5-6 Kehillah

Our 5-6 Kehillah students delve into the stories of our sacred texts, honing the valuable skills of analyzing the parshiot and applying ancient wisdom to their daily life. Hevruta (partners) learning and the practice of working collaboratively become key tools, as students learn that often asking the right question is more important than having the right answer. Developing an appreciation for the purpose and significance of biblical commentary helps students to understand the many interpretations and facets of our holiest texts and an appreciation for revisiting and re-examining the texts to discover its hidden treasures.

Students develop spiritually through daily Tefillah and contribute to the Jewish experience of their peers by independently learning to lead Tefillah and read from the Torah.

In Hebrew class, students continue to work towards gaining proficiency b’ivrit. Fluency and accuracy of reading in Hebrew is stressed in order for students to be able to analyze biblical texts and to appreciate and understand modern writings like poetry, stories, and biographies as they build literacy and comprehension. Students write both creative and informative pieces in Hebrew and record themselves sharing information to improve their conversational skills. They debate and discuss current events occurring in Israel and work to gain a deeper understanding of Israel both past and present. All of these skills and experiences help prepare students to appreciate the complexity and beauty of Israel during their eighth-grade Israel Encounter. 

In the 5-6 Kehillah, students continue to build their skills as critical readers, clear writers, and thoughtful thinkers through instruction that challenges them academically while keeping learning engaging and connected across subjects. As texts and tasks become more complex, students analyze ideas, build knowledge across multiple disciplines, and use writing, supported by The Writing Revolution (TWR) approach, to express their understanding with clarity and purpose. With targeted support and increasing independence, students grow into confident learners who can interpret information, articulate their thinking, and apply their skills across the Humanities and beyond.

English Language Arts (ELA)

• Students strengthen reading, writing, speaking, listening, and research skills through daily practice. They learn strategies to understand and analyze a wide range of texts, comparing themes, structures, and genres.
• Using The Writing Revolution (TWR) approach, students develop clear, organized writing through explicit instruction in sentence-level work, paragraph construction, and multi-paragraph composition.
• Small-group discussions help students share ideas, revise their work, and learn collaboratively.
• Literacy skills are applied across subjects, with ELA learning integrated into social studies and science projects.

Social Studies

Students examine historical perspectives while developing strong analytical, research, and writing skills.

• Fifth Grade:
  • Students focus on American history and the foundations of government, expanding their understanding of citizenship and identity.
  • Our Heritage Fair, A Living Museum, is a cornerstone project rooted in the school’s philosophy of Holocaust education and cultural understanding. Students study family artifacts to uncover personal histories, which culminate in a multi-media presentation.
• Sixth Grade:
  • Students explore ancient civilizations through simulations, mapping activities, research projects, and presentations. The year begins with early human history and continues through Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, and Ancient Greece.

Mathematics at Schechter Bergen is engaging, skill-building, and rooted in real-life problem solving. Students learn to see themselves as mathematicians who think deeply, embrace the mathematical process, and apply their learning to meaningful situations. Through active, hands-on exploration, targeted instruction, and collaborative problem-solving, they build strong number sense, flexible reasoning, and confidence, developing a growth mindset that encourages perseverance, curiosity, and continual improvement.

In fifth and sixth grade, math instruction continues to meet each student where they are, providing personalized support and challenge that helps them grow confidently as mathematicians.

The 5-6 Kehillah math curriculum deepens students’ understanding of the relationships between numbers while developing computational skills and methodical reasoning.

Fifth grade: Students learn basic operations with whole numbers, place value, fractions, and decimals, and receive an introduction to geometry and data analysis.

Sixth grade: Students apply the rules of integers (positive and negative) to real-world scenarios through independent and collaborative problem-solving and explore the foundations of algebraic thinking.

As fifth-grade students step into the role of a scientist, they learn and model the scientific method to assist in their study of human body systems through observations and experimentations. Additionally, the students explore the world of atoms, electricity, batteries, and circuits via games, modeling, and hands-on problem solving investigations. From constructing a model of an atom to designing various types of circuits, students are empowered to explore their learning.

Sixth-grade students study environmental science, astronomy, light, and geology. Labs in the environmental unit include a closed ecosystem project and owl pellet dissections. An overnight ecology field trip forms an important component of this unit. During their astronomy unit, students partner with our design team in the Popkin Innovation Lab to build and test their own rockets.

Our sixth- through eighth- grade Science Fair provides students with authentic learning opportunities that allow them to continue to grow and refine problem solving, project management, public speaking and research skills - they learn resilience and the ability to pivot as they follow the scientific process and try, fail, iterate, and then try again

Students come to the Popkin Innovation Lab to strengthen their design thinking, computation thinking and creative thinking skills through a variety of engaging and purposeful projects.

A highlight of the fifth-grade year is the student-centered game arcade unit, where students invent a unique interactive arcade game for their younger peers. As they work on their game designs, students strengthen their systems thinking by planning, debugging, and improving all elements of their games through user testing. The capstone of this unit is a celebratory “game arcade” which brings together the fifth-grade creators and the third-grade clients to play the games!

Working with the science department, sixth-graders design and construct a rocket launcher made of recycled materials and learn how to program a microcontroller (micro:bit) to measure and analyze the acceleration of their rockets. They prototype a board game using computational and systems thinking and then utilize Tinkercad (a 3D modeling program) to design a 3D game piece which challenges students to think in multiple dimensions. Finally, students learn how to create a physical print of one of their designs using our 3D printers.