Our Stories

Students Build an Arcade in our Cardboard Box Challenge

April 23, 2015 by Alexandra Taylor (Faculty and Staff) Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

Over the course of four months, students at JPDS-NC worked with passion and resourcefulness to design and build arcade games out of recycled materials as part of the Cardboard Box Challenge. The program seeks to foster creativity, entrepreneurship, and design thinking in children, as they work together with their parents and with one another to […]


Fostering a Love of Israel and Hebrew with Hands-On, Immersive Learning

April 23, 2015 by Hannah Seidel (Faculty and Staff) Shoshana Sfarzada (Faculty and Staff)

One of JPDS-NC’s core principals is Ayin L’Tzion, “Looking toward Zion.” At JPDS-NC we strive to foster a deep connection to Israel’s history, people, culture, and language in our students. Central to this mission is our goal to educate independent speakers of the Hebrew language. When we teach the Hebrew language at JPDS-NC, we are […]


Fifth Graders Design Math Games and Host a Math Carnival

April 22, 2015 by Naomi M (’16) (Students)

My fifth grade math class held a Math Carnival. Our class decided at the beginning of the year to find a fun way of expressing what we learned. We split into groups and began to think of creative ways to make math-related games. Each group was assigned a different math unit, and we had to […]


Volunteer Spotlight: Abigail Sharon

April 21, 2015 by Sharon Samber (Community)

JPDS-NC’s strength is due, in part, to the dedication of a cadre of talented and energetic parent volunteers. To learn first-hand about what motivates and inspires our volunteers, read the interview with parent Abigail Sharon. What is your volunteer role? Abigail: I produced and directed the JPDS-NC film and was privileged to work with the school’s […]


Teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) at JPDS-NC

April 16, 2015 by Elana Cohen (Faculty and Staff)

The concept of teaching STEM is designing curriculum to include science, technology, and engineering in an applied approach. True STEM education provides opportunities for students to practice designing and implementing real-life science experiences at all ages. What does that look like in an elementary school classroom? It involves diving deeper into a topic and spending more […]


The Great and Challenging Math Carnival of JPDS-NC

April 16, 2015 by Lisa Schopf (Faculty and Staff)

This spring, the fifth grade students in my math class worked to create a math carnival to offer fun challenges in math to their fellow fifth graders. After three months spent planning the project and designing games, the math carnival opened on March 30. It all began when the students suggested preparing a math carnival […]


Pre-Kindergarten and Fourth Grade Report on JPDS-NC’s Yom Chesed (Good Deeds Day)

April 8, 2015 by Adina S (’17) (Students) Eli L (’24) (Students) Eliav B (’17) (Students) Hannah J (’24) (Students) Isaac T (’17) (Students) Joshua A (’24) (Students) Joshua K (’17) (Students) Judah B (’17) (Students) Lily L (’24) (Students) Matan S (’17) (Students) Simon K (’17) (Students) Theo P (’24) (Students)

We had a special Good Deeds Day at JPDS-NC. Every grade performed a different good deed to help the world. As fourth graders, we got to mentor the pre-Kindergarteners, and work with them to bake challahs for the Hebrew Sheltering Home, which provides transitional housing to Jewish people in need. First, we taught Torah to […]


Kindergarten Project to Help the Homeless

April 1, 2015 by Class of 2023 (Students)

In the Gan Tmarim class, we are learning about people who are homeless. When we learned that homeless people may not have a job, money, clothes, food or toys, we were surprised and sad. To learn more, we read a book about a girl who lives in a shelter and doesn’t have any toys, so […]


Volunteer Spotlight: Laurie Brumberg

March 26, 2015 by Sharon Samber (Community)

JPDS-NC’s strength is due, in part, to the dedication of a cadre of talented and energetic parent volunteers. To learn first-hand about what motivates and inspires our volunteers, read the interview with parent Laurie Brumberg. What is your volunteer role? Laurie: I chaired Birthday Lunch and Box Lunch for two years, introduced Zelda’s chocolates and Israeli […]


Supporting and Developing Teachers through the Jewish New Teacher Project Partnership

March 19, 2015 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

A great school requires the best teachers. JPDS-NC is committed to not only attracting and retaining our extraordinary faculty but to nurturing their talent as well. One of the ways we support and develop our new and veteran teachers is through the Jewish New Teachers Project (JNTP). JNTP is based on the work of the […]