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A Day In The Life of Josh, Grade 7

No one can better tell you what the SSDS experience is like than our own students. Some of our students have taken the time to talk a little about a typical day in school. Enjoy!

Hi, my name is Josh. I have been a student at SSDS since Kindergarten. My two younger siblings are still at SSDS and my older sister graduated from Schechter and is now at Loomis Chafe. I live in Manchester, CT. We used to take the East of the River bus, but now we have a babysitter who drives us in and picks us up each day.

Before going to school I eat breakfast and walk the dog. We leave the house around 8:00. It takes us about 15-20 minutes to get to school. When I arrive, I go down to the Middle School end of the hall to hang out with my friends. Once the doors are opened, I go upstairs, put my stuff in my locker, say hi to my friends, put my Kippah on my head and go to Chavurah were we sing Hatikvah, say the Pledge of Allegiance and get announcements for the day. Today is Tuesday. Come join me as I go through my day.

We have an extra 20 minutes of Chavurah each Tuesday. We usually read mystery stories and play other group/team building games. Sometimes we have group projects to work on as well. The Chavurah is pretty cool because we have kids from 6th, 7th and 8th grade together with one of the teachers. We get to know the teacher in a different way and get to really know kids in other grades

Next we go to Tefilah in the Beit with the whole Middle School. Because it is not a Torah reading day, the service is fairly short. There is a rotation set up and we each lead the service on different days.

First period: Math. I am in pre-algebra. Next year, I will take algebra I. And when I start High School, I will be taking geometry. My teacher always helps me understand concepts and ideas I have trouble understanding. I really feel like I am getting a very strong math background.

Second period: Rabbinics with Rabbi Chatinover. We are currently studying death and dying. Rabbi always makes class fun and interesting even though studying subject that is sad. It is never boring and he always keeps me awake.

3-4th Period; Humanities. It is new and exciting everyday. Right now we are studying the civil Rights movement. We read literature that connects to the social studies topics. For example, right now we are reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham. We also studied Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome and read Bone from a Dry Sea.

Great—now it is time for my favorite part of the day: recess and lunch. I like it because I get to hang out with friends with out having to worry about getting in trouble and I like playing football and appreciate the opportunity to let out energy built up through out the morning. Most of the boys in my class play and sometimes the girls join us as well.

I bring lunch every day. My favorite lunch is a peanut butter sandwich, salad, chips and something chocolate. I usually sit with Adam and Jacob and Scott and Sam. Sometimes Nick B or Nathan join us.

7th period: Humanities again. We usually use this time to finish up a project or topic begun in the morning.

8th and 9th period: Science. We are learning biology. Mr. G.’s class is always interesting and I enjoy learning about the human body. I like doing science and labs. I have always found science interesting—labs are fun because of first hand experience instead of just pictures in text book. Like learning how things work (human body). Smart board makes learning a lot easier. The teacher can write a lot more and we can see online pictures and clips that really help me learn better. We usually do labs on Thursday during our double period. We are about to start dissecting a sheep’s heart. Sounds interesting!

During the week we have music, gym and art. My favorite special is gym. I like to hang out and talk with my friends. I like learning about sports and learning to play different sports. The gym teacher is a very interactive teacher. He is good at sports and plays with us and can help us work on things we need to improve.

At the end of the day, I pack up my stuff and go to my Chavurah classroom to wait for the announcement. Sometimes we stay afterschool for a while. On Tuesdays, my babysitter comes and hangs out with my brother and I in the computer lab until our sister finishes Tae Kwan Do. Then we go home. I usually have about an hour of homework each night.

Outside of school, I play soccer for the town of Manchester and play violin at the Hartford Conservatory. I used to play in the band at school, but wanted to spend more time hanging out with my friends.

I look forward to meeting you when you visit SSDS!