January 25, 2017 by Zahava Bensimon (Faculty and Staff)

Fourth Graders delved into their study of Biblical characters using biblical exegesis, character analysis, mixed media art, and poetry. At JPDS-NC, Third and Fourth graders study Torah with a focus on the Avot (Patriarchs) and Imahot (Matriarchs) as the founders of the Jewish people. Fourth Graders spent the first semester focusing on the characters of […]

• Creative Writing
• Visual Arts

January 12, 2017 by Elana Cohen (Faculty and Staff)

The Design Lab has been full of exploration, experimentation and engineering this year! Read on to hear some Design Lab highlights from students on the North Campus: At the beginning of the year, Fourth Grade classes came to the Design Lab to collaborate on designing their “dream teacher.” Students worked with a partner to brainstorm […]

• Design Thinking
• Project Based Learning
• Visual Arts

January 6, 2017 by Hannah Seidel (Faculty and Staff)

On Wednesday, nearly 250 students, parents, staff, alumni and friends came together for an evening of dancing at the 2017 Rokdim B’Yachad (Dancing Together) Dance-a-Thon. Together the JPDS-NC community raised over $3,100 for the Jewish Federation’s Israel Wildfire Emergency Fund. The evening included Israeli dances galore – even the JPDS-NC panda made it out onto […]

• Dance
• Israel
• Multimedia
• Performing Arts
• Tikkun Olam

October 6, 2016 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

The Tefilah Committee is a volunteer group of students in Grades 3 to 6 whose goal is to make Tefilah (prayer) a better and more meaningful experience for all the students. This fall, the Committee presented the newly restored ark, which will be used by third, fourth, and fifth graders during tefilah. The ark was unveiled to the 3rd-6th grade students during Big […]

• Visual Arts

September 21, 2016 by Lisa Davis (Faculty and Staff)

Last week, we were thrilled to welcome the South Campus parent community to a new school year at Back to School Night. As part of our preparation of the shared spaces, we hung the Kindergarten Community Quilt above the fireplace in the Kikar. The quilt was made by the students during the 2015-2016 school year. […]

• Visual Arts

May 26, 2016 by Eleanor F (’20) (Students) Lilli L (’20) (Students) Zoe K (’20) (Students)

The Fourth Grade Trailblazers class was invited to a special program at the Embassy of Israel on Friday, May 20. A Fifth Grade class from Hearst Elementary School was invited too. We performed an Israeli dance routine for everyone. Every year, JPDS-NC has an Israeli Dance Performance. We performed the choreography from that show. Then […]

• Dance
• Israel
• Performing Arts
• Student Stories
• Washington D.C.

May 24, 2016 by Lisa Davis (Faculty and Staff) Vas Pournaras (Faculty and Staff) Xani Pollakoff (Faculty and Staff)

This year in Kindergarten, our Project Work curriculum was intentionally designed to use the theme of Community. In the second semester, we focused on comparing our community to those of social insects including ants, bees, and wasps. We specifically chose social insects because they naturally connect to humans as they share common characteristics that include […]

• Environmental Education
• Project Based Learning
• Visual Arts

May 19, 2016 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff) Shoshana Sfarzada (Faculty and Staff)

This spring, Sixth Grade Hebrew students at JPDS-NC began a unit on their family’s history, roots, and journey to America, culminating in each student creating a documentary film in Hebrew about their family’s immigration stories. Throughout this project, the students practiced advanced Hebrew language skills, expressing complex ideas and using rich language in both their […]

• Creative Writing
• M'dor L'dor
• Multimedia
• Project Based Learning

April 20, 2016 by Shifra Chelst (Faculty and Staff)

A fishbowl, half-filled with dirt, with a paper butterfly inside. Taped around the outside of the fishbowl: the poem “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” which we read during our 5th grade Holocaust study. A tube of golf balls, 6 yellow for the Jews, 5 others in various colors for the gays, Jehovah’s witnesses and Roma […]

• Holidays
• Project Based Learning
• Visual Arts

April 13, 2016 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

This Sunday we held our annual Performing Arts Show, featuring fabulous Israeli dancing by students in grades Pre-K to Six, as well as exuberant performances by our fifth and sixth grade Percussion Chug and Drama Chug students. Watch the video of this wonderful event! (Please note: this link will take you to a 15-minute preview; you will have […]

• Dance
• Multimedia
• Music
• Performing Arts