Category: Social Studies
Study of Ancient History Reveals Universal Realities: Sixth Grade Students Invest their Own Learning with Meaning
December 17, 2015 by
At our school, we have been exploring a seemingly obvious notion that actually has profound implications. When I first began to explore the concept that “Children are competent/capable,” I thought, “Of course, what’s so new about that insight? I have always believed children are capable, and I support them to see themselves that way….” But […]
- Project Based Learning
Colonial History Comes to Life at JPDS-NC
December 16, 2015 by
The Fifth Graders at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital have just finished their Colonial History unit. For a few months, the students learn about the founding of the colonies and about famous figures such as John Winthrop, John Smith, and the Kings of England. Then, each student chooses a colonial profession […]
- Project Based Learning
- Student Stories
Thinking Critically About American History
May 22, 2015 by
“History gives us ideas. Let’s say something good happened. We can use it in the future to help people.” “In American History, there’s been a lot of wars, like the War of 1812 and the American Revolution. We can learn about what happened and say, ‘This was wrong’ and ‘I’ll turn it all around and […]
- Project Based Learning
Third Graders Discuss Their Comprehensive Study of U.S. States
May 20, 2015 by
Every third grader at JPDS-NC gets to study their own state for the whole year. We did a lot of research and worked on different projects. We studied the land forms and animals, and then made dioramas and designed logos about our states. “We learned about Native Americans in our state, and went on research […]
- Project Based Learning
- Student Stories
Fourth Grade Unit on World Religions Includes Site Visits and Making Educational Board Games
May 13, 2015 by
Fourth grade is studying World Geography this year, and at the moment, we are learning about different religions. First, we learned about different religions as a class, and then we split up into research and project groups to find out even more. The study groups focused on Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism. In the groups, […]
- Project Based Learning
- Student Stories
Kindergarten Project to Help the Homeless
April 1, 2015 by
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 […]
- Project Based Learning
- Student Stories
- Tikkun Olam
First Graders Conduct Research and Present their Oceans Studies
February 25, 2015 by
We came up with “big ideas” that we wanted to learn about: the human body, technology, recycling and the ocean. We took a vote to see what we should focus on, and the ocean won. We read books and decided to research ocean animals. We chose to focus on sharks, dolphins, fish, jellyfish, silver gulls, […]
- Project Based Learning
- Student Stories
First Graders Script and Perform a Play about Endangered Gorillas
February 11, 2015 by
We started learning about endangered animals. We decided to learn about mountain gorillas. There are only 700 mountain gorillas left in the whole world because of the wars surrounding where they live and poachers. We wanted to make a play that showed our feelings about mountain gorillas and other endangered species. We voted about doing […]
- Creative Writing
- Performing Arts
- Project Based Learning
- Student Stories
Kindergarteners Create a Code for their Secrets Time Capsule
December 24, 2014 by
Our Kindergarten class has been interested in the idea of telling and sharing secrets. We thought about the Harry Potter book called Chamber of Secrets, and that gave us the idea to make a time capsule for our class. We are burying a box and the box will hold the secrets we want others to […]
- Project Based Learning
- Student Stories
Fifth Graders Re-create a Colonial Village in School
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 […]
- Project Based Learning
- Student Stories
