Tag: Middle School

A Squid and an Orca Under the Chuppah

A wedding! A wedding! Um, what’s in a Jewish wedding? Middle School has been exploring Jewish weddings. Turns out that there’s A LOT that’s different about a Jewish wedding from a “TV wedding.” First of all, we had a TON of new words and concepts to understand: what’s a ketubah? why are there two ceremonies …

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Launching Our New Exploration

“What do YOU want our next topic to be?” I asked the middle schoolers. “Can we do something with our imaginary characters? Please? Please!!” Absolutely! Do you, dear reader, remember Jackyn, our first-year college student on the cheerleading squad, who Skypes her long-distance boyfriend to light Shabbat candles together, but then turns off her cell …

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“I wish we could learn like that every day.”

Middle schoolers spent over NINE hours together, and at the end, someone said, “That was better than school. I wish we could learn like that every day.” 8:30 AM: Review background information and write research questions for the Oriental Institute 10:15 AM Some of us want to take the bus, but others want to walk. The kids’ …

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Righteous or Wicked, What does it all Mean?

Alonim and Middle Schoolers wrestled with our text, Genesis 18. While last week we worked on our ideas of the cry, this week we took it slow, focusing on exploring the text wholly. They spent the week working on creative ways to interpret their questions. However, we reached a road block. Their exploration was stifled, …

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