Learning at Rashi
Curriculum
SOCIAL STUDIES
Rashi students become capable historians who can connect the events of the past to the world of today. They understand that history is active, not static, and that they too can become agents of change in their world.
Social studies is the exploration of human experience – in our classrooms, communities, and in the larger world. Through the disciplines of history, geography, and culture, Rashi students study the ways in which our world, past and present, influences who we are today – as Jews, as Americans, and as global citizens. Students discover through research, literature, presentations, class discussion and hands-on projects, that there is no one human experience and that our understandings of facts, opinions, and ideas are informed by perspective, history, and culture.
Social Studies Emphasis
The focus of the Rashi social studies curriculum is American and World History as well as Israel and the history of the Jewish people.
The curriculum teaches and reinforces specific academic skills including: formulating interpretations of history and supporting those ideas with evidence; taking notes from lecture and discussion, and organizing and prioritizing information.
Social studies at Rashi begins with the “self” and moves outward in concentric circles through family, classroom, school, neighborhood and beyond. Students in grades K-2 learn how humans historically and in the present build and sustain communities through units on American customs, shelters, neighborhoods, the Wampanoag, and colonial life.
In grades 3-5, students are ready to understand and appreciate differences of perspective and viewpoint. They can understand historical timelines and correlated events, and ultimately they are ready to take on more independent research. The “self” that so informs the youngest learner grows into a larger perspective as these students move into units that include the geography of North America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East; immigration, ancient civilizations, current events, and research projects.
In the Middle School, Rashi students use the skills they have developed to engage in deeper and more complex questions about the past. The grade 6 curriculum encompasses American history through the Civil War. Seventh graders study American history from the late 1800s through the Great Depression, in addition to delving into the making of the American Constitution. Eighth grade students examine post World War I American, European, and Asian history, leading up and including World War II. They also study the Holocaust and the Zionist movement, the creation of the State of Israel, and Israeli political structures and culture.
In all grades, the Jewish lens is consistently interwoven. From American-Jewish traditions and holidays, to the geography of the Middle East, to the foundations of American Jewish life, children study, experience and investigate the multiple perspectives of history and culture as Americans and as Jews.
