October 24, 2017 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, Avram and Sarai follow Hashem’s call to journey to Cana’an, where the covenant between Hashem and Avraham is affirmed. Avram, renamed Avraham, has a son with Hagar, Sarai’s maid, and Hashem promises that Sarai, renamed Sarah, will bear a son as well. One adventure described in this parasha is Avram’s involvement in the […]

• Parent-Child Learning

October 19, 2017 by Erica Brown (Community)

On October 4 – a few days before Yom Kippur – I presented the first in a series of lectures for MILTON’s middle school Scholars Forum on Jonah and his aborted escape from responsibility. I don’t often get to teach middle schoolers in my work, and I was particularly excited that morning because, as a […]

• #DCJewishMiddleSchool

October 19, 2017 by Lisa Schopf (Faculty and Staff) Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

Dr. Erica Brown – author, educator, and the Director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership at the George Washington University – was the guest lecturer at MILTON’s Scholars Forum recently. Erica led a discussion with the sixth graders about the themes of responsibility, accountability, and leadership by examining the story of Yonah. […]

• #DCJewishMiddleSchool

October 18, 2017 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, we hear the story of Noach and the flood, its aftermath when Noach planted a vineyard and got inebriated and his son saw “his nakedness,” and finally, the story of the Tower of Babel and the birth of Avram. The Noach flood story is a transitional story, which we can see by […]

• Parent-Child Learning

October 10, 2017 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, we read about ma’aseh bereshit (the Act of Creation); Adam and Chava’s sin of eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad and their subsequent expulsion from Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden); Kayin’s murder of his brother, Hevel; and Adam and Chava’s descendants’ genealogy, culminating with the birth of Noach. Whether one believes, […]

• Parent-Child Learning

October 4, 2017 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

As many of us know, Sukkot is about showing our faith in Hashem by replicating and living in the flimsy structures used by the Bnei Yisrael in the wilderness. This provides a tangible reminder of the fragility of our homes. Given this theme, it is interesting that the dedication of the first Beit HaMikdash, the […]

• Holidays
• Parent-Child Learning

September 28, 2017 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

Brad Meltzer – the #1 New York Times bestselling author and TV host – came to our school last year to speak with third graders about his biography series, a genre the students had been studying. The children were inspired by his stories about the early lives and challenges faced by the real American heroes […]

• Creative Writing
• Project Based Learning
• Visual Arts

September 27, 2017 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

Because of the Yom Kippur holiday, we do not read a regular parasha (Torah portion) this Shabbat. Instead, we recount the Avodah (Worship Service) that High Priest Aharon was commanded to conduct in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and his descendants in the Beit HaMikdash (Temple). One of the most striking parts of this service is the […]

• Parent-Child Learning

September 20, 2017 by Marissa Bullock (Faculty and Staff)

Near the New North Campus, on the edge of an old graveyard, stands a memorial to Confederate soldiers. After noticing the stone obelisk at the start of school, the fifth grade Stars & Stripes class wanted to learn more. During the first week of school, we used a Thinking Routines exercise called “See, Think, Wonder.” Students looked […]

• Thinking Routines
• Washington D.C.

September 19, 2017 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

At the end of Moshe’s last speech to Bnei Yisrael, Hashem tells Moshe to write down a song to teach to the Israelites. “Put this song in their mouths,” Hashem says, “so that the words may become a witness for Me against them. After I bring them to the land that flows with milk and […]

• Parent-Child Learning