoor sports, such as basketball, floor hockey, team handball, and volleyball.

As physical activity and play is an essential part of child development, we make every effort to give students an opportunity to participate in physical activity regularly.. Additionally, the Skydeck is open for recess three times a week during morning break. There is a choice recess period twice a week during advisory where students can choose between study hall, recess, gardening, arts, or other activities.

The RSS Middle School Science Program expands students knowledge of the world around them by understanding the principles of science. Students explore phenomena through testing, exploration, and observations. This is completed through in-class demonstrations, individual and group work, projects, and lab work. Students are encouraged to try out new ideas, make mistakes, and then learn from those mistakes. One of the core principles in exploring science is to be a resilient and reflective thinker, and that is the main goal of the RSS science program. As students enter middle school, the focus is on process and standards of scientific inquiry, slowly building from concrete to more abstract concepts. We move from simply showing how things work, to applying knowledge to new and different contexts. Each year students have a final project that they present at the annual STEM Expo. The projects are student driven and allow students to explore their individual interests. At the completion of 8th Grade, students leave Rodeph Sholom with a solid foundation for further study in science and yearning to learn more.

The 8th Grade curriculum focuses on chemistry and biology. The chemistry unit begins with the principles of chemical bonding, then moves on to chemical reactions as they relate to energy and chemical stability. The chemistry unit concludes with the study of acids, bases, and solutions.

The biology unit builds upon the principles learned in the chemical unit by starting to explore carbon chemistry, the chemistry of life. Students study the chemical structure of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates and examine how they are synthesized and broken down. Cellular processes and structures including DNA, RNA, transcription, translation, protein synthesis and energy production are also studied . The circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems are the primary focus of human body study, as they relate to the energy used and harnessed by the body.

In the final unit students choose from a grab bag of current and relevant issues in biology. They read articles from scientific journals and periodicals about the most current research related to the topics of their choice. Research topics can vary in topic and have included genetic engineering, RNA interference, stem cell research, evolution, virology, and immunology. This project allows students to go well beyond what is taught in the scope of middle school science and become an expert on a topic of interest to them.

The class is structured to lay the foundation for the study in biology and chemistry in high school. Most topics include hands on activities and inquiry based learning. Concepts are modeled by the teacher and explored using virtual models. Students continue to do much of their work collaboratively. Group work and projects challenge them to understand difficult concepts that are built upon knowledge gained in previous years. Math components include interpreting information in solubility graphs, pH scales, balancing chemical equations, and molarity.

• Chemical Reactions Unit
• Biochemistry and Body Systems Unit
• STEM Expo Presentation
• Genes and Evolution Unit

Romance Language classes at RSS give middle school students the opportunity to develop new ways of expressing themselves and understanding their world through a multicultural lens. French and Spanish classes are taught with an immersive approach, allowing students to read, write, listen, speak, and think in another language. Teachers model authentic and comprehensible language with the aid of props, storytelling, images, songs, games and other tools. Instruction is designed around communicative tasks about topics students can relate to and are excited about. These goal-oriented activities require students to interact with each other in the target language. Through meaningful exchanges with their peers and strategic and engaging repetition by their instructors, students naturally and more easily acquire language structures, accurate pronunciation, vocabulary terms, and common expressions. Daily lessons incorporate opportunities for both guided and independent practice. Students also demonstrate progress through creative and fun projects.

In 8th Grade Spanish students review important vocabulary and grammatical structures, and study more advanced grammar topics. A faster pace and more complex constructions compliment a consistent emphasis on oral proficiency.

Class activities emphasize speaking, vocabulary, listening comprehension, reading, writing, and cultural study. 8th graders use their language skills as they work with authentic materials like magazines, music, and internet resources. The students explore different types of media through oral presentations, planning trips to foreign countries and expanded writing activities.

Students begin to study the past tense and distinguish between the present, future, and past tenses. They frequently practice telling stories and relating series of events.

Major topics:

•  Narrating a story
• Asking and giving opinions and explanations
• Vacation activities
• Activities around town
• Regular and irregular future tense
• Preterit and imperfect past tense
• Double object pronouns
• Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns
• Formal command form

Students are assigned to study hall periodically throughout the week. This is a time for students to work independently, with the support of a teacher if needed. During study hall, students can arrange to meet with a teacher, work with other students in the Action Center, study, or get ahead on assignments.

The 8th grade Health and Wellness curriculum both reviews biological, psychological and socio-cultural information addressed over the past four years and prepares students for the many social-emotional challenges ahead of them in high school. The fall semester focused on how to maintain self-respect and respect of others in the ways we communicate and make interpersonal decisions. We then discussed how alcohol and drugs affect the human body, and the many social and emotional reasons that can lead teenagers to abuse these substances. Finally, we integrated this information with the importance of how our decision making can minimize risk, and how self-awareness is a key factor in making healthy decisions.

The Action Center is located in the Middle School Library, is a drop in space for academic support, with a focus on curriculum and organization. Students go to the Action Center for help with their assignments, need help getting started or to better understand a concept learned in class. The AC is staffed by Middle School faculty who are able to guide students in any subject. Students choose to go to the AC during their study hall periods, if they prefer to receive extra help instead of working independently. The Action Center encourages students to take responsibility for their learning, and independently advocate for their academic needs.

This advanced course offers students an in-depth study of acting. Students focus on character analysis, monologue, and scene study incorporating the physical and vocal techniques taught in previous courses. In addition, the class seeks to enhance the student’s enjoyment and understanding of the theatrical experience as students examine the components of theatre, as well as its history and how audiences view theater today. Activities include warm-ups, games, exercises, solo and partner performances, improvisation, written work, and media.

The Israel class covers Israeli history, innovation, and culture in order to prepare students for their successful capstone trip to Israel.

Students examine the history and diversity of the State of Israel from the early 20th century to today. This course dovetails the 8th Grade Jewish Studies curriculum by building on their knowledge of late 19th and early 20th-century Jewish history as it relates to Zionism and the creation of the State of Israel. In this class, students build on the foundation of the historic connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. They begin by examining the impact of the different waves of immigration, the tensions that existed during the Mandatory Period, and the proposed Partition Plans.

Students also learn about the diversity that comprises the fabric of Israeli society including the various Jewish and non-Jewish groups. Students learn about some of the different ethnic and religious minorities who live in Israel, especially those which students will encounter on the Israel trip. Students examine samples of Israeli culture, including film, music, and writings to become familiar with some of the social complexities that exist.

Additionally, students gain background knowledge that enhances their experiences at various sites in Israel. For example, students study the development of ‘drip irrigation’ and try to create a simple drip irrigation model in preparation for visiting a hands-on agricultural museum in the Negev Desert that employs this technology.

Students participate in a variety of learning activities to engage a range of learners. Students use primary sources to access and analyze historical events, take part in simulations, and create activities for the Israel trip. Additionally, 8th graders are given the exceptional opportunity to help lead a particular site on the trip, and those who volunteer are provided guidance and support.

In middle school, some students attend the Learning Center (LC) instead of a Study Hall, typically once a week. The LC functions as a guided study hall where students receive curricular support on assignments and are encouraged to work on aspects of learning that are more challenging for them. With the guidance of the learning specialists, study skills and effective strategies are embedded into the academic work, and students use this time to sharpen their understanding of personal strengths and areas for improvement. Every period in the Learning Center looks different: students might work one on one or in small groups with a learning specialist; they may work on the same assignment as their peers or focus on different school subjects. The role of the learning specialists is to gently and consistently support students’ curricular challenges. Through our work in the Learning Center, we aim for students to internalize the strategies that they are learning and practicing, and to apply them independently in their work both at home and at school. We believe that teaching children how to be students is just as important as what they are studying, and so we help to build these important lifelong student skills. Learning specialists regularly communicate with subject matter teachers, advisors and department heads to understand the curricular expectations and the students as they grow. This collaboration is key in supporting students and helping them to meet the curricular standards, enhance their confidence, and build their independence.