Trips

Extended School Trips are a much-anticipated privilege of being a Middle School student. Each trip is connected with an aspect of the curriculum and is structured with the developmental readiness of the students in mind.

Grade 6: Nature's Classroom

Every fall, the sixth grade students spend three nights at “Nature’s Classroom” where they bond with each other and faculty as they live in cabins, eat communally, engage in experiential scientific learning, explore the environment and study Jewish values. The outdoor education program connects with the grade 6 environmental science curriculum which has with a strong focus on Shomrei Adamah (guardians of the Earth), focusing on ways in which humans impact the Earth with their everyday actions. Students develop a sense of mindfulness when using the Earth’s non-renewable and renewable resources while learning to make choices that can affect the Earth in positive ways. As they study the interconnected relationships among all living beings, students also discuss the ways in which Jews are responsible for taking care of the Earth around them.

At the beginning of their first year in Middle School, sixth graders retreat to Nature's Classroom where they participate in experiential learning as well as to learn to see themselves as separate from our Lower School.
Students engage in scientific exploration, capturing their curiosity in a kinesthetic way.
These sixth graders take a quick break from their day to relax while learning about the restorative properties of the nutrients found in nature.
Nature's Classroom is a milestone trip that brings the sixth grade class closer together, solidifying the bond between students who have attended Rashi since Kindergarten with their newest classmates who transfer in for middle school.

Seventh Graders in the US Supreme Court Building. Pictured here with Elena Kagan
The Lincoln Memorial
Meeting with Rabbi Jonah Pesner, National Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Waving to a TV camera before attending a Nationals/Red Sox game.
A quick photo op in Dupont Circle.

Grade 7: Washington DC

Culminating their two-year-long study of American History, Government, and the US Constitution, students in Grade 7 visit our nation’s capital for 4 days and 3 nights. The trip is a strong bonding opportunity for the class, as they learn to navigate around an unfamiliar city, making a variety of independent decisions along the way. The trip includes visits with members of the Rashi kehillah (community) who live and work in Washington, DC. Past trips have included time with Rabbi Jonah Pesner, National Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Congressman Joe Kennedy, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Elena Kagan.

"The DC trip has long-lasting impact on the students," explains Social Studies teacher and trip organizer Keith Civin. "It helps them realize how truly amazing our country and Government are and at the same time recognize its flaws. Their study of the Constitution and the structure and inner workings of the United States Government, together with their meetings with important leaders will enable them to one day become agents of change in their world."

Grade 8: Israel

As part of the Boston-Haifa connection, Rashi has a partnership with the Leo Baeck School in Haifa. Leo Baeck Middle School students visit our students each December and teach Rashi students across the grades about their country while enjoying home hospitality with our 8th grade families. In the Spring, our 8th graders travel for two weeks in Israel, including a homestay in Haifa with their Leo Baeck counterparts. Through this partnership, students from each country have the opportunity to see their respective countries and cultures through each other’s eyes and to talk about cultural, spiritual, historical and political similarities and differences. They discover and discuss some of the moral and ethical quandaries faced by American and Israeli Jews, while exploring the challenges that face our respective societies. The relationships that the students begin during their meetings continue growing long after the visits themselves are over.