River Clean Up

Posted on 26th April 2021 by nkaufman

This past Saturday, the Milwaukee River Keepers hosted their annual River Clean Up and I was in charge of a particular clean-up site (Lincoln Creek Parkway on 60th and Hampton). We had 13 volunteers show up to our particular site; helping to collect over 40 trash bags during the three hour window (special shoutout to the MJDS’er who donned my waders to get the trash out of the river). Some highlights of stuff we found: a nice scooter, an old-style tube TV, and a very heavy worn-out mattress.

It was great to see people outdoors and do their part to make our environment a bit cleaner and a better place.

Milwaukee River Clean-up

Posted on 22nd February 2021 by nkaufman

Three years ago, our school adopted a section of the Milwaukee River Basin. Every year, we go 2-3 times per year to our section of the river and do our best to clean that area up. It is an amazing experience to get outside and tangibly make the world a better place.

Beginning last spring, we have been unable to participate in these types of events, due to restrictions on gathers and types of activities. This year, Milwaukee Riverkeepers are back to organizing official clean-up events, which will happen on Saturday, April 24. This event is entirely outdoors and is socially distanced (you are outside, picking up trash from nearby the river).

Anyway, because we have experience in cleaning up the river, I have been asked to be a site captain at one of the river clean up locations (nearby where we have adopted). Obviously this event is on Shabbat, but if you are interested in participating with our site (or any other), please let me know (or just wait a few weeks until the sign-up link has been provided).

Just because COVID has impacted our lives, does not mean we have to stop doing our best to make the world a better place. We just need to adapt our actions so we can be safe.

6th, 7th, 8th – Events in Washington DC

Posted on 8th January 2021 by nkaufman

I am sure the events of Wednesday in Washington DC were surprising to many of you. I know our students were taken back by the events and rhetoric being used. This should not take away from the opportunity we have to work with out students to better understand this historical event, but also to ask questions and discuss civilly.

Since we are virtual, it is very difficult to have a large group discussion whereas each student is given equity of voice. I set up small breakout rooms for students to discuss and debrief about the events in DC. If they needed resources and information to better understand events, they could use this resource guide (linked here). Students were able to use each other, myself, and the resources available to better understand these historic events.

Please continue to speak with your child and to take the time to answer any questions they have. A lot of them are scared, which stems from not knowing everything that is going on. Give them your time, listen to their concerns, and help them understand more about why things like this happen.

6th, 7th, 8th – The Electoral Process

Posted on 8th January 2021 by nkaufman

We have covered the election and the Electoral College for what seems like years now, but it has really only been but a few months. On Wednesday, Congress is scheduled to get together to confirm (or possibly not) the Electoral College results. In the final moment of the Electoral College, it is still important for our students to understand the process and how it impacts our politics.

In small breakout rooms, students read a brief article which showcase the steps Congress will take to certify the Electoral College vote. Next, students worked together to use Cornell Notes to take notes of important points within the article. Lastly, students summarized what they learned. We continue to work on the student skills of summarizing, close reading, and discussion.

To view our Cornell Notes, click here.

6th, 7th, 8th – Georgia Senate Runoff Election

Posted on 7th January 2021 by nkaufman

What has been dominating the national news lately is the Georgia Senate Runoff Election; which will help determine not only the balance of the Senate, but representation in the Senate for the State of Georgia. Many of the students were interested in this topic because it is something they hear in passing…so we dove right in.

Before reading any content, we had to do our work to check our sources out for bias. Finding a source with 0% bias is incredibly difficult. Most all sources are flawed in this way, but knowing there is a bias is one way to help inform our opinions because we can understand better the difference between fact and opinion. We used a media-bias tool, located here as it relates to our sources.

First thing we did was to read about the election itself. We read thorough an article, located here, and answered questions along the way. Afterward, we did a bit to read about the candidates, located here. Lastly, we put all of that information together in the form of a discussion; allowing students to ask questions and share their thoughts on the upcoming election.

Don’t be afraid to have some of these conversations with your children. They really are interested in being engaged and knowledgeable. Further help full that fire!

7th – Bankruptcy

Posted on 18th December 2020 by nkaufman

Some of our students are struggling (financially) and in massive amounts of debt (which is largely due to fines faced from behaviors such as not living our core values or showing up late to a class). Numerous students have inquired about bankruptcy and if they can go through that process (without really knowing all of the details about it).

After much thinking and exploration, we spent a little time this week discussing different types of bankruptcy and how we can work with that process to resolve all financial issues for our in-debt students (I did not encourage bankruptcy as a primary objective for students. We discussed behavior modification as the first tool to prevent bankruptcy that if a student just showed up on time and did their job, they would not be in a financial hole).

A majority of the content we covered came from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (linked here). We focused on Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Feel free to chat with your student about your knowledge as it relates to bankruptcy and ask them about their situation. Come up with a plan on how they will get out of the financial troubles they are in.

8th – Veterans Essay

Posted on 20th October 2020 by nkaufman

As we move forward, we are going to be working on our newest unit: The Bill of Rights. Our study of the Bill of Rights is naturally an important topic to cover (after all, we get many of our rights and freedoms from this document). In addition to understanding the amendments themselves, we will work on applying these rights to our daily lives as students and citizens.

At the end of our unit, we will work in Social Studies and ELA to participate in an essay contest, hosted by the local VA branch. The prompt this year is “The Bill of Rights and me.” Feel free to explore the website, which highlights some of the requirements.

This project will take us up to December. Expect us to focus on different aspects of the essay and the requirements each week in conjunction to to what they are covering in ELA.

8th – Who has the Power?

Posted on 9th October 2020 by nkaufman

The 8th graders completed their look at the media’s bias as it relates to the Vice Presidential debate outside in the Sukkah today (everyone who was less than 6 feet apart had a mask, as per school rules). Afterward, they worked on an application component of what they have been studying: which branch of the government has the power to make decisions. In groups, they had to debate (and research) which branch of the federal government had the power to take certain actions and make certain choices.

It was a beautiful day outside so why not enjoy some learning in the sun!

Day 8 – Communication

Posted on 14th September 2020 by nkaufman

For the last few days, our homework assignment has been to complete some reflections about the Sukkah building process (later to be put onto each student’s blog). Thus far, the responses have been fairly decent. The one exception is that of the last question I ask: include 3 photos of the day. It is strange; we have a few students bring a camera outside to take photos, but hardly any students complete that part of the assignment. I figured it was because we struggled with asking for help from others…so we practiced.

Today, we spent some time playing the game Go Fish. In this game, you ask everyone else in your group if they have something you need. Pretty simple concept, right? At the end of our game, we briefly discussed why we played the game and before I could even explain why…some of the students had it nailed down. “We need to do a better job asking each other for photos” was the general shout-out in class.

Hopefully two decks of cards and a good time were enough to teach the lesson of ask for help (especially if your group mates have the information you need).

Grievances within the DoI

Posted on 14th September 2020 by nkaufman

Our school year began with a need to build an academic foundation in American history. What better way than to examine one of our founding documents: the Declaration of Independence (DoI). Students spent the last few days looking at what made the Declaration what it was; from the Preamble to Statement of Beliefs to the list of Grievances.

Today, we focused on the list of Grievances. Students translated the grievances (into modern English) with their partner. After much discussion, they organized each of the Grievances into a list of Bad to Worst (and selected their top 3 to argue about thereafter). It was awesome listening to the kids talk passionately about one of our founding documents.