March 13, 2017 by Hannah Seidel (Faculty and Staff)

The entire school celebrated Purim on Friday with a day full of Megillah, Tikkun Olam, and Design Thinking – and of course a lot of fun! We saw Esthers and Hamans, pirates and baseball players, pandas, lions, and Hogwarts students. The children engaged each other in a Purim-themed Design Thinking challenge, made Mishloach Manot for the community, and […]

• Design Thinking
• Holidays
• Tikkun Olam
• Visual Arts

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 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

December 23, 2016 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff) Sharon Freundel (Community)

This morning, we explored together the various meanings behind Chanukah and engaged in fun hands-on learning. Following a discussion of the nes nistar, the covert miracle of the Maccabean victory over the massive Greek forces and the nes nigleh, the overt miracle of the one day of oil burning for eight days, we lit the […]

• Holidays

December 22, 2016 by Gili Bitton (Faculty and Staff) Hannah Seidel (Faculty and Staff) Vered Goldstein (Faculty and Staff)

JPDS-NC is celebrating Chanukah! Watch our holiday video and see first graders discuss the story of Chanukah – all in Hebrew! – and hear Kindergartners and first graders sing Chanukah songs! We wish everyone a chag sameach (happy holiday)!

• #ThisIsWhy
• Holidays
• Multimedia
• Music

December 1, 2016 by Naomi Reem (Faculty and Staff) Sharon Freundel (Community)

We are delighted to introduce the fourth edition of the JPDS-NC siddur (prayerbook). Nine years ago, we embarked on our quest for a multi-denominational, kid-friendly siddur. Unable to find such a thing, we created our own and have been successfully using it for the past six years. With this newest edition, we have renamed it Siddur Am Echad, literally, […]

• #ThisIsWhy
• Creative Writing
• Holidays
• Visual Arts

October 20, 2016 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

Sharon Freundel, JPDS-NC’s Director of Jewish Life, has been named one of only 10 Jewish educators in the world who will serve on HaKaveret, an innovation design team focused on improving Jewish education. The team of elite Jewish educators will spend the next year learning with and from each other as well as external experts, […]

• Adult Learning
• Awards
• In the News

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 29, 2016 by Sindy Udell (Faculty and Staff)

What does Rosh Hashanah have to do with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)? Last Sunday, thirty children from the greater Washington, DC area came to JPDS-NC to find out. Kindergarten teacher Xani Pollakoff and Admission Associate Lindsey Marks led an innovative program that uniquely combined Rosh Hashanah teachings with STEM and design thinking. Children […]

• Design Thinking
• Holidays
• STEM

September 14, 2016 by Mindy Hirsch (Faculty and Staff)

Third Graders at JPDS-NC are getting ready for the high holidays. This week, they went to the Shofar Factory where they learned about the process of making a shofar and what makes it kosher – and then each student got to make one of their own! Check out their video below.

• Holidays
• Multimedia