Chanukah is here! Jews all around the world are lighting their chanukiah and frying their latkes. In Spanish class we have been learning about Latin American Chanukah traditions such as eating sufganiot with guava jelly and latkes with dulce de leche. We also learned to sing the popular Ladino tune Ocho Kandelikas Para Mi (Eight Candles For Me). We watched Youtube clips of the chanukiah lighting ceremony in Boca Stadium in Argentina and we read the story of the Macabees in Spanish.

Chanukah isn’t the only celebration we have been learning about! The quinceañera, which is very similar to the celebration of a Bar/Bat Mitzvah is a ceremony marking a 15-year old girl’s transition from childhood to adulthood in many Hispanic countries. Students learned about some of the traditions at a quinceañer: the vals (waltz) performed by the quinceañera and her court, the last doll the quinceañera brings to her party symbolizing the end of her childhood and the padrinos (godparents or close relatives) who present the quinceañera with a present. The quinceañera celebration is a time during which a young girl begins to think about her future. Spanish students studied the future tense and created a poster which illustrated what they want to do in the future.

Feliz Januka
~Rebecca Weinstein
Spanish Instructor

Students in physics are pictured here firing their trebuchet’s into army of plastic soldiers. This is a continuation in their study of projectile motion and the culminating activity for their first trimester in physics. Next they will be studying forces and their application to objects in motion.

If you’re interested in doing your own building or learning more about the art of siege warfare there are a lot of trebuchet and catapult shows and competitions today.

Two of my favorite sites for pumpkin throwing and competition are: http://science.discovery.com/tv/punkin-chunkin/ and http://punkinchunkin.com/

Hurling pumpkins after Halloween is just good recycling!

~Dean Whitfield
Mathematics & Science Chair

Understanding the Atom

Here at Cardin, our chemistry students are exploring how the idea of the atom has changed over time. Aside from learning about protons, neutrons, and electrons, we have been learning about the important scientists that contributed to our modern understanding of the atom. Ancient Greek philosopher Democritus believed that all matter was composed of tiny blocks called “atomos” which were indivisible. Although he was on the right track, most people didn’t believe it! It wasn’t until John Dalton developed the basis for modern atomic theory, that people believed that matter was made of atoms. Now the challenge was to create a model of the atom. Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrodinger, and Werner Heisenberg all contributed to our understanding of atomic models. With a lot of experiments and a lot of complicated math (see below) we finally had an idea of what the atom looks like! At the Solvay Conference in 1927, the great minds of chemistry and physics came together to develop a model of the atom. The result is basis for modern quantum physics and chemistry. The picture below is from the Solvay conference. You can see some familiar names and faces, including Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

~Ms. Sloane
Science Instructor

Laboring on Labor Law

Since 2004, Cardin students have travelled near (Crystal City, Washington, DC), far (Boston) and farther (Denver, Toronto) to participate in the annual Moot Beit Din Shabbat and Competition. I have had the pleasure of coaching each year’s team, helping it navigate common and not so common Jewish texts and sources to solve a thorny legal issue from a Jewish perspective. Past cases have dealt with the right to remarry after one’s spouse has presumably died in a natural disaster but whose body cannot be located, operating a beer brewery over Passover, and the right to back out of a promise to donate marrow when that donation would almost certainly save the recipient’s life. Each year has been a rewarding experience for the students, but the year in which our team took top honors (the case dealt with copyright issues) was especially sweet. This year’s case deals with labor law – the right of workers to organize, to strike or threaten to strike, their right to collectively bargain for wages and other benefits. As we all know, these are timely topics. The NBA season hangs in the balance even as I write this, and an Ohio union recently won a battle to maintain its right to collective bargaining in the face of state action to take it away.

The sheer amount of research and writing required, on top of the other demands on our students, always made for a very harried and anxious Moot Beit Din team. To help alleviate that somewhat, we decided to make the Moot Beit Din part of the Judaic Studies curriculum. It’s primary goal is to make the preparation of both the written brief and the oral argument more manageable. But, because it is part of the curriculum, the students also acquire a better view of the development of Jewish law, become more familiar with the background of the texts and those who authored them, and overall, can better appreciate the complexity and the scope of Jewish law.

The Moot Beit Din team looks forward to a year of wonderful Judaic learning. Perhaps we will taste the sweetness of victory, again, as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Chaitovsky is on the Judaics faculty and has coached the Moot Beit Din since his arrival in 2004.

Reading Multiple Books

I just had a flashback to an image of the end table beside my grandfather’s reading chair. He loved to read paperback mysteries and westerns (they used to call these books “oaters,” because they had horses in them and horses like to eat oats). He would always read about ten books at a time, and would stack them in a small tower, each book face down, spine split and open to mark his current page. My preference was to stay with one book at a time, and read it all the way through. I was amazed that my grandfather could read so many novels at once, and still manage to keep track of all the characters and plots.

Maybe he had the right idea. As students, we take several subjects at a time. Our English and history and math and science textbooks could be stacked the same way, at least metaphorically, as we go through different subjects according to the day’s schedule. If we watch any television shows with repeating characters, the experience can be similar to switching among different books after we’ve read a chapter (unless we rent the DVD of a show’s entire season and watch it all in a marathon).

With the new eBook reading devices, I’m surprised to realize I’ve switched to reading several books at the same time. The electronic device saves the place where I last read (just like my grandfather’s technique, but without damaging a book’s spine). I might be reading a horror story, a mystery, and a comedic self-help book, and I can switch among them according to my interest or mood. It’s a different approach to my “pleasure reading” time, but I like it because it ensures that I’m never bored.

And if I get really interested in a specific book, I can always switch back to my old one-at-a-time strategy until I finish!

--Dr. Norman Prentiss
Instructor, English Department Chair

Math at Cardin

All algebra and geometry classes have successfully completed the first two units of their respective courses. Algebra 1 is currently working on solving equations and solving related word problems by writing equations. Algebra 2 is beginning the unit on relations, functions and graphs. After an introduction to relations and functions, the chapter will focus on linear functions. The Geometry class has begun a unit on parallel and perpendicular lines. Soon, they will study the special types of angle pairs that are formed by two coplanar lines and a transversal. The math classes are all off to a great start, with students working hard to master the material.

~Michelle Greenbaum
Math Instructor

A Unique Experience

The most exciting new experience for me this year is being able to teach the 11th grade U.S. Literature class in conjunction with the U.S. History class. When two disciplines work so well together, it’s very exciting to be able to teach both! Though we pride ourselves on integration throughout the curriculum, doing it within two classes that one teacher is teaching can be a unique experience. While learning events that occurred and how people handled them over the course of history, we refer to texts from English class that are expressions of those feelings and events. Understanding the historical context of writings as well as their literary devices and styles has truly enhanced the learning within each of these classes and I’m excited to see how it continues over the course of the entire year!

~Amy Fink
History Instructor/Student Support Services Coordinator