grade 6/7

17 May 2012
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, In history class, we reviewed from the previous week and then started our lesson on Israel 1950s-1990s. We discussed the various events that occurred in Israel during this time including the Suez Crisis, Six-Days War, Yom Kippur War, Entbebbe Raid, “Operation Moses”, and “Operation Grapes of Wrath”. During the PowerPoint Presentation, the class filled in a worksheet. The last question was a synthesis question where they are asked to choose which event they would like to go back in time to observe. We discussed their answers. Next class we will be discussing Israel’s contributions to the world as well as Israel in the 21st Century. Just a reminder to all parents, OMJS will be participating in the community walkathon again this year. It will take place on June 10th. This walkathon helps fund all the Jewish schools in Ottawa both day schools and supplementary schools. Please show your support to OMJS and start collecting your pledges. Here is a link to the website. As you can see, OMJS is represented in the pictures on the first page. http://www.amechadwalkrun.com/ Have a wonderful two Sundays off. See you on June 3rd. -Kami
08 May 2012
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, We had two guest speakers for the second period. Ariella Kimmel (Janet’s niece) and Chelsea Sauve came in to discuss Anti-Semitism with the grades 4-7 classes. They discussed the topic as well as strategies that the students can use in school to stop this form of bullying from occurring. In history class, I gave them a quiz on their previous unit, “Holocaust Studies”. This took most of the period since several of the students need extra support. After they finished their quiz, the experts for their “Righteous Gentile” reading, told the story of their “Righteous Gentile” to the rest of the class. We then started our last unit, “Israel in the 20th Century”. I showed them clips from the movie, “Exodus” and we discussed the creation of Israel. Next week we will continue to learn about key points in the State of Israel’s history up to the 1990s. The class also has Morah Judith during second period for Yiddish. This will, more than likely, be their last Yiddish class of the year. Have a great week. Kami
27 Apr 2012
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, History class was quite packed this Sunday. The first half of the period was taught by our TA, Megan. She created a PowerPoint Presentation on Anne Frank. She presented this lesson to your children, which started with a reading from Anne Frank’s Diary. After Megan’s presentation, I handed out the Nazi prisoner badges to the students. As I mentioned last week, the students had to take on the persona of that particular badge. The political prisoner (Isaiah) was treated better than the Jew (Logan) and the Roma or Gypsy (Einav). I showed a PowerPoint Presentation on Concentration Camps. While I went through the lesson, the class filled out a worksheet (keeps them on task). The presentation included topics such as Extermination Camps and Death Marches. Next week, we will be learning about the “Righteous Gentiles” during the Holocaust. Several months ago, Megan, Janet and I attended a workshop offered by the Holocaust committee. This workshop, geared for educators, was about the “Righteous Gentiles”. Megan and I thought it would be great to share the resources and information we learned from that workshop with the grade 6/7 class. Have a great week. Kami
21 Feb 2012
Dear Parents, The students in grades 6/7 had a busy time at OMJS. Before the winter break the children were learning all about food. This included vocabulary for breakfast, lunch, dinner as well as various fruits, vegetables and of course the children’s favourite snacks and desserts. After the winter break we learned all about the different things in a house. The students combine vocabulary from previous themes to make sentences. We also read the short story about Ish Sheleg (Snow man) and studied about winter. Another unit that was introduced was about trees, plants and the different parts of the tree. This unit is a part of our unit about Tu B’shvat. In our Israeli studies part of the class, we learned about Beer Sheva, the city in the desert and Ashkelon a historic city where the story of Samson took place which is now a flourishing beach town. As part of our unit about TuB’Shvat we watched a few videos. · A video about the Jewish National Fund (JNF) · A video about the nature in Israel · A video about the shortage of water in Israel · A Tu’b shvat cartoon based on a Mishnah story about Honi the circle maker. Tomorrow, February 12th is the community wide Mitzvah day. I hope that all the students and parents can come and participate in this special event! As always questions and suggestions for new units are welcome!
07 Feb 2012
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents; This week, I took your children during period 2 since I had invited a guest speaker. The grade 4/5 students have a Tikkun Olam unit that they do with me, however, I thought your children would benefit from listening to the speaker as well. I invited a guest speaker to come in and talk about one of the Jewish organizations in Ottawa that is very much about Tikkun Olam. Our guest speaker, Nikki Goldstone, talked about Ten Yad. This organization is purely made up of volunteers. Nikki spoke to the class about what Ten Yad does, but she also talked about all the other volunteer jobs she has done including working in a hospital in Israel. I also spoke to the students about Ten Yad, since I am a volunteer too. I showed them the cookbook that Ten Yad just published. I was on the cookbook committee as an editor of the recipes. During history class, the grade 6/7’s continued their Early Modern Zionism unit learning about Zionism between WWI and WWII. We spoke about the various forms of Zionism that emerged during the time. After the lesson, I introduced their research project. They had the chance to look through biography booklets of key Zionists who have helped the movement. Each student has chosen a key individual and will be doing research on that individual. They will then give a 5 minute oral presentation on that individual. Here are the individuals that your children chose. Eliana: Stephen S. Wise Logan: Menahem Ussishkin Jessica: David Ben-Gurion Einav: Herman Schapira Isaiah: They all know that I will be giving them a research period in the JCC library next class so that they can work on their project. Reminder: Next Sunday is Mitzvah Day. Principal Janet has asked that all students come early, between 9 and 9:15am since the activities start at 9am. The grade 6/7’s will be escorted by Morah Ilona to all the activities. Have a great week and I will see you on Sunday morning. Kami
01 Feb 2012
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, Second period, the class joined the rest of the school for a guest speaker. The guest speaker is the author of a children’s book on the MS St. Louis which transported European Jews to Cuba in 1939, but Cuba decided not to accept them into the country. The students had the opportunity to hear a read aloud of the story and then to ask questions of the author. During the reading, there were two musicians who played music to accompany the book reading. In history class, we took up the field trip worksheets. Then I did a lesson on Early Modern Zionism to the end of WWI. We discussed the influences of the Russian Socialist views on Zionism as well as the Second Aliyah to Israel. After the lesson, I showed the class some pictures of Kibbutzim from when I was in Israel 9 years ago. Mishloach Manot Project: As many of you know, our former administrative assistant, Tobin Kaiman, our principal’s son, has joined the Israeli army. I thought it would be a great idea to have the school make a mishloach manot, (Purim care-package) for Tobin and send it to him. We are asking parents to donate $1 towards the package. The package would include a small drink, a hamentaschen, personal messages from the older grades, photos and video messages from each class). It is a mitzvah during the festival of Purim to make a mishloach manot package for someone (and should include a drink and something to eat). If you have any questions about this project, please email me or come talk to me in classroom 5 before or after school. Reminder: Mitzvah Day is on February 12th. Morah Ilona will be taking the grade 6/7 class around the different activities. They will be doing Challah braiding and First Aid activities. Kami
24 Jan 2012
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, As you know, your children went on a field trip. We drove to the “Kosher Loblaws” where they had to complete a scavenger hunt. I gave them a worksheet and they had to answer the questions. They did have an opportunity to talk to the Mashgiach there. They finished their worksheet early so we went down a regular isle and I had them identify foods that are kosher. I gave each of your children a card that has a list of kosher symbols that “COR” (Toronto kosher certification) accepts. They used these cards to find products that are kosher. (For the two students that were away, I will give them their card next class.) We came back to the school around 12pm where the class were treated to a guest speaker. Our guest speaker, Michael Kent, is a mashgiach who you may have seen at the restaurant in the JCC. He explained what a mashgaich does and what sort of education they need to be a mashgaich. He then answered your children’s questions on kashrut. They all asked insightful questions and were very well behaved on the trip. I would like to thank our parent volunteer, Shelley Rivier, for coming with us on our field trip. We presented her with a thank you gift for her time and support. We are back to the regular class schedule next week. Have a great week. Kami
17 Jan 2012
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, On Sunday, we continued to learn about Early Modern Zionism. I started the lesson by asking the grade 7’s to explain what they had learned last week since both of our grade 6’s were not at school last week. There was some confusion about what Zionism means. I hope that we cleared it up, but your children might still be confused. At the beginning of class, I asked them to take a slip of paper. It had either a name or a country on it. (As a routine, I always try to do a “hook” into my lesson. A fun introduction into the lesson.) I gave a PowerPoint Presentation on the Father of Zionism, Theodore Herzl, and the First Zionist Congress. We talked about the first Congress and its importance. As an activity, we did a mock First Congress. Four of the students were delegates from different countries and one student was Theodore Herzl, (he presided over the Congress). I then gave them some butcher paper and the question, “How do you create a homeland?” Most of the students worked very well and productively on this activity. There were some insightful answers. Before class ended, I told your children about the field trip next week. Please find attached the permission form for the trip. Shelley Rivier has agreed to be a parent volunteer/driver for this trip. Your children learned about “keeping Kosher” during their Being Jewish class with Janet so as a culminating activity, they will be going on a scavenger hunt with me, Megan, and Shelley at the College Square Loblaws. We will be arriving back at the JCC around 12pm. We will then have a guest speaker, Michael Kent, who is a Mashgiah with the Ottawa Va’ad Ha’ir. He will be talking to your children about what a Mashgiah is and what they do. We will also be having a small party since Rosh Chodesh is on Wednesday Jan 25th. Please sign your form and send it with your child this Sunday. If there are any emergencies and you need to reach your child while they are on the field trip, the office of OMJS has my cell phone number. Have a great week. Kami
10 Jan 2012
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, OMJS is back into the swing of classes. During period 2, your children continued with the second lesson in a four-part unit on Jewish culture. This is a combined grade 4-7 unit that we thought your children might enjoy. This weeks’ topic was geography and architecture. We examined the regions where the Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews lived. We also looked at the differences and similarities of the synagogue architecture of each culture and their influences. During the lesson, I explained the Jewish community of the Ashkenazi Jews. The Kehilah was the centre of Ashkenazi life. It was a close-nit community (ie. Shtetls of Eastern Europe). At the end of the presentation, the class played two games to get them to work as a cohesive community, just like the Kehilah. They then worked on a worksheet which asked them which region they would prefer to live in as well as which type of architecture they preferred. In Jewish history, we started a new unit, Early Modern Zionism. I asked your children what Zionism means. We discussed the concept and agreed that it has several definitions. I showed a PowerPoint Presentation on the “Roots of the Zionist Movement”. We then had a class discussion on Zionism in general and how difficult it might be to create your own homeland. I then showed your children some pictures of Israel from when I was there 9 years ago. (If your children tell you about the “Purple Speedo Guy”, I have a picture that I took of the Dead Sea and in the corner there is a guy wearing a purple Speedo. They thought it was quite amusing.) See you next week. Kami
06 Dec 2011
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents; Thank you again for participating in the trial. Your kids worked very hard to put together their arguments. I really expected the parents to find Sinan guilty. I was also pleased with the discussion that erupted from you all during your deliberations. I hope everyone had fun. Next week, we will be discussing Chanukah and our grade 6/7 presentation for the Chanukah party on Dec 18th. I hope you can make it out to that event as well. Have a great week. -Morah Kami
27 Nov 2011
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, During second period, Janet spoke to your children and the grade 4/5’s about Rosh Chodesh. She read them a story and they had chips, cookies and juice as part of the Rosh Chodesh party. In history class, we had our last work period before our Pirate Trial. Your children worked very hard on the research and preparation for this trial. You should be very proud of them. I hope you will all join us next week at 11:45-12:30pm in Classroom 5 for the trial. All adults are to represent our jurors. Work period mark: Teacher Comment: See you at the trial. -Morah Kami
15 Nov 2011
Dear Grade 6/7 Parents, Your children had Yiddish which Morah Judith during Period 2 on Sunday. Their class was combined with the grade 4/5 class. During Period 3, we went to the JCC library for our research/work period. I handed out the information sheet about the Pirate trial and included the format for the trial. They are aware that I have invited our Principal, Janet, to be a juror as well as their parents. They are quite excited about this. I mentioned in my last email that I would be on the jury, however, since I have to work with the prosecutors and the defense team to help them with their case, it would be a conflict of interest for me to sit on the jury. Therefore, I hope that all of you will join our jury. During the research/work period, I was very impressed with your children. They behaved very well and were very productive. They were respectful and quiet in the library. Three of them signed out the computers and worked well. They all stayed on task. I am marking them on their work periods and all of them received 5 out of 5 for the day. They have two more work periods to get ready for the trial. I know some of the students will not be in school next week, but I will help them when they come back the following week. During their Yiddish class, I will be pulling them out for a few minutes to conference with them. (It will only be a few minutes so that don’t miss a lot of Yiddish.) I am also attaching the Pirate Trial information sheet that I handed to the students. Their copy remains in their history folder. They do not have to work on this at home; however, some of them have emailed themselves their work. Have a great week. -Morah Kami