January 31, 2025 by
Across the grades, the STEM department incorporates engineering design into its curriculum, often in order to tackle real world problems. Below, we feature examples:
January 29, 2025 by
On Friday, January 17, family members of our Pre-K class gathered to celebrate their children’s learning. Throughout the morning, students shared what they had learned and done from August through January, from Hebrew and Judaics to general studies. This Chagigat Halomedim, or celebration of learning, largely featured the students’ year-long study of identity. As Pre-K […]
December 3, 2014 by
The fifth graders just wrapped up our Colonial America unit. We wrote essays about Jamestown, performed skits about a colonial child and a modern-day child meeting, and debated a freedom of the press case from the 1700s. The two culminating events of that unit were a field trip to Mount Vernon, and transforming the school […]
November 26, 2014 by
This fall, the sixth graders at JPDS-NC led a school wide campaign to show our support for Israel. We decided to hold a fundraiser and organized our own shuk (market) at school. In Israel, there is a big shuk where people sell all kinds of things. At our mini-shuk, we sold donated books, toys, games, […]
November 21, 2014 by
Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt (and JPDS-NC grandparent), spoke to our students as part of the month-long Rabin Curriculum on Conflict Resolution. Students gathered in the Rabin Library for a lively discussion with the Ambassador about his recollections of Prime Minister Rabin, his work as a diplomat under Presidents Bill […]
November 20, 2014 by
This fall, as part of their Tikkun Olam project, JPDS-NC’s sixth graders led a school-wide campaign to engage students, show our school’s support for Israel and raise money. On November 12, the sixth graders hosted a fundraiser and transformed the Gottesman Auditorium into the Shuk for Shalom, resembling Israel’s large outdoor markets. After weeks of […]
November 19, 2014 by
Every year, the children at JPDS-NC put on a Veterans Day concert for the whole school and all the parents. Every grade sings a different song about America or about peace. Some songs in the program this year were Yankee Doodle, Fifty Nifty, and This Land is Your Land. The pre-K class chose to perform […]
November 13, 2014 by
JPDS-NC has been selected to serve as a demo school for our approach to teaching and learning Hebrew. Ivrit B’Merkaz or Hebrew at the Center (HATC), an organization that is at the forefront of advancing Hebrew language teaching and learning, has identified JPDS-NC as a resource for Hebrew language educators teaching in schools across the […]
November 12, 2014 by
We learned about seeds in Kindergarten Science. At the end of our unit, we thought about everything we learned. Elana said, “Seeds make plants. They grow into big plants.” Daniela added, “seeds are like little babies because when they grow, it is like babies growing; and when they open, it is like babies talking.” We […]
November 5, 2014 by
Last Friday, the third graders celebrated with their families at Chagigat HaChumash (Chumash Celebration). We had a special ceremony where we got our fist Chumash (the Torah in book form) from our Head of School G’veret Reem, and we visited four stations to learn more about the Torah. We felt lucky to get our very […]
October 29, 2014 by
The JPDS-NC 2nd grade went on a class field trip to Sharp’s Farm. We went to the farm because we are learning about mazes and the farm had a huge corn maze! While on the farm, we learned about bees, fed animals, and picked pumpkins and popping corn. We also saw a peacock and took […]
October 27, 2014 by
Our own Lisa Schopf recently published an article about Project-Based Learning in ASCD Express, a professional publication that highlights innovative solutions and best practices in education. In her article, “Messy Learning, Clear Objectives,” Lisa uses a recent project from her Fifth Grade classroom about the American Civil War to examine project-based learning as a valuable tool for engaging […]
